Millie Question, resistance when opening

kmj153

kmj153

Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Messages
360
Just got my first Millie today in the mail. Everything is what I expected except there seems to be some resistance when opening. I have other spyderco's that open much smoother. I loosened the pivot screw to see if it would make a difference and it did not. Any suggestions? Should I take it apart for further investigation?
 
kmj153 said:
I have other spyderco's that open much smoother.
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To what are you comparing your Mille? A Para? A Mille is not as smooth as a Para, and the different resistence is attributable to the locking mechanism. Same is true for a comparison with a Manix 2. Just curious as there may be nothing at all wrong with your Millie.

One last question, can you flick it open?
 
my millie flys open with no with almost no resistance whatsoever, but its an older one...when the blade is half way open, is it still stiff to move back and forth? If so its not the ball detent and it just need to be broken in
 
jurisprudence said:
To what are you comparing your Mille? A Para? A Mille is not as smooth as a Para, and the different resistence is attributable to the locking mechanism. Same is true for a comparison with a Manix 2. Just curious as there may be nothing at all wrong with your Millie.

One last question, can you flick it open?
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Interesting, but not necessarily true in my experience. The 5 Milis I own have actually all been smoother than the Paras I have. All knives NIB and all bought from reliable dealers. The paras had a little grittiiness when opened, it worked itself out with a little TLC and a good cleaning.
 
RevDevil said:
The 5 Milis I own have actually all been smoother than the Paras I have. All knives NIB and all bought from reliable dealers. The paras had a little grittiiness when opened, it worked itself out with a little TLC and a good cleaning.
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I don't want to hijack this thread, but find it interesting that experiences do differ. I've had 3 Millies and two Paras and the Paras were some of the smoothest opening folders I have had. The Millies have had more resistence throughout the opening. Would be an interesting poll or separate thread to see others experiences.
 
I feel your pain. I just got a millie and it was very hard to open compared to other spyders. I lubed the crap out of it and it is a little better. Not as gritty. Hopefully it will loosen up over time.
 
Just got a manix 2 super smooth opening, closing but different lock to the military. Military has heavy duty linerlock forcing itself aginst the blade on opening and closing giving the impression of resistence, grittyness but in reality blade opens very smoothly and quitely with out gritty feeling.
 
My black millie which I use more often than my orange is now very smooth opening. It used to be stiff but after a lot of cycles it smoothened out. My orange has also smoothened up but is still not as smooth as my black.
 
jurisprudence said:
To what are you comparing your Mille? A Para? A Mille is not as smooth as a Para, and the different resistence is attributable to the locking mechanism. Same is true for a comparison with a Manix 2. Just curious as there may be nothing at all wrong with your Millie.

One last question, can you flick it open?
Click to expand...

I can only flick it open when I jerk the wrist for momentum.

I am comparing it mainly to my Para and GB. the GB is super smooth and my para has just about no resistance. It has so little resistance, I am surprised that it can even hold itself open at 90 degrees. Also, on You Tube reviews, they seem to open more easily.

What's the worst that could happen if I just take it apart to look at the bushings?

By the way it is an Orange Millie.
 
The Military uses PB washers, the Gayle Bradley uses bushings. Is the blade centered when it's closed?
If you feel ok with taking it apart, I recommend using a shoe box or lay a towel down to catch any screws/small parts that may vanish.
 
RevDevil said:
The Military uses PB washers, the Gayle Bradley uses bushings. Is the blade centered when it's closed?
If you feel ok with taking it apart, I recommend using a shoe box or lay a towel down to catch any screws/small parts that may vanish.
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Now that you say that, the blade is not exactly centered. If I do take it apart and find something wrong do you think Spyderco would still help me out with replacing anything that may be bad?
 
kmj153 said:
Now that you say that, the blade is not exactly centered. If I do take it apart and find something wrong do you think Spyderco would still help me out with replacing anything that may be bad?
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That depends, the warranty although stated in straight forward terms, is interpreted with slight variations person to person. The knife itself is not difficult to disassemble and reassemble. But you will need the right Torx bits to prevent stripping the screws:
Pivot - T15
G10 Handles and clip - T6

By tightening the pivot the blade will center (the detent is what is pushing it off center). Tighten the pivot until the blade is centered and see if the blade centers up. Leave it hand tight. Test the opening action.

Also, with the knife open and locked, look at the pivot areas between the G10 and see if you can find the phosphor bronze washers, one on each side.
 
Well I took it apart. One of the washers has some damage. I took some pictures, but my camera sucks. It looks like something was trying to go through the washer but the washer was not centered and therefore a small lip was formed.
DSCN2671.jpg
DSCN2683.jpg
 
wash it. It might have some manufacturing debris in there - G10 dust, swarf. Then lube it :)

Hope that sorts it
 
kmj153 said:
Well I took it apart. One of the washers has some damage. I took some pictures, but my camera sucks. It looks like something was trying to go through the washer but the washer was not centered and therefore a small lip was formed.
DSCN2671.jpg
DSCN2683.jpg
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Call the Spyderco store and ask them if you could have a pair of PB washers for the Mili. Offer to send them an email and include a better focused picture of the washer you have. That definitely looks like it's dinged up, sort of beyond cleaning. That should be no problems getting those replaced. that will allow your Mili to operate smoothly like mine ;)
 
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