New Delica 4 extremely stiff

Disassemble it sand and smooth pivot area use grease not oil that's what worked for me when I had the delica 4
 
I could barely open mine when I first go it. Now the blade drops freely when I depress the lock. I've lubed it, but that's it. Just use it. :)
 
I know this is a super old thread, but I just found my old delica that I had stopped carrying and I forgot why (surprise, it was bc it's stiff to open). I tried everything above, and with nothing else to lose I just bent the lock bar spring with a little screwdriver (not as hard as you think) and it works great, now it's back in the rotation
 
I've found it can get my delica and endelas drop shut really smooth without side to side play. The thing i just figured out on the one endela was if it's a little tight and won't drop shut without excessive blade play, adjust pivot to just take up blade play and loosen the bolt that goes through the lock lever pivot. It's pinching the liners too much back at the pivot of the lock bar and the liners/washers are not parallel to the blade. Made all the difference in the world. Yes they are going to need broken in a bit when new regardless
 
The factory probably hired some poor lost soul that got chucked out from a Cold Steel factory .
He probably was failing to make the Cold Steels too hard to open AND CLOSE so they gave him the sack .
Didn't want it to happen again at Spyderco so he is doing his best .

Take it apart , try just sliding the spring bar out from the pocket in the handle to get the opposite end of the spring bar as close to the pivot of the lock release bar as possible for better mechanical advantage and try it put back together . When that doesn't work unbend the kink in the spring bar a little .
I like to draw a line on paper to record the original angle first before bending and then use that as a reference to see if I have changed the angle when I go at it and if so then how much .

Trial and error is the only way .
Good luck .

forget lubes and holding the release in or the knife open over night . Physics says that is a pipe dream (which I have verified over and over by empirical experiments I might add ; I want to believe in magic but have fail to find any evidence of it . . . so far ) .
 
hellokitty3000 said:
I know this is a super old thread, but I just found my old delica that I had stopped carrying and I forgot why (surprise, it was bc it's stiff to open). I tried everything above, and with nothing else to lose I just bent the lock bar spring with a little screwdriver (not as hard as you think) and it works great, now it's back in the rotation
Click to expand...
ha ha I started reading at the first posts and didn't look at the date .
. . . any way hazah science wins again , who'd a thought ?
 
hellokitty3000 said:
I just bent the lock bar spring with a little screwdriver (not as hard as you think) and it works great
Click to expand...
If you , perhaps , worked a screw driver in there without first taking it apart then I would warn against that because what anchors the spring in the handle is a worryingly thin piece of fiber reinforced nylon and it would be easy to crack or break that off .
Disassembly is a PITA but safer for your knife .
 
While probably not suggested if you’re concerned about warranty, but with lockbacks….I do a few things.

1. Disassemble and polish the washers on a 1200 grit venev stone.

2. Polish the flats around the pivot on the blade using the same venev.

3. Polish the round part of the blade where the lock bar rides.

4. Fix the lock bar so it rides smoothly against the round part of the blade. Slightly round off the square edge that rides against the blade.

5. Bend the lock bar spring so that it’s not as stiff as it is from the factory. Go slow on this, you don’t need to change it much at all.

6. Put some KPL on the washers on the side that contacts the blade.

Reassemble, remember not to overly tighten screws. You don’t want to strip them.

Adjust pivot screw so there isn’t blade wobble but swings freely downwards from gravity.
 
Wowbagger said:
He probably was failing to make the Cold Steels too hard to open AND CLOSE so they gave him the sack .
Click to expand...
I probably bought one he made, the only cold steel I owned, a rajah III, I could actually shake out AND whip shut like an axis lock/ compression lock by pushing the lockbar with my index finger.
 
stillshot2 said:
I probably bought one he made, the only cold steel I owned, a rajah III, I could actually shake out AND whip shut like an axis lock/ compression lock by pushing the lockbar with my index finger.
Click to expand...
I can do that with my saber ground endura.

If I hold it parallel to the ground and press the lock, the blade falls from gravity alone. No blade wiggle.

It’s all in how you set it up. When making adjustments in tension, less is more.
 
Thanx for the info on the date. I responded as well only to learn how old it was.
Easy to get sucked in if not paying attention to dates.

sal
 
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