I recently handled an brand new Endura 4 FRN black handle at a local dealer. I really like the look and feel of the knife, but there was noticable blade-play in the lockup of this model. I have seen the review of this exact model on Youtube and it said the same thing. My question is does this occur just on the FRN black models? Do the other variations of this knife have blade-play i.e. (green handle, white handle, g10, etc.)? thanks
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Question about blade lockup on the Endura 4 series
- Thread starter davis297
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 12,957
No. It can and does show up on any of them across the board, USA made, Japan made, with steel liners, without steel liners. It seems to just affect the mid lock style folders they make though. If it bothers you send it back with a note asking for a new one with zero vertical movement of the blade when opened. Some of the knives I've rebuilt among the Spydercos I have worked on I was able to get rid of that vertical movement from the factory when I redrilled the holes for the hardware to new sizes but with others it stayed just the same. There are a few different things that can affect the overall system of the folder workings to cause this. If its screw or pin related replacing them usually fixes the problem. If its not that it won't change anything. I have had other times that the simple job of replacing the pivot barrel with the lock bar AKA rocker arm barrel made the lock up tighter. I never figured out why. That was on a Manix.
On the others I rebuilt I figured it was the pins being under the size of the hole drilled for each one. Spyderco probably buys those barrels and pins in mass shippments so its likely there is a margin of error on the sizing and that every now and then one gets used that is slightly under the size or at the borderline they have drawn in QC but this is just a guess. At other times the lockbar mating is more the culprit and simply has a less tight fit into the blade. Peening the lockbar on each side about 1/8" or less from the spine down will most often bring out enough metal to fill that gap but it takes an experienced hand to know how to get that right. Some of the Calpyso Jrs and other models I've had apart have already had this tell tale sign of fine tuning done at the factory by the evidence of the little hash marks in the lock bar, one on each side. It is possible I guess that some got out without fine tuning. I would not try this yourself unless you have cutler experience repairing knives especially when the factory can do it or replace the knife easier than a repair.
STR
On the others I rebuilt I figured it was the pins being under the size of the hole drilled for each one. Spyderco probably buys those barrels and pins in mass shippments so its likely there is a margin of error on the sizing and that every now and then one gets used that is slightly under the size or at the borderline they have drawn in QC but this is just a guess. At other times the lockbar mating is more the culprit and simply has a less tight fit into the blade. Peening the lockbar on each side about 1/8" or less from the spine down will most often bring out enough metal to fill that gap but it takes an experienced hand to know how to get that right. Some of the Calpyso Jrs and other models I've had apart have already had this tell tale sign of fine tuning done at the factory by the evidence of the little hash marks in the lock bar, one on each side. It is possible I guess that some got out without fine tuning. I would not try this yourself unless you have cutler experience repairing knives especially when the factory can do it or replace the knife easier than a repair.
STR
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2008
- Messages
- 3,681
My E4 Waved model has the tightest lock up I've seen on an FRN folder. The only Spyderco I have had with blade play is my SE Spur and it is barely noticeable on it's vertical play.