As a new OTF owner, I excitedly unboxed the brand new item. No, I did not film this and put it on YouTube. But, I did enjoy a few first extensions and retractions.

Then, the blade intermittently did not extend to a point of locking out. Nor did it retract fully. Hmmm.

I read the manufacturer's statements on the concern. Since they had a paragraph on what to do when it failed to work, I guessed they had experienced this at the factory.

And, I followed their directions. Blow out with compressed canned air. Still not working flawlessly. Add one drop of oil to the hole at the grip rear. Still not working well.

So, I added a bit of lubrication to the thumb slider slot.

I think this did the trick. The thumb slider now does not hang up as you use it in double action mode.

I suppose it is not unlike how we say "never carry a Glock until you have 10,000 rounds through it just to be sure it will go bang." And, there is likely an argument that lubrication attracts lint, or dirt, or something bad.

I'm sure we will soon start a thread extolling the virtues of Mobil 1 ATF over Hoppe's oil for OTF knives. For the record, I used "Tri-Max" CLP that promises to do everything I ever want it to do.

But, I'm telling you what, without lubricant this knife did NOT work. Be careful if you purchase an OTF and validate that it does operate.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4MUL8R,

I don't use anything heavier than Rem-Oil, I've had misfires with other oils and such. I'd never use any of the three you mentioned.

My OP did not have the CLP brand. I don't know the viscosity difference between what I used "Tri-Max" and the original CLP. But, the Tri-Max seemed to flow very easily, and I was surprised by the test "drip" that came out as I turned the bottle sideways over a towel. Sadly the website does not have any technical data.

I agree viscosity matters! I was surprised that the manufacturer did not have a specific oil in the maintenance directions.

I blast as much debris out with my air compressor then blast Rem Oil inside Microtech OTFs. After letting it sit for a while, I use my air compressor again to blow out the excess oil. That restores them to factory new feel again.

Yeah, that's the officially-endorsed Microtech cleaning and maintenance method. I did it that way for several years and it worked mostly fine. When the action spring on my Ultratech finally failed, I went ahead and got myself one of the tri wing driver bits and now I go ahead and take them apart down to the last piece. Everything but the chassis goes in the ultrasonic for hot bath (just don't want to total destroy the anodizing), and I give the inside details a cleanout with some bamboo swabs and ISO. I give all the internals a real thin coat of Rem-Oil and reassemble. Been real happy with the results.