Opening stiffness

M

mikesae

Joined
Oct 28, 2006
Messages
103
I was at the shop handling Spydercos for the first time. Marvelous stuff- I'd love to get one.

I noticed that the blades on some were very stiff, maiking it impossible to open with one hand, defeating the purpose of the spyderhole.

For example, the Persian was so stiff it has to be opened with two hands, yet the Viele II glided out like butter using just the thumb/spyderhole. Same with the Cricket, easy to deploy yet the Native was very stiff.

Do different examples of the same model exhibit different stiffness?

Or are all Persians stiff, all VieleII smooth and so on?

Thanks!
 
if you are in Canada, chances are some knives got their pivots over-tightened to avoid the customs nazis.
 
The Persian is especially famous to be stiff on NIB models. I'd consider it a good sign that the Persians you were perusing were actually NIB. A wash in soad and water, drying, application of favorite lubricant (other than Astroglide :D ), and a bit of a wear in period and it is smooth as silk. The Kris and the Mini Persian have the same deal. This is to be expected as they were made by the same Seki factory, and designed by the same designer.

So short answer is yes different models will show different levels of smooth opening when NIB, but some require a break in period. ;)
 
It sound to me like your experience was typical, especially if that was a Native III (3D handle, VG-10 blade). As Zen said, the Persian and Native III are famous for being stiff when new, along with a few others (I believe the stiff ones are all mid-locks). The Viele and Cricket are framelocks, which tend to start a lot smoother. A good cleaning and oiling and a few hundred cycles should take care of the problem.
 
I just received a Spyderco Standard with an integral clip. This old boy is pristine, new in box condition. It is probably 20 years old and probably never opened before. The blade is tight as I've ever seen on a production knife. I'm going to oil the pivot then open/close repeatedly until she smoothes out.
 
My Native I was fairly stiff when I got it and still isn't as smooth as my other Spydies.
My Kiwi was extremely tight when I first got it but after opening and closing it about 100 times it's at normal Spydie smoothness.
 
Hmm... My Persian wasn't particularly stiff. Neither was my Native uno.

Probably the stiffest Spydies for me were the Scorpius and an old Hunter.

As Yablanowitz pointed out, lockbacks can sometimes start out stiffer than knives with other locking mechanisms (like liner locks, frame locks, compression locks, etc.) because there's more spring pressure on the blade.
 
I have used a generous blast of WD-40 on new SS Spydies to loosen them up. It seems to clean up the "gunge" that is on some new Spydies. I then blast it out with compressed air, apply some lube and you're ready to go.
I usualy don't do this to FRN models, I use hot soapy water for them.

Bruceter
 
Thanks for the info :cool:

I just joined the forum last week and already it's made me get a Sebenza and a Sharpmaker.
It looks like I'm into knives now. :D

I quite like the vieleII, but I think I'd like to wait for the dealer to get a Caly3; it seems perfect on paper.

Initially I thought the Spydercos looked unbalanced plus I'm severly arachnophobic, but after handling them vs the worthy competition they strike me as some of the best.

Cheers,


Mike
 
A lot of knives going to Canada are often tightened in order to pass customs inspection. Sometimes they even have a bit of water-soluble glue put into the pivot so that they won't fail the "flick test" and be classified as prohibited "inertia" knives. you can remove this simply by rinsing in warm water for a while, drying thoroughly and then oiling. There is almost always something that can be done to loosen up a tight blade. Even on the stainless models, you can pry the scales apart *ever so slightly* (emphasis on "slightly") to loosen things up a bit. Any knife loosens up with repeated use, so opening and closing repeatedly (several hundred times at least) will go a long way towards getting things smooth. (we call this "knifesturbation" :D ) Adjusting the pivot screw (if applicable) is the quickest fix. If you're a real nerd/ gunsmith, you can take the knife apart and lightly stone some of the wear areas to reduce friction, but unless you know what you're doing, you can ruin your knife by introducing blade play or compromising the lock mechanism.

Oil works to a degree, but I often find that although it works for a while, it eventually attracts lint and other scuzz and ends up making the problem worse over time (makes the action gritty) So I don't really oil my knives much, except for cleaning and corrosion protection. For the latter I use a Sentry Tuff Cloth or Tuff Glide which keep things from rusting, and give a degree of lubrication without trapping gunk in the mechanism.

Hope this helps.
 
Many people like me appreciates the stiffness in openning knives. Knife openning in the pocket is a serious threat for me (cut two pants and one shorts in the past). The stiffness can be adjusted/oiled/broken into the right stiffness for you. But for some knives (those without a screwed pivot), if it's already loose out of factory, it's almost impossible to get it stiff.
 
lreed said:
Many people like me appreciates the stiffness in openning knives. Knife openning in the pocket is a serious threat for me (cut two pants and one shorts in the past). The stiffness can be adjusted/oiled/broken into the right stiffness for you. But for some knives (those without a screwed pivot), if it's already loose out of factory, it's almost impossible to get it stiff.
Click to expand...

Does anybody have a solution? My Jester came from the factory very lose. I could flick it open with not much more then a small wrist flick. Now it's even more lose.
 
darthsoaker said:
Does anybody have a solution? My Jester came from the factory very lose. I could flick it open with not much more then a small wrist flick. Now it's even more lose.
Click to expand...

Well, there's always one solution: Send it to Spyderco factory! :D
 
My Native III is as stiff as a post. I remember Sal saying in one thread that this was intentional and would not be repaired.
 
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