OK, so my buddy Chris who sold me this knife has just confessed that he was the source of the Loctite, not Cold Steel. Oh, Chris, why you gotta troll me. 🤣
Teflon washers are "self-lubricating", meaning they help the knife run fairly well when it's completely dry. I don't think they're using them to account for tolerance slop, since they're on both sides.
Old video, but anyway - Andrew Demko actually has a podcast episode entitled "Why Do You Use Plastic Washers?" on his website where he's explaining what you're asking about.
My AD15 didn't have that much thread locker. I took the Teflon washers out with no change to centering and my action improved quite a bit but my action started out pretty bad.
What do you mean " your action started out pretty bad ? Before you took out the Teflon washers out or after you took them out the action started getting bad ? Thanks
For the cost of just a few of those cans of compressed air you can get yourself a small air tank (Home Depot, Harbor Freight, etc.) that you can fill at your local gas station, or at work if there is one available there.
My lock bar pivot just spins. Doesn't seem like it's a d-shaped pivot... I guess i won't be taking it apart without cutting a slot on the back side of the pivot.
James Armstrong-Jones he got Copyright on the term “San Mai 3” and then used it to lawyer bully any knife maker using the turn “San Mai” even though “San Mai” is a Japanese term recorded in use as far back as 2000 years ago. He particularly targeted smaller and even 1 man cutlers who often couldn’t afford to fight back. The knife community made our feelings about this known and Thompson responded with an open letter that boiled down to “sorry, not sorry.” He is also the jackass who cuts pig carcasses in half and other antics in RU-vid videos that drive the anti-knife lobby. As Nick Shabazz puts it “this is why we can’t have nice things.”
The teflon washers ARE SMOOTHER THAN THE PHOSPHORUS BRONZE.. sounds crazy right?.. take any knife with pb washers apart.. and just replace one side with teflon washers.. if it aint smoother ill buy you dinner
For anyone watching this in the future, small tip for disassembling the AD15 use a pair of needle tweezers and remove the spring on the back of the scorpion lock. the bar can only travel so far because the spring bottoms out and you can get a lot more clearance to remove the blade, plus no need to fight against the spring tension. No need to try and squeeze the tang through the space that just about barely fits under the pivot and yoke of the knife.
Not a huge Cold Steel fan, but I think I love this knife. Might have to pick one up. I know you don't necessarily like big bulky knives, but if you like this one then it must be a winner.
If you know the thread size, then you can use a tap and chase the threaded hole to clean up all the burr/ thread lock. Then use a can of air to finish up. Works great for me. Just make sure that you are perpendicular to the hole before chasing with the tap. When I was a tool and die maker for the Boeing Co. I use to use this procedure for cleaning up existing design and non design tooling holes.
Haha I bought some canned air today and you could literally be wearing a 4000$ suit and they're still going to look at you like your going to huff that stuff the second you leave.
They use Teflon washers because they provide less friction compared to any other washer material. Cold Steel's Teflon washers work better than most others in the industry because of how thin they are. Thick Teflon washers can deform or compress actually causing more friction. Cold Steel's combination of Teflon and phosphor bronze are the smoothest washers in the industry without going to bearings. The idea is that the Teflon moves with the blade and the phosphor bronze stays with the liner so they only friction you get is between Teflon and phosphor bronze which is way smoother than just phosphor bronze on steel. The person that provided the knife put it back incorrectly. The Teflon always goes against the blade. If you polish the phosphor bronze and make sure to add some oil lubricant between the washers they become extremely smooth. People have a misconception that these washers aren't smooth because just Cold Steel knives don't really feel that smooth. The reason is because the the locking mechanism is what determines the action instead of the pivot. The triad and scorpion locks both ride the tang of the blade causing significant friction. A test can always be done by removing the lock bar spring and feeling the action. If the knife is properly maintained and lubricated the blade will be drop shut smooth nearly to the smoothness of bearings. It's a myth that washers are bad and cause terrible actions. It's simply not true.
The washers don't help because it's way too stiff from the factory. I loostened the bolt a quarter turn and it helped tremendously. If the washers did anything except eat some tolerances it would be just as smooth extremely tightened down and that's just not the case. Obviously bushings are nowhere near as smooth as bearings. Not sure how you would fit bearings that thin in there and without significantly driving up the costs. Adding Teflon probably helps? Then again just a regular metal washer with a drop of oil would give you about the same level of smoothness. Slightly less maintenance with the plastic washers as they can be used dry
@@kenmastersmaster the problem is that from the factory they always come dry and it's definitely possible that it came overtightened as well. I've had a number of Cold Steel knives come with the pivot not having any loctite at all either so I've found it best to just take it apart, lubricate it and adjust it correctly when you loctite it all yourself with great results. Teflon washers are used because as a material Teflon has the least amount of friction even compared to phosphor bronze. As I stated earlier by having both washers in there you get the best of both worlds and the washers turn against each other and it's much smoother for those materials to rub against each other than for them to rub against steel if the blade and liners if you were to remove one of them. I suggest you clean and lubricate your ad-15 making sure to put oil between the washers and when you adjust and loctite the pivot tighten it just enough so that there's no side to side play but not more than that. If you want to keep it slightly looser than that you can as long as you use loctite so it doesn't get more loose. It should break in and get smoother over time as the lockbar will polish the tang of the blade. You should also lubricate the blade tang on this knife and it will also improve the action. There's another video on RU-vid called How to Properly Close an AD-15 With One Hand that shows how smooth an ad-15 should be. You can do a fun test if you own a Cold Steel Tri-Ad lock knife with that washer setup that shows how well it works and proves that the action on Cold Steel knives is 100% the action and not the washers. Take apart the knife and put it back together with the washers cleaned and well lubricated but when you put it back together don't put the lockbar back in it. Make sure to adjust the pivot just barely enough so that there's no side to side play. Once it's back together see how smooth the blade freely moves. It will drop shut crazy fast and smooth proving that the washers work great and it's the locking mechanism that slows it down. It's like how Benchmade knives are almost all drop shut and use a single phosphor bronze washer because the axis lock when unlocked has zero contact with the blade. I've put phosphor bronze and Teflon washers in an AD-20.5 as an experiment and it's still drop shut.
Carlito 555 Yea mine too. And so is jimislash (youtuber) if you’re familiar with him. I’m assuming this knife was taken apart before hence why there was so much threadlocker. The person who sent the knife to nick admitted he put the threadlocker in it not Cold Steel. His comment is somewhere on here. So it’s very possible he had it apart. I was confused when I saw this also cause my teflon washers are against the blade with the phosphor bronze on top of them. Seeing your post and that other youtubers video (jimislash) who owns like a million cold steels lol. Not sure if I’m spelling his name right. But his was just like ours in his disassembly video. Teflon first then phosphor bronze on top each side. Makes me feel better cause was confused as well. So no worries yours is set up the way it came. I don’t know if swapping them makes a difference or not but I’m going to keep them in the orientation the factory sent it to me :) Just watched a video of a Cold Steel Code 4 disassembly and it was the same thing. Teflon up against the blade then phosphor bronze right on top of it. So it appears they’ve been doing that for some time. I have like 6 Cold Steels but never had them all open and the ones I did have open I forgot what the orientation was for the washers since it’s been awhile.
Carlito 555 Also just realized you were the RU-vidr on jimmys video I believe it was saying you dyed your scales on the AD-15 navy blue and I replied to your comment saying I did mine black haha. Knew your name looked familiar lol.
My cold steel lawman in cts xhp has the same Teflon/bronze washer combo... I think it's a cold steel thing... Haven't seen it don't before. Even though I'm sure other companies also do it.
I always clean the the thread locker out of the screw holes by dropling alcohol in then and letting it sit a few seconds then using an old mascara brush that my wife threw away
I found this knife new for 149 bucks but they are out of stock. I’ve preordered and am willing to wait. I own a Recon 1 with s35 vn also a pocket destroyer. I’m going to sand it down as well. The Recon 1 is great but too hard to unlock!!!
Nick please test the canless air system sold by Drop. Hurricane 2 canless air system. No junk blown on your knife and can be used 1000s of times. No litter. Don
Don’t feel ashamed I buy canned air as well and I own 3 compressors but don’t use them on my knives because of the moisture that builds up in my compressors and the cans are so convenient.
The mystery of the Teflon washers and copious amounts of thread locker... The AD-15 "pulls" the blade into center from the show side of the blade. Knives that have torx screws on both sides and a pivot in the middle can be adjusted from left and right side to get the blade to sit in the middle. The AD-15 I got was very tight at the front pivot and at the Scorpion lock pivot at the back. The problem was the blade would not swing freely and the knife could only be opened with two hands. When the screw is adjusted to the point of getting the blade to swing freely the blade is 1.5mm out of center. After an hour of playing with it I left the blade slight off center and working like folks demonstrated the action in video. I suspect that the knife was over tightened during assembly. The hardware internal to the pivot might be slightly bent or stripped. So back to the Teflon washers... Generally used to compensate for imprecise machining or poor design. If the knife had a D shaped pivot and torx adjustment screws on both sides the centering problem would be solved. I may try using an extra washer or a thicker washer to fix the centering issue. Or I may send it back to GSM Outdoors and see how they do with warranty work. THE OTHER THING OF NOTE: Both pivot points need to be adjusted just right. The blade pivot and the Scorpion lock pivot. On my knife both were very tight and made the action poor. ALL OF THAT SAID... I like the knife. If the example in my hand had the action it does now and was centered out of the box I'd tell everyone to go get one.
I’ve found the phosphor bronze with the Teflon partially helps its action. Sometimes phosphor bronze ain’t polished too well and the Teflon kinda gives a copout, if you will, to smooth out the action. Just my two cents.
i noticed the washers on different places ,on AD10 plastic washer was on the blade part but this knife metal washer was on the blade side… does it matter?
yes, the Teflon washer are always placed on the blade...if not, then is a mistake...Teflon washer prevent the blade frome wear and contribute with the smooth opening.
