Cold Steel Espada XL G10 issues?

S

Subwoofer_CPF

Joined
Oct 2, 2014
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224
Dear BladeForums members

Has anyone with an Espada XL G10 noticed any issues with the opening action becoming gritty and stiff?

I'm currently on my second one and this is actually worse than the first with it feeling like I'm running a file over the blade tang as I open it.

The half-open position is where this is much worse.

From new, out of the box, the blade tang was fully DLC coated (black).

The first 5 times I opened it, it was normal and smooth, then the 6th time I felt a little grittiness and started to see a fine shiny silver streak running round the blade tang, then as I got to the 8th, 9th and 10th times of opening it, this silver line became more pronounced and the gritty feeling worse.

Since then, I've cleaned it and lubricated it, and to no avail, the grittiness and grinding feeling continues to get worse.

This is the first time I've had a knife do this. The lock spring is probably the stiffest I've come across, but I've got many other tri-ad locks. None of the others are DLC blades, so not sure if that is a factor.

I'm thinking there must be a hardening issue with either the lock-bar, or the blade tang, or is it that the spring is just too strong and the huge pressure of the lock-bar onto the tang is causing galling?

Has anyone else noticed this?
 
I had this happen on a Vic Farmer after using Tuff Glide on it (never used it again after that), it's a similar setup, a heavy spring rubbing against the blade tang. What lube did you use?
 
It sounds like it needs lube but you said you cleaned and lubed. I'm stumped. As previous poster said, make sure you're using a good lube.
 
Might have a few bits of the coating grittig the action up. Did you clean the action with soap, scrub then re oil?
 
I've fully disassembled the knife and cleaned it, several times. I use a silicon lube that I've used on every other knife I own.

This is getting worse and worse. After seeing how rough the wear on the blade tang and lock bar was (like a coarse grit sandpaper has been used), I took it apart and used a spyderco white fine ceramic stone to polish the rough areas. After doing this it runs smooth for a couple of openings and then starts to grind again. This has been done three times now, each time, disassemble, polish, clean, lube, reassemble and test.

It seems as if there must be an issue with the hardening of the lock bar (as presumably the blade is correctly hardened).

The lock spring is very stiff, and the contact area is small and to one side. If I press on the lock bar a little, the action is so much better. Ideally I'd like to try a lighter spring, but don't know where to get one. I could thin the original one, but if I go wrong, then I'm springless.

But the question I asked in this thread is not for advice on lubrication, but has any other Espada XL G10 owner had this issue?
 
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my G10 XL Espada (DLC Coated) is also gritty, the action not smooth and I've had it on the semi-open position for weeks, opened and closed it at least 100 times and lubed it but it doesn't get better.
Even though it's the largest, I've got +15 Tri-Ads and none is so gritty in opening and so stubborn, they all improved action and stiffness over time, but not this one
 
Well I just got one of these and mine is exactly as the OP describes. Exactly the same. The DLC coating came off after a few openings and it was very gritty. I used a grease lubricant and it smoothed out for a few opening before the roughness returned. I wiped off the tang and relubed and it seems better but I haven't cycled it many times. There definitely appears to be a problem with this model.
On none of my other DLC coated Tri-Ads, does the coating scrape right off the tang. So I'm thinking there's a burr or something on the lockbar.
 
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Subwoofer_CPF said:
The lock spring is very stiff, and the contact area is small and to one side.
Click to expand...

Based on the above, and since you already tried polishing the surfaces and it only worked temporarily, sounds like the mating surfaces are not actually flat/square with each other. May want to try further smoothing of the lock bar portion that contacts the blade tang to see if you can get more contact area.
 
ThePeacent said:
either this is a factory design issue or we all got a bad batch! :eek:
Click to expand...

The tang edge is not square to the blade flats, there is a slight angle. It looks like a stamping which has not then been machined square. This puts it at an immediate disadvantage. Then the lock bar seemed much softer when I was doing the polishing. The spring is also far stronger than any other tri-ad lock I've used (such as the rajah 1 and 2) which then compounds the issue of the mating surfaces not being aligned or hardened properly.

Cold Steel have said this is not right and are going to send another replacement but from a different batch. Curious to see what it is like.

jlauffer said:
Based on the above, and since you already tried polishing the surfaces and it only worked temporarily, sounds like the mating surfaces are not actually flat/square with each other. May want to try further smoothing of the lock bar portion that contacts the blade tang to see if you can get more contact area.
Click to expand...

For a knife that costs this much owners should not need to fix the contact area of the lock parts.
 
Subwoofer_CPF said:
For a knife that costs this much owners should not need to fix the contact area of the lock parts.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree...was just offering a possible explanation/solution if you were so inclined. Glad CS is sending a replacement...hopefully it is perfect.
 
If holding down the lockbar release so that way the lockbar is not contacting the tang when opening makes the knife smoother then obviously the pressure it is putting is a large component of the problem.
 
Subwoofer_CPF said:
Cold Steel have said this is not right and are going to send another replacement but from a different batch. Curious to see what it is like.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll probably end up sending mine in. I'll cycle it more and see if the problem recurs. I'm pretty sure it will.
 
Subwoofer_CPF said:
The tang edge is not square to the blade flats, there is a slight angle. It looks like a stamping which has not then been machined square. This puts it at an immediate disadvantage. Then the lock bar seemed much softer when I was doing the polishing. The spring is also far stronger than any other tri-ad lock I've used (such as the rajah 1 and 2) which then compounds the issue of the mating surfaces not being aligned or hardened properly.

Cold Steel have said this is not right and are going to send another replacement but from a different batch. Curious to see what it is like.



For a knife that costs this much owners should not need to fix the contact area of the lock parts.
Click to expand...

These are waterjet cut. This is odd.
 
jlauffer said:
I definitely agree...was just offering a possible explanation/solution if you were so inclined. Glad CS is sending a replacement...hopefully it is perfect.
Click to expand...

Here's the worst for us foreigners, shipping the item to CS and the new one back through the ocean would be $40 + taxes (which in my country would mean $130 just in fees, taxes and costs not including the repair costs of the piece if there were any).
Add to that the shipping that I already paid when I bought it the first time :thumbsdown:
 
I cycled mine more and the grittiness returned. The band of worn DLC on the tang widened. I continued cycling and the grittiness ceased.
So mine doesn't seem as bad as the OPs. Not sure why the DLC was immediately scraped off but the knife seems to be functioning.
On a side note, mine has a tiny bit of up/down play. It's very small though.
I also noticed something about the L and XL Espada. When hammer gripped in the forward position, even with a gentle grip some pressure is transmitted to the lockbar and the blade has more play. Haven't noticed that with other Tri-Ad designs.
 
I also noticed something about the L and XL Espada. When hammer gripped in the forward position, even with a gentle grip some pressure is transmitted to the lockbar and the blade has more play. Haven't noticed that with other Tri-Ad designs.

That is kinda scary. Have these ever been made in Japan?
 
nephron said:
That is kinda scary. Have these ever been made in Japan?
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Definitely not scary. Accidental disengagement would be pretty much impossible. With these Tri-Ads you've got the deep lockbar engagement plus a lot of spring tension.
 
ThePeacent said:
Here's the worst for us foreigners, shipping the item to CS and the new one back through the ocean would be $40 + taxes (which in my country would mean $130 just in fees, taxes and costs not including the repair costs of the piece if there were any).
Add to that the shipping that I already paid when I bought it the first time :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

I hear you bro. And maybe a risk of paying custom fee again for some people. The package may go lost either way, the turn around time would be a couple months minimum to half a year based on my experience. Lol
Basically I recommend people overseas to buy from a local dealer so they can return it locally if need be. Even though that means a 30-50usd premium on the purchase price(sucks right?).
Also this is why we don’t care for good warranties and would rather manufacturers to just inspect their products rather than just shipping all of them out. Cold steel and benchmade imo are guilty of this.
 
My knife is the same too im waiting for the spring to break in and well see how it goes from there.
 
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