GEM Damaskeene spring repair

[Mick]

I received a really sweet GEM Damaskeene but the spring is very weak and the cap does not stay in contact with the blade.

Is there anyone who could repair this?

Here are some pics that show the head closed and the gap

With a blade in it showing the cap not contacting the blade

 

[Cicatero]

It also looks like the lever which is supposed to push forward on the spine of the blade, which is essential, isn't fully forward as is required.

You might have to remove the two rivets and bend the spring into a shape that puts more pressure on both the bottom of the lever and on the two cams on the edge of the cap.

You could probably reassemble it using size #0 screws instead of fiddling around with re-riveting.

 

[retturn2blades]

I received a really sweet GEM Damaskeene but the spring is very weak and the cap does not stay in contact with the blade.

Is there anyone who could repair this?

Here are some pics that show the head closed and the gap

With a blade in it showing the cap not contacting the blade

You may remember I had a similar problem with a Damaskeene. The spring was loose and would shake when the lid was closed. I fooled around with it but failed to fix the problem. In my attempts I removed the top lid from the frame. I was never able to get it back on. I finally gave up and marked it as a combat loss.

I did get a full refund from the seller...as should you.

 

[woodfluter]

Ditto on what Jeff said.

But, looking at photo 1, I think I see something that's not the same as my Damaskeene or any of my 1912s.
Could be wrong, but Turtle you could confirm or deny.

The lowest part of the side flanges of the top cap, on any of mine, sits squarely on the spring. In your photo, the lowest part seems to be back of the spring and can't apply as much leverage. In other words, it's not closing the cap completely because it's engaging the sloped part, not the part that extends down the farthest.

I might be interpreting the photo wrongly.
But if right, what is this...a hundred year old manufacturing defect?

I don't have any brilliant fixes, but consider that the end of the spring is the part that's engaging the cap flange. So if you could somehow secure a shim to the end of the spring somehow, you might obtain sufficient pressure to make it work properly. Might experiment with wedging one or two broken-off bits of DE blades between spring and flange to see if this could be feasible, then, figure out how to attach something more permanently. Possibly with very strong glue if you could keep it from leaking over things you don't want glued together. Dunno.

 

[PhatMan]

Turtle,

For my GEM 1912 that had a weak spring, I insterted a wedge shaped piece of eraser along the spring from behind. I have used it like this for a couple of years now

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ