Native blade play

K

Knutbar

Joined
Apr 5, 2001
Messages
25
I recently got a Native, and it's absolutely great, but there is fairly noticable blade play from side to side. How normal is this? Should I be concerned?
 
Side to side blade play is pretty much a standard thing with a riveted FRN handle. As long as it's solid up and down, it should be ok.

Paul
 
I had a small amount of play, I placed the rivets in a vise and VERY lightly squeezed. Its fine now.
 
I have an FRN GIN-1 model, with barely discernable side play and NO vertical play. The blade swings pretty freely and it seems to be "perfect."

I have two more (CPM 440V) on order, but only one is for me.

Karl
 
It's just a bit of side to side play...i noticed it when i was flicking some water off the blade and could feel it 'rattle' slightly...front to back it is rock solid...
 
Rattling sounds too loose to me. My Native was bought used. With some effort, I can induce it to move the slightest bit sideways, but it sure isn't noticeable when I use it. It has no movement at all vertically.

I'm thinking maybe its time for you to at least call Spyderco's service dept and talk to them about it. Might need to go in for something, unless you can get lucky with the vice as posted above.
 
I have a Native that came with side to side blade play and up and down blade play. To fix the side to side play I lightly hit the pivot pin with a hammer, took care of that problem. What could I do to remove the up and down play?
 
My Native came with a bit of side blade play. It seems within reason. I guess you often get that with riveted pivots. I wonder about the remedies used by nugget and Saberman, with the hammer or vice to tighten the rivet.
As I recall, SOG and Benchmade use screws at the pivot instead of rivets on their FRN knives.
Why doesn't Spyderco? Is it cost or function? I guess screws might cost a tiny bit more, but screws might allow for a better adjustment at the pivot than rivets. Sal?
By the way, when is the flat ground Native coming out? I'm sure it will be a big seller.
 
From what I've heard, it's (1) cost and (2) security--the rivet won't ever back itself out like a screw, confounding non-knife-nut owners.
 
I tried the hammer treatment and it worked great! The action's a little stiffer than I am used to now, but it definitely took care of the play. Thanks everyone!
 
My GIN-1 Native has both sideways and vertical blade play. Seems I got a lemon, since the Shell Inlay version and the Native II I bought later were perfect.
 
Just received two 440V Natives yesterday. My friend's combo edge has no discernable play. My plain edge has just slightly less discernable lateral play than my GIN-1, and some vertical play, which seems more than it should have. The only other folder I have with that much vertical play is an XL Voyager. On a small knife like my new Native, though, it seems excessive, especially compared with the other two Natives I've examined, not to mention my OLD Endura (no vertical play) and just a wee bit of vert. play on my pink Delica.

Is this perhaps dangerous via poor lockup? I can't SEE any movement, but I can feel it. I'm not too worried, but should I be?

Guess that old Endura and my GIN-1 Native have spoilt me!

Karl

P.S. Just about the same wee bit of vert play on my large BM Ascent, too. But my old abused Endura is ROCKSOLID both ways! So is little LadyBug.
 
Interesting...every GIN-1 Native I've handled (3 or 4) has had lateral play out of the box, but the 440V models haven't--too bad I hate 440V. Good thing I got a Native II--good steel and good lock-up.

I've never seen lateral pressure problems on any other FRN model except the Walker Lightweight. Hmmm...
 
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