Brouwer sent in for bottomed out lock. Returned unchanged

J

Jarvis959

Joined
Oct 5, 2017
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19
For context, I sent in my Spyderco Brouwer for repair about a month ago due to a lock that was completely bottoming out and had significant up and down blade play as well as a blade that refused to center no matter how tight the pivot was turned. The knife was bought at the end of October last year directly from BladeHQ and the model itself was only released just over a year ago. To my understanding, light use in the form of cardboard and tape cutting should not wear a framelock with a steel insert this quickly. The knife itself arrived with lockup ˜75% brand new but I trusted spyderco to know what they were doing when it came to locks.

I fully understand that any kind of modification voids the warranty of a spyderco and my knife has the spine ground down to be more angular. This was done disassembled with a slow grinder, brand new belt, and very frequent water cooling. The entire pivot area was also completely covered to prevent anything from touching the lock face/pivot at all, but I mentioned this in the letter included with the knife that also specified exactly what was wrong. I also offered to pay however much it would cost to fix because I knew that technically my warranty was voided even if the modification did nothing to change the lockup or centering.

LETTER: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qI_DlbR-nGyapoq7ZngFfDI1AhzPm9LRsBPk_XF-FTA/edit?usp=drivesdk

Spyderco replied to be in the form of a letter saying they would fix the knife if I were to assist by sending $5 in for shipping back. I complied the next day by credit card over the phone with one of their representatives. On the phone I also had the opportunity to confirm that they knew what the issue was.

IMAGES AND SPYDERCO'S LETTERS TO ME https://imgur.com/gallery/5N7qJo5
CENTERING: http://imgur.com/a/7laqWqf

Today, i received the knife back and to my dismay it appears neither the centering nor the vertical play/bottomed out lockup has been touched at all. The only change I can see is that they aggressively sharpened the knife. I am very disappointed with the service and was just hoping to have a knife i really liked back in rotation.
 
5-by-5 said:
You modded and completely disassembled a knife.

Now you're disparaging Spyderco in multiple forums.
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Blade spine mod doesn't affect the lock. Neither should disassembly. I guess your stance is any disassembly or modification should void the warranty (which is a stance even Spyderco has gone back on)?

But on the knife, most curious for me is if they tried replacing the steel part of the lock bar or not. I am assuming not from the state it came back. If that's right, are those there just because steel is harder so wears slower and not so the company can make replacements?
 
And despite modifying it from the way it sounds he informed them and they knew about it when agreeing to fix the issue he notified hem of


5-by-5 said:
You modded and completely disassembled a knife.

Now you're disparaging Spyderco in multiple forums.
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
5-by-5 said:
You modded and completely disassembled a knife.

Now you're disparaging Spyderco in multiple forums.
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


:rolleyes: This guys too scared to learn how to take apart his knives. At the end of the day knives aren't super complex objects. Take a bit of care and you should be able to disassemble/reassemble anything without rivets :rolleyes:

Spyderco didnt have a problem with the modifications I did. I called spyderco again after getting my knife back and the reply was that they had found some lint on the inside and that they cleaned it out and now its fine. Lint doesnt make a lockup later... Thats not how locks work. I told him such and he replied that he couldnt see the problem. At the end of the call he told me to send it back in again if I was still having problems. Clearly, spyderco's warranty is lacking.
 
I would say the first sentence of the last paragraph explains it all.
The knife is not replaceable under warranty or repairable to factory condition. Key words being "repairable to original factory conditions". I took it as Spyderco being cordial in their reply instead of them being rude or belligerent to say they won't touch the knife once a modification is done. They were generous to just charge 5 dollars for return shipping.

At what point did you do the mod ? When you first got it, when you saw 75% lock up or 100% lock up ? Did you adjust the lock bar insert ?
 
Liner locks and frame locks can be funny to center. Try jamming cardboard into the "off side" before you fully tighten the pivot and body screws.
 
I though that disassembly was NOT a disqualifying act UNLESS it in some way altered or impaired the function of the knife.
 
sgt1372 said:
I though that disassembly was NOT a disqualifying act UNLESS it in some way altered or impaired the function of the knife.
Click to expand...

That is what they say the warranty is. If you go through posts here and their own forum, it's pretty clear that they often assume disassembly caused the problem, which is disqualifying. Just going through Sal's stickied threads on disassembly show you what they really think about it.
 
Your lock doesn't bottom out, there's still room to move. That could very well be due to your disassembly, many knife tinkerers have that problem.

That centering's barely off. That's probably due to disassembly, again a common problem with knives taken apart at home by people who are not cutlers. If it don't scrape the liner it's not a problem.

When Spyderco fixes a knife for non-warranty work ( e.g., knives sent in due to reassembly problems), they charge more than $5. You got the clean, tighten and sharpen job, not a warranty or non-warranty repair.

I gather the knife still works and you got it sharpened & cleaned for $5, you should be happy. Maybe you want it perfect to sell, thus the vitriol?
 
OP - centering does not seem to be out of spec. I would not even mention it when sending for repair. That 100% lockup with vertical play is indeed a problem. Not that I agree to Spyderco's decision of not fixing it for you but they were not wrong since you made some major modification to the knife (and yes I agree with you that the mod should not affect the lockup).

I see no point for you to continue to argue with Spyderco CS. Try to ask people like Josh at REK if that is sth he can fix, if this knife is very important to you.
 
I think people might be missing the fact that the detent can contact the far side scale before the lock looks like it goes past 100% lockup. If true, his knife can't adjust for wear further and the insert should be replaced.
 
marrenmiller said:
I think people might be missing the fact that the detent can contact the far side scale before the lock looks like it goes past 100% lockup. If true, his knife can't adjust for wear further and the insert should be replaced.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about the same thing. It seems replacing the lockbar insert with a taller one would easily lessen or even eliminate the problem, which should not cost much. Yet Spyderco chose not to fix it. There might be other more complicated issue(s)?
 
I've got a tip that may be helpful. First, loosen all the screws with the knife closed. Then, push the lock side scale upward while simultaneously pushing the show side down. You should be able to do this with one hand, with your thumb on the lock side and your middle/index on the show side. While applying this pressure, retighten everything. This may be able to help you get slightly earlier lockup and in turn, less vertical blade play.
 
OP's modification was cosmetic and had nothing to do with the lock. Spyderco should deal with this as if the lock has an issue because IT DOES have an issue. If the pivot holes are off-center and the pivot bar is crooked, that could account for the lock issue AND the centering.
 
The OP solved the problem himself by peening the lockbar insert. See other forum for details.
 
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