Native rivet is loose.

J

jeffreyliu838

Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
332
Recently, my Native has developed some blade play. I've noticed that the rivet (or whatever it is) that holds the blade into the handle is loose, and able to be moved left to right. Also, when I'm pushing down my blade to do stuff like whittle bark off wood, the blade can be pushed back. After some examination, I've concluded that the blade is able to be pushed back because the rivet isn't tight enough. So Bladeforums Spyderco subforum, my question to you is: How would I tight this rivet? With just a hammer and some precision? Or will I have to send this back? Thanks.
 
One of my Natives had what I considered excessive blade play. I followed another forum member's advice of taking a razor blade and inserting it between the blade and the handle next to the pivot pin and then tapping the pin with a hammer. Worked for me. Just keep in mind that with the FRN handled knives, there will be "some" blade play. It' just the nature of the beast.
 
Hmm. I'll try that? A razor blade on each side? How does this method work?

Anyways, I've tried just tapping with a hammer. It'll fix it for a while, and then it'll become loose after closing and opening again. It's almost as if when I close it, something pulls one side of the handle down, and pulls the rivets apart...Or something. I don't know.

Lemme clarify a bit on the blade play though. It's not gradual blade play, like blade play usually is. It's up and down, and it snaps to it. It kinda pushes the lockback's lock a little bit back. It's barely there, but when I'm cutting something, I can feel it in the handles, and I don't like it there.

Thanks.
 
jeffreyliu838 said:
Hmm. I'll try that? A razor blade on each side? How does this method work?

Anyways, I've tried just tapping with a hammer. It'll fix it for a while, and then it'll become loose after closing and opening again. It's almost as if when I close it, something pulls one side of the handle down, and pulls the rivets apart...Or something. I don't know.

Lemme clarify a bit on the blade play though. It's not gradual blade play, like blade play usually is. It's up and down, and it snaps to it. It kinda pushes the lockback's lock a little bit back. It's barely there, but when I'm cutting something, I can feel it in the handles, and I don't like it there.

Thanks.
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You won't be able to rid that up and down play. It's the lock bar and blade notch geometry that determines if there's up and down play. I have a few Spydies that have this kind of play. It doesn't seem to effect the lockup and I don't even notice it anymore.

The razor blade trick acts as a stop to make sure you don't over tighten the knife. Side to side play is easily fixed by tapping the rivet. With the razor blade there you have that space reserved when you pull it out after tightening.
 
Ah. Lame. The clickie noise is kinda annoying. I guess it compensates with super steel though, haha.

So what exactly is the razor blade reserving space for? Just curious. I tapped the rivet kinda hard, being frustrated and all, and I'm just wondering if I hurt anything. I tapped it in both the close, and the open positions.

Thanks.
 
For future reference Spyderco has excellent factory service & would probably be able to remedy this type of thing for you.
 
jeffreyliu838 said:
Ah. Lame. The clickie noise is kinda annoying. I guess it compensates with super steel though, haha.

So what exactly is the razor blade reserving space for? Just curious. I tapped the rivet kinda hard, being frustrated and all, and I'm just wondering if I hurt anything. I tapped it in both the close, and the open positions.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's possible to accidentally over tighten a pin making the knife difficult or impossible to open and close. That's what the razor blade is for in the method described by pkdmslf. It just gives a little space to keep you from freezing the blade in place. I wonder if a razor blade might actually be too thick though. Maybe a thin feeler gauge or something like that would work better? I'm just guessing here. . . I don't own a Native, nor have I tried fixing a similar problem on any knife so take any advice from me with caution. :o;) It's also possible that the holes in the FRN handle have become distorted. I don't know how hard you use the knife or anything, but I think it is possible to put enough pressure on the handle that the pin kind of gets pressed into the FRN and elongates the hole.

I believe that the pivots on the Natives are solid pins with a head like a nail on one end and the other peened to hold it in place, not rivets.
 
jeffreyliu838 said:
Ah. Lame. The clickie noise is kinda annoying. I guess it compensates with super steel though, haha.

So what exactly is the razor blade reserving space for? Just curious. I tapped the rivet kinda hard, being frustrated and all, and I'm just wondering if I hurt anything. I tapped it in both the close, and the open positions.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The razor blade is there so you don't over tighten the pin.

Oops, he beat me to it.
 
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