THE OUTCOME:
Given my obsessive compulsive disorder concerning clean is either by God squeaky clean, or it's dirty, I proceeded with the "not quite bright" option and took it apart.
Step one was to remind myself a little old lady put this thing together in about 90 seconds flat----and if she can do it, so can I---although it might take a little longer.
Step two was to remove the several fasteners-----noting their position because one of the smaller ones turned out to be longer than the others, (The reason for that remains a mystery of little import, because I put it back where it came from.)
Step three was to remove that (now upper) portion of the handle the fasteners came out of last-----with some fear and trepidation of "stuff" going flying.
Step four was to breath a sigh of relief when nothing went flying---and to gaze upon a remarkably simple mechanism (See little old lady comments above.)
The remarkably simple mechanism (As best as I recall now.) consists of the blade, a coil spring, and the opening button (containing another coil spring---which was not inclined to be removed)------------period. As an aside, the blade coil spring fits over the pivot in the offside handle and anchors in the offside handle via a horizontal protrusion, and anchors into the blade via a vertical protrusion. Closing the blade causes the spring to compress. The little spring in the operating button raises it and holds the blade closed. Mash the button, and SNAP!!
The innards were well and truly cruddy------dried grease only (No dirt/foreign matter in light of the fact the knife has done nothing but sit in its lifetime (to the best of my knowledge).)
Step five was to remove the crud with a shotgun size patch dampened with Hoppes #9. A half dozen or so Q-Tips also gave their lives in this endeavor.
Step six was to dry any/everything that was wet, and lubricate the bearing surfaces of the handles with about two drops (total) of Ultima-Lube Universal oil (from Wilson Combat), and smear it into a film.
Step seven was to stuff it back together----keeping in mind the little old lady. I put the activating button in last, which is probably not the way the little old lady did it---because it was pretty much a pain in the butt (everything having to be just so, or it's not going in).
Step eight was to replace the upper handle (all the stuff having been replaced in the lower handle), and install the fasteners.
Step nine was to try it out---and say a few bad words because it was a no-go---or at least no-go the way it should---and then sit and stare. Sitting and staring suggested the larger of the fasteners (the one at the blade pivot point) was too tight. I backed it off, and snugged it up---snug, not tight.
Step ten was to try it again. It worked like a champ!!
Now---back to things obsessive, fasteners should be tight----not just snug---so what's the problem? The problem is the bearing surfaces on the handles (at the pivot point) are too thick, thereby rendering the bearing surfaces clamps when the fastener is tight---as opposed to snug. Accordingly, a quick pass on each bearing surface with a milling machine to remove a very few thousandths---start with maybe .002" off each side and try it again. Lacking a milling machine, some very careful back and forth on some emery paper (super fine) on a FLAT surface will do fine. This is a cut and try operation---usually a another pain in the butt. The upside is you'll get as good as the little old lady in short order----and the screw will be TIGHT-----and the knife will be PERFECT.
As it stands now, it's back on the shelf with a snug screw.
Ralph Tremaine
As an aside, and with my management consultant hat on now, these too thick handles (at the bearing surfaces) reflect poorly on the maker's management----starting at the line supervisor level. One or more of the little old ladies went to her boss with this tale of woe early on: "The knife won't work with the blade screw tight." The supervisor's response was, "Well don't tighten the screw so much---just snug it up." The little old ladies did as they were told. The supervisor did as he did because his boss had informed him (likely in no uncertain terms) of the need to "make quota". This middle management dude did as he did because HIS boss (Let's skip right through any additional layers of middle/upper management folks, and go straight to the top at this point.)---because (again) HIS boss is not quite bright---and functions with the philosophy his company will be successful if they build their product at the lowest possible cost-----as opposed to building their product to be the best possible product for the price. In this case, that means they built the prototype in accord with the design---and tried it out. It didn't work with the screw tight, but it was okay with the screw snug. At this point these folks (collectively) have two options: Make it right, or make it close enough. They chose the latter. That's fine by me, because it's mental midgets like these that made me rich---or at least comfortably well off. The mini-rant is concluded.
And having referred to the blade spring as a "coil spring", it occurs to me that is not the correct nomenclature---------and I don't know what is. The spring compresses by twisting---releases by untwisting. That said, it at least looks like a coil spring---never mind it compresses sideways instead of vertically.
