Sal, I'm dissapointed with quality control

ThinkOfTheChildren

ThinkOfTheChildren

Joined
Jul 7, 2000
Messages
1,556
Sal, I love Spydies! Your company makes my favorite knives. Whenever I suggest a knife to someone, it's always a spydie.

I have purchased two Delicas in the past couple of weeks and expected to be very pleased with my purchases. I am, except for problems which have been bugging me:

Both of the Delicas I recieved were razor sharp
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But both of the Delicas have extremely rough openings
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It seems like the pivot is just too tight.
Both of the Delicas have extremely stiff locks
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They lock up tight which is a posotive, but the lock doesn't unluck smoothly and seems to catch in a weird way.

One of the Delicas has extremely sharp edges on the blade. I don't mean the cutting edge
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The Spydie hole actually drew blood from my thumb that it is so sharp and the spine's edges are sharp enough to cut things.

I'm going to have to take a fine sandpaper to the hole and spine to smooth them out.

Is there a way that I can smooth out the opening action of my Delica? I have lubed it up but it seems like it needs to be broken in. Does anyone know any tips for breaking in the pivot? Does anyone know how to smooth out the lock action?

Sal, I was just wondering if you had heard these complaints before. Any easy fixes? I know that you're a stand up guy! I'm not to keen on sending these back to you but I'm wondering if I can do anything here at home to fix them up. Thanks in advance.
 
That's the same kind of problem I had with my Delica - very tight pivot made it hard to close, and although not quite as sharp as yours sounds the hole had a bite to it. I sent mine back to the factory to get it looked at, it'll be in a black hole for a few months
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Hey Sal, how about smoothing out the hole a bit? My orange Remote Release has very round edges on the hole, but the Q and C40(nice knife, but the name is a bit long
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) are still rounded out a bit but not as much, just enough to get rid of that sharp edge.


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John Rollins Jr KD7BCY
http://jrollins.tripod.com/
http://www.geocities.com/jrollins.geo/
 
If you objectively compare knives in the Zytel-handled line to ones costing two or three times as much, I suppose disappointment with opening smoothness would be inevitable.
 
I've got some spydies on zytel. They need to be lubed a bit for a smoother opening.
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Some guys prefer a touch of tuffglide. Mine are all lubed with White Lightning and they open as smooth as silk..
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Sam

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have spydies
will travel...
 
Originally posted by Frank Jones:
If you objectively compare knives in the Zytel-handled line to ones costing two or three times as much, I suppose disappointment with opening smoothness would be inevitable.
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But that's the problem. I'm comparing them to other Zytel Spydies I have, not to higher priced knives. My Zytel Endura has never had any of these problems. The blade pivot and lock pivot are smooth.

I'm not complaining that my Delicas don't have the same openings as teflon bearing pivots or any other fancy type thing. I'm complaining that they simply have rough openings and closings. Even after lube.

They just don't seem like the Spyderco quality I've come to know and love.

A thumb hole should never be sharp enough to cut you!
 
First thing I have done with all four of my Spyderco's is take a dremel to the hole. Normally a medium/corse and then a polishing bit. but the two from the 80's did seem to have a much smoother action than the two I bought this year. Although after a few months and a few applications of oil the are smoothing out.

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It is not the fall that kills you. It is the realization that "yes, you did something that stupid."
 
I haven't seen any problems on the opening holes. But I have occasionally gotten zytel Spydercos that are a little stiff. A month or so of opening & closing always smooths 'em right out. Not to excuse Spyderco, but normal use for a few weeks will probably smooth things out.

Joe
 
The zytel presses against the blade and it is rough. But after some lubing and some opening, they are acceptable, for that kind of price.

When you lube the knife, carefully exercise the blade by sort of pushing it smoothly up and down a few dozen times for each bit of opening radius.

I'll usually flush out the knife with WD-40 first then put some sort of light machine oil on the moving parts.

That, plus exercising the blade(carefully) took care of my zytel Spyderco knives.
 
Here is my solution to smooth out opening and closing with Zytel lockbacks. I put a small amount of toothpaste in the lock. This will act as an abrasive, while you open and close it a hundred times or so. Also you can use two hands and work it back and forth (helps when the toothpaste drys up). Yes getting the toothpaste out is a real PAIN, several washings and running water under pressure through the lock are usally required. Then lubricate lock and you are good to go.
The benifit is all my Zytel knives drop to the 90'degree position just by releasing the lock, while holding it level.
I belive I heard about this method on the general fourm a couple years back.
 
Think - Sorry 'bout that. If the action doesn't smooth out or if it is too rough, send it in. They should not be rough. The hole is a different issue. it is difficult to make the hole sharp enough to catch the thumb, yet not so chamferred that your thumb slips out. They shouldn't be sharp enough to cut you. Sandpaper might help, ceramic or some other sharpening stone might work faster. If you can't get them to your liking, send them to us with an explanation of what the problem is. We'll try to take care of you.

sal
 
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