Spyderco Quality Control Declining?

M

Mark Cust

Joined
Jul 1, 2018
Messages
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I've bought Spydercos for a while now and have probably over 50 Spyderco variants. However, I recently purchased a new manbug and I immediately noticed blade play with the lock. I have a ladybug and there is zero blade play. I thought it was just bad luck with this one manbug. However, today I purchased a dragonfly and it also has blade play, also top to bottom like the manbug, except not as much. However, it's now two in a row whereas before out of tens of Spydercos I had never gotten anything less than stellar from Spyderco. Is their quality declining? I also noticed that they make most of their new models in Taiwan now whereas before it was in Seki, Japan or here in the USA.

Edit: My bad; I just realized what's been happening. Apparently the lock disengage is a bit lighter and as I tend to grip knives pretty tightly I was accidentally pressing the lock release a little bit that's why it had a little bit of blade play because the lock was starting to disengage a little bit.
 
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I thought the Taiwan QC was better than the US. I have also had good luck with Seki, Japan. Sorry for your bad luck. I have bought Spyderco's for around 10 years and have had good luck. Maybe things have changed.
 
I definetly noticed a huge decline in the quality of their Moki knives over the years. But I think that was to do with a new generation taking over things at the factory.
 
I went for a couple of years having bought any Spyderco knives.

The last couple of months of 2020 I bought a few.

The pivot screw fell out of the Rockjumper.

The rest of them were great.

All of them are FRN.
 
Mark Cust said:
I've bought Spydercos for a while now and have probably over 50 Spyderco variants. However, I recently purchased a new manbug and I immediately noticed blade play with the lock. I have a ladybug and there is zero blade play. I thought it was just bad luck with this one manbug. However, today I purchased a dragonfly and it also has blade play, also top to bottom like the manbug, except not as much. However, it's now two in a row whereas before out of tens of Spudercos I had never gotten anything less than stellar from Spyderco. Is their quality declining? I also noticed that they make most of their new models in Taiwan now whereas before it was in Seki, Japan or here in the USA.
Click to expand...

those are both Seki models, so Taiwan doesn’t come into it. Anyway, the Taichung Spydercos are better-made than the Golden or Seki models in my experience.
 
My bad; I just realized what's been happening. Apparently the lock disengage is a bit lighter and as I tend to grip knives pretty tightly I was accidentally pressing the lock release a little bit that's why it had a little bit of blade play because the lock was starting to disengage a little bit.
 
Does your model have a boyle dent?

My 2 cents is their QC is excellent. There may be a few variants but I am amazed at the level of quality from several different manufacturing facilities.
 
I have been highly impressed with Spyderco's quality -- equivalent to CRK's IMHO. My Spydies include a Mule (CV20), Military in S110V, Gayle Bradley 2, several Native 5s and a PM2.
 
I do not have a lot of Spydercos to my name but I did buy a Lil’ Native, the lock back version, last summer and I can’t find anything wrong with it. It seems like the quality is still there.
 
I have had some issues with Seki, not major but just not on the same level as Golden. The up down rock among their lock backs isn’t uncommon.

One wider scale example of Seki quality lacking is how a few years ago they had all the HAP40 knives that were in the low 60s, that’s VERY soft for that steel, and didn’t perform well compared to the Rex45 models more recently (the same steel essentially).

For quality I say: Taichung, Golden, Seki, Maniago, China.

Also consider that many of their most expensive/fanciest models are Taichung made, the only thing that I don’t like about Taichung is the CF is usually the G10 laminate versus solid.
 
FRN is more flex than g10, metal, cf, etc. so if you squeeze a bit hard knives like dragonfly and Delica, they don't give you the rock solid feel. It doesn't mean the quality is poor. I do echo what a couple of posters said about slight up and down blade play in Seki FRN models, though it is not a big deal to me.
 
I’ve been using Spyderco’s since 1982 and I actually think they have improved. The Subvert is near custom level. My S110 Military rocks. I have no complaints
 
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