Spyderco Lava Mod

[catmath 1911]

Steve,

Can you covert a Stainless Lava to Screw together construction? I would love to have the option of blade tension adjustment and break down for cleaning/lubing.

Andy

 

[Heavy]

+1 on that.

Never even considered that before but I edc a lava and that would be great.

Maybe even a handle insert that would give the stainless handle some grip.

.

 

[STR]

I'm thinking not. And the reason is because I can't get that sleeve placed in the lanyard hole back as it is from the factory. Once its out its basically tweaked. If you notice on all the rebuilds I have done on Lavas in the Spyderco picture links thread which is a sticky at the top of the page you can see I've drilled a brand new 1/8" hole for the new screw and most of them don't have the lanyard anymore. Now I could do that but I don't know that it would look the same or as good. The other issue is that even with an all screw construction these knives are tricky to get apart and even more so to get back together as most lockbacks with washers are. Ask anyone that has taken apart a Delica 4 or some other lockback with washers in the pivot. I get folders mailed to me in pieces like that all the time from guys that got curious and then could not get them back together.

Just a thought. I'd try it but looking at the scrap pieces of left overs from past Lava rebuilds I would have to redrill a new hole in those old stainless sides to make it go back together as tight. Again though an all screw construction doesn't by itself equate to an easy break down folder.

STR

 

[STR]

Please know I don't mean to imply I could not get it to work as you want. I'm just letting you know that if the idea is for an easy take apart I don't think you'll find that its that easy once you do it. Its a pretty easy to way to get bit sometimes. Also, putting one back together is often times more time consuming and frustrating than break down.

Looking at these old Lava scales I have here I can see that it would be fairly easy to just make them go back on the way they were without the pins and clean them up with barrel and screw construction providing I use the new hole for a new barrel not in there now. It is possible to do this sure. I just want to make sure you understand that washers in the pivot on a lockback can be tricky even for experienced repairman at times.

Washers in the pivot mess peoples knives up a lot. I just had a Hinderer XM18sent to me that was acting funny and wouldn't let the blade center and when it arrived here it was missing a washer. Stuff like that happens all the time with those small lockback folders also. I see it a lot anyway.

STR

 

[catmath 1911]

Appreciate the Honest feedback. I have taken apart Numerous Screw together lockbacks in the past (bladetech, Spyderco, Benchmade) and realize that they are a pain to reassemble I Love the Lava as an EDC, but it is developing somne side to side play that I would like to eliminate. If we did do the barrel and sleeve construction, would the heads of the screws and barrel sleeves be countersunk?

 

[Heavy]

I had a little side to side play in mine that I fixed with a hammer and a rag.

Used the rag to protect the slabs, put it on a steel beam and then tapped it with the hammer right where the pin is.

tap tap check....tap tap check...it's all good now...

.

 

[STR]

If you wanted the screws countersunk I may be able to come up with something to work on those. I'm not sure though since the old scales are hardened. Normally I'd use an 82` drill to make some nice recesses for the flat head screws but I'm afraid that with those hardened stainless steel liners/scales it would not put much of a dent in them. The liners/scales are probably near as hard as the drill bit so based on past experience it would probably not be possible that way. If it goes like some other attempts on some knives before the bit would be tweaked so bad it would probably not do much more than one hole if that and probably not to the full depth needed to get the head down all the way.

I could use a 3/16 carbide and maybe put the button head screws down a bit but again I'm not sure with the thinness of those liners just how much I could get away with before they were getting pretty thin. I'd have to look again at them. Seems possible one way or the other.

STR