Native III, very hard to open?

Applejacks said:
Just got my new Native III, and the thing is very hard to open one handed. Normal?
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Do you mean stiff? If so yeah pretty much. Depends how long it sat on the store shelf. Wash out the pivot with soap and water and or WD-40, dry it real good (hair dryer or canned air if you don't have an air compressor) add favorite lube of choice (knife lube!) and work the pivot back and forth with both hands a bit while watching TV. That should break it it. If you are still having problems, you either need to do finger tip push ups or it may be defective. ;)
 
I've played with a few in the store. The first couple were very hard to open and turned me off to the Native. But then I was checking one out at wallyworld and it just popped right open for me so easily and smoothly I just had to buy it then and there!
 
Mine is very stiff. I've cleaned it, worked it, and lubed it with no change. Sal Glesser said on this forum that they were made that way for legal reasons. The tightness is due to spring strength, not sticky pivot.
 
That's exactly right. I noticed on my S30V Native and Native III model that when you depress the backlock while opening the blade swings much easier. I used a little Militec on both pivots and worked them open and closed about a thousand times :p and they both open pretty smooth now.
 
I too noticed this and quickly realized it's the tightness of the fit between the blade and the liner. So I took some fine grit sandpaper on the end of a popcicle stick and wore a little of the liner especialy around the area where the thumb hole sits in the liner. This seemed to fix the problem, somewhat, but I don't believe you will ever flick this knife minus the grasping the thumbhole and flicking the handle method, the lockback spring is just too heavy.
 
I find Militec-1 works the best of what I've tried, but you have to heat the knife up to about 140F (I think that's what their site says) to get the best result as it helps the Militec-1 bond. They say you can put the knife, gun, etc, under a black tarp in the sun for a few hours. I just run a hair dryer over the knife on low. I use a probe cooking thermometer to monitor the temp of the knife to keep it within range.
 
My native III was like that too. If you open a the knife a lot, it will loosen up a little. I used to wrap duct tap on top of the blade, around the hole, to create a thumbstud on my spydercos. It will help also. In addition, the duct tape will help to keep your thumb from getting scrapped raw from opening the blade all the time.
 
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I have a Native III that takes more effort to open than most of my other lockbacks. I'd never be able to just flick it open. If I wanted it to "Brownie-pop" open I would be unhappy with the knife. (O Lord, I can't believe I used that term. See other threads and cringe.) But I have no trouble opening it with one hand. And since I never expect my knives to pop open, I'm perfectly happy with it as is.

Maybe yours was more stiff than mine. I only have experience with my own Native III.
 
I had hoped they had corrected this problem. I got one a long time ago.
It was hard as heck to open, I mean I just could not open with my thumb. I took the thing apart and found the spring was too stiff, bent the spring and all was well. Sure is a shame they don't fix, this is a great knife.
I DON'T RECOMEND YOU TAKING IT APART!
Oh, I did send it in, Spyderco sent it back, said it works fine.
 
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