Help with spyderco Raven

B

Bill97z

Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
40
I just picked up a RAVEN. I really like the knife. It is much bigger than I thought it would be and I really like the handle material and pattern.

The knife functions properly if I open it slowly, but if I open it with a flick of my wrist, the liner lock really diggs in far and it is almost impossible to unlock. It takes a lot of effort to move the liner lock and close the blade, but again this only happens with I open the blade quickly with a flick of my wrist. Is this normal?
 
Not to nit-pick, but your knife is a Byrd Raven, not a Spyderco.

Regarding the lock, one thing you might try is rubbing the tip of a pencil along the edge of the liner lock and along the blade where the lock makes contact. This may help to lubricate the lock a bit. It is most likely an issue of a slightly rough lock or blade surface, and will probably smooth out with use.
 
I will try lubricating it, thx.

When I open the knife slowly the liner lock is about centered against the steel of the blade that it contacts with. When I flick it open quickly, the liner lock goes completely to the other side of the knife. I hope lubricating this makes it better. other than this, I love the feel and look of the knife. I also prefer the liner lock to the lock back because I can close it easily with one hand (when it's working right)
 
err...lubing it will make the liner move further to the right. I wouldn't do it.
 
I bought a byrd raven just a few months ago, and carried it a while. I haven't had that problem at all... The liner lock does take a little more force to push back over than, say a CRKT lock, but I wouldn't say difficult. This might be an exception in production, not a poor design.
 
As a guy who likes inertial openings (wrist flick, or whatever you want to call it) I can tell you firsthand that it is hell on liner locks. I've incrementally loosened the lockup on more than a few knives (from various companies) from doing it. Some models certainly hold up better, but in general I try to now avoid it on liner lock knives. I used to think it was only the liner itself wearing, and while that is sometimes the case it more often seems to be deformation of the stop pin/blade contact point that allows eventual overtravel of the liner and loose lockup.
 
Padawan said:
Doubtful. What would your suggestion be?
Click to expand...

ok, I think I was unclear. Bill97z had two problems:

- when flicking it open / opening it with great force, the liner would engage on the right of tang. lubing it would only make it more slippery...it probably will engage further to the right. unfortunately, there's no real solution other than to try and disassemble the blade, maybe turn the stop pin a little to see if it will help. sometimes when the liner engages too far right, makers would use a bigger stop pin to address that. at least that's all I know.....

- the other problem was unlocking it when it engaged hard to the right. lubing it would help. however, using graphite would be better as lube may be too slippery.

anyone has suggestions to help Bill?
 
spyken said:
ok, I think I was unclear. Bill97z had two problems:

- when flicking it open / opening it with great force, the liner would engage on the right of tang.
Click to expand...

As ThinkOfTheChildren suggested, inertial openings can have this effect on liner locks. From what Bill97z described, the lock works and engages correctly when opened in a normal fashion, so I'm led to believe that it isn't really a manufacturing defect, since building the lock to catch less of the blade when flicked open would likely result in insufficient lock/blade contact when the knife was opened normally. I have a Benchmade that exhibits the opposite issue. Only when the knife is flicked open with force will the liner lock fully engage, leaving less-than-optimal lock contact when opened normally.

spyken said:
- the other problem was unlocking it when it engaged hard to the right. lubing it would help. however, using graphite would be better as lube may be too slippery.
Click to expand...

I suggested he rub the lock/blade area with the tip of a pencil, not with another lubricant. Pencils = graphite. ;) :thumbup:
 
yep...pencils are good! although not a long term solution. however, the liners are stainless steel (420J2, methinks), so smoothing it will also help but risky if you smooth it too much.

For $19, I would leave it as it is.
 
I will try the pencil thing and let you know how it works out! Thanks!

The more I think of it, these knives just are not made for inertial opening.........oh well.

Shame, because I really like it.
 
Keep the lock dry. Contrary to what you may think, oil makes a sticky lock stickier (especially with framelocks). Get the tip of a kleenex in there and dry it off and then open and close it about a hundred times.

.
 
It's pretty dry now, man this knife is getting annoying......it's getting worse as it breaks in.

I am going to contact spyderco and get their thoughts. Now, if I open it any harder than a soft one hand opening (wrist flick) the liner lock goes all the way to the other side of the handle and get's jammed up in the corner. It takes teh pressure from a screwdriver on the liner to pop it out.....ugh!!!
 
Still no replys from Spyderco.....sent 2 emails. Guess I will have to try and give them a call.
 
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