PM2 Question

Cory Hess

Cory Hess

Basic Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2014
Messages
2,117
I've been looking forward to the left-handed PM2 since I first heard about it a couple months ago. It showed up in yesterday's mail and it's fantastic. It's really cool that Spyderco made the unpopular(among manufacturers) decision to cater to us southpaws. This is not a knock on Spyderco or the PM2 in any way. I also don't consider this issue something that affects usage or safety or really matters at all. I'm simply curious, having never owned a PM2 or any compression lock knife in the past.

OK now that that's out of the way, there is a bit of blade slop when the lock is not engaged and I'm curious as to whether or not it's normal. Basically, if the blade is between open and closed and I grip the spine and push towards the pivot or pull away from the pivot the blade will move back and forth a bit. Think of grabbing a knife that's partway opening and trying to pull the blade out of the pivot and it giving a little like it's going to come out. Not much, maybe 1/32nd of an inch. It almost seems like the hole in the blade that the pivot goes through is a little too big for the pivot. I haven't taken the knife apart to look, so it's entirely possible that something else is causing it. It moves enough that I can hear a clicking noise when I do it. When the blade is locked open the movement goes away and it locks up really tight. I tried to do a search but nothing came up, so I apologize if this has been covered before. It's a little hard to explain, and I don't know if I can get pictures that would help in any way. If this is something that nobody has ever heard of before I can try to get a video, but didn't want to take that step if it's not necessary.

Like I said, it doesn't seem to affect anything. It's just a curiosity and I thought I'd ask about it. The knife is already in my pocket and I'm not trying to say that it's defective or anything like that. I'm really happy with the knife and have no complaints at all. Just curious.
 
Odd. I went and checked my S110V PM2 and only if the blade is barely open can I get some movement. Even then, it is not as bad as you describe. Where did you buy your knife?

(If it locks up solid I probably wouldn't worry about it)
 
I just got done checking mine to see if mine does the same thing and it does, actually. Very, very slight movement but movement nonetheless. I never noticed that before and I've had it for at least 2 years I believe. I've used my PM2 a ton and haven't experienced any problems at all, so I'd reckon yours is fine to use as well.

As the others said, as long as it locks up tight I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I would say, not normal.

I just checked my right handed and it has nothing like described, only a very slight amount of side to side right before lock up.
Checked all my other Spydercos, non compression locks. They don't have it either.
In addition to possible blade to pivot fit, could also be pivot to liner/scale fit. Can you detect the pivot screw moving with the blade?
 
Interesting. It seems like some have it and some don't. I could be wildly exaggerating by saying 1/32nd of an inch. That's as small of a measurement as I'm used to dealing with, so it's just what comes to mind. It could be 1/64th or 1/128th for all I know. It's just a little wiggle.

I got the knife from Top Quality Knives. It was a first-class experience all the way. That and the fact that these just came out make me confident that this knife hasn't been messed with in any way. This is how it came from the factory.

There is no movement in the pivot screw that I can tell when I do this. It's hard to say for sure because I can't hold the knife perfectly still while doing it. It takes a little bit of force and both my hands end up moving. The screw doesn't move when operating normally either.

I don't think it's ever going to be a problem, and I'm going to be carrying and using this knife. I was just curious is all. Seems like a couple of you are saying you have the same and a couple are saying you don't. I don't have any idea why I even checked for this. I was just playing with the knife and checking for solid lockup like I normally do and I decided for some reason to check how solid it was when it isn't locked up and found this little wiggle. For all I know most of the knives I've owned have this and I've just never noticed before.

Thanks to those that responded.
 
The play can be eliminated with very slight adjustment of the pivot screw and blade stop pin screws.
Some chase the two adj. in circles,,, if you make very small adjustments and check,, almost all side to side when not locked can be removed. Very small is like 5-10 degrees rotation of the screw, then check.
I use some Nano-Oil in the washers and this give free dropping action to the blade when closing.
I purchased used, a PM2 with CTS204P that was floppy S to S,, easy to fine tune,, now it is EDC and perfect.

Remember that many PM2 knives have the evil Red Loctite grade 272/273 on the screws,,, use a small tip soldering tool to heat up just the screw head and a well fitting Torx bit by Wiha and you will have not issues.

Regards,
FK
 
I think some responding are mistaking what kind of play is being described. If I'm right, it's not side/side, or up/down. It's what I'd call in/out.
Seems to me, any in/out would also result in side/side, not sure if the reverse would have to be true.
Are you sure you're not experiencing very slight side/side?
When I tried mine and felt the side/side right before lock up I thought, there it is. But looking closer I can't detect any in/out but there's definite side/side.
 
I definitely understand what he's talking about. It feels like the blade is being pulled away from the pivot just a hair, not normal side to side play. I adjusted my pivot back when I first got it so maybe I caused it myself, either way it never caused any problems and I probably never would have noticed it if I didn't read this thread, haha.

My blade locks up tight, no side to side play, nor do I have up and down play when the lock is engaged. When it's half way out I have a little side to side play, but pretty much all of my knives have that when they're not fully out.
 
Last edited:
If the pivot screws are too loose, it does feel like a in-out or poor fit of the pivot shaft to the blade is present.
Tighten the pivot screws and it goes away,,, if not,, a return to Spyderco is the next step.

Regards,
FK
 
I won't have my lefty for a couple more days, but my righty that I've had for years does what you describe... and I never noticed it until today lol. It also has a tiny side to side play, which I was aware of, but I left the pivot as-is because the action on it is great. Free drop/blade swings freely with the lock bar depressed.
 
I tried to tighten up the pivot just to make sure I'm not mistaking what's happening. I tightened it up enough that it was tough to open with my thumb. There definitely wasn't any side to side play, but the in/out was still there. It didn't lessen at all either as I would expect if it was a loose pivot screw issue. I think what's happening is that when the blade locks open the stop pin and lock bar hold the blade tight in the out position so that little bit of play disappears. This is a guess as I still haven't taken it apart, and don't plan to for this. I don't see how it would ever cause a problem as it only exists when the blade is partly opened and I don't think I've ever tried to use a knife in this state.

I think it's just a weird thing that happens sometimes and nobody notices it until a weirdo comes along and asks about it. The fact that some people have had their knives for years and never noticed it tells me that it's not anything to worry about, which I assumed from the get go. It's just an interesting little tidbit.
 
Mines got a little play like that, I never let it bother me. Been using it for a couple years now no problems. I'd say just use it and don't worry about it.
 
Neither of my PM2s suffer from this, but I have an Emerson A100 that I noticed had a small amount of blade play like you described when partially open but is solid when locked up.
 
My s110v para does it, the Bradley 2, several Benchmades and dare I say it... so do my sebenza 21's. This "in/out" is the only play in the sebenza detectable in any way. I guess blades need a tiny bit of room to move freely. Use and enjoy! I'm sure some knives are on the edge of spec and are rather tight having little detectable play. Also, some people are not good a feeling things like this or have poor feeling in their fingers. Forums are fun but not reliable sources of knowledge. All knives have problems and if all you got is in/out play you won the knife lottery.
 
Would you look at that, my Inkosi has a little of that going on as well. I never noticed. Nice call.

I'm really not worried about it at all. I carry and use my knives and they all end up a little sloppy after a while. It was just the first time I noticed this particular kind of movement. It was probably the first time I bothered checking for it, to be honest. I don't know why I decided to try to move the blade that direction in the first place.
 
I am unable to feel the play from the blade in my Zaan. However, when I pull the blade away from the pivot, I can feel the lock bar riding up the lock face ever so slightly when the knife is held in a conventional forward grip. So while I cannot physically sense the movement through the blade itself, pivot play does exist.
 
Last edited:
I went through 4 vanilla PM2's to find one without blade play. Two were excessive, two were slight. I got an LE PM2 that had excessive blade play and a CF M4 PM2 that was absolutely perfect. Blade play, especially up and down or in and out really bugs me. Blade play that can't be adjusted will NEVER get better and can sometimes get bad enough to sideline a knife. Compression locks, regardless of the model, are prone to bladeplay. It's all up to you what you consider acceptable for your level of use of the knife.

The problem with the PM2, the blade play can be very slight. Often you don't notice if you don't look for it. I bet a lot of the people responding that they have zero blade play would actually discover a little if they evaluated the knife harshly and objectively. Then again, blade play is my "button". If I can't fix it in any knife I move on.

I checked my Zaan, my 21's and my small Inkosi and I can't create any blade play in them. When you check for blade play on a frame lock, I think it makes sense to grip the knife as if in use and check then. Gripping will often seat the frame lock in the "in use" position and you may get different results.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top