CENTOFANTE III HANDLES: Does FRN expand when warm?

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Mikel_24

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Sep 19, 2007
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My first Spyderco was a Centofante III I purchased locally here in Bilbao (north of Spain).

As soon as I bougt it two things came to my mind:
First: never ever buy locally any Spyderco knives (well, NO knives at all). I payed 100 Euros which is something like $146. Yeah! call me stupid...
Second: I couldn't flick it open, neither open it with a little thum thrust (I hope you get the idea) as I did with a few other one hand openning knives I own.

I didn't give it a second thought untill I got three more Spydies (Delica 4 Wave, Endura 4 and Rescue 93mm Wave). I can open them as I explained before. Same goes about closing them. Just press on the bar with my thumb and give it a nice flick downwards so the non-sharpened portion of the blade rest agains my index finger. Then close it with my thumb.

At first I thought that I just couldn't do it the same way with my Centofante III because with the blade being significantly thinner, it didn't have enough momentum. Then I noticed that I can ALMOST open it that way when I just take it from the drawer but... if I carry it for a few minutes in my pocket... there is no way you can do it.

Now my question is... do the FRN handles of my Centofante III expand when they are warmed with my body heat? I guess so... The deal is that this doesn't happen to any other knife I own. The Delica, Endura and Rescue handles are also FRN but have the so called Bi-Directional Texturing®. Maybe the Centofante III doesn't have phosphor bronze bushings thus making it harder to open and close?

I can live with it, I don't think my knife is defective... I am just trying to gather some info here.
Mikel
 
Just practice for a while. I had trouble "flicking" of Cen3 when I had it. I think you hit it on the nail that the lighter blade is harder to open.
 
The only way those FRN handles will expand is if you put a blow-torch to them. Enjoy your knife---it will break in.
 
Mikel_24 said:
First: never ever buy locally any Spyderco knives (well, NO knives at all). I payed 100 Euros which is something like $146. Yeah! call me stupid...
Click to expand...
I totally agree on this point, european knife shops are sometimes way too pricey.

Mikel_24 said:
Second: I couldn't flick it open, neither open it with a little thum thrust (I hope you get the idea) as I did with a few other one hand openning knives I own.
Click to expand...
That's why I love my lockbacks and don't like my liner locks, they need a small amount of force to open. As I carry my knives in the waist band of my pants, I don't want them to open themselves when I take them or put them back in place.
Apart from that, IIRC some people here say that flicking a knife open is bad for the pivot pin and/or stop pin (lockback pin in the case of a lockback).

If you still want to flick your knives open, don't buy lockbacks, or big ones. Most lockbacks have a too strong spring to flick open easily. Your centofante has a hollow ground 2mm blade, 8cm blade, I think it's one of the lightest blades spyderco makes, you'll have less trouble to flick open an Endura or Police.
 
to your question about frn expanding to your body heat....yes it does, is it noticeable?no...this would not affect anything .....it sould be hard to even measure the microns by which it expands.....the keys to your car expand when their in your pocket by about the same magnitude
 
Thanks for the info... I don't usuallly flick open my knives. I guess that when I said "flick" everyone was thinking about wrist-flicking them open. That is not what I meant. I mean opening them with a thrust of my thumb nail in the spyderhole. I don't know if it expands just a few microns or what but trust me, it is noticeable. Anyway, just wanted to check if any of you had the same issue. I can live with it. It is a nice folder, no doubt about it.
Thanks!
Mikel
 
Hi Mikel_24 there's also a nested steel liner in the clipside FRN scale which might expand/contract w/heat but I'm really guessing :confused: the CentofanteIII is a great knife, much stronger than it looks :cool:
 
I just picked one up for $50 NIB his is my 1st. spyderco blade ,so I hope it is a good one Centofante III ?
 
I had trouble in the opening department as well with my cent III when it first arrived a year ago. The #1 way to improve it for me was switching the pocket clip to tip-up. For some reason, this just positioned the knife better in my hand for rapid opening. Then, just keep on opening and closing it throughout the next week or so, and it will break in niclely.

A little more than a year later, my cento III is the by far my smoothest backlock knife; I can just depress the lock and flip the knife open or closed like an Axis folder.

Good luck
Mark
 
I guess I will need to fumble with it aaaaaaaall the time at the office. I just hope my boss doesn't get upset.. .lol
Thanks for the info guys,
Mikel
 
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