zabernas
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2025
- Messages
- 26
Greetings BF,
I’m a Spyderco fan. I’ve owned 50. Bought and sold. Made some money. Lost some. Learned much about the intricacies of folders from my first Para 3 LW in Spy27. Lost my mind trying to center the blade—never did. I was hooked from there.
I am neurotic at heart which is why knives speak to me. There’s infinite room to study the nuances of knife makers’ logic and execution. It’s one of life’s great joys—especially when I find one that speaks to my soul. Or one that gives me consternation.
I compare quality control of USA vs Taichung vs Seki. I think Taichung is the Gold standard. The Spynano is the first Maniago model I’ve had. It deviated from the normal formula. Had to get my hands on it.
Out of the box it was fine. Quirky. Not the most functional of knives, but for the enthusiast it seemed to be a fit. It has this removable flipper which is novel. So I flipped it. As you do. 10 cycles in and it suddenly felt like the bearings were caked with sand. Maybe some dust? 10 more flips and the action all but seized. Time to disassemble.
I’m not the most delicate guy, but I know how to work on knives. I began the normal disassembly process. As I loosened the pivot screw the other side began rotating with it. With a lot of torque required. No loosening occurred. I placed counter tension on the other side with an additional 8 Torx. Cammed the bit and stripped the screw before breaking one side loose. The entire pivot assembly was smattered with thread lock. Not a good look. I’ve never seen this issue across many Spydercos.
Onto the bearings: not caged but set into a composite—thrust washers I believe? Ok I guess that can work. The composite was dry and brittle.
I cleaned the loctite, buffed the metal with a sunshine cloth and hit all components of the pivot assembly with the standard “sparing” amount of silicone lube. Never was able to break loose the show side screw from the pivot.
Reassembled. Centered blade. Just past hand tight torque across the screws. 20 cycles. Same problem. So I drowned the top half of the knife with lube. Have been carrying for 2 days. Normal duty. Cutting pill containers at work, maybe 10 boxes, envelopes. Other things that looked like they needed to be cut with a knife. Some compulsive flipping sessions. Maybe 100 cycles overall.
Now, this evening, the purpose of this write up: more grit in the action! Why? What is happening? This is the lousiest qc, assemblage, parts quality, tolerances?, I’ve seen in a Spyderco. Give me my $30 Keshaws from Walmart any day of the week over this. Maybe I got a dud. Maybe they have to outsource qc for the niche builds like the Spynano.
Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me how to fix it. Tell me I need to see a doctor.
It’s going back under warranty claim. Curious to see what they have to say. If anyone cares I’ll keep the post updated.
Nerd vent complete.
-John
(Photo of action with pivot screw hand tight. On “bearings”)
I’m a Spyderco fan. I’ve owned 50. Bought and sold. Made some money. Lost some. Learned much about the intricacies of folders from my first Para 3 LW in Spy27. Lost my mind trying to center the blade—never did. I was hooked from there.
I am neurotic at heart which is why knives speak to me. There’s infinite room to study the nuances of knife makers’ logic and execution. It’s one of life’s great joys—especially when I find one that speaks to my soul. Or one that gives me consternation.
I compare quality control of USA vs Taichung vs Seki. I think Taichung is the Gold standard. The Spynano is the first Maniago model I’ve had. It deviated from the normal formula. Had to get my hands on it.
Out of the box it was fine. Quirky. Not the most functional of knives, but for the enthusiast it seemed to be a fit. It has this removable flipper which is novel. So I flipped it. As you do. 10 cycles in and it suddenly felt like the bearings were caked with sand. Maybe some dust? 10 more flips and the action all but seized. Time to disassemble.
I’m not the most delicate guy, but I know how to work on knives. I began the normal disassembly process. As I loosened the pivot screw the other side began rotating with it. With a lot of torque required. No loosening occurred. I placed counter tension on the other side with an additional 8 Torx. Cammed the bit and stripped the screw before breaking one side loose. The entire pivot assembly was smattered with thread lock. Not a good look. I’ve never seen this issue across many Spydercos.
Onto the bearings: not caged but set into a composite—thrust washers I believe? Ok I guess that can work. The composite was dry and brittle.
I cleaned the loctite, buffed the metal with a sunshine cloth and hit all components of the pivot assembly with the standard “sparing” amount of silicone lube. Never was able to break loose the show side screw from the pivot.
Reassembled. Centered blade. Just past hand tight torque across the screws. 20 cycles. Same problem. So I drowned the top half of the knife with lube. Have been carrying for 2 days. Normal duty. Cutting pill containers at work, maybe 10 boxes, envelopes. Other things that looked like they needed to be cut with a knife. Some compulsive flipping sessions. Maybe 100 cycles overall.
Now, this evening, the purpose of this write up: more grit in the action! Why? What is happening? This is the lousiest qc, assemblage, parts quality, tolerances?, I’ve seen in a Spyderco. Give me my $30 Keshaws from Walmart any day of the week over this. Maybe I got a dud. Maybe they have to outsource qc for the niche builds like the Spynano.
Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me how to fix it. Tell me I need to see a doctor.
It’s going back under warranty claim. Curious to see what they have to say. If anyone cares I’ll keep the post updated.
Nerd vent complete.
-John
(Photo of action with pivot screw hand tight. On “bearings”)
