Crinking, what’s peoples thoughts ?

[zed6309]

I recently but back together a Case back pocket that someone badly took apart, I did it in a shadow pattern with micarta , it went together really nicely and I really like it , but the blades off centre , doesn’t rub on the liner but is close, I can live with it as it’s a user for camp , but could I crink it ? I’ve watched a few videos but I’ve also seen pics of broken blades , I’m guessing the tangs softer ? What are peoples thoughts on crinking , and should I just live with it

[Jeffinn]

I’ve crinked a few blades with mixed results. It’s my personal opinion that it’s a high risk process and I rarely do it any more. Broken blades are a very real result.
Jeff

[herbva]

I only do it when I have to, and I really hate doing it. You never know when that last tap is going to be the one that breaks the blade. And, I prefer to do it with the knife apart, that way I won't be accidentally bending the pivot pin.
P.S. nice work on that knife! I'm not a big fan of shadow knives, but that one turned out gorgeous!

[OLDE CUTLER]

I agree with the 'only when absolutely necessary" statements above. Tangs are not always soft enough to get away with it and I too have broken good blades.

[rea1eye]

I have done it on an older knife that is a user. It was just slightly off.
My crinking made it a little bit better. I felt really good however
that I tried my best with ruining it.

Bob

[zed6309]

Thanks guys , yeah busting the blade is my big worry in doing this , I’ve heard that GEC’s have a softer tang so the blades can be crinked, but I don’t think I’ll risk this blade as I can live with it and many cases I’ve got are not all centered, just more noticeable on a single blade knife , most of my users are stockmans

[tallguy606]

I thought crinking was for allowing two blades to bypass each other, as in most stockmans. Never thought of it in terms of centering a single blade. Learn something every day.

[zed6309]

I thought crinking was for allowing two blades to bypass each other, as in most stockmans. Never thought of it in terms of centering a single blade. Learn something every day.

Same process

[btrwtr]

Are you sure the problem is krinking? If the blade came out of a single blade knife it should not be krinked and the problem is more likely in the assembly of the knife. Pins that are slightly tapered or holes that aren’t perfectly aligned can throw a straight un-krinked blade off center. If the blade is taken out of the frame and layed on a flat surface, alternating sides it is usually easy to tell if the problem is a crinkled blade.

[Reverand]

I only crink the blade as a last resort. If a blade is rubbing badly I will try it, but I try to avoid that when I can.
I have crinked a dozen or so that went perfectly.
And I have broken two or three blades.
If one is off-center but not rubbing badly, I would leave it alone.

[orvet]

I agree with what everyone else has said, krinking is a very high risk process! I have broken more blades than I have straightened.

Since it is a single blade knife, there shouldn't be any krinking to the blade to begin with. It is possible the pivot pin may have bent a little bit when you peened it, or that one side of the handle may be slightly lower than the other, pulling the blade to one side.
I have found I can often correct this by striking down with a hard plastic faced hammer on the top of the handle right at the pivot pin. Strike downward on the side that the blade is closest to and that should pull the blade to the other side just a little bit. It sounds like you don't need much adjustment, so that will probably do the trick.
I usually use this process on knives that have bolsters, and would never recommend it for a shadow bolster knife with brittle handle material like stag or bone, but I think the micarta is tough enough then it shouldn't damage the handle.

[zed6309]

Thanks again guys , Dale I’ll give that a go tomorrow I’ll let everyone know how it goes