Really tough back-lock... FIXED

Sonnydaze

Sonnydaze

Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
11,678
Hi. Just got a Chaparral Raffir Noble back-lock. It is a gorgeous knife but I have a very difficult time disengaging the back-lock...
Will this thing ever loosen up a bit? I hate to have to fight it all of the time.
thx...Don
 
Sonnydaze said:
Hi. Just got a Chaparral Raffir Noble back-lock. It is a gorgeous knife but I have a very difficult time disengaging the back-lock...
Will this thing ever loosen up a bit? I hate to have to fight it all of the time.
thx...Don
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Hi Don,
I have the Std Carbon, Stealth, And 2 stepped titanium Chaps. The Stealth is noticeable harder to disengage the lockbar then the other 3, But has gotten easier over time through wear. If there's no "gritty" feeling as you swing open the blade , The knife should break in over time! If you bought it new, You could also exchange it for another or send to Golden!
 
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Not sth that the manufacturer would recommend, but bending carefully the lockbar (with two pairs of pliers) can adjust that.
 
Sonnydaze said:
thank you...I have owned very few back-locks...
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Because of the very thin blade stock of the Chaparral, The lockbar release is also relatively small for the spring pressure. As your finger gets used to lock tension and wear slightly smooths out the lock interface, Usage should be fine. Hope you enjoy the cutting geometry of the Chaparral!
 
I just bought a new Chaparral FRN that could be great; however, the stiff back lock makes it very unpleasant to use. These have been out of stock at Spyderco and at dealers for a few months and evidently the newest production run has just arrived so I bought one a week ago. My knife has a CT code on the box label and I am just guessing that it is one of the knives from the latest production run (not 100% sure). At any rate I think I saw that Sal mentioned in a post that there had been some tweaking to the spring tension recently and I was hoping it would have helped solve this persistent issue with seems to occur in some of the Chaparral knives. Unfortunately, my copy has a super stiff back lock that has shown no signs of "breaking-in" even after repeatedly opening and closing it probably close to 200 times. I have read about taking the knife apart and pulling the spring forward slightly as a possible "fix" and I'm not keen on having to do this to a new $100 knife. I was just curious if anyone else has purchased a Chaparral FRN very recently (maybe with the CT code on box label) and what your experience has been. Don't get me wrong, I love my Spydercos and the folks that work there -- no complaints at all. I'll message customer service and see what happens.
 
I was going to suggest that the screw at the fulcrum of the lock bar can be too tight and make releasing the lock really stiff. But I see that screw is underneath the scale...
 
I have not found that the spring loosens up over time. It is too stiff for me and I will be getting rid of mine.
 
I found that taking it apart and lightly sanding the lock bar edges (where it touches your thumb) made it feel 10 times better. It's just so thin that it really can dig in. I'd rather the lock was solid than real light. It worked for me, and I noticed my FRN one came already "softened" around that area.
 
There is a spring putting tension on the lock bar. If this is too far out from optimal positioning it will make the button hard to depress. If you are confident (there are videos on YT) you can take a scale off and reposition the little pressure spring. If not, send it to Spyderco and they will make it right. Contact them first.
 
I just bought my Raffir Noble Spydie from Golden...will likely return it to them and ask to weaken the spring.
It's really unusable in its present condition...at least by me...
 
I called Spyderco this morning...the nice guy said that there is NOTHING that they can do to lighten the spring. He immediately gave me a RA number so that I can return it for a refund. That's excellent customer service in my book.
The fellow at the Spyderco Outlet suggested that I might try the Native 5...available in both liner lock and compression lock.
I am a big fan of the compression lock..having been a big fan of the PM2....
 
DocT said:
There is a spring putting tension on the lock bar. If this is too far out from optimal positioning it will make the button hard to depress. If you are confident (there are videos on YT) you can take a scale off and reposition the little pressure spring. If not, send it to Spyderco and they will make it right. Contact them first.
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This absolutely works. Did this to my new Chap last month. Took disengaging from painful to tolerable. Just need to move the spring a tiny bit.
 
Sonnydaze said:
I called Spyderco this morning...the nice guy said that there is NOTHING that they can do to lighten the spring. He immediately gave me a RA number so that I can return it for a refund. That's excellent customer service in my book.
The fellow at the Spyderco Outlet suggested that I might try the Native 5...available in both liner lock and compression lock.
I am a big fan of the compression lock..having been a big fan of the PM2....
Click to expand...
The Lil Native is very nice. The blade and cutting edge are less than the Chaparral but it is a contender for best ever pocket knife. I have the backlock version.
 
I really like my Native 5 G10 lockback, the lock bar is nice and wide making it pretty easy on the hand and it locks up like a vault. I've never seen a lockback line up quite like it, totally flush with no gaps. Ultra refined and super nice. It's very close to the same size as the Chapparal but maybe a bit thicker and .2" longer.
 
DocT said:
There is a spring putting tension on the lock bar. If this is too far out from optimal positioning it will make the button hard to depress. If you are confident (there are videos on YT) you can take a scale off and reposition the little pressure spring. If not, send it to Spyderco and they will make it right. Contact them first.
Click to expand...
I looked at the video and it looks like a reasonable "repair." Of course, if I do this, I will void the wtty, which is okay IF the repair
has a good result. I'll have to ponder this for a while.
 
Sal Glesser said:
We have had a few people soften the spring by moving it in it's location. We have spoken with the maker and he is working on softening the spring.
Click to expand...
That's great news ... Will the "softened" spring be available as a retro-fit to those of us in need?
 
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