Paramilitary blade play question

D

dip_n_ride

Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
154
So after shopping for everybody else for the past month, I decided to bite the bullet and buy myself a Paramilitary for Christmas. I bought the Foliage Green, CPM D2 variant, and I'm very impressed by it. I haven't had a chance to hard-use it yet, but it's a great looking and great feeling knife, and I'm already a fan of the compression lock.

When I first took it out of the box, I didn't notice any blade play right away. I tried forcing it with my fingers and it was solid. However, after really trying to move it in between my thumb and index finger, I noticed the slightest bit of vertical play, probably < 1mm. I know it's common for Spyderco lockbacks to have a little play, but I was under the impression that since the compression lock functions similarly to a liner lock, this would lock up without any play (I have a tenacious that has 0 play, and I've handled a military before that also had 0 play).

What do you guys recommend? Is this something I should be concerned about? I've read a lot of different accounts on the subject, it seems that some people think it's no big deal, and others think sending it in for service is the best route. Just want to get a fresh take.

Thanks.
 
I wouldn't worry to much if it only moved that little bit especially if its vertical blade play.

hold on ill check my para....
 
Ok mine has a little side to side where I haven't tightened the pivot screw it a couple of weeks : embarrassed: and as for vertical it is extremely minimal if non existent, I would worry to much about and I have used my para pretty hard and still very very very little if no vertical play. good choice by the way :thumbup:
 
You won't get much on a fresh take, the lines on that issue have been drawn long ago.

Some say just use it and get over it, all knives have some play. It comes from a background of knifeusers who remember carrying pinned blades in brass liners for decades. Those cut well and it was never much of a big deal with lockbacks.

Others say they paid too much to accept any play whatsoever and send it back. They relate it as a significant quality issue or design defect, and absolutely refuse to consider it as a normal part of mass production - usually from a mass produced, popularly sold knife. Expect no tolerance for anything less than "rock solid." With linerlocks, blade play can affect blade lockup.

The amount you describe sounds about normal, and it won't get better over years of levering on the pivot. Kinda like finding a chip in the paint when you pick up a new car, what you do about it is a lot up to you.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

I didn't think anybody was going to have anything revolutionary to say about it, it just seemed that from the searches I ran, it had been a while since this was brought up.

I think I'll probably use it for a little while and see how I feel about it. Overall I'm satisfied, I guess I was just wondering if it affected the integrity of the lock. Perhaps I should have just asked that in the first place.

I can definitely level with those people who expect a $125 knife to perform as such. This is the most I've spent on a knife by about $30, so I guess we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking we're getting a "different class" of knife.
 
:D don't worry about the lock it is one of the stronger locks there is, just remember to use and don't worry about it.
 
hwpaintballer said:
:D don't worry about the lock it is one of the stronger locks there is, just remember to use and don't worry about it.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! I appreciate it. If I can move past all the issues I have with blade play, I'm sure I'll be fine. Maybe I need therapy.
 
Mine has no play, but if yours only has a little I wouldn't worry.
If it starts to develop so more after some use then send it in, Spyderco will take care of you.
 
Sometimes the play will go away... If your good at tinkering.. taking it apart and rebuilding it often helps... I took my D2 para apart a few times when I had it.. and worked out all the bugs..
Enjoy
 
Cool, I'll keep this all in mind. But the consensus is that if it does have a slight amount of play, it won't affect the integrity of the lock, right?
 
trimcut123 said:
Sometimes the play will go away... If your good at tinkering.. taking it apart and rebuilding it often helps... I took my D2 para apart a few times when I had it.. and worked out all the bugs..
Enjoy
Click to expand...

That would be my suggestion too. I took my D2 Para apart the other day and it definitely changed the feel of the lock. Nothing better or worse, just different. Get yourself a set of torx drivers and get stuck into it!
 
I'd send it back to have the blade play fixed. In my experience, it will only get worse. I keep meaning to send mine in. Can't remember the last time I used it. The blade rattles up and down when shaken in the locked position.
 
Strange, after awhile mine developed blade play back and forth, but not verticle along the lock.
I tightend the pivot and it is all good. If there is play along the lock, then I would send it in, side to side isnt so bad, but along the lock, that is warranty time imho.

Have no worries, spyderco will take good care of you and your para.
 
tollund said:
That would be my suggestion too. I took my D2 Para apart the other day and it definitely changed the feel of the lock. Nothing better or worse, just different. Get yourself a set of torx drivers and get stuck into it!
Click to expand...

If I was to try taking it apart, besides getting a set of torx drivers, how do I go about deconstructing it? Is there any specific method to taking it apart (i.e. taking out pivot screw first, then the rest of screws in the handle, etc.)?
 
search youtube for videos by spydiedave, I believe thats his name, he made a video on taking and putting back together a para.
 
My Para had slight vertical play too. It didn't bother me too much on its own, but the off centered blade really got to me for some reason, so I sold it at a loss to someone who didn't care.

I wouldn't worry about it, function wise, my para held up very well in the couple of years I had it, it's more of a personal thing. It's a brilliant knife.
 
I will say now, that the tightness of both the pivot screw, blade stop.. and the clip screws also effects.. ease of opening.. Sometime Militarys and paras.. Function better without it.. So you tweak it..
 
I've never handled one, so I don't have my own experiece with it. However, a buddy of mine has one and he said his had very minimal vertical blad play. His has held up thus far without any issues, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
 
I'm almost tempted to get a Para just to see what this vertical play is all about. Neither my Superhawk nor SS ATR has any play of any sort, though the Japanese manufacturing could have something to do with that.
As far as lock security goes, the Compression lock is the only lock that I've never even heard of failing (outside of testing). In Spyderco's testing there were three ways the lock failed. 1. the lock tab is cut off by the blade tang and stop pin, 2. the stop pin tears out of the handle, 3. the pivot pin is cut in half by the blade tang. All three cases require destruction of the knife, it doesn't just "slip".
The design of the lock is such that pressure from the blade tang "pinches" the lock tab. Where a liner lock has a long lockbar with all sorts of room for wiggle, the lock tab on the Compression lock pretty much just sits there and gets squeezed.
Here's a good practical example of the principle. Go find a large block eraser (usually white), now squeeze it lengthwise between your fingers, it'll wiggle all over the place as it tries to pop out, the more pressure the more it wants to pop. Now just pinch the end of the eraser... No wiggle. The closer you get to squeezing a block rather than a bar the better. This is what the Compression lock accomplishes.
I bet the Compression lock would still work with half the tab missing.

Edited to add.
Another thing is that the lockbar on liner locks (and frame locks) is offset at an angle to the direction of pressure from the blade tang. The Compression lock applies pressure in a straight line from the tang to the stop pin, another one of the factors that make it such a stable lock.
 
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I still say my para has no,(unless I put a TON of force on it) vertical blade play, so just cause its a para doesn't mean it has vertical blade play. Like trimcut said you have to tweak it to be perfect.
 
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