Just got my Spyderco Tenacious!!

S

Shawn7656

Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
370
This thing is my first Spyderco, and so far I'm liking almost everything about the knife. The F&F is great, the ergonomics are nice, the blade is hella sharp (I cut myself without even noticing it until I saw blood on things I was touching :D), and I'm liking the FFG blade.

One question I had was if anyone else has had problems with really sticky action? When I got it the knife was squeaking the pivot was so dry! I put 3-in-1 oil on it and no more squeak, but it's definitely not too smooth (especially compared to my Griptilian) for having the phosphorous-bronze washers. It feels like the pivot screw is over-tightened, but I tried loosening it and I feel it didn't really make much of a difference. Any ideas?
As a side note, I did get this off the Bay, but it was NIB. It could have possibly been sitting in a dry warehouse or something..? Who knows

(Not sure if this should go in general or maintenance)
 
run it under water with soap. make sure to blow dry with comp air. then reoil. should be good to go. if you are handy, you can take it apart and address the problem specifically.
 
If it were me, I'd remove the pivot screw and pull the blade off. Clean everything, inspect for weirdness, oil, and reassemble. Flicking it open 100 times might help it break in, although it shouldn't really need broken in. Mine was smooth but not buttery.
 
I did take off the blade. One of the smaller washers have very tiny dents in them. I'm not sure if this effects performance at all, but now that I've cleaned everything off and re-oiled it it seems a bit smoother, and much more tolerable. Thanks for the idea guys
 
Congrats! Which one did you get?

I just had the all black one arrive today... :D
 
Black G10 with a plain satin finish blade. I really like to look of black handles with silver blades and hardware :)

IMG_20120615_151945.jpg


PS - Grease, I think in your signature, you mean "series" of chance events, not "serious" ;)
 
Great knife, one of the best buys out there. Mine is really smooth curious to why you are having problems. The only fault I can find is the screws for the clip are easily stripped.
 
roncunningham said:
Great knife, one of the best buys out there. Mine is really smooth curious to why you are having problems. The only fault I can find is the screws for the clip are easily stripped.
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I'm not really too sure. I've never handled any others so maybe I've just been spoiled with my Griptilian. However, my roughly 10 year old CRKT Apache III with nylon washers is smoother than this, so I assume there's something that isn't right.
 
I've heard about the Tenacious being gritty for some people. I'd say open and close it a bunch and see if it helps. If not, try taking it apart and cleaning it like others suggested. Mine wasn't super smooth OOTB But man it is friggin butter now. It sits next to my laptop so I have something to play with.
IMG_1215.jpg

(It's a green sprint run that has been dyed red)
 
Interesting... Did you do anything special to it or was there just a break-in period for you? I'm wondering if the strong detent just pushes into the blade a lot, but once it wears down a bit it allows the blade to open smoother.



Also, sort of unrelated, but I'm noticing my Tenacious isn't that sharp FEELING it, but it push cuts paper just as good as my Griptilian that is definitely sharper (and no I don't htink the "toothiness" is doing it. I don't think the Spydie has been stropped, but my Grip has been ;)). Is this what you guys mean when you say this knife is a "good slicer"? Is this the benefit of a FFG blade?
 
Shawn7656 said:
Interesting... Did you do anything special to it or was there just a break-in period for you? I'm wondering if the strong detent just pushes into the blade a lot, but once it wears down a bit it allows the blade to open smoother.



Also, sort of unrelated, but I'm noticing my Tenacious isn't that sharp FEELING it, but it push cuts paper just as good as my Griptilian that is definitely sharper (and no I don't htink the "toothiness" is doing it. I don't think the Spydie has been stropped, but my Grip has been ;)). Is this what you guys mean when you say this knife is a "good slicer"? Is this the benefit of a FFG blade?
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I didn't do anything to it but I did take it apart and clean it when I dyed the scales so that could have contributed to the smoothness. I have heard that the detent ball will smooth out the pathway it rides when you open and close it, resulting in a smoother opening knife.

I would try stropping the Tenny. FFG blades tend to slice better because they taper from the spine all the way to the edge, resulting in less drag/friction when cutting. This is why most kitchen knives are FFG.

I apologize if any of this is wrong or confusing. It's really late.:yawn:
 
Hope your Tenacious will break in soon, mine was smooth from the start and only got smoother.
Still love mine a lot!
 
The Tenacious has a brutal detent. But, once you get past that with mine, the rest of the opening is smooth and easy.

Glad you like your Tenacious. I still haven't warmed to mine yet. I prefer the Ambitious, and even the Persistence.
 
seelow123 said:
I have heard that the detent ball will smooth out the pathway it rides when you open and close it, resulting in a smoother opening knife.
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Yeah I noticed when I opened mine up that it had already started to leave a trail on the blade :o
What you said about the FFG makes sense too!


Chris "Anagarika";10975682 said:
Got my Resilience. Ran it through few cycles of soap & water and now as smooth or even smoother than any of my EDC :)
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I may have to try this. When I took mine apart I used ammonia based glass cleaner on the washers and blade and put it back together. I'll pick up a can of compressed air so I can dry it, then I'll try the soapy water method!

Scott Dolan said:
The Tenacious has a brutal detent. But, once you get past that with mine, the rest of the opening is smooth and easy.

Glad you like your Tenacious. I still haven't warmed to mine yet. I prefer the Ambitious, and even the Persistence.
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So it seems. My thumb is actually a bit sore from flicking it open all day yesterday! And this is my first Spyderco knife, so it's possible that I won't like it anymore if (read: when) I get another one :)


EDIT: I'm just wanting to make sure this is normal -
My Tenacious has two washers on each side, with the logo side having bigger ones. The pivot screw's tightness is also directly related to the centering of the blade. The looser it is, the closer the logo side of blade gets to the liners, and vice-versa. I just put some thread locker in with the blade perfectly centered. I noticed that as I flipped it for awhile it got easier, but it was because the screw had loosened a little bit and the blade was getting scraping-close to the liners :O
 
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