Taking knives apart

Common sense, ain't too common nowadays! If you have any inkling of mechanical ingenuity, disassembly and reassembly shouldn't have to be that hard.

Common sense isn’t too common I agree.

Neither is elementary math, 160*0.03 ;)
 
I tried to refrain myself from participating in this discussion in fear of being misunderstood. Let me proceed to say that I have spent more $$ on Spyderco knives than any other brand and still possess more Spyderco knives than any other brand. With that being said, it appears to me that many other manufacturers have survived and succeeded by allowing customers to take apart their knives and even giving out free screws and washers and on top of that, they do not necessarily set their knife prices significantly higher than Spyderco.

For the folks that have several hundred folders but managed to have never taken apart any of them, I truly admire you. However, for me and I suspect for many others as well, part of the joy of this hobby does involve tinkering. Folding knives are tools (and toys), and tools in particular simpler tools (which folding knives fall into) are supposed to be maintainable, most often by customers. Are there people who are not good at or even cannot take apart and put back properly a folding knife? Likely. But I'd venture to believe there are much much more who can do so properly. Shall a manufacture discourage or even disallow customers from taking apart the knives just because of a small percentage of incapable customers? I don't know.

Even with improperly disassembling a folding knife, what kind of damage can be caused on the knife? (The guy may cut himself badly but I don't think that is the kind of issue we are discussing here). Most likely if not all, it is just some stripped screws, the cost of which compared to the cost of most folding knives nowadays, is really little. We don't see the blade got broken, the handle shattered, the lockface ruined, etc. because of disassembly do we? And even if they did, nobody expected the warranty would cover it (hence, beyond of the scope of discussion here).
 
We just got one in today. The back spacer on an Endura was damaged in re-assembly so the lock will not fully engage. Not just tripped screws.

sal
 
Ah, I forgot about the tricky frn models. I'm sure there is plenty to get messed, as I was just thinking of "common" pilar/backspacer construction.
 
There are a lot of things that can be damaged by someone with good intentions and a screwdriver. After working at a pretend mechanic shop, I'm not shocked by any of the damage described. You would think it would be hard to round off a nut that was barely finger tight, but yet, I've seen it. I've also seen threads mauled to death, so much so that the bolt was almost smooth with galled material when removed. The response? "Well it went in a bit tight, so I figured it was just a little gunk in the threads..." And those were on parts that by definition are user maintainable!
 
We just got one in today. The back spacer on an Endura was damaged in re-assembly so the lock will not fully engage. Not just tripped screws.

sal

Sal, I do hate this situation. I have over 60+ Spyderco models. I've realized over the past 10 years that even with great mechanical ability as I have, don't fix it if it ain't broke. Just as others have stated here as well. I produce merchandise for almost every pro sports team and I have 6 Swiss cutting machines in house. I know and understand precision. I also understand that pricing has to be increased to cover costs and run a big business. Best of luck trying to narrow this situation down and cover costs to grow and prosper Spyderco!
 
I like to take apart knives that I carry often. I work in construction and they get dirty and sweaty. I gave my brother a gayle Bradley 1 a few years ago for Christmas. He's not much of a knife person and he showed it to me a few months ago, there was just in the pivot area and on the liners. I took it home, disassembled the knife so I could remove the rust.

I guess my point is that disassembly is necessary for those of us that actually use our knives. I don't think discouraging disassembly is the way to go. Maybe including disassembly and reassembly instructions (like firearm manufacturer s do ) with every knife will reduce the amount of messed up knives being returned as new. It sucks that there are people that will screw up disassembling or reassembling a knife and then return it as new. But that is going to be an issue regardless of measures taken to discourage disassembly.
 
have many hundreds of knives. never had to take one apart yet for any real reason. the times i have i realized i was on my own. my problem not the makers or dist or dealers. been cleaning pinned knives for decades without taking them apart. guess folks forgot screwed constr. wasnt to make it easier to take apart.

i see this in my industry as well. folks try to repair and play with their systems. mess them up and demand someone to come out for free and fix it. they just assume folks work for free for them.

i see this being discussed in the lum tanto bladehq thread. playing with screws and oiling pivots and other home repair work and such and then saying it might be sent back to the dealer. which to me once ya play with it its yours. no return should be allowed.

until makers, dist, box stores, dealers etc put their foot down and refuse to allow it.........it wont stop. problem is who wants to be first and suffer..........
 
A $220 knife? I don't expect perfection..but at these prices I do expect a blade that's at least centered enough that its not rubbing or very close to rubbing the liners. Is that to much to ask? These aren't $3.79 gas station knives were talking about here.

These problems should be found at the factory, not have to be found by the end user. Thirty seconds spent looking over each knife before they go out the door, at least for the most basic things like blade centering, no weird noises when opening/closing etc. could prevent a whole multitude of problems down the line.

The Taichung factory IMO knocks it out of the park on there "out the door" QC..I'm sure they've had a few duds slip by but every Spyderco I've bought that was made by them has been nearly perfect.

If the Hap 40 Lum Tantos had been made in Taichung, well I'd bet very few would be headed back to BHQ..
 
I'm going to buy a Delica wharnclif soon, and I'd like the option of buying a bag of goodies,( extra screws, washers, pocket clip) when I get it, just in case.
 
Ya know this got me thinking, I tend to scoff at the amateur part, though i suspect i am. Id love to visit the colorado place one day and it would be really cool to buy a knife and take it apart and put i back together a few times and then get a side by side of what im doing vs the factory. It would be a really cool learning experience imo.

Now i dont polish washers or adjust lock tension or anything like that. To me thats fiddling with tolerances in a way i really dont have knowledge or experience to make a consistent change that dones compromise the fit, or safety. I prefer liner locks and frame locks just as they strike me as easier to take apart for cleaning and i find that ease enjoyable.

I love reading your posts Sal and im always learning something or gaining an insight. You speak about the topics in a way thats easy to grasp.
 
It's not just a function of turning wrenches and busting loctite.

Some of the models have been machined to such high tolerances that they're a PITA to disassemble and then sandwich together even if you think you know what you're doing.

Some of the Taichung models especially have to be aligned exactly level and/or perpendicular or you can't sandwich liners/standoffs/handles back together even with a sledgehammer.

Being able to remove the Sebenza 21's pivot+blade assembly while leaving everything else intact reduces maintenance issues to the lowest common denominator. But even then PB washers have been known to get pinched. I'd love to see Spyderco design something with this design foundation-- if it isn't owned by Chris Reeve exclusively.
 
It's has to be far more than just stripped screws. Look at how many locks Spyderco uses. You think everybody who takes apart every lock can get it back together correctly? People always find a way to "make" things fit. If all you make are frame lock knives with washers, it's a lot easier to deal with disassembly issues. All the variations, springs involved, and other things... I can only imagine some of the stuff Spyderco support has seen.

btw, I disassemble my Spyderco knives. When I need support, I realize they could say "what the heck did you do to this thing? We need $30 to clean up your mess." I'm fine with that.

FYI, many years ago I worked for a tool company. You would not believe the stuff we would get back under warranty. Items taken apart and literally put back together backwards - how could it even possibly go that way? We made some cast aluminum clamps. Some of them were broken in half and had clearly been beaten with a hammer. Gee.. I wonder how it broke? Broken clamp handles with vice-grip marks on them. Just... why? I could go on and on. People do crazy things that you can't imagine.
 
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Maybe one approach is to look at an easy way to ship/recieve ,with quick turnaround time on a knife sent in for repairs/inspection..most guys complain about the knives taking forever to get back in their hands ,so I'm sure they just decide to give ( DIY) a try and thats when the problems start.

I think a few people would send a knife in if it didn't take so long..rather than mess with it themselves,let the pros work on it.
 
Thanx Eric. I try.

sal

When i visit someday would it be possible to get shown the difference between knives yall have assembled and one that i have had and have maintained taking it apart and putting it back together. It would be really cool to see that difference in perspective. I dont agree with the policy but i dont think your reasons are unfounded.

Also its real easy to assume youre better at something than you are even if it is easy.
 
Hi Eric,

Don't think we can do your request. Difficult, time consuming and a disruption to assembly.

sal
 
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