All About Pocket Knives

I truely admire the file work done on folding knives, but one thing gives me pause for thought. Does it weaken the mainspring? I mean, if you are obviously removing that amount of metal, wouldn't it have a somewhat negative effect on the overall strength of the spring?

This question may show my true ignorance of knives in general, but.....just wondering.

Dewman

i broke a spring fileworking (cheap klien). i think as long as you don't file too much, and barring any defects, makes no difference.

Understand this is just my opinion. If I have a knife customized , that knife will be for display. It may go in my pocket from time to time, but that is really only to display it to people outside my house because I am proud of it. There are too many great factory knives out there for everyday use, or EDC. Even if it did weaken the spring somewhat, it would not be what I had as an everyday user, and so it would not be a major concern to me. This is just totally my opinion. Kelley

I agree with gunsmoke on this, I have had several fileworked knives and besides the few times I carried them to show a few folks I never planned on using them. I have too many "Every Day Carry's" to use for my knifing purposes..So the answer is I don't really know how much it weakens the springs but will never find out..

Of course some folks feel different about this and feel that we should not have safe queens for show and use every knife we purchase. I don't have that money tree growing yet at my house so my little jewels will be kept and babied like the Crown Jewels..

Sunburst

i agree with both ralph and kelly, customized for show. however, i carry one i worked and use it without any problems, knock on wood. i have many safe queens as well.

Just about all the traditional slip joint folders I carry have filework and I have never had a problem with weakness. I suppose as with everything you could over do it. Most filing is less than 1/16th deep, just taken off at different angles.

I currently have about 35 rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers in my gun safe and there's not a single one I DON'T shoot on occasion. I understand that knives and guns are two entirely different things, and I understand the time and investment spent on a "custom knife" that may break when used....or even opened or closed. But, I must say, I'd certainly have my reservations about putting money into a knife I'd be afraid of ruining just opening the blade to show it off to a friend.

With that being said....I DO have some knives that will never be used to cut a darn thing 'cept maybe my finger by accident. So....perhaps that's the same thing as a filework knife that's for show and tell, too, eh?

Not trying to be arguementative or disagreable. Some guys have "safe Queen" guns too. I'm just not one of them. Some say tomato....some say tomaaato.

Hey Dew, get one or two of them and use the Heck out of them! Let us know what your results are. My bet is they will hold up just fine. My point is that I have EDU's, EDC's and knives I choose to display. Not that any of them won't carry over to the other capacity, I just don't need them to. Kelley

I've seen some real thin steel backsprings on some brands. I have carried and used some with filework, without any problem. I suppose it could be a problem with some pooly designed knives that have narrow and thin backsprings. But filework is not that deep and some like the arrowhead should have no impact at all.

dewman, they're not gonna break with use or opening and closing. i have a lot of firearms and ten times more knives. i don't collect guns, but when i did, some were never fired. same with knives. some are art, some are cutters. important thing is enjoy.

It does give me a thought though. I have 2 scales and one weighs as small as a grain IIRC. Sometime I should weigh a backspring before and after, see what the percentage of weight loss is. I won't be doing any of that until Christmas though. I have a bunch of fixed blades to finish first.

Professionally done I have never heard of a problem. But have seen some break that filed all the way across a certain point on the backspring. You will notice that most people never carry the filework all the way across, just on one side or the other to make desired patterns.

I EDC a knife that I file worked. I haven't had a problem. Actually I have seen more broken springs in stock knives than I have in filed knives.

Just my 2¢
Dale

dewman wrote:I currently have about 35 rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers in my gun safe and there's not a single one I DON'T shoot on occasion. I understand that knives and guns are two entirely different things, and I understand the time and investment spent on a "custom knife" that may break when used....or even opened or closed. But, I must say, I'd certainly have my reservations about putting money into a knife I'd be afraid of ruining just opening the blade to show it off to a friend.

With that being said....I DO have some knives that will never be used to cut a darn thing 'cept maybe my finger by accident. So....perhaps that's the same thing as a filework knife that's for show and tell, too, eh?

Not trying to be arguementative or disagreable. Some guys have "safe Queen" guns too. I'm just not one of them. Some say tomato....some say tomaaato.

Hey Dewman, no offense taken on the the knives and guns Queen list. Matter of fact I should have never brought that up in this topic, it does not have much importance to your great question..

I own many guns as well and find myself thinking that it would be crazy not to shoot a gun that I owned...Of course none of mine can be called collectors so that's probably why...I'll save this topic for another posting...Take care..

Sunburst

unless an excessive ammount of the spring is filed away or there is a flaw in the spring. There should be no problems, you are only filing away (usually)the shar corner of the spring is csome given spots, so it isn;t removing alot of material. It has alot to do with the spring thickness and width too. If a spring is particularly thin or narrow, I won't file them. If the spring is already kinda "slow" and/or I had to kink it to get it to snap well, I won't file it. Better to be safe than sorry.