Anyone who owns a Spyderco Military...

New knife? Warm water and dish soap, dry it off and lube the joint a bit.

Gets all the manufacturing grit and dirt off the knife and out of the joint.

It's the first thing I do with a new knife, right before I sharpen it.
 
HoosierQ said:
I understand that the coated blades are a little softer than the satin ones so I stay away. CPM S30V is at its best at 60 rather than 57 or 58 as, I am lead to understand, the coated blades are.
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Where did you get that info from? Can someone from Spyderco to confirm?
 
so I guess my question now is, does it come factory lubed? & should I sharpen the mili on the 40° side on my sharpmaker and smooth the bevel out, or just use it and do it twice a year as someone suggested?
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
so I guess my question now is, does it come factory lubed? & should I sharpen the mili on the 40° side on my sharpmaker and smooth the bevel out, or just use it and do it twice a year as someone suggested?
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Yes, the have some lube on them from the factory. Use the sharpie trick on a section of the blade near the handle to see what kind of angle you are working with. Then you can decide how to proceed. If the knife is sharp, leave it alone, unless you have a way to actually reprofile the whole edge.
 
Smoothness: Just lube the pivot it cycle it. If you're dying to take it apart to satisfy your curiosity, knock yourself out--I don't think it's necessary, and you'll void the warranty.

As far as smoothness goes, I've come to the same point I have as with blade centering--I generally don't really care any more because it doesn't affect function. While a genuinely rough and gritty action isn't acceptable, I don't expect production knives to be glass smooth when new. Think about it--does it injure your thumb to open a less-than-glass-smooth knife?

Sharpening: Every Spyderco I've ever owned has come very sharp, and I've heard countless others repeat the same over the years. Your inclination to sharpen is probably premature. Use that factory edge.

As far as the angles are concerned, that's another area where Spyderco shines--consistently at or near 30 degrees. I find that to be about perfect for the kind of cutting I do with most of my folders. Yes, the edge was formed with a rough grit--there may be some benefit in putting a polished edge on it with an Edge Pro, but it probably wouldn't a huge amount. It'll work great as is.

You could probably answer a lot of your many questions by simply using the knife over the next few weeks and then asking yourself if you're satisfied with the perfomance. Just use and enjoy the knife. :D
 
Curiosity got the better of me. When i was looking at the knife, the blade was off center by a lot. So i decided to do what i've been asking about since i was going to have to adjust the screw anyways. So i took the pivot out, then removed the blade. The blade came out but the washers stuck on the liners. So i pushed them out with a qtip. The oil that came off the washers was rusty colored, it was really dirty. The loctite they use is weird. It's not really like loctite. It adheres to the screw but isn't glue like. Anyways, i cleaned the blade, inside the handles, the pivot and anything else i could reach with a qtip and rubbing alcahol. Lubed it all up with the hoppes i had on hand (never had a problem with it gumming up, i use it in my grippy and it has an awesome action), tightened up the pivot perfectly and it's sooooooo smooth now. I refined the bevel a bit and now all is perfect. I shouldn't have to touch it for a while. What would cause rust to get into the pivot area? The date on the blade was 10-10.
 
So my military is at the sweetspot, but still i feel some resistance! Do i have to wait for the blade coating to wear off? I oiled up the washers and reassembled the knife, so there isn't oil where it shouldn't be. Should i just open and close it, or will they be stiffish?
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
So my military is at the sweetspot, but still i feel some resistance! Do i have to wait for the blade coating to wear off? I oiled up the washers and reassembled the knife, so there isn't oil where it shouldn't be. Should i just open and close it, or will they be stiffish?
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What do you mean stiffish? If it's just the first half inch, it may just be the detent. I actually like a strong detent. After overcoming the resistance of the detent, my millie's almost fly open. In fact, I can flick them pretty well with my thumb.
 
so far i own 4 militaries. regular s30v, coated s3Ov, m4 ril and s90v.

all have a very strong detent, that's a design feature. safer and helps you accumulate some force with your thumb so the knife flies open, "thumb flicks" ... but it can be hard on your thumb

other than that both need breaking in. when new the uncoated version may feel grittier due to the detend ball riding on the ridges of the satin finish, (especialy on the S90V and m4 version) the coated version will feel stickier.

but they are liner locks, whatever you do they won't be as friction free as an axis lock for exemple. the detent presses on the tang almost all the way to the fully opened position.

if you want to test your pivot tension, on a fully broken in knife, with a just right pivot tension, if you hold the knife horizontal and hold the lockbar against the G10 slab, the blade should fall by it's own weight.
 
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Been playing with it over the last few days and it's smoothed out a ton. It doesn't bind up anywhere now and feels smooth. Sweet! Has to be one of my favorite knives that i own now.
 
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