Southard not flipping well. What to do?

[colubrid]

I recently got a Spydeco Southard and the knife just does not flick as well as other Brad Southards i have watched on youtube. I can flick it open with my right hand pretty well. But with a lot of pressure. However , with the left hand i can't flip it open at all unless I use some wrist action.

So i took it apart 3x now and made sure the bearings were not supposed to face a different way (seems they work both ways the same and there is no wrong way to place them in) and I put oil on the bearings.

Sitll nothing works. i can't figure out what is cause the drag? I tighten it just enought to center the blade. Plus is does not appear one can tightn the southard down to much as the pivot screw on the opposite side turns to loosen as it gets tight anyway. So it is olny possible to tighten only so much unless one uses two hex screwdrivers.

Any ideas what else I could try ?

 

[Deputy572]

How many times did you flip it? I've had mine for a few days and I've been playing with it a lot. It's tons more smooth now then when I first got it. I can't imagine what will knock this out of my pocket. Maybe yours is defective.

 

[colubrid]

I don't think it is defective. Just something about it that is not put together right. I was wondering if anyone else had this problem and was hoping somebody else would have te solution.

My blade leans to one side to.

Maybe i need to get another hex srew driver to tighten both ends simultaneuosly because when i try to tighten either end it loosens the other screw (they run opposite so there is no way to tighten them,..which is weird design IMO). Thus maybe this is causing the knife blade to lean and hopefull wil eliminate the drag. I just hate to invest in buying another tool but cheaper than sending into spyderco.

 

[recoil]

The blade pivot has a flat on one side where it enters the ti slab to stop it from spinning when the pivot screw is tightened.
If you tighten one side and the opposite side pivot screw spins you have it wrong.
Make sure you have it seated all the way when you re-assemble.

dave

 

[tussery]

The blade pivot has a flat on one side where it enters the ti slab to stop it from spinning when the pivot screw is tightened.
If you tighten one side and the opposite side pivot screw spins you have it wrong.
Make sure you have it seated all the way when you re-assemble.

dave

Well the flat is milled down the entire pivot so you can't really put it in wrong.

 

[recoil]

Well the flat is milled down the entire pivot so you can't really put it in wrong.

If you don't match the flat on the pivot to the flat on the ti slab it is in wrong and will allow the pivot to spin.
Also, the gap between blade and ti slabs will be off keeping the blade off-center.

dave

 

[colubrid]

The blade pivot has a flat on one side where it enters the ti slab to stop it from spinning when the pivot screw is tightened.
If you tighten one side and the opposite side pivot screw spins you have it wrong.
Make sure you have it seated all the way when you re-assemble.

dave

Okay , first of all thanks for the reply!

I am going to tak her apart again and and have a look what is going on.

 

[colubrid]

If you don't match the flat on the pivot to the flat on the ti slab it is in wrong and will allow the pivot to spin.
Also, the gap between blade and ti slabs will be off keeping the blade off-center.

dave

Check this video. I see the flat of the pivot but do not undertand what you mean by Ti slab. Are you taking about teh liner? Cause i don't see a flat on that and neither the blade?

Look at about the 11 minute mark

[video=youtube;aetYskMKps0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aetYskMKps0[/video]

 

[colubrid]

If you don't match the flat on the pivot to the flat on the ti slab it is in wrong and will allow the pivot to spin.
Also, the gap between blade and ti slabs will be off keeping the blade off-center.

dave

Okay I found the flat on the ti side. It is lined up yet the screws still spin when tighten down to much. i tighten both ends know with a hex screwdriver and it still flips open with drag... way to hard!

I think the ball bearings may be defective or are gummed up? I have no clue as I tried to oil and clean them. I can't even tell if they are or not.. ..but at least one side must drag.

Also every spyderco i have ever bought online has a leaning blade. Maybe I am picky but I see all these southards with perfectly lined up blades in teh middle. Same with millies ect. It is always within specs according to spyderco. i am just the most unlucky person in the world as all of my spydercos have had leaning blades unless i buy them from a store or knife show and inspect beforehand.


Just my spyderco luck..

[video=youtube;aetYskMKps0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aetYskMKps0[/video]

 

[rycen]

The Ti slab would be the locking side.

 

[colubrid]

The Ti slab would be the locking side.

Yeah i found that and it loines up. So that was not the problem.


but good to point out so that everybody who takes one part pays attention to this.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Once you get the pivot figured out just know that mine (lock bar) was really tight. After flipping it for a while it relaxed its pressure against the blade.

Hope you get it worked out. The blade should be perfectly centered, and it should absolutely flip smoothly. If it doesn't something is wrong.

Good luck.

 

[recoil]

Best way for me was to press the blade pivot into the titanium locking side slab first, making sure to line up the flat of the pivot with the flat of the hole. then tighten that side pivot screw tightly.
Now assemble the rest of the knife.

dave

 

[tussery]

If you don't match the flat on the pivot to the flat on the ti slab it is in wrong and will allow the pivot to spin.
Also, the gap between blade and ti slabs will be off keeping the blade off-center.

dave

And the blade also would not drag because the gap between the liners would be too large for the blade. That would mean a large amount of blade play and a knife that would be easy to flip open.

 

[colubrid]

Once you get the pivot figured out just know that mine (lock bar) was really tight. After flipping it for a while it relaxed its pressure against the blade.

Hope you get it worked out. The blade should be perfectly centered, and it should absolutely flip smoothly. If it doesn't something is wrong.

Good luck.

I think it could be this and a combination of the small little bearing on th locbar needs to be cleaned with some solvent like aceton. I can't tell for sure because it is so small. But it could be that it is just gummed up with some locktight or something. But i need to clean it in some carb cleaner or something and maybe that will help.


Sometimes the solution is so simple it is ridiculous,
the problem is figuring it out.

 

[colubrid]

Best way for me was to press the blade pivot into the titanium locking side slab first, making sure to line up the flat of the pivot with the flat of the hole. then tighten that side pivot screw tightly.
Now assemble the rest of the knife.

dave

Okay i am going to do that next time. i think i just did it that way teh last time. But still good practise to know in case anyone should dissasemble theirs.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I don't think it's really been addressed, so why did you take it apart in the first place? I mean specifically, what was it doing (or not doing) that prompted you to disassemble it?

I think the biggest lesson is not to take them apart in the first place. I've read about people having problems after disassembly a few times now. I myself started futzing with the pivot a while back just for kicks and noticed that it acted really weird after just a quarter turn. I tightened it back up and voila it was perfect again.

My guess is that we are all so use to fine tuning phosphor bronze washer equipped pivots that it's tempting to mess with the Southard assuming that we may be able to improve something. It's just a theory, and could be way off, but I know it's true in my case.

 

[colubrid]

I don't think it's really been addressed, so why did you take it apart in the first place? I mean specifically, what was it doing (or not doing) that prompted you to disassemble it?

I think the biggest lesson is not to take them apart in the first place. I've read about people having problems after disassembly a few times now. I myself started futzing with the pivot a while back just for kicks and noticed that it acted really weird after just a quarter turn. I tightened it back up and voila it was perfect again.

My guess is that we are all so use to fine tuning phosphor bronze washer equipped pivots that it's tempting to mess with the Southard assuming that we may be able to improve something. It's just a theory, and could be way off, but I know it's true in my case.

I took it apart because it was not fliiping opn like it should and from the youtube videos i have seen.

That said i think i narrowed it down to it being the ball detent. It seems gummed up and i have yet to take it apart again and soak it in some card cleaner or acetone. Then I will put a drop of oil and see what it does.

 

[GundaManiac]

Just checking, but when you oil your knife, you are making sure to put some oil along the detent track on the blade, right? That does a lot to smooth the action on my liner and frame lock knives.

 

[freewheeling]

I think it could be this and a combination of the small little bearing on th locbar needs to be cleaned with some solvent like aceton. I can't tell for sure because it is so small. But it could be that it is just gummed up with some locktight or something. But i need to clean it in some carb cleaner or something and maybe that will help.


Sometimes the solution is so simple it is ridiculous,
the problem is figuring it out.

Yeah, once after applying loctite mine started grating like it needed a knee replacement. It went away after taking it apart and cleaning it, or will just go away when the loctite works free. I've had some additional problems getting mine centered but it's not too bad. The other thing is that I noticed that the little washers are a bit warped where they touch the bearing race. I'm not sure if this is usual or not but you might try just turning them over so the warped side is to the outside (of the knife, away from the bearing).