Fess Up: Who Messes With their Spydies for Perfect Action?

Lenny

Lenny

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 15, 1998
Messages
2,505
I admit it, I played with both my Sage 1 and Para 2.
Each had minor problems with either too tight or too loose (blade play) pivots, and blade centering.
After a lot of trial and error, and Loc Tite, I can honestly say that both are perfect now.
So, everyone else, don't be ashamed to tell us you've messed with your Spydies?
Lenny
 
Yeah, well...messing about with screws and such, plus loads of polishing compound in the action. I was unsure about the compound in the action, but the thing is slicker than a minnow's...well, you know. That was with my E4s. I gots nothing to do but watch movies and wait for my wife to get home. I think I'll mess about with one of my D4s and see what happens.

Jeff
 
I get mine and play with it a week or two to break it in. Once I feel its broken in, I will clean the pivot with soap and hot water, let dry, add a drop of lube, add teflon tape to pivot screw, and adjust until it is loose but minimal blade play. A very slight wiggle doesn't bother me as long it has smooth action.
 
I'm guility of it too =) I'll strip my knives and lub the pivot and adjust the screws such that the blade movement is smooth.
 
I tweaked my Sage I. I tightened the pivot slightly and rounded edges of the spine a little. Didn't need to, but my preference.

ric
 
My para 1 pivot screw always loosens up after flipping it for a while. I always
gotta get my torx driver and screw it down. Need to get some Loctite.

And my sage 2 has been bugging me becuase the opening is a little
scratchy. I think its the ball detent scraping against the tang of the blade.
Its not smooth like it should be. I might try sanding it down a little bit and
see if that helps. Anyone have any suggestions?

Also the opening hole on the sage has some pretty sharp edges. If I stick
my nail in the hole and slide it across it will actually scrape off the
top layer of my nail.
 
My Caly 3.5 was a little tight. Just loosened the pivot screw ever so slightly (a tiny fraction of a turn) and it seems perfect now and thankfully still no blade play.

Got a new PM2 coming in probably on Tues. Those seem to frequently require a little tuning up from what I've read.
 
I'd say 9 out of 10 are perfect but I've had a small issue with my DLC Para 2 pivot. Some may have seen my thread asking for advice. One of the pivot screws was coming loose and when I went to tighten it, it would go from spinning to tight in a tenth of a turn and then the blade would be almost too tight to open. If I backed the screw off it would come completely loose. I cleaned that screw off and put some LocTite on it and tightened it down good and then loosened the other side. The other pivot screw behaved like all the others I've tightened in that there is some resistance for a half turn or so before it's completely tight. This allowed me to find a "sweet spot" on that side without the screw being totally loose and it's been fine since.

What bothers me is that my first two Para 2's have perfectly tight pivot screws on both sides and the blades swing almost as smoothly as the Manix 2. I just wish the DLC Para 2 did the same.
 
Whenever I get a new Spyderco, I always check out a few things and do some initial tinkering/optimization--
-Switch the clip to tip-up if under 3.5" blade, tip down for over 3.5" (assuming multi clip positions)
-Strop the edge to get rid of any tiny burr from the factory, plus turn it from a toothy edge to a more polished one (this is pretty easy for something like VG-10, but stuff like S30V and ZDP takes a while to go from "toothy" to smooth and easy-push-cutting polish. sometimes it take a few tries to get it perfect)
-On lockbacks, I adjust the pivot to hit the "sweet spot" where there is not side-to-side play, but it still opens smoothly. I also put a little lube on the lock-face and sometimes scrub it out with a toothbrush to smooth out the action. On all types I check for play and deployment smoothness, and adjust the pivot accordingly.

I think it's part of getting to know the knife, and making it my own. It's a fun little ritual that I always enjoy, and I always work on it until I get the results I hope for.
 
mongatu said:
My Caly 3.5 was a little tight. Just loosened the pivot screw ever so slightly (a tiny fraction of a turn) and it seems perfect now and thankfully still no blade play.

Got a new PM2 coming in probably on Tues. Those seem to frequently require a little tuning up from what I've read.
Click to expand...

The Caly 3.5 can get uber smooth with no play! The blade on mine swings loose when I disengage the lock, yet still locks up solid.

It's surprising the Para 2 would need adjustment, considering it has the new bushing system. I certainly didn't have to do anything to my pivot--it came silky smooth and lockup up like a vault (is that enough cliche's for you :p?). One thing's for sure, that thing come profiled to slice like a mofo. It and my Military are the sharpest, most gradually beveled spyderco's I've seen (with my XHP Manix and ZDP Walker close behind). I'm lovin' that knife.
 
mentaculus said:
The Caly 3.5 can get uber smooth with no play! The blade on mine swings loose when I disengage the lock, yet still locks up solid.
Yep, that's exactly how mine is after I adjusted it as described above. So far, it's my favorite Spydie.
It's surprising the Para 2 would need adjustment, considering it has the new bushing system. I certainly didn't have to do anything to my pivot--it came silky smooth and lockup up like a vault (is that enough cliche's for you :p?). One thing's for sure, that thing come profiled to slice like a mofo. It and my Military are the sharpest, most gradually beveled spyderco's I've seen (with my XHP Manix and ZDP Walker close behind). I'm lovin' that knife.
Click to expand...
Well I sure hope the one I get will be like that out of the box. Looking forward to getting mine either later today or tomorrow. I just wish they had been able to squeeze a tad more blade length into that Para 2 handle. But that's my opinion before actually handling an example of the Para 2 just based on pictures and specs. One of the things I particularly like about the Caly 3.5 is how much blade length they manged to squeeze into a relatively small sized handle.
 
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