Shop Hogue Gear & Outdoors
One item. The Hogue gear and outdoors shelf holds a black screw and clip kit at $19.07, and nothing else.
That is worth saying in the first line rather than the last. The other thirteen Hogue SKUs in this warehouse are on the knives shelf. What this page can usefully do is explain what the kit is for, and cover the small job it exists to support, because replacing pocket clip hardware is the most common repair a folding knife ever needs and it is very easy to do badly.
The Hogue Black Screw/Clip Kit is a set of black stainless Torx screws and a pocket clip, specified by the manufacturer for the EX-01, EX-03 and EX-04. It arrives bulk packed, which means no retail box, and like everything else Hogue makes it is manufactured in the United States.
Those model numbers are the Extreme Series, the line Hogue launched its cutlery division with in 2010 alongside the custom knifemaker Allen Elishewitz. If you own one of those knives, this is the factory replacement hardware for it.
The listing specifies those three models and no others. We are not going to tell you it fits a Deka or an Extrak, because the manufacturer does not say that and clip screw patterns are not interchangeable across designs. If you are unsure, count the screw holes on your clip and measure their spacing before ordering.
A pocket clip lives a harder life than any other part of a folding knife. It flexes every time the knife goes into a pocket, it catches on seams and seat belts, and its screws are the smallest fasteners on the tool, threaded into a handle that is being twisted slightly with every draw.
Three things go wrong, in this order of frequency. Screws back out, usually one at a time, and you notice when the clip rattles or the knife starts sitting crooked. Screws get stripped, almost always by the owner using the wrong driver. And clips take a permanent set or crack after enough flexing, particularly if they have been pried open to fit over a thick pocket seam.
The first is the one worth catching early, because a clip screw that vibrates all the way out takes itself with it, and a lost screw is a much bigger problem than a loose one. Check the clip screws whenever you clean the knife. Finger pressure on the clip tells you most of what you need to know.
Small Torx fasteners are unforgiving. Nearly every stripped knife screw was stripped by a driver that was slightly too small and spun inside the head.
If a head is already rounded out, stop turning. A screw extractor or a trip to the manufacturer is a better outcome than drilling into a handle scale.
Clip screws that keep loosening are the classic case for a removable thread locker, the low-strength kind normally sold in blue. The mistake people make is using far too much, or reaching for the permanent red grade.
A trace on the threads is enough, and it belongs on the screw threads rather than dropped into the hole where it can run into the pivot. Let it cure before carrying the knife. Never use a permanent-grade compound on knife hardware, because the only way to remove it later is heat, and heat near a handle scale or a heat-treated blade is a bad idea.
Also worth knowing: some thread lockers attack certain plastics. If your handle is polymer rather than G10 or metal, keep the compound strictly on the threads and wipe any excess immediately.
If a screw still will not stay put after that, the threads in the handle are probably worn, which is a warranty conversation rather than a hardware one.
While the clip is off, it is worth thinking about where it goes back on. Most knives that offer more than one clip position expect you to move the clip to suit how you actually carry.
Tip-up carry puts the blade's point toward the top of your pocket and is what most modern folders are designed around. Tip-down is the traditional arrangement and some people find it more secure. Left or right side is simply which hand draws the knife.
Two practical notes. Move the clip to a position the knife was made to accept, using the existing threaded holes, rather than trying to make an unsupported position work. And check the clip does not sit over the lock release once it is fitted, because a clip that presses on a lock bar is a genuine safety problem rather than a comfort one.
The kit is in the building in Woodlawn, Virginia, and ships from here. At $19.07 it does not reach the $149 free shipping threshold on its own, so it is the kind of thing worth adding to an order rather than buying alone.
Hogue's limited lifetime warranty to the original owner covers defects in materials and workmanship on their knives, and excludes normal wear and damage from misuse or neglect. Hardware that has worn out through ordinary use is generally a replacement-parts situation, which is exactly what this kit is for.
For the knives themselves, start at the Hogue hub.
The clip coming off is the one moment a folding knife is easy to clean properly, so take advantage of it.
With the clip removed you can reach the section of handle underneath it, which is where pocket lint compacts and where moisture sits longest. On a knife carried daily this area is usually far dirtier than the owner expects.
Warm water and a soft brush handle most of it. Work the blade open and closed under running water if the handle materials allow, then dry it thoroughly, which matters more than the washing does. Compressed air or a few sharp shakes will clear water from inside the handle where a cloth cannot reach.
Then a single drop of light oil at the pivot, worked through by opening and closing the knife a dozen times, and wipe away what comes back out. More oil is not better; excess simply collects the next round of lint into a paste.
Do not put a knife in a dishwasher. The combination of heat, prolonged moisture and harsh detergent damages handle materials and attacks the finish, and it is a reliable way to introduce rust into a pivot you cannot see.