Spyderco Tenacious Washers

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flarp

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Sep 7, 2011
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Looking for some help/info. I picked up a Tenacious second-hand, and had gritty opening/closing and was very off-center (blade made noticeable contact with locking side liner). Anyway, I took it apart to clean it out and see if I could figure out centering issue. I noticed there were 3 washers in it (2 large on non-locking side, and 1 small on locking side). The locking side washer had noticeable damage (see pic below) from the pocket clip screws. Looking around at others who had disassembled theirs, it appears there are supposed to be 2 washers on each side (2 large and 2 small).

Is there anywhere I can get correctly sized washers to replace the damaged one (and fill in for the missing one)? What is the size I should be looking for. Looking at a ruler, it looks like 3/16" inner diameter and 13/32" outer diameter. No idea about thickness though (I don't have anything that can measure that small).

Also, looking at the pocket clip holes, it looks like the clip can only be installed for tip-up carry to avoid damaging the washers. Not a problem, as that's my preference anyway, but was wondering if others had observed the same.

Damaged washer:
 
flarp,

I have some homemade 3/16"idx 3/8" od washers made out of delrin, 0.020" thick. Delrin is a hard white plastic that is pretty slippery (low coefficient of friction). I put some in a Kershaw Chill and they work great. PM me and I can send you a few.

Looks like the clip screws are a bit too long. You can carefully shorten them so that they don't go completely through the liners so you can carry tip down. The clip screws on my tenacious are metric (M3 x 0.5).

Ric
 
That would be awesome. I've replied to you via e-mail. Thanks!

I'll probably just keep it tip-up, since this one seems to carry easier that way (at least to me).
 
I made a few washers from some thinner delrin stock that I had (0.015”) and sent them to flarp. He was able to fix his Tenacious.

Here's how he did it:

“I got the washers, and they're a perfect match for inner and outer diameter. They're thicker than the PB ones that were in there originally, but that actually helped get some space between the liner and blade. Now the blade doesn't rub up against the liners anymore, but it did leave a very small gap in the seating of the stop pin between liners though. I'm going to try thinning out a washer (on some 1200 grit) just a hair and see if that levels everything out again. I have some knives that have delrin handles, but I had never heard of them for washers. They work quite well though. Even without oil, they're pretty smooth.

I took the clip screws to some 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out the little flared-up ends, and now it sits just below the plane of the liner. So, no more risk of damage to the washers. I'm probably going to keep it tip-up, but it's still good to know the screws won't hit the washers again if I move it back.

Sanding the washers down proved a little trickier than I thought. I tried just putting it on my fingertip and rubbing against a sheet of sandpaper on a flat surface. I ended up making the inner hole bigger (pressure from my fingertip concentrated there, I guess). Good thing you sent a couple of extras. :-) Anyway, I ended up sandwiching the washer between two sheets of sandpaper (both taped to a flat surface) and was able to get an even (at least it looks and feels pretty even) thinning out. I have no idea what the resulting thickness is (don't own a caliper), but it does seem thinner than the originals.

I put the thinner delrin washer in (locking side) and removed one of the two original PB washers from the non-locking side. Now, the stop pin seems to be an exact fit between the liners, and the thicker delrin washer appears to be providing just enough space to keep the blade from rubbing the liner on that side. I can't quite flick the blade open, but I assume the washer will smooth out after some use (I've experienced the same with PB and teflon washers).”

Thankyou flarp for letting me post this!

Ric
 
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