Muskrat Ramble

[beresman]

I purchased a Camillus muskrat which turned out to have a bit of wobble in the main blade. The pins look tight, and there is no gapping between the spacers and the springs, so I'm not sure why the wobble (unless it's been "remanufactured" with a too-narrow blade). It's not a terribly worn knife. Seemed to me like a shim washer would be the best thing to keep the blade from wobbling.

Not wanting to tear it apart, I crafted a horseshoe-shaped washer out of 0.003" brass shim stock, and wedged it down between the tang and the spacer. Voila! Much reduced wobble. I probably could have tried 0.004" stock, but I don't know if I can get the current washer out, and I don't want to try to tear it apart at this point. And I realized after the fact that I shoulda tooken pictures, but alas, my brain has only one functioning channel at a time.

Anyway, I guess it remains to be seen how well this will work in the long run. Anybody tried this? And should I give up on it now and tear it apart?

[Meridian_Mike]

If the blade is thinner than the spring it sure would cause wobble in the blade.

I think I would break it down and thin out the spring a bit.

Let us know what you do. And take some pictures!

[herbva]

If you look at the knife from that back, with the blade open, where the tang end of the blade meets the end of the spring, you should be able to judge if the spring is wider than the blade. If the difference is only a very small amount, you can shave (grind, file or sand) a bit off the sides of the spring so that it matches the thickness of the blade, but this does require at least removing the rocker pin.

[OLDE CUTLER]

I purchased a Camillus muskrat which turned out to have a bit of wobble in the main blade. The pins look tight, and there is no gapping between the spacers and the springs, so I'm not sure why the wobble (unless it's been "remanufactured" with a too-narrow blade). It's not a terribly worn knife. Seemed to me like a shim washer would be the best thing to keep the blade from wobbling.

Not wanting to tear it apart, I crafted a horseshoe-shaped washer out of 0.003" brass shim stock, and wedged it down between the tang and the spacer. Voila! Much reduced wobble. I probably could have tried 0.004" stock, but I don't know if I can get the current washer out, and I don't want to try to tear it apart at this point. And I realized after the fact that I shoulda tooken pictures, but alas, my brain has only one functioning channel at a time.

Anyway, I guess it remains to be seen how well this will work in the long run. Anybody tried this? And should I give up on it now and tear it apart?

One problem you may have is just by normal opening and closing the horse shoe shim may work it's way out. If you partially open the blade, it will raise the spring. Take your calipers and measure the thickness of the spring and compare that to the thickness of the blade as measured down on the tang. That will tell you if there is a mismatch.

[beresman]

One problem you may have is just by normal opening and closing the horse shoe shim may work it's way out. If you partially open the blade, it will raise the spring. Take your calipers and measure the thickness of the spring and compare that to the thickness of the blade as measured down on the tang. That will tell you if there is a mismatch.

You're right about the shim coming out--I just played with it a bunch and it has moved around. And I measured as you suggested, and there's about a 0.007" difference between the blade tang width and the spring width. Obviously something is not original.

Guess this knife is coming apart, then. Yay, another learning experience!