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Mitchell Knives

Mitchell Knives

Knifemaker
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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May 21, 2000
Messages
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Hi. I've had my Chinook for a few weeks now, and noticed some vertical blade play. It locks up fine horizontally though. Is this normal for the Chinook? Has anyone else experienced this problem? Should I send it back? Is there any way to correct this myself? Thanks.
 
Just how much is "some" vertical blade play?
I have it, but barely noticeable--so little that I couldn't accurately quantify it in terms of fractions of an inch. Best guess I doubt it could even be as much as 1/128".
Horizontal is about the same and neither bothers me at all as I understand that there must be some kind of play in order for the blade to easily open as it was designed to do.

I suspect that the blade play on yours as you described is greater than on mine.

Did you try tightening the hex screw on the handle? If so, what effect does that have?
 
Some people have reported that there's a little bit of up-and-down play in their Chinooks. That's sort of the nature of the beast with lockbacks though: many of them have a small amount of vertical play. It can be annoying, but I wouldn't worry about it unless you have, like, a lot of blade play.

I agree that you should try tightening the pivot if you haven't already done so. You would think that it would just help reduce side-to-side play, but it can actually help with up-and-down play too for some reason.

My Chinook doesn't have any side-to-side play unless the pivot is really loose, but it does have just a smidgen of vertical play unless the pivot is really tight. To get a perfectly solid lock-up, I have to keep it a bit tighter than I'd prefer, but I lube it with Break-Free and it still opens very smoothly.
 
mine has some vertical play, I can feel it but I can't
really see it.
Sal will pick up this thread soon and give you the straight
skinny.

GD
 
The amount of play is so small that you can't see it, only feel it. When I tighten the pivot, it goes away. However, when I do so, it makes it hard to open. I think I'll try some Break Free like someone suggested earlier and see if that helps. I'll let you guys know if that works. Thanks for all the helpful replies.
 
You might want to do a search here on vertical play and the Chinook. I think Sal did indeed address this issue in the past and said a small amount was inherent in this type of lockback and lockbacks in general.
 
I have only had mine a week, and have been snapping it open really hard trying to learn to get it quickly open with one hand. I haven't seen it develop any looseness yet, but I will say the Chinook is not a really "fast opening" fighting knife.

Has anyone else who has used theirs longer noticed if it becomes easier to open after awhile?
 
Bugs the heck out of me, and my Chinook is seeing less carry time. i must admit I'm super anal about blade play of any kind though. Lockbakcs just seem to have that issue, though I'm not sure why (I don't know enough about the subtleties of lockback design).

If the Chinook ever gets revamped, what is the likely hood of a lock switch? While i trust the lock on mine, it is a bit annoying. Picky, i know, thats why its just a question and not another suggestion :D

Actually, I just realized that my Endura (FRN) has seen pretty steady and hard use (ok, at times abusive) since the days of plastic pocket clips, and it still has vault door type lock up. Maybe its not something about the design of lockbacks, or maybe just have an awsome Endura?
 
Hi all. I've been trying some stuff this afternoon and think I've fixed the problem. First, I cleaned the knife really well...as best I could considering you can't take it apart. Then I sprayed a ton of lubricant into the joint. I used some new stuff I found at Walmart made be B'Laster Co. (PB penetrating catalyst) It seems like good stuff but has a really strong odor. After letting it sit for a while, I worked it in a few hundred times and proceded to loctite the tension screw in. I got a little loctite in the joint area by accident but was able to work it out...probably helped smooth the insides anyway. After all this, I now have no blade play. I'll check the knife again after I allow a few hours for the loctite to dry completely. I'm sure that it will still lock up rock solid though. I'm so glad I was able to fix it...I really like my Chinook as do so many other Spyderco fans. :)
 
Hi Zombie. The strongest type of engineering on a lockback that we have found, will have a very slight amnount of vertical play. Shouldn't be a problem. There are other ways to engineer the lock on a lockback, but we've have not found them to be as reliable or strong as the way we do it.

sal
 
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