Folding knife must be maintained
You need to wash the knife, you need to disassemble and lubricate the folding mechanism. It is desirable to lubricate with special grease or in extreme case with oil for sewing machines. But this is not the best option, as dirt adheres to such oil. Need lubrication washers made of brass, phosphor bronze or plastic. In addition, it is desirable to clean the bearing, metal or ceramic and do not wait for the dirt to “work” there. It is also necessary to understand that the ceramic ball of the bearing, in any case produces the surface of the metal or titanium blade and in case of getting there sand or other solid particles, this production is accelerated. It is necessary to keep an eye on the axis-lock spring, as it can often rust. Also, if the knife has assisted opening, the same can happen to the assist spring. Even if the knife is not disassembled, such as Victorinox, it needs to be serviced: washed under warm water and oiled. Any mechanism that involves friction needs lubrication, and a knife needs lubrication without fail.
Knives can’t be thrown
Most folding knives cannot withstand being thrown into trees, boards or other wooden surfaces. The washer deforms, bearings break, and the spacer sleeve bends or breaks. The spring of the axis-lock lock breaks. Modern fixed-blade knife in most cases has a blade hardness of 58HRC or higher. And the hardness of the blades of throwing knives is much lower, usually up to 50HRC. Since, the main role is played by impact toughness. Consequently, the probability of breaking the knife when throwing is always high. If the knife has a bolster, handle overlays, shaped melchior or brass tip, it is definitely not designed for throwing. Use only throwing knives for throwing.
No picking and batting
Years ago, Cold Steel creator and owner Lynn Thompson began releasing videos of extreme tests of his knives. In addition to chopping hanging rope and pig carcasses, these tests included various tests of breaking the blade, picking at dense wood with the tip, and chopping trees, logs, and flat-lying logs with the knife, known colloquially as batoning. The success of these videos on YouTube has encouraged people to repeat what they have seen. However, many people do not realize that such tests are logical only for survival knives, originally created for such loads. Most of the knives produced by the industry are not designed for such loads and cannot withstand them. The better your knife cuts, the finer its pointing, the less suitable it is for crash tests. No need to break good things.
No need to flick the knife
Modern folding knives have good mechanics. This means that the most commonly used locks: frame-lock, liner-lock and axis-lock close and open easily, quickly and with a nice metallic click. And when a person is nervous or simply has nothing to occupy his hands, he starts clicking his knife. Not realizing that even the hardest metal “dryer” on the frame or the strongest axis spring have a quantitative limitation when opening and closing the knife. And if such a lock is designed theoretically for 2 thousand openings, and 1 thousand of them will be made just for playing, then the knife resource is significantly reduced. The liner-lock is rubbed off, the “dryer” on the frame-lock is rubbed off and there is often unrecoverable backlash. The spring on the axis-lock can become loose or simply burst. On a switchblade knife with a batton-lock lock, the spring also weakens over time. The knife becomes unusable and needs to be repaired. Don’t flick the knife around unnecessarily.
Do not stir food with a knife in a boiling pot or stick it in a fire
The blade of any knife undergoes heat treatment. Most are extremely simple, some are complex (cryo, zone hardening, etc.). After this heat treatment, it acquires certain qualities in terms of blade hardness. Stirring a pot of boiling soup, picking logs in the fire, or turning meat on the grill is very easy to “let go” of the knife spoiling all the work on “thermichka”. The steel will become soft, no longer able to hold a sharpening and the knife will need a new heat treatment. And since this procedure is not available to most users, it is highly likely that the knife will become completely unusable and will be thrown away. Never heat treat the blade of your knife.
