How to Smooth the Action on Your CRKT Pilar - A Casual Tutorial

[@Pourage_art]

Just spent tooooo much time polishing, knife pivot, detent track, washers and both scales with a dremel polishing wheel and flitz and definitely smoother but still super tight. Probably going to mill out small tracks in the scales to make room for bearings next. May never be drop shut but hope to get it better than what it is. Love these kinds of projects.

[@wayneholmes637]

On my CRKT M16-04SS I used a dremel type tool with a little polishing wheel and fine paste. I polished all bearing surfaces and the bronze washer then put a thin layer of moly grease on all these surfaces. The difference is huge and well worth the time and effort.

[@neverstoplearning2]

Great video. I like how you explained things so clearly for newbs like me. Thanks!

[@TheCasualCutter]

Leslie G Nelson Thanks! I’m glad you found it helpful!! 😊

[@jeffreytownsend2321]

Great vid. I have 3 Pilars. Nice skills on the nife maintenance.

[@thejonathandoan]

Awesome video. Lots of wonderful tips that I have been struggling to get answered. This fits the bill!! Thanks!

[@knifenoob5411]

Didn’t see check action before took it apart. Nice trick with flitz. Teflon washer might fold when taken apart, or when wicked thin otherwise they are smoother than bronze. Thx for vid.

[@DrMcDuls]

Great video. Pilar is now purring like the proverbial kitten, thanks for posting this!

[@nickwaybright2202]

This is defiantly a good example of you get what you pay for. Great video man.

[@TheCasualCutter]

Thanks!! 🙌

[@miguelangeld5589]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge,really appreciate it, will do it in my new Pillar D2 carbon fiber!

[@captainhowdy2859]

Didit work well on the D2 with its black coating?

[@darrylemershaw5823]

To center the Blade I've always used a little pieces of thicker cereal box on both sides of my blade till it is centered then I tighten my Pivot then I pull out the pieces and it's always perfect that might help

[@dhfitinc4252]

Great tutorial! I gotta try the FLITZ 👊

[@piperkennard1039]

Informative 1👍

[@martinhawrylkiewicz2025]

Nice vid! I think I would put a bit of oil in the pivot hole of the blade too.

[@ryanharnell9268]

Great Video Thanks! Really informative.

[@josephmoore1576]

Really clear video. I’m a newbie. Do you have a recommendation for what brand of tools to get to fix knives or a specific kit?

[@TheCasualCutter]

Joseph Moore Wiha makes some of the best readily available tools out there. You basically just need a good driver and torx bits. T6/T8/T9 are most common sizes you’ll use, so you can build your own kit with those and slowly add on to it, or buy one of their full sets. Boker also offers a good kit that’s pretty inexpensive I think...

[@tacticaltrev]

A drop of oil on the detent ball helps too

[@TheCasualCutter]

Oh yeah, always. Did I leave that out?! 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@tariqkamil7853]

Got a Pilar large D2 on the way, this was really helpful. Scared that the screws will be too tight to remove...aside a heat gun or hair dryer, will dunking in a hot cup of water help and not warp the g10 scales?

[@TheCasualCutter]

Tariq Kamil Boiling water shouldn’t even come close to warping G10... It also won’t be hot enough to even be useful IMO. But I’d suggest the first thing you do before anything is have a quality set of driver bits (Wiha, etc) and GO SLOW. I’d venture to say that 9/10 stripped screws can be avoided by technique. Make sure the bit is fully seated and then start to unscrew slowly. You want to feel the resistance in real time. If you start to feel like the screw is requiring enough torque that it may strip, STOP. Take a breath and try again, slowly. If it still feels like there is too much resistance, then consider heat (I’d go for a soldering iron personally). But the good news is that all the Pilar Large I’ve seen seem to come apart really easily. 👌

[@tariqkamil7853]

The Casual Cutter yup got the wish set from xioami for my other stuff and things. Thanks a lot and for the vdo tutorial

[@tariqkamil7853]

@@TheCasualCutter all done, thanks for the advice and vdo. I took it apart to dremel off the the flipper tab. While there I followed all ur steps and even polished the washers using blue compound rubbed on paper and just ran it in circles for like a minute or 2 on both sides of the washer

[@Som3Donkus]

I've got one of these but I'm having trouble with the blade alignment, blade presses up against the show scale, which is copper on mine

[@bubbapeppers4354]

Well done, thanks Tom!

[@TheCasualCutter]

Bubba Peppers Thanks for watching! 🍻

[@efcruzado]

Using compressed air duster on pivot is easier than disassembling. Then just use KPL on the pivot.

[@TheCasualCutter]

JcruzR 2 Did you even watch the video? This is a tutorial on how to smooth out the action. How to make it better. Permanently. Not how to do basic cleaning and maintenance. 🍻

[@efcruzado]

The Casual Cutter Sorry, dude. My comment was just a suggestion for other commentators. I understood what you were doing. I like tinkering with my folders, too. Thanks for the info video. 👍🏽🔪

[@efcruzado]

The Casual Cutter Used Flitz on a Civivi Hooligan and Elementum. Both came out smoother.

[@TheCasualCutter]

JcruzR 2 Sweet!!! 👌

[@MrThiccatron]

Bro, my Pilar came with all screws super tight. It’s almost impossible to remove them. Any advice? Cuz I want to clean mine up

[@nickwaybright2202]

hair dryer or something to heat up the screws slightly

[@TheCasualCutter]

Are they almost impossible to remove, or are they not moving at all? Heat can definitely help, but sometimes even that won’t always work. Try heating them up a bit with a hair dryer or heat gun, or even a soldering iron and see if that helps...

[@efcruzado]

Use compressed air duster on the pivot. It’ll clean it out very nicely. Then use KPL on the pivot. Easier than disassembly. 👍🏽🔪

[@heavychevy4616]

thank u sir

[@muskinator]

This is probably skipping ahead but...how do you re center your knife blade?

[@TheCasualCutter]

You have to play around with the pivot screw and body screws to find the sweet spot. Unfortunately some knives will never center perfectly (especially cheaper ones), but you should be able to at least get it close. The key is to get all the screws snug almost all the way so that there’s still a tiny bit of play, and then adjust from there. Where do you get the blade close to center, then take down the body screws all the way and focus on the pivot.

[@darrylemershaw5823]

Loosen the pivot only get yourself some pieces of cereal box put a piece of cereal box on both sides of the knife blade while it is shut if you still have room put equal amount of pieces on both sides then tighten your pivot it should be perfect unless there is a misalignment of the washers

[@CodyRBuchanan]

Awesome video, thanks man!

[@TheCasualCutter]

Bowtech 3123 Thanks for watching! 🙌

[@mountaindont34ify]

Dude mine came smooth af already

[@TheCasualCutter]

Practical Tactical You got a good one. CRKT has a history of being one of the most inconsistent production knife companies there is for QCI. I’ve had around 6-7 Pilar Large, and a dozen standard Pilars. The Large version definitely has better QCI than the original, with about 75% of mine being kind of “acceptable” out of the box. But the standards were a 50/50 hit or miss. Regardless, all of them will benefit from the process shown in the video. 🍻

[@jackbn9353]

Today I received a CRKT Bev-Edge . Because of this video, first thing I did was open it up. It has ball bearings. I found NO crud/flash/chips like you have. But the flipper remains pretty stiff, even after oiling and hundreds of open;close cycles. I am tempted to grind down the dimple a little. Hence, my opinion of Bev-Edge is waiting for more time to pass.

[@TheCasualCutter]

JackBN the best way I’ve found to smooth out knives on bearings without getting too invasive, is to clean them out completely and run the bearings dry. Polish up the flats of the blade that contact the bearings and the detent ball and it’s path. Flip it a few hundred times and see how it feels. Is it not smooth on the drop or the open? Is the detent too weak?

[@DEADHAND_SLINGSHOT]

Nice Video👍🏻

[@kimleith1378]

In regards to the "burr" you found, wouldn't the washer cover that burr? Do the washer spin? I have a Pilar III coming. That knive has bearings, so polishing is not necessary. I hear that the liner is fussy sensitive to pressure impeading "flicking". Any suggestions if the knive I get is tight?

[@TheCasualCutter]

The blade makes contact with the washer, and is meant to glide across it… so unless it is perfectly flat it will impede the action. The Pilar 3 as you mentioned is on bearings and is an EXCELLENT knife for the money. I have the D2 version and the action is amazing for the money. Middle finger flicking is effortless and the place fires out with authority. It does have light lock bar tension which makes the blade drop closed very nicely. As always, it’s a frame lock so putting pressure on the lock bar will effect the way the knife opens and closes.

[@kimleith1378]

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm a new sub and will check out your extensive content vid library. Lots to learn here.

[@TheCasualCutter]

@@kimleith1378 Thanks! I did take almost 3 years off from KZbin but I’m back and plan on diving into my collection as well as getting back into mods and tutorials! Stay tuned!!

[@kimleith1378]

@@TheCasualCutter Tons of "KZbinr" knife nerds out there. Welcome back.

[@tankt13]

How did you take it apart so easily?? The body screws on mine are spinning and i need another tool to secure the opposite screw. And the pivot screw i believe is loktite'd in. Help

[@TheCasualCutter]

These have pretty poor quality control and are often over tightened with too much locktite from the factory. There are some tricks you can use such as applying heat to break down the locktite, and applying tension by squeezing the blade back inward when trying to break the thread. Good tools are always a must as cheap bits can easily strip out the hardware.

[@JrgMP1]

You can used a heat gun, even a hair dryer, hot water will also work, but in any of the mentioned methods, beware of too much heat and any plastic pieces the knife may have

[@jasonthyaw]

The detent on my D2 pilar is so strong i cracked my fingernail on the lockface scale trying to push the flipper down...any tips?

[@mountaindont34ify]

This is a polar large isnt it? It has a flipper?

[@TheCasualCutter]

Practical Tactical Yup, the knife used in the video is a Pilar Large, but the process is the same for the standard Pilar as well.

[@havoc1zero]

My pilar large has a symbol on the top of the blade that looks like ikbs. I took it apart and sure enough, mine doesn’t have Teflon or phosphor bronze washers. It actually has bearings. And not loose ones either. Caged bearings. Am I alone here?

[@TheCasualCutter]

There appear to be more recent exclusives that have bearings instead of washers...

[@havoc1zero]

@@TheCasualCutter oh I see. Well I got mine at Lowe’s so I don’t know about it being an exclusive, lol. I have noticed more crkt knives coming out recently with the ikbs system.

[@sethgilm]

Nice! And of course... Fuck! I partially stripped out my pivot screw. LOL DOH!!! Oh well. I will see if I can get it out and replaced.

[@joeyjoy6095]

I jus t realized at the end that he has a flipper tab. Is that because its a large pilar?

[@TheCasualCutter]

Joey Joy Yessir.

[@stuarthunt926]

can u do a vid on spydie holes

[@14981fc]

This is the large Pilar

[@kcherrick2627]

Yes. He says that at the beginning of the video 🤨

[@croatialives]

I alway sand all my frames washers and polish even a cheap knife feels 200 times smoother once your done

[@stuarthunt926]

Can u do a vid on spydie holes?

[@TheCasualCutter]

Stuart Hunt I’ve never done a Spydie hole...

[@koga8100]

The Casual Cutter you have cursed us all with your words 🤣🤣

[@ConLeche29]

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