Service and storage

Most of what a Shirogorov needs, you can do at the bench. This page covers the rest: who to send the knife to when a job is beyond the bench, how to tell when that point has arrived, what the warranty does and does not change when you open the knife yourself, and how to keep a knife and its papers between uses. The hands-on work starts with routine care without disassembly.

Who services these knives

There is no factory-approved third-party service program. The two service routes are the factory itself and the dealer who sold the knife. US owners can also go through Recon1, the workshop’s US distributor. Otherwise contact the factory directly or through your dealer; see Contacting the factory for the current details and confirm the shipping route before you send anything.

Send the knife with a written description of the fault, photographs of the problem area and of the whole knife, and a short history: when and where you bought it, whether anyone has had it apart, what was changed if anything, and what lubricants and treatments have been used. Say plainly if you have disassembled it; the factory examines the knife or the photos and decides whether the case is covered, and a clear history gets a faster answer. Pack the knife closed, padded and insured; the factory and its dealers do not compensate a knife lost or damaged in transit.

When to send it in rather than open it

Owner maintenance covers cleaning, lubrication, pivot tuning and lock care on the serial knives. Some jobs belong at the workshop even for a confident owner.

Roller pivots and full custom pivots top the list. The single-row rollers on Custom Division and Sprint Run knives are loose in the race and easy to lose, so open one only if you are prepared for that; the double- and multi-row roller systems (DRRBS and MRRBS) on full customs are best left assembled. If a knife on one of those has lost its action, send it in rather than lifting the scale. The same goes for a stripped or torn screw, which needs extraction and a replacement part; a bearing that is pitted, flattened, corroded or missing; a lock face that has worn or galled so that lockup has changed and cleaning has not fixed it; and any refinishing, from a scratched anodized scale to a dulled blade finish. The factory does not change a knife’s configuration during service, so a different steel or a new anodizing color is not on offer.

Two more signals mean stop. If you meet resistance you do not understand during disassembly, or if a problem survives a careful clean and reassembly, put the knife back together as far as you can and contact the factory or your dealer. Working through troubleshooting after reassembly first is fine; forcing a part is not.

The warranty

The factory’s limited lifetime warranty follows the knife, so it applies to secondary owners, and it survives loss of the certificate of authenticity. Owner disassembly and reassembly for maintenance does not void it. What it excludes is damage and modification: a screw torn during disassembly, third-party bearings, owner anodizing, a blade swap, or an edge taken off the factory angle of 41 to 42 degrees. In those cases the factory will still restore the knife as far as it can, but bills the work. The policy, the parts availability window and the claim route are on the warranty page.

Opening the knife changes nothing about coverage; damaging it while it is open does. Use the factory bits, work in the cross pattern, heat factory thread locker before backing a screw out, and keep the factory bearings in the knife. The pages on disassembly and reassembly and bearings and locks by system walk through each step.

Storage

Store the knife closed, clean and dry, in a warm, dry place away from prolonged humidity and aggressive environments. Wipe it down before it goes away so no skin oils, salt or cutting residue sit on the steel, and put a light film of thin oil on the blade; the same knife-pivot oil you use in the action is fine, or a food-safe mineral oil on a blade that will see kitchen use. Keep each knife apart from the others so clips and scales cannot rub, and lay it flat.

A silica gel packet or a VCI paper or emitter in the box or case handles humidity swings without any more effort. Keep the box and certificate with the knife, but not touching the blade; paper against oiled steel marks both. If the knife will sit for months, cycle the action now and then. Oil migrates and settles, and an occasional open and close keeps the bearings wetted and shows you early if anything is changing: spots on the steel, a change in the action or a lock that feels different.

Custom Division and full custom knives

Custom Division and full custom pieces carry finishes that do not survive rough cleaning. Anodized titanium takes a mild, pH-neutral cleaner, a soft microfiber cloth and light pressure; aggressive chemicals shift the color, and anodizing wears with handling in any case. Hand-rubbed and directional blade finishes are wiped along the finish lines with a non-abrasive cloth, oiled before storage and handled with clean hands or gloves. Exotic handle materials get the gentlest cleaning that works, with any product tested somewhere hidden first. Owner anodizing is a warranty exclusion, and a refinished knife is a changed one; leave a worn finish alone or send it in.

Keep the factory settings on these knives. Pivot tension and lock bar tension were set at the workshop, and the roller systems are sensitive to small changes, so document the action and lockup when the knife arrives and resist the urge to tune. Custom Division pieces carry their markings inside, on the scales and/or the backspacer, as well as the serial on the box and certificate; photograph them if the knife is ever open, and do not polish them. The duck foot pivot appears on Sergey Shirogorov’s full customs only, never on Custom Division, and like the rest of a full custom pivot it is workshop territory. The Custom Division FAQ and the full custom FAQ cover the tiers in more depth.

Records

Keep the box, the certificate and the purchase record with the knife, and add a note of any service: the date, who did it, what was done, what was replaced and what lubricants were used. Photographs of the knife when it arrived and after any work round this out. The warranty does not depend on the certificate, but a complete set of papers and a plain service history make a factory claim or a dealer conversation simpler for everyone.

Questions answered: Service and care FAQ.