Disassembly of a Compression Lock Spyderco

SaintZe said:
I can 100% understand why the end user might not want to do so, and why companies are so averse to it, especially given the stories of knives mailed back to the warranty department in disparate parts. On the other hand, I've disassembled and tinkered with every Spydie I've owned, and I'll likely continue to do so for any others I purchase. Is there a chance of screwing something up? Sure, but that's on me. If the knife doesn't work out of the box, I'd send it back, but the moment it's it's in my hands and confirmed to work it's my choice to do what I want with it- and I want to see the internals to understand the design philosophy behind the knife, and usually to polish and buff some points of contact.
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yeah no ones arguing that. it's more when someone messes it up and sends it back under warranty...expecting to not pay for their mistakes. yeah it's your knife. take the risks and pay the price if ya mess it up. no one has beef with that not even spyderco.

I'm not referring to the OP as he said it had play in his original before he took apart. just referring to folks who tinker mess it up and then expect spyderco to repair it under warranty...which happens more than it should. it ain't right to make spyderco eat profits to fix home tinkering and disassembly/assembly mistakes under warranty. you'd agree right?
 
I disassembled my Shaman and reassembled with no issue and while I'm not an expert knife maker, I am fairly mechanically inclined. I agree with others that disassembly is unnecessary 99% of the time. I like to see the inner workings of the knife design and craftsmanship though and tinkering is part of the fun. I’d never send a knife in for warranty work that I disassembled and caused issue. I fully understand “proceeding at my own risk”.
 
jbmonkey said:
I'm not referring to the OP as he said it had play in his original before he took apart. just referring to folks who tinker mess it up and then expect spyderco to repair it under warranty...which happens more than it should. it ain't right to make spyderco eat profits to fix home tinkering and disassembly/assembly mistakes under warranty. you'd agree right?
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I agree. Problem is, I'd guess those are the customers who give Sal and other makers/designers reason to worry about/dislike people disassembling their knives.
 
If there is a problem send it in. Don't try and fix it.

Not saying don't take it apart otherwise. I always take them apart to clean them. Just not if it's new and with an issue.

Huge thread about that here. Even nick Shabazz has a video on the subject.


But yea, I will have to take apart many knives even soap and water and lighter fluid doesn't always fix gritty issues and applying lube very light instead of soaking in a lake of oil, it's beneficial to take apart.
 
I have a dozen PM2’s and while some come nearly perfect from the factory, some do not. The culprit is usually blue loctite or some similar crud in the pivot. Sometimes the blade isn’t centered. It takes all of 2 minutes to remove a few screws, wipe off the blade & washers, reassemble. In fact, I just did it on a 52100 marked 8/17 I got in the mail yesterday. The action was a little crunchy. After wiping everything down with isopropyl alcohol and adding a few drops of oil, it’s a perfect knife now. I’ve also never run into red loctite or come remotely close to something resembling stripping a screw. Not suggesting you need to disassemble your knives, just that it’s really not a big deal if you need to.
 
David Lowry said:
Quit watching YouTube. There is no reason to disassemble a brand new knife. Use the thing. Christ, what is with these people?
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sharkattacksw said:
So true! Why do people disassemble brand new knives? Because everyone knows more than the designers and engineers that made the knife.
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Dallas T said:
I don’t get it either, I’ve never needed to disassemble any knife for any reason. Unless changing scales for ti or something it’s not necessary.
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I'll give you an example of why it was a good idea in my case. And also this was not the only case for me but most recent.

I have a brand new military with new cqi improvements and haven't really found any disassembly footage or pictures for it so I wanted to take it apart and have a look.
I don't have older style millies and i believe the pivot mechanism is different in this one apart from having large screws and lanyard hole. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I had this knife since last December. It wasn't perfectly centered, but was fine and action was good on it. I was satisfied, maybe wanted to sand the inside edge of scales tiny bit, but that's all. Its a production knife and cannot be given the attention I can give it, you know... This one wasn't too bad in this regard.
So I took it down.
LnDxhdFh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LnDxhdF.jpg

BBWmTUsh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BBWmTUs.jpg

That liner and scale are beautifully machined and fit very flush together.
There is, however, a problem with the other side.
8BnFII0h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8BnFII0.jpg

That little piece of metal, where everything has to be completely flat, is pushing against a washer and it's a lot better now without it.

You can see these tiny portrusions in every hole of this liner.
8TNNW14h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8TNNW14.jpg

This knife's pivot is almost sebenza like, where you are not supposed to be able to over tighten the knife and the rest of standoffs control the distance in other parts of knife. (You still can over tighten it and it matters how much you tighten on both sides) The standoffs are also affected by these portrusions as found affecting other holes.

So the knife is perfect now, as it was designed to be, after I took care to remove just the problem areas without making the liner any thinner. Blade is free dropping when lock is depressed (not that I care on this knife but it's worth mentioning) and there is no side to side completely (and i check while lock is disengaged also, *by the tip*). Credit to Spyderco:thumbsup:

Like I said, its not the first time I ran into issues like these. I like that it probably keeps the costs down and that my perfect military is now even better. Thank you spyderco that I am allowed to take your knives apart as i did improve every spyderco I had come across so far. To adjust knife like this takes too much time to be messing at the factory with each one.

I have Chaparral from Taichung, cf version.
When i take width measurement and compare front to back, with my calipper, its absolutely perfect. Resolution on calliper is +- 0.03 mm/ 0.0005 in
Its amazing what we get...., But I did have to take it apart once and sand the sharp points on the inside of metal liners still. I just had to.

This Military is best money i spent on a knife.
 
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Excellent work. Some people have been known to goof things up in the process, but you've done very well.
 
I too tinker, and end up taking all my knives apart. I am one to fix things myself as much as I can, rather than having someone else do it or replacing the item - cars, tools, bikes. It is not for everybody, but lot of us can do it effectively.

In regards to this topic, causing a vertical blade play by simply taking a knife apart, there is something else going on. Something off with tolerances. I have multiple of PM2 (my favorite) and taken each apart many times. This should not cause a vertical blade play, in my opinion.
 
Only reason to disassemble a brand new knife is if there is significant grit in the action, which even then a drop or two of lube in the pivot will usually fix that, especially on washers. Out of the 150...200, 250? knives that I've owned, I've only had to take apart 3-4 brand new ones to clean factory grit out of the pivot, none being spyderco, and none being on washers.
 
I only take apart my knives if A) I know it will be kept for sure, and B) it has been subject to significant moisture that I would like to head off at the pass.
 
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