pm and pm2's...do yours close with gravity or not?

jbmonkey

jbmonkey

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i got 4 examples.

a pm....it closes with gravity if held up right and the compression lock disengaged.

a pm2 standard....would not close with gravity until i cleaned all the burrs and locktite out of the pivot area, not it will clsoe about halfway with gravity and a little shake.

a pm2 grey sprint....closes with gravity.

a pm2 green....will not close with gravity, but i haven't checked the pivot yet to see if it needs loosening or took it apart to remove overuse of locktite and burrs, etc. might be an easy fix....

so i'm curious do your close on gravity from the factory?

special note: this is not a spyderco complaint thread...mine all work well, and i am sure they are well within specs.....it's more of a i am curious if they are designed to close with gravity or not? please no rampaging or dogpiling on spyderco...i have no interest in that. thank you.
 
I got a dlc pm2 and it falls smoothly when releasing the lock, my yojimbo2 does that aswell witout any side side play. Surprisingly my stainless atr falls quite smoothly but not as silky as pm2 & yo2, on the other hand my gunting is stuck upon release and requires finger operation.
 
My standard pm2 needs a little shake for the blade to drop closed. The pivot is not overtightened either, I just noticed a small amount of side to side play.
 
We can't expect a high percentage of consistency on a knife in this price range in regards to smoothness. You even get some of it with the mid-techs, but not as much. Same with the detent, as it can be light to heavy.

I've had many Para's, and have several now. Of the ones I have now some drop easy and some won't. It doesn't bother me though and I don't let it determine which will be an EDC for me.

There was a time when I liked the one's that dropped the easiest, and had the lightest detent. Now I prefer one thats about right in the middle.
I've found that my Militaries and other Spydercos are the same in this regard.
For knives in this price range I think Spyderco is very good at keeping their knives consistent.
 
I try and tighten mine so that they're just tight enough to need a little wrist flip but not loose enough to fall with gravity.
 
IMHO: it should NOT close with gravity. But that being said, you shouldn't need to flick any harder than just a twist to close. If it get to a point where the pivot is TIGHT and it still closes with gravity....get some new washers.
 
I had to fiddle alitle with mine to get it perfect. A good clean and alitle less force from the lockbar and it was awesome. I would not recommend doing it if your not rly anal about it :P But I guess every one is as screwed up as me here :D

I have mine set up so I need alitle flick with the lock disengaged.

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My user Para 2 closes pretty smoothly now that I have opened closed it alot but my dlc coated blade one is not as smooth. I was thinking the dlc coating makes it stick somewhat.
 
Mine don't. I had a PM 2 that had a freely moving blade when it was unlocked, but I sold it, mostly because of that. The one I have now doesn't move until I move it. Just the way I want it. None of my original PMs move until I help them out a bit.
 
My guess is that they are designed to close by gravity if the user wishes to loosen the pivot a bit, and if the user wishes them to not fall closed, tighten the pivot. My green was a bit gritty at first, but is now smooth after a soapy water rinse. I had read on the Spyderco forum (and checked out and confirmed by the design differences) that the Junior and PM2 are designed differently to give different performance in closing. The PM2 has a relief in the G10 for the locking tab to be extended enough to get the detente ball out of the way to have an easy smooth closing. The Junior is purposely designed with no relief such that it forces a two handed (or another object against the spine of the blade) closing by giving resistance on the blade tang at all times for safety reasons to keep in line with the design intent of the Junior. There is kind of a sweet spot I think, because I like enough tension to keep all side to side wiggle absent, but this requires a slight wrist action to do. Most of the time I give it too much and the blade closes and bounces back open a bit. If I do it just right, I can flick it down and release the lock and grab the detente hole and keep it closed.
 
estate4life said:
IMHO: it should NOT close with gravity. But that being said, you shouldn't need to flick any harder than just a twist to close. If it get to a point where the pivot is TIGHT and it still closes with gravity....get some new washers.
Click to expand...

The PM2 uses a bushing, not just a standard pivot/screw - it should be tight at all times and still function properly (the compression lock is like a liner lock in that the detent ball is in the lock-bar, so when the lock is disengaged to the point where the detent is no longer in contact with the tang, it should have little to no resistance on the tang).

The same bushing-system is in the Native and when you disengage the back-lock, the same thing happens.

I've got one that takes a slight flick to open/close (I think it's my Orange one), but my Blue/CF/Black/Digicam and Grey all open/close with gravity when the lock bar is disengaged.
 
thanks y'all for the feedback. appreciated.

i myself like the gravity falling, as i like to unlock the compression with my right hand trigger finger and holding the knife needs my thumb and the rest of my fingers and so no gravity no one hand close for myself and my grip style. i also don't like to flick knives, so that's kinda a non-issue for myself.
 
my smurf PM2 closes like a guillotine. Don't have your finger in the way when you push the lock button (tab?)!
 
My regular black/satin PM2 started dropping with gravity after just a few hours out of the box, playing with it. Wish the detent was stronger but the blade is one of smoothest to open and close that I own.
 
With one exception all of mine have closed with gravity. My orange one didn't due to a rather heinous burr on the hole for the bushing. After polishing that off it would drop shut with authority.
 
My camp/satin is solid and I close it with gravity most of the time. I can open it with gravity to, but I usually just flick it with my thumb.
My camo/black came especially tight, and when I had to choose between easy flip action or side to side blade play, I chose to tighten up the screws and get rid of the blade play.

Edit - I should add that I brought up the tightness issue to Spyderco and they suggested I send it in to see what they could do about it. I never did send it in, and I've taken it apart trying to fix it so many times by now I've probably voided the warranty.
 
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My Blue M390 Para2 closed with gravity upon receipt.
After installing micarta scales, I purposefully snugged the pivot bolt down just a hair. Now it requires just the slightest shake (certainly not a flick) from vertical to close all the way. Gravity will pull it just over 1/2 way closed from horizontal, if I choose to start there - then a slight wiggle, or tap from the finger, will lock it down.
 
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