New SNG and Hamburger Thumbs.

Kimberholic

Kimberholic

Joined
Sep 19, 2002
Messages
591
Just picked up a like new SNG from a fellow forumite and I've had it two days now. Breaking this thing in is turning the tips of my fingers and thumbs to mincemeat. The only time I haven't been working it I've been researching it here and on Usual Suspect.

I think that the pencil trick is the best one I've learned yet. Before this trick I was using a plastic keychain bottle opener to disengage the lock after flicking. Woah!, it is really solid.

I took it apart and cleaned it and oiled between the washers and the blade when it started feeling gritty. It has a very simple design but I had difficulty getting the blade and washers back into the frame... I just realized I should have loosened the screws that hold the frame together(duh). I really do know how to think but sometimes it happens a little bit later than necessary. I guess I was thinking of Senenza reassembly.

I am curious if anyone uses teflon tape on the pivot screw to keep it from constantly loosening. I am thinking of trying this next to keep it set on a constant tension.

I have been liking this knife more and more as it smooths out. The pocket clip is a lot more grippy than I am used to though. I have a feeling I may take its toll on my daily wear khakis. Any suggestions here?

This SNG is the sharpest blade I have had to date. I normally swipe at a loose sheet of TP while spending time in the smallest room in the house. Other knives have cut some and torn out the rest. Not this Strider. When I swipe at the hanging sheet of TP the sheet cuts cleanly all the way to the end.

It does wonders with very little effort on flesh too. Lets just say I won't be making any cords on my guitar for about a week. That is not unless I want to stain the strings red.
Good night.

Jon
 
Originally posted by Kimberholic
I normally swipe at a loose sheet of TP while spending time in the smallest room in the house.
Click to expand...
Oh, man, I don't think the king should play with sharp knives while on the throne. He might scratch his sceptre! :D
 
you should use some kind of loctite on the pivot, blue comes apart real easy if you want to go that route, I use the red stuff myself.

Take the clip with the tip of your finger and bend it up until it just barely doesnt touch the handle any more.
 
Breaking this thing in is turning the tips of my fingers and thumbs to mincemeat.

Don't worry it will eventually break in...mine went through the Passaround on this forum where 10 people opened and closed it for a week per person before it came back to me, then I have opened and closed it about 500 times, and it is getting close to where I can take the lock off with one hand!

I can now pop the caps off beers that usually need an opener as well! :p
 
My Sng suffered the same circumstances. Bloody thumb and a good amount of time to break-in the lock.

New, opened smooth as butter. The lock would not cooperate in the least for about a month of open and closes.

The lead pencil trick works good, now that it's broken in I still reset the lead on the lock after opening and closing it out of habit.

Haven't taken mine apart yet.

Brownie
 
It took about 600-700 cycles for mu Gen 1 SnG to break in.

I used to have really rough and tough fingertips from martial arts as a kid, but I've been out-of-practice for more than a decade (as of yesterday, YIKES! I'm gettin' old), and yep, I had a bit of a hematoma under the lower right corner of the fingernail on my thumb. I was able to do all of that in one day, one sitting, though.

:)

It's pretty darned smooth now. Not much different from my Sebbie while new nor from my Gen.4 SnG with Bull Pivot, which I've yet to break-in -- but it's still a far cry from my "Mayonized" Sebbie or my Spyderco Viele.

It takes a while to get used to, but in the end, the knife will be broken-in, and you'll be toughened up for it as well.

:)

Allen
aka DumboRAT
 
Originally posted by tom mayo
Take the clip with the tip of your finger and bend it up until it just barely doesnt touch the handle any more.
Click to expand...

Whoops, what happens if you bend it up a tad too much and now it's too loose? :mad:
 
I Just had a lightbulb light up in my head and a loud Ding sound to accompany. How about wearing a glove during the constant flicking for the break in period. I put one on a little bit ago and flicked it about 100 times and my thumb feels like it has only flicked 10 times. This should enhance my comfort and speed the process. Bada Bing!
 
The gloves are for after you wear the callous down to the raw flesh and you want to keep on flicking.

Jon
 
I've been lucky with mine, as it has not displayed any problems noted above. As far as breaking in the pivot, my choice was to grab the blade and the handle and just work it in an arc that came close to, but not actually, locking. Carefully, of course. I was able to give it mucho cycling this way. Other times, I'd thumb it a quarter arc open and then close with the thumb. Sometimes I'd be walking around with my hand and knife in the jacket pocket and give it a working out in a smaller arc that the pocket allowed while out in pubic.

Yes, the lock is hard to unlock, but I like it this way. The knife, in my mind, winds up more valuable due to the breaking-in labor performed on it. It's smooth as glass now. It can even be opened with a wrist flick, although it's not an action I want to do on it very much.
 
The SNG is $400 list price on the stider website. Is this tightness a postive feature of a Strider knife or is it a design flaw? If it loosens up in the "break-in" period, will continue to loosen up as it ages? Please don't take this as bashing strider knives, I'm just interested in how strider owners view this feature of their knife.

In my experience, most knives above $100 MSRP have very little break-in period and most work great and stay that way out of the box. They may go from smooth to silky...but I've never had a severe break-in period for a knife outside of an EKA (w/o an adjustable pivot.)
 
The breakin on the Strider SnG's is normal for the framelock of this knife.

Most everyone has the same thing happen when new on this model.

Mine was a smooth as glass in opening from NIB but it took the customary 500-700 opening and closing to get it where the lock could be released one handed.

Not a design flaw just a design feature of this particualr knife. I see no wear on mine since breakin.

The lead pencil trick works well at helping the breakin go faster.

Like Boink, I did performed the same routine to break it in, and regularly have done this with other knives from 30-1000.00. Price doesn't really enter into the equation here for me.

Brownie
 
Wish I could find one around here to f with...not too many nice knives here in Tulsa. Hardly anyone has heard of Strider.
 
I have a second generation SnG, the one with the stone-washed finish.

I did not have the same difficult job you guys had during break-in. I opened it a few dozen times while watching TV that night, and put a small amount if CLP-Breakfree in the pivot.

My lock also fully engages the blade, and that was of some concern to me. I would have preferred that a smaller amount engaged, and leff the rest for wear. But then, I thought, it's a Strider. Will the thing wear at all?

It's spooky sharp now, requires little maintenance other than a periodic wipe down with Tuff-Cloth. I think I sharpened it three weeks ago (?), and it stays that way. I was always too OCD about my knives. I don't worry about the SnG.
 
Boink:

Rub a lead pencil over the blade portion when it's closed, which will contact and lock against the framelock when opened.

The lead helps lubricate the contacts and releases much easier.

Brownie
 
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