Spyderco Smoothness

[the_mac]

I got my first spydie a couple days back, and have been playing with it, and while I like the ergos, the opening action is nowhere near as smooth as something like my mini-grip.

Now, I can see that the native does have washers, so there isn't any contact between the blade and the FRN. Would the lack of smoothness be because it just needs breaking in, so there is some wear on the lockbar and the tang, or is it just something that is inherent to the knife.

I don't really mind the opening action, but I'm just wondering if spyderco produces anything that feels as smooth to open as something like a Benchmade 921? Do the higher end models with a different lock type feel smoother?

Thanks
-Jake

 

[kamagong]

You have a Native right? The perceived lack of smoothness comes from lock design. A lockback will never be as smooth as a knife with the Axis lock.

 

[Clear]

I dont even find the axis lock that smooth, when opening the knife corectly it still has that hump to go over. Thogh much smoother than a lockback.

 

[Vivi]

My Native is a slightly older model with s60v blade and from what I can see no washers. My Delica 4 is noticably smoother. The Native still needs a bit more breaking in though, it's getting better. Maybe yours will smoothen out over the next few weeks too.

 

[orthogonal1]

I think (based upon my Dodo) that the Ball-Bearing locks are approximately as smooth.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

Not many knives will be as smooth as an Axis lock Benchmade.

 

[J85909266]

The Spyderco BB lock, liner lock and Compression lock are all very smooth operating on the models I have/had. Lock backs won't be as smooth due to design, but I've noticed in the Native I've used that the Native action is grittier and stiffer than their higher end and more updated lock backs.

 

[HoB]

I totally agree with J85909266. Out of box smoothness of Spydies varies a lot. with a bit of TLC they all can achieve pretty high levels of smoothness but a backlock will never be as smooth and easy as a different lock design. The smoothest Spyderco I own is a Lil'T and I haven't really held many knifes that can compete, but I doubt that ALL Lil'Ts feel like this. With the nested locks I had some real problems, when the nested liner is embedded too deeply. A Yojimbo was the worst. I finally disassembled it completely and sanded the scales down a bit and now it is one smoooooth operator.