i’m glad you found it helpful. i’ll be posting a couple new slipjoint videos tomorrow based on Swiss Army knives. deconstructing them is a dirt cheap way to learn, and super easy to do.
Great question! The answer is no, it does not change the spring height. The height of the spring is determined by the contact corner of the blade tang. The kick dimension only controls how deep the blade sits. Having said that- The geometry of the blade tang is crucial here, and if that corner radius isn’t long enough then the corner will rotate past it’s maximum height and the spring height will indeed change, just as you suspected. This is a big reason why I shape the tang the way I do. I want big round lobes for corners so that the distance from the pivot pin to the tang corner remains constant as rotates against the spring. Sounds complicated, but it’s not. Round corners on the tang makes it all work.
I am suffering this problem on a knife I own. The kick is not pronounced, so I'm not even sure if it's a kick or if the knife is annoyingly landing on the blade itself. But I'm thinking I may try filing/sanding/grinding at the kick and see if it improves things. If so, I will be delighted because right now I can't pocket carry it. I've already cut myself.
Is the blade not staying closed tightly? That’s unfortunate but not a deal breaker. If you like the knife you can carry it in a pocket slip. At least then the tip wouldn’t bite you.
