Need a modification solution for a bad design on a CC pocket knife.

[corneileous]

Hey guys, while on the trip we took to Tennessee a little over a month ago, we stopped at one of my favorite places to go to which was the Smokey Mountain Knifeworks there in Sevierville, Tennessee and while I was there, I bought this pocket knife just for the use of self-defense, not for every day cutting jobs and it’s a good knife, I really like it but it has a design flaw on how they attached this relatively small belt clip to the side of it.

Like a lot of my pocket knives that I’ve bought over the years that were relatively cheaper than this knife, they all have much larger belt clips that use at least two screws that either go all the way through from one side to the other with barrel-nuts on the other side or, the screws are threaded into an actual piece of steel thats sandwiched between the two halves of the handle making a pretty secure and strong mounting spot for the belt clip to attach too.

On this new knife I just bought, each side of the knife that makes up the handle, according to the manufacturer, is made out of aircraft aluminum alloy. Well, the way they attached this barely 2 1/2 inch long, quarter inch wide belt clip to the side of this 6 inch long pocket knife handle, they used one little bitty screw that threads into a drilled and tapped hole in this aluminum and in order to keep the belt clip from relying on just the tightness of the screw to keep it from pivoting around, they cut an indented area in the handle where the hole is so that the part of the belt clip that’s folded all the way around can fit down in the indentation so that the screw itself doesn’t have to try and keep the belt clip centered in the right spot.

Two weeks after buying this knife, I noticed the belt clip was getting really loose and moving side to side so one night I got my little precision tool kit out and tightened the screw like I’ve had to do a lot with a lot of my other knives because those little screws just come loose over time and when I went to tighten up the screw, it tightened up just a very slight amount before next thing you know, the screw didn’t have any resistance at all meaning the hole stripped out that quick so of course I got online and found the manufacturer’s website of the knife, sent them an email and started up a warranty claim.

After spending 13 bucks to send the pocket knife back via UPS and eight bucks to have them send it back to me, not even two weeks later after only caring the knife one or two times, I noticed that once again, the belt clip started doing the same exact thing so I sent the company another email asking what to do about it and they pretty much just told me to put Locktite on the screw and put it back in there. I pretty much told the guy that I didn’t think that was really the issue that it was the fact that they just used one screw threaded into soft aluminum to hold this belt clip on and that their idea of making this little indentation in the handle to help keep the belt clip centered wasn’t cutting it so, I figured I’d come on here and ask you guys for advice on a better way to fix this so it doesn’t keep coming loose.

I really like the knife and want to keep it but I can’t carry it if I’m too worried about the clip coming off all the time but because of how it’s made, you can’t properly tighten the screw without stripping the threads.

Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Duelist]

Does it have a steel liner?

[corneileous]

Does it have a steel liner?

Supposedly it does, according to the manufacturer. What does it mean for a knife like this to have a steel liner? Are you talking about a flat, thin piece of steel that’s inside the aluminum handles or are you talking like some kind of a round steel insert inside that hole at the screw threads into?

The very first time I noticed I had a problem when I went to tighten that screw up with a screwdriver and it almost immediately felt as though I had stripped the threads, I pulled the screw out and I didn’t see any kind of steel liner of any sort but then again, I don’t really know what I’m looking for. I also didn’t see any thread locker on the screw that the guy at the manufacturer that I talked to said that he actually pays for these certain screws to have a painted strip of threadlocker applied to as well.

If it helps more, when I get home I’ll take this knife apart and show you a lot more detailed pictures rather than just the ones was on that website.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Duelist]

I mean, is the handle composed of an aluminum layer on the outside with a steel liner layer on the inside, next to the blade? The steel liner on the knife pictured below is easily seen because the outer layer is carbon fiber.


On that knife, the screws holding it together and the single one holding the clip on go through the carbon fiber, but are not threaded into it. They are threaded into steel, inside the carbon fiber, whether that is directly into the liner or into some other component like a spacer.

[Duelist]

To complete my thought: if the screw for that pocket clip isn’t threaded into steel, it’s basically worthless and you need to either find and accept a different way to carry it, or send it back and get something else.

If it is threaded into steel, then there may or may not be a carry solution you will be satisfied with.

[Navin Johnson]

Red Loctite? Epoxy? JB Weld? Been around the knife game for a while and Bear OPS is not really a big name. Probably a reason for that.....

Spyderco or Benchmade is likely a safe solution/starting point if one is looking for a durable well thought out folder.

The handle alone makes the knife a no-go (for me) for any type of real use.

[corneileous]

I mean, is the handle composed of an aluminum layer on the outside with a steel liner layer on the inside, next to the blade? The steel liner on the knife pictured below is easily seen because the outer layer is carbon fiber.


On that knife, the screws holding it together and the single one holding the clip on go through the carbon fiber, but are not threaded into it. They are threaded into steel, inside the carbon fiber, whether that is directly into the liner or into some other component like a spacer.

To complete my thought: if the screw for that pocket clip isn’t threaded into steel, it’s basically worthless and you need to either find and accept a different way to carry it, or send it back and get something else.

If it is threaded into steel, then there may or may not be a carry solution you will be satisfied with.

Without having the knife in front of me I can’t really tell but after looking at the photos on that site I provided the link to, it looks like there is a little seam that’s on the blade-sides of the handle but from that picture, I can’t tell if that’s a piece of steel or not because it’s all the same color but if that piece you are talking about is without a doubt steel, that’s a very weak steel because like I said in my opening post when I noticed that screw came loose, I was using a little bitty precision screwdriver that comes with all of those small precision screwdriver bits in it and I didn’t put hardly any torque on it at all before I noticed the screw had no resistance at all and wouldn’t tighten up.

But being that I lost the receipt while we were out of town, I’m probably stuck with it which is fine because there’s got to be another way to fix this up the right way even if it involves getting a small amount of JB Weld and putting that between the knife handle and the belt clip while trying to keep it out of the screw hole or somehow trying to find a longer screw that I can put a text nut on the other end so I can tighten the shit out of it.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[corneileous]

Red Loctite? Epoxy? JB Weld? Been around the knife game for a while and Bear OPS is not really a big name. Probably a reason for that.....

Spyderco or Benchmade is likely a safe solution/starting point if one is looking for a durable well thought out folder.

The handle alone makes the knife a no-go (for me) for any type of real use.

I have never heard of this brand either but then again if you’ve ever been to Smoky Mountain knife works, they’ve got brands of all types that probably a lot of people have never heard about.

I wish there was a way that I could somehow put another screw in there but considering the way they built this knife, I’ve only got enough space to access one screw unless you take the knife apart and put a screw in from the backside that actually threads into the belt clip from the inside of the handle but that looks like that might more of a pain in the ass than it’s worth.

But yeah, the handle’s not the most comfortable thing but I don’t mind the shape of it and really the only thing about this knife that caught my eye was the shape of the blade and how quickly and just how powerful that spring is when you push that button on the side that slings the blade open.

The blade is razor sharp and it looks like it’s made out of a pretty good steel and like I said, I’ve got other pocket knives, Bench Made included that are for all around day to day cutting jobs but I bought this knife specifically for self-defense concealed carry because of how quickly and how easily it opens.

I now realize that I probably should’ve looked at other brands but quite honestly, I didn’t know this belt clip was going to create such a problem and I know, being that I spent around 100 bucks for this knife and being that I’m a firm believer that if you don’t want cheap you don’t buy cheap but I figured it was money well spent… LOL.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Clusterfrack]

I think you should probably punt. It looks like a poorly engineered design. One small screw to hold the clip. Probably mild steel. I don’t see that lasting long term.

[BillSWPA]

Check to see if there is some type of nut on the inside of the handle. These are not always obvious at first glance, and can sometimes slip out, leaving the screw with nothing to grab.

If there is nothing there, the best solution might be to use some type of permanent adhesive in the screw hole, with the understanding that if the clip ever goes bad, you’re probably done with a knife.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk