calling all spyderco laci szabo folder owners... just did a mod i highly recommend ;)

Jaiofspam

Jaiofspam

Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
3,311
disclaimer: THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY...

when i saw the prototype of this folder i fell in love immediately as im sure most of you watching have. after finally biting the bullet and purchasing this knife i was a bit underwhelmed with its novel spring detent mechanism. it was extremely hard to deploy the blade out of box by thumb flicking, spyder dropping and even centrifugal force/gravity opening. i spent the last week carrying it daily and dare i say raping the knife by opening and closing in what felt like an excess of 2000 times. it slightly broke in and became smoother allowing me to deploy the blade with my thumb and a slight wrist flick like a lock back knife. i still wasnt satisfied, this was a compression lock afterall and i couldnt stand it not being as smooth as my other compression lock knives. i bit the bullet, voided my warranty and decided to break down the knife and molest its inner workings. my first idea was to slightly bend out the compression lock bar to relieve some of the excessive tension against the tang of the knife possibly making the knife smoother when opening. it was extremely stiff out of box so i was sure it would be fine with a little tweaking. that however was a feeble attempt as there was a steel plate on that side of the liner preventing any kind of over travel... why? i dont know lol. my next idea was to simply remove a few coils from the spring. ive done this with other things such as firearms and its a great cheap easy fast way of reducing spring tension. success, i advise you to go slow snipping half coils just as i did and reassembling the knife and testing function. the spring detent is all thats keeping the blade closed so dont trim off too much if youre a detent whore. i'd be glad to walk those who are interested through it and just drop me a pm or email if you are. happy modding :)

[video=youtube;BiNPRRsYlpU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiNPRRsYlpU[/video]
[video=youtube;d-h1t0MijxM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-h1t0MijxM[/video]
 
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Voiding the warranty is number one. Others that have taken it apart have already said if you do don't touch the spring area . I don' t need to flick it open with lightning speed. They put that spring system in for a reason.
 
Sithus1966 said:
Voiding the warranty is number one. Others that have taken it apart have already said if you do don't touch the spring area . I don' t need to flick it open with lightning speed. They put that spring system in for a reason.
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understood. i see youre not much of a tinkerer in regards to snipping coils from the spring and the voiding of warranty :). i respect that but do you own the szabo? others have stated not to remove the spring entirely which i did not do. the mod doesnt effect the designed purpose of spring retention system. my example was overly tensioned out of the box (just as other owners have mentioned) and to be quite honest i feel the spring detent system is a rather novel idea at best. for me it wasnt a matter of being able to flick it open/close with lightening speed... but just being able to do it comfortably lol. a few snipped coils made it a much more usable and enjoyable knife.
 
Jaiofspam said:
i respect that but do you own the szabo?
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Yup
Dsc05075.jpg
 
lol nice, you dont mind it being stiff to open? i thought the tuff was tough on the thumbs when opening until i got the szabo lol. hows the ulize?
 
Mine is stiff, my Tuff was stiff too. I understand your desire for the modification. I personally don't want to void my warranty. Thanks for posting though, it is neat to see a Szabo that can be flicked open.
 
I wish the video actually showed the process of how this worked. i would think that removing coils would actually make a spring stronger. Either way If it works for you all more power to you. I however would want a stronger detent on a blade that big.
 
PURPLEDC said:
I wish the video actually showed the process of how this worked. i would think that removing coils would actually make a spring stronger. Either way If it works for you all more power to you. I however would want a stronger detent on a blade that big.
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i believe there are 2 threads on the internet demonstrating a detailed take down of the knife and its inner workings (i referred to the one on the spyderco forum)... all you do is breakdown the knife, remove the spring and snip a few coils and reassemble. the only way to screw it up is by cutting off too many coils which is why i highly advise those who are doing this mod to go slow and reassemble the knife several times to test its function. snip coils to your taste in detent strength. if your szabo out of box came with a detent strength to you liking than this mod is unneccessary.

removing coils from springs never makes them stronger... ive never heard of any case.
the detent is still rather strong and the blade still requires a substantial amount of centrefugal force to drop as seen in my 2nd video. in my opinion and for my use, snipping 3 coils was a great compromise for function/use over detent strength. i mean if an extremely strong detent is your thing, this is the knife for you out of box hands down :)
 
Sithus1966 said:
Yup
Dsc05075.jpg
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Love the look of that Ulize. Between that and the Military, will be my next Spyderco. One question: Do you find the Ulize to be strong enough for most tasks? I don't use my folders as pry bars (that's why I have a BK2 :) ), but it's noticeably thinner than the Military or PM 2.
 
Thanks for posting the video, not sure if I will do it yet, but I appreciate you making the videos and posting them.
 
Jaiofspam said:
removing coils from springs never makes them stronger... ive never heard of any case.
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Depend on whether the spring gets compressed or extended in use. Most knife and gun springs get compressed, so taking coils off weakens them but, in applications where the spring gets pulled open, fewer coils can make it stronger.

As for the rest, I've seen some firearms improved by cutting coils off a spring, but more of them made unreliable that way. I'm glad the mod worked for you but, IMHO, tweaking any spring for which you do not have and cannot hope to get a replacement if things go south is foolish.
 
Jaiofspam said:
removing coils from springs never makes them stronger... ive never heard of any case.
:)
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Wrong. Say for instance a dual action OTF knife. If you remove coils from an OTF the spring will be shorter and will actually make the knife fire harder as well as make it more difficult to fire.
 
Sithus1966 said:
Voiding the warranty is number one. Others that have taken it apart have already said if you do don't touch the spring area . I don' t need to flick it open with lightning speed. They put that spring system in for a reason.
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Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the szabo designed as a self defense knife? If so, opening it quickly should be important, no?
 
PURPLEDC said:
Wrong. Say for instance a dual action OTF knife. If you remove coils from an OTF the spring will be shorter and will actually make the knife fire harder as well as make it more difficult to fire.
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haha yeah, otf's are an exception i overlooked but the same mechanics do not apply to the spring detent system present in the szabo :)
 
SilentJohn said:
has anybody watched the video link posted
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nutsforknives? his vid is what originally inspired me to break mines down and do the mod. i carried mines for a week straight and spent countless hours opening and closing it with it only slightly improving in operation. if you understand how a spring works and how one becomes relaxed (dependent on its chemical makeup ofcourse)... it can take an extremely looooooooooong time. maybe he received a shorter or more relaxed spring from factory? i dont know... but i was not able to achieve the same results as him lol, ymmv.

the szabo is also not a knife i would consider carrying on a daily basis do to its shear size and looks. occasional carry is ok and with that being said i wouldnt have been able to devote enough reasonable pocket time for break in.

the mod definitely isnt for everyone, but if you share the same sentiments about this knife as i do then maybe this mod is for you :)
 
I'm sure I will agree with you after a short time with the knife, I'm not doubting you. the thing is I don't trust myself taking apart such a expensive knife . well for me it's expensive. anyway I bought a sweet lanyard so a hard flick with the spyder hole should get it open quick enough
 
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