Spyderco Quality Control Declining?

OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
Lock stick (the lock face sticking to the tang of the blade) shouldn't have any effect on whether the blade drops free when the lock is released (which is almost entirely controlled by pivot tension).
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Perhaps a better way of putting it is that I don't like the lock sticking when I press it to close the knife. Again, not a deal breaker for the knife. It still works as intended. Just not quite as enjoyable to carry.
 
I have Stock Endura and Delicia and a Blade HQ Military. All Nice.

Did send my Endura in for sharping after I beat the hell out of it. No coast.

Rich K
 
Got a Lil Native yesterday, and it had the worst QC I’ve seen on a Spyderco. Like a lot of them, the lock bar tension was insanely high, so opening was very slow and gritty, and backing off the pivot would throw the blade way off-center.

Took it apart to try to back off the lock bar, and the two keyed holes in the liner were full of burrs, like whatever they use to cut them had a bit that was past its lifespan. The burr on the pivot hole was so big that the pivot couldn’t fully seat into the hole, which couldn’t have helped the action. Took a medium Sharpmaker stone to them and was able to get everything together (after adjusting the lock bar), and it runs much better now (and blade is centered).
 
I have 7 Spyderco knives, all made in Golden, CO. Every single one came with the best fit & finish of any production knife in that price bracket. I am a big fan of Benchmade, but Spyderco has more consistent QC in my experience

Do they compare favourably, or even on a par, with CRK? Not in my experience, but I have not bought Spyderco knives at that level of price.
 
Only had one complaint about the "quality" of a Spyderco knife out of the over 150 that I've purchased and out of the over 130 that I still own from inexpensive byrds to the some of the most expensive that Spyderco has ever made.

The Paysan that I bought had a very annoying lock stick that I couldn't make go away using normal non-destructive or non-invasive techniques. Was also disappointed with the general appearance and design of the knife which was not a QC issue but actually was the main reason that I sold it.

I bought a Nirvana instead and I like it much better. No lock stick and it "looks" much better.

BTW, the age of the Spydercos that I own ranges from some of the first made in the 90's to their most current releases, including the black DLC Automony 2 that I just purchased and received.

There has been no discernable change in the quality of those knives to me over that time period.
 
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The last two Spydercos I’ve purchased (one which came in the mail yesterday) both had a small chip taken out of the edge. They’re both absolutely still useable, but it’s a bit of a drag to see that sort of oversight twice in a row.

(Combo edge Endura 4 and Military for those who care)
 
Okay, okay, okay.

Jeez, I never thought I would be an advocate for Spyderco. When I joined this forum I didn’t own a single one, now I own seven. Why the hell is this not in the Bladeforums Spyderco forum, eh?

Here is how it goes in the Spyderco forum:

Forum user: ‘Oh noes! I am in a RAEG because my knife has bladeplay/ isn’t centered / is subpar in some way’

Sal Glesser: ‘Hey, Forum user, I’m sorry to hear that. Please send it to us and we will make it good.’

/thread

SMH :rolleyes:
 
I’ve owned a ton of Spydies over the years, and have only had 1 that had very minor qc issues. It was a VG10 Endura 4 with slight up and down blade play,
 
unwisefool said:
I think I have only ever had one knife with up and down blade play. Or maybe I don't notice it.
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Maybe I don't notice mine either. Only about 5% of my modern folders have had up/down lock rock. My few old traditional slip joints do tend to have it. Those knives are 35-40 years old.
 
Pilsner said:
Okay, okay, okay.

Jeez, I never thought I would be an advocate for Spyderco. When I joined this forum I didn’t own a single one, now I own seven. Why the hell is this not in the Bladeforums Spyderco forum, eh?

Here is how it goes in the Spyderco forum:

Forum user: ‘Oh noes! I am in a RAEG because my knife has bladeplay/ isn’t centered / is subpar in some way’

Sal Glesser: ‘Hey, Forum user, I’m sorry to hear that. Please send it to us and we will make it good.’

/thread

SMH :rolleyes:
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Except the buyer should not be a field qc. Buy a new knife, then wait to have it shipped, then its not right, then send to spyderco and wait again, they send back and now it's been maybe 3 or 4 weeks just to get a new knife how it should have been the first time?
 
Yo Mama said:
Except the buyer should not be a field qc. Buy a new knife, then wait to have it shipped, then its not right, then send to spyderco and wait again, they send back and now it's been maybe 3 or 4 weeks just to get a new knife how it should have been the first time?
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It sucks. My point is that all companies experience QC failures, including CRK. But some companies are more equal than others when it comes to customer service. :)
 
Pilsner said:
It sucks. My point is that all companies experience QC failures, including CRK. But some companies are more equal than others when it comes to customer service. :)
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Agreed. I really appreciate they stand behind their products. I, of course, have an advantage living in Denver, but just took a PM2 up there yesterday for warranty repair. Bought it 2nd hand about 5 years ago. Took it apart for the first time last week for cleaning and noticed almost all of the screws were cross threaded. Not a QC issue, but they didn't even blink an eye and said we'll take care of it!

While there, they gave my daughter a glow in the dark knife kit, which was awesome and very much appreciated. And.. I ended up buying the last dragonfly2 zdp-189 they had . 20210124_065951_copy_288x384.jpg

In all, providing that kind of customer experience keeps me coming back. I have 5 or so Spydercos (luckily no QC issues to date) and will continue buying from them because of how they operate their business. Just my .02.
 
Knifes Bought 2019-2020

Emerson PM 2 had in un even factory blade grind and slight off center.
Pm3 1 out 4 had an off center blade, return it.
Manix had the grittiest lock I have ever felt, fine after dremel polished.
Shamans both had crappy scale fitting.
Smock was perfect
Amalgam was perfect
Lionspys both perfect
Native was perfect
Stretch straight spline very off center, was able to get it close but never going to be centered.
Delica was perfect
 
Pilsner said:
Okay, okay, okay.

Jeez, I never thought I would be an advocate for Spyderco. When I joined this forum I didn’t own a single one, now I own seven. Why the hell is this not in the Bladeforums Spyderco forum, eh?

Here is how it goes in the Spyderco forum:

Forum user: ‘Oh noes! I am in a RAEG because my knife has bladeplay/ isn’t centered / is subpar in some way’

Sal Glesser: ‘Hey, Forum user, I’m sorry to hear that. Please send it to us and we will make it good.’

/thread

SMH :rolleyes:
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That misses the point of the thread, which is that an increasing number of sub-par knives are leaving their factories. While it’s great that Spyderco will fix them, they shouldn’t be leaving the factory in that condition.
 
The Spyderco knives I own are all USA made models except for my Chinese made Tenacious and all of mine are flawless..maybe I’ve just had good luck,if so I hope my good luck continues..I only have 2 PM2,2 Manix 2,1 PM3,1 Autonomy 2,1 Native 5 LW and 1 Tenacious which clearly isn’t anywhere near your Spyderco collection but so far so good on my end..kinda makes me a little worried though because I still want to get an Endura,Delica,Dragonfly,Spydiechef,Ikuchi,Yojumbo,etc..I’ve certainly had better experiences with Spyderco than I have with Benchmade
 
OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
That misses the point of the thread, which is that an increasing number of sub-par knives are leaving their factories. While it’s great that Spyderco will fix them, they shouldn’t be leaving the factory in that condition.
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To know, as a fact, that "an increasing number of sub-par knives are leaving their factories" you'd need access to their warranty return data for several years. Show us this data and tell us how you got this confidential info.

I bought 2 Spydecos last year and they were perfect. Maybe the problem rate has dropped, but more people want to complain 'cause covid has them pissed off at the world.
 
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Just wait till you finally score a sprint and it has a off center blade.

If you make a premium product your going to be judged based on price point. At $150+ your no longer in the defects allowed category. I don't know the condition of there manufacturing equipment, but littlest of things can make a knife imperfect. Are the knives 100% functional? Are they worth the extra $100? Spyderco makes a lifetime product, I want it perfect or I take my money elsewhere.
 
No,I haven't seen the quality decline but it's a vast improvement over 10+ years, where there were Lockbacks like the Endura and Ladybug that had significant vertical blade play.

My latest Spyderco was the Teal S30V Endura,it had perfect centering,no blade play,and the only negative was the blade was not sharpened to the usual standard.In it had a tiny bump in the edge that was not fully sharpened.Found this out when slicing paper and it was snagging at the exact same spot.
 
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