Knife repair question

longbeachguy

longbeachguy

Joined
Oct 11, 2005
Messages
2,533
If you have a knife with a pivot pin insead of a screw (and therefore can't adjuster the torsion) is there a way to tighten up the action without sending it back to the manufacturer? Side to side wobble is the problem.

Any advice would be apprecieted.
 
you can stick 2 old school double sided razor blades (preferably dull) inbetween the blade and the handle. Then you tap the pivot with punch and hammer. LIGHTLY. Go slow.
 
It's a Spyderco Native III. I'll just send it back to them for the repair. I figured if they were just going to compress the pivot joint in a vise or something I'd do it myself. Sounds a little more complicated than that though.

Thanks!
 
You can do that yourself but most people ding them up. If it is going to be a user anyway you might not care but a big ding or scratches on the pivot can be a red flag for anyone should you go to sell it.

The thin razor blade trick will work and seems to be about the right thickness to make things tight but not so tight that the blade won't work smoothly. You just need to shove it down inside between the blade and the FRN body before tapping the pivot. I usually use just one and then tap it but two won't hurt for starters and if it is still too loose after you pull the blades out try just one on one side of the blade and tap it again. The best ones to use are the older super thin Gillette style old fashioned razor blades.

Spyderco is pretty quick really compared to some of the other companies. 14 days is the longest I've ever had to wait and usually it is like 10 on the few times I've sent them one of mine.

STR
 
BenchmadeNut said:
Throw it away and buy a benchmade :D
Click to expand...

Yes I know, you would never have this problem with a Benchmade. For the life of me I can't figure out why so many Spydercos use pins at the pivot joint instead of screws. I realize it's probably a cost issue, and you have to economize where you can in order to be able to sell knives with VG10 and S30V steel for $40, but the Kabar Dozier manages to have a pivot screw, and sells for $20.

I'm sure there's a good reason I'm just not aware of.
 
You can tighten a rivet by tapping with a hammer but it's tricky -- it's easy to get it so tight it won't move it all, and then you have to loosen it up again, and then it's easy to get it too loose and you have to start over. You're probably better off sending it in to Spyderco.

ThreadMoving.jpg
 
Oh please. The first thing I had to do on my BenchMade 420 Resistor was sharpen it. The second thing was tighten the pivot to take out the lateral blade wobble. BenchMade doesn't walk on water any more than any other company. Don't think just because Spyderco uses pins on their 'user class' folders that they are lacking in anyway. A little blade play is not going to interfere with the way the knife performs. If you want adjustable pivots and it means that much to you buy the higher end Spyderco knife and let the guys that don't mind handle the FRN pinned ones.
 
STR said:
A little blade play is not going to interfere with the way the knife performs.
Click to expand...

Yes, it isn't like the knife is held perfectly in place in your hand and never moves during the cutting. As force is applied the knife will lock in the extreme position of the play and stay there.

Concerning the razor blades, interesting I have never done that. On some of the pined blades, the stainless ones in particular they can loosen after chopping and similar, I just knock them with a hammer/rock.

-Cliff
 
longbeachguy, keep in mind that Sal Glesser himself has stated that a little play is to be expected in Spyderco's lockback knives. In my experience, it's more common in the FRN ones. It doesn't make the knife unsafe to use or anything, so rather than end up with a knife that's a b*tch to open, you might want to just leave it be unless the play is excessive, in which case I'd recommend letting Spyderco take care of it.
 
Gryffin said:
longbeachguy, keep in mind that Sal Glesser himself has stated that a little play is to be expected in Spyderco's lockback knives. In my experience, it's more common in the FRN ones. It doesn't make the knife unsafe to use or anything, so rather than end up with a knife that's a b*tch to open, you might want to just leave it be unless the play is excessive, in which case I'd recommend letting Spyderco take care of it.
Click to expand...

Thanks you guys. I have about ten Spydercos, mostly FRN, in fact all except for my Kiwi. I certainly don't mind a little blade play, but this Native had a lot. I'm sure it wouldn't affect the knives performance, it's just annoying. I completely acknowledge that.

Well I changed my mind and decided to try to work on this knife myself. I then discovered that "old school razorblades" are hard to find. So hard in fact that I was unable to find them at all. Since I couldn't find a suitable alternative, I tried to just tap the pivot without using any spacer at all. Since nothing happened when I tapped it I hit it progressively harder until I was worried I was going to hurt the knife, but I didn't accomplish anything with the pin except scratch it up.

So, I threw caution to the wind and stuck it in a vise to compress the pin and the joint, thinking that I may bend the pin instead of compress the ends, which would ruin the knife, but what the hey. Anyway, it seems to have worked. There's still a tad bit of play, but completely within the acceptable range. Also, the action is still smooth and not overly stiff.

I'd be interested to know anyone's thoughts as to why this worked and tapping, hitting and even whacking the pin with hammer and punch didn't.

Am I stupid or lucky or both?
 
I would say that the pivot pin is hardened steel and not the softer 420 other makers use.
You thus had to use a bit more force.
If you had done this with a standard slippie with a German silver or brass pin, it would most probably have been over-tightened and in a word, stuffed!
Dirk
 
I don't think you peened it correctly. Squeezing a pin in a vise is dangerous to the knife, and generally won't accomplish any good.
Bill
 
Usually I set the bottom side of the pin on my anvil. Then tap after placing a razor blade in the folder like described.

Last time I was in drug warehouse I thought I saw some of those old style razor blades for sale there.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
I don't think you peened it correctly. Squeezing a pin in a vise is dangerous to the knife, and generally won't accomplish any good.
Bill
Click to expand...

Very possible since I've never done it before. Do you use a punch or hammer the pin directly?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top