Southard Breakin Period?

freewheeling

freewheeling

Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
975
Having a spot of trouble with this little guy. See comments below about "binding." I'm wondering if this is part of the normal break in or I'm dealing with a defect?

I just can't get over how nice this knife feels. It's still the only Spyderco I own, but it's easily my favorite at this point. Just the right size for EDC with an optimal blade shape and grind, as well as the steel itself, and the action around the pivot gets smoother all the time. I briefly had a little binding when I was closing the knife so took it apart thinking that some of the sediment from my sanding of the G10 might have gotten in the works. I cleaned everything off and put a few drops of EWG on the bearing surfaces, closed it back up and it's literally as smooth as ice. This is a great design and a great piece of engineering and quality control. Congratulations Spyderco!
 
Last edited:
I here ya, I've only had mine a few days now and couldn't be happier either! I did the stonewashed, acid etched pocket clip mod yesterday. I liked it shiny, but now it blends in a little better. I also rounded off the point of the clip a bit.

This one will definatly be in my pocket a while. I can already here my other knives getting jelious.
 
Ive noticed the pivot on my southard gets smoother the more I use it too. Its simply a magical knife for me. I really didnt think anything was going to knock my 0560 out of my pocket much less a Taiwan knife. Seems I must eat crow yet again as this thing is a serious EDC knife. I simply adore mine.
 
My little piglet has a problem. As I mentioned at the top of the thread, I noticed some binding as I was closing the blade about 10-15 degrees before engaging the detente, and then in the other direction when I try to open. I took the knife apart and clean it and replaced a very tiny amount of grease, just a few drops really. I then closed it up, put the screws back in with a drop of loctite, and it was smooth as ice... for awhile. Then it started binding again, and got worse and worse until I could hardly get it open by tugging on the spydey hole.

So right now I have it disassembled for another cleaning. I figure that it's either the small amount of EWG (extreme weapons grease), or the loctite got on the blade somehow, or something is out of alignment, like the stop bar rubbing on the slot, or finally the detente ball itself is somehow ruined.

My plan is to clean it, put in a few dots of IWG (which is supposed to be totally safe for metal and plastic) but no loctite. I'd like to think the loctite is the proble, and I should have let it dry on the threads before installing the screws. That would be nice, but ominously the detente ball looks flat and rather polished and seems to have a sharpish edge to the touch. Perhaps that's just normal? I think I heard somewhere that all detente balls are flat on one side or get that way, I don't recall which.

Poor little hog!
 
The "binding," whatever it is, is back. I cleaned everything off and it took me awhile to balance the blade between the two screws so that it was centered, but after only a few decent flips the feeling of roughness and friction is back. It's worst just before the detente on closing and just after on opening, and interferes enough that the flipping action is no better than my defective Skyline. Not smooth at all. My question is, has anyone else experience this after having the knife for a few days and flipping it a lot? Is it something that will go away? Is it the detente ball "breaking in" or is there a defect? The detente ball looks very shiny and flat and I'm sure it's actually doing some scoring of the blade during its travel, not just polishing a track.
 
Mine needed no breaking in to be smooth or flip well however it gets even better with use. Have not heard much if anything about the problem you are describing. You might have considered sending it in rather than voiding the warranty.
 
Not sure if maybe your bearings could be in backwards. Just a shot in the dark, and something I would personally look into if I was in your position. Don't even know if they can be backwards, and I believe I read there are washers in there too. Mine was smooth from day one and a little stiff, but has continued to get smoother and not stiff at all, just what I would expect from a brand new knife. One think I did notice was that no matter how tight I tightened both sides of my pivot it still flipped smoothly and easily.
 
Mine flipped like a champ from day one, very smoothly. I've played with flipping it probably more than I should, and it still flips smoothly. Sorry to hear you're having issues with yours.
 
I'm also thinking you may have put the bearings in backwards. The retainer is asymmetrical.
 
Maybe that is why you are not supposed to disassemble spydercos. :) I've had at least 3 that got a little tight after a few days of receipt; a little triflow, Mixtec or tuff glide solved the problem w/o disassembly
 
Just read about a similar problem. The washers where backwards and the pivot actually had to be tightened down a bit.
 
freewheeling said:
Having a spot of trouble with this little guy. See comments below about "binding." I'm wondering if this is part of the normal break in or I'm dealing with a defect?

I just can't get over how nice this knife feels. It's still the only Spyderco I own, but it's easily my favorite at this point. Just the right size for EDC with an optimal blade shape and grind, as well as the steel itself, and the action around the pivot gets smoother all the time. I briefly had a little binding when I was closing the knife so took it apart thinking that some of the sediment from my sanding of the G10 might have gotten in the works. I cleaned everything off and put a few drops of EWG on the bearing surfaces, closed it back up and it's literally as smooth as ice. This is a great design and a great piece of engineering and quality control. Congratulations Spyderco!
Click to expand...

You still have the steel washers inside the pivot right? if not they need to be put back in for proper fit. Also your detent ball will develop a flat spot and get shiny. This is just nature of the beast. Does the knife bind up when you disengage the lock bar to close it or does it only do this when the lock bar is actually on the blade? If its smooth when you hold the lock bar over with no gritty feel then it is probably your detent ball that is causing the friction. Bearing flippers are very smooth once momentum picks up. The main point of friction is actually the detent as its what rubs on the blade. To remedy this I take a tooth pick with grease and I put a dap in the detent hole in the blade. This way every time the detent ball gos into the hole in the blade it picks up a small amount of lubricant and it makes for a very very smooth knife. If spyderco wont help you with your knife due to disassembling it I can look at it for you. No charge of course.

Im actually surprised no knife companies have tried making a detent that is a roller bearing set into the frame lock that would actually rotate so that it would reduce friction even more.
 
nccole said:
Not sure if maybe your bearings could be in backwards. Just a shot in the dark, and something I would personally look into if I was in your position. Don't even know if they can be backwards, and I believe I read there are washers in there too. Mine was smooth from day one and a little stiff, but has continued to get smoother and not stiff at all, just what I would expect from a brand new knife. One think I did notice was that no matter how tight I tightened both sides of my pivot it still flipped smoothly and easily.
Click to expand...

The binding just sort of "went away." I had placed a microscopic dot of the weapons grease on the detente after cleaning, recentering (which was not easy), and placing a tiny bit of grease on the bearings. Yes there are very thin steel washers inside the milled out circles on both sides, to the outside of the bearings. They're almost tinfoil thin. I did not re-apply the loctite because I'm worried that it leaks onto the blade and it's the loctite that might be causing the binding. Anyway, for now it's smooth as glass.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top