Three or five-pin tool for knife pivots

I let my sister-in-law use my 962 to cut up some raw bacon. Of course I washed it after, and I thought I was careful to dry it enough. It seems that I didn't because tonight I noticed some rust on the spring for the lock.

Now I need to take it apart to remove the rust before it gets worse. Has anyone found an effective tool for these pivots?

I think what you want are Snap Ring Pliers, a.k.a. Circlip Pliers. I do not know the best place to purchase them, however. I have read that many of the cheaper ones fall apart quickly. Some Snap Ring Pliers can be found at Exduct and they are made in Japan. I need to get some for my Enlan EL-02, so I am looking forward to a more complete answer from the knife experts.

EDIT: The Snap Ring Pliers from Exduct are made in China, not Japan. They work great on my Enlan EL-01, which has a three-pin pivot screw. They do not work very well on my SanRenMu 962, which has a five-pin pivot screw. I just tried a fork security bit similar to what Vectrex used, and the security bit immediately snapped.

I was able to tighten my 905, which seems to have the same pivot screw as the 962 with a security bit. It's a fork security bit #8, which looks like this (similar):

It's not the best method, because it will leave scratch marks on your pivot screw, but I didn't want to buy a special tool for just 1 knife. I can make some pics, if you want.

I've been looking at the snap-ring pliers. The kind with the 90 degree bend in them might do the trick and I will have to get some if I can't find anything better. I guess I'll pop for the more expensive ones if I do get them. I have three knives, and ordered more, with these pivots. So it is worth it to get something that works reasonably well.

I hadn't thought of the security bits. I have a couple, but they are both too small. Thanks for the photo - I would not have known what you meant otherise.

Someone on bladeforums actually made his own! He drilled two holes in the end of a cylinder of some kind of very hard/tough synthetic material and glued two pins in the appropriate position. He said it worked quite well.

Here some pics of the mentioned fork security bit #8 in action on my SRM 905.

Oh, you're using two adjacent holes. I just tried mine again it juuuust reaches two adjacent holes, but I can't seem to apply enough torque to turn the pivot screw. Thanks for the photo.

It is not the best way, but it works for me without buying a special tool. But this method will leave some ugly scratch marks on the holes of the pivot screw.

This is a pic of a disassembled 962 with the tool. I saved it from a bladeforum, forget which one exactly. If you can track it ...

https://sites.google.com/site/gbraosite/images/srm962a.jpg

I use needle nose pliers with the tips ground down small enough. Works well on my torches too.

Just in case the idea strikes someone, Harbor Freight sells a mini spanner wrench real cheap for removing the back plate on watches. Thought about picking one up a few times. Probably wouldn't work (due to length) for tail switches, but might be useful for this.

UPDATE: Okay, the circlip pliers from Exduct work fine for the Enlan EL-01, but they don't work very well on the SanRenMu 962. And they don't work at all on the Enlan EL-02. I was frustrated, so I ordered circlip pliers from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/snap-ring-pliers-with-interchangeable-heads-3316.html

Those pliers work perfectly for all three knives I mentioned. Right now they're on sale, but international shipping might kill the deal for those that live outside the U.S. The tips of the Exduct pliers are simply too big for some knife pivots.