GB2 Access Mod

bflying · Jun 7, 2019

Please don't beat me up too bad. I finally got around to doing a little Spydie hole and lock access alteration that I've been wanting for some time. Similar to what I did with my Positron. I've seen all the GB videos and the reasons for specific design features. And I really do LIKE this knife. Just couldn't bring myself to LOVE this knife.....until now.

My original thought was to open up the hole access on both sides for leftie use also, as well as lock access. But it just didn't seem to work when I started grinding on the display side. At least with the lock access opened up a bit, it is "lefty enough" for when I carry and use that way. And now PERFECT for my righty use.

Edit 10/4/2019: since tinypic went tails up, adding pics from imgur.

Lapedog · Jun 7, 2019

bflying said:
Please don't beat me up too bad. I finally got around to doing a little Spydie hole and lock access alteration that I've been wanting for some time. Similar to what I did with my Positron. I've seen all the GB videos and the reasons for specific design features. And I really do LIKE this knife. Just couldn't bring myself to LOVE this knife.....until now.

My original thought was to open up the hole access on both sides for leftie use also, as well as lock access. But it just didn't seem to work when I started grinding on the display side. At least with the lock access opened up a bit, it is "lefty enough" for when I carry and use that way. And now PERFECT for my righty use.

Very nice job man!

Lock access mods on the GBs are quite common from what I have seen.

No problems with your finger bumping the lock? Especially the left hand?

TRfromMT · Jun 7, 2019

I did that to my GB2 and it is also now among my top favorite knives of all time. It fights for pocket time with my Shiro. All the reasons for the original design are known and understood... this still makes it a better knife in my opinion.

colin.p · Jun 7, 2019

bflying said:
Please don't beat me up too bad. I finally got around to doing a little Spydie hole and lock access alteration that I've been wanting for some time. Similar to what I did with my Positron. I've seen all the GB videos and the reasons for specific design features. And I really do LIKE this knife. Just couldn't bring myself to LOVE this knife.....until now.

My original thought was to open up the hole access on both sides for leftie use also, as well as lock access. But it just didn't seem to work when I started grinding on the display side. At least with the lock access opened up a bit, it is "lefty enough" for when I carry and use that way. And now PERFECT for my righty use.

Nice job. Just looking at your Positron, I see you took a bit more off than I did and I'm glad as I was wondering what it would look like with more taken off. Mine is perfectly operational with the bit I took off already, but I may take a little more, as I now see what it looks like with it brought back to the first little hump. But then again, I will probably just leave it the way I have it now.

bflying · Jun 7, 2019

Lapedog said:
Very nice job man!

Lock access mods on the GBs are quite common from what I have seen.

No problems with your finger bumping the lock? Especially the left hand?

Thank you. So far no problems. Mine has a pretty solid lockup. To approx 60% and appears to have full lock face contact. And pretty comfy in either hand.

bflying · Jun 7, 2019

TRfromMT said:
I did that to my GB2 and it is also now among my top favorite knives of all time. It fights for pocket time with my Shiro. All the reasons for the original design are known and understood... this still makes it a better knife in my opinion.

This one is definitely going to get the pocket time it should have gotten a long time ago. Would love to see pics of others' mods.

bflying · Jun 7, 2019

colin.p said:
Nice job. Just looking at your Positron, I see you took a bit more off than I did and I'm glad as I was wondering what it would look like with more taken off. Mine is perfectly operational with the bit I took off already, but I may take a little more, as I now see what it looks like with it brought back to the first little hump. But then again, I will probably just leave it the way I have it now.

Thank you. It was a huge improvement to the Positron also. Since they were unwilling to "leaf" shape the blade (really don't fault that decision), Spydie hole is obviously decoration. And for many reasons, it will never be a great flipper. But now at least it's not completely unusable. Still have the ole' Love/Hate relationship with the Posi. So even with it's faults, it's still one of my favorite "Little Gent" knives (after my mods). Just be sure not to go too far on the Positron. If you break through to the liner, it would probably look unfortunate. I took mine right to the very edge, and came pretty close to murder.

ferider · Jun 7, 2019

Good job ! My GB2 looks similar, I had real trouble closing it. Must me my fat right thumb, as I had trouble closing a skinny XM-18 as well. Did a similar scale mod there, too. (only the skinny is hard to close for me, a normal XM-18 is just fine).

Funny thing is, I also got a GB1 just recently, and can close it easily - no mod needed. Anyways, GB1 and GB2 feel quite different (choil and weight), so I like to keep both.

bflying · Jun 7, 2019

ferider said:
Good job ! My GB2 looks similar, I had real trouble closing it. Must me my fat right thumb, as I had trouble closing a skinny XM-18 as well. Did a similar scale mod there, too. (only the skinny is hard to close for me, a normal XM-18 is just fine).

Funny thing is, I also got a GB1 just recently, and can close it easily - no mod needed. Anyways, GB1 and GB2 feel quite different (choil and weight), so I like to keep both.

Thank you. I was close to picking up both GB's, but after the trouble my crazy hands had with my GB2, I held off. But now wouldn't have any issues buying one.

ferider · Jun 8, 2019

bflying said:
Thank you. I was close to picking up both GB's, but after the trouble my crazy hands had with my GB2, I held off. But now wouldn't have any issues buying one.

Just to show you that you are not alone:

Therom · Jun 8, 2019

Did the same thing on my BG2

bflying · Jun 8, 2019

ferider said:
Just to show you that you are not alone:

That is great looking. I was going to keep it tight like yours. But then decided that the thumb hole area I also wanted to open was just too close. So I just went at the thing with the small side of my oscillating belt sander.

GB940Rookie · Jun 8, 2019

I prefer the original design but was surprised that the GB2 didn’t have a more accessible lock. Especially since the design is geared more towards general EDC/large gent’s folder, still capable for work if needed.
It was probably the number one complaint of the GB1.

oldmanwilly · Jun 8, 2019

What are the other mods that are common for the GB2? I'm thinking about getting one and want to know what to expect. While I'm at it, how does the GB2 compare to a Manix 2 or Para3 in-pocket?

GB940Rookie · Jun 8, 2019

oldmanwilly said:
What are the other mods that are common for the GB2? I'm thinking about getting one and want to know what to expect. While I'm at it, how does the GB2 compare to a Manix 2 or Para3 in-pocket?

Other than new scales, I don’t see a lot of other mods being done to the GB2. The original scales work quite good IMO.
The GB2 is noticeably easier in pocket than the Manix 2. It doesn’t disappear like the BM 940 but isn’t a pocket hog like the M2.
I’m not familiar with the PM3.

bflying · Jun 8, 2019

oldmanwilly said:
What are the other mods that are common for the GB2? I'm thinking about getting one and want to know what to expect. While I'm at it, how does the GB2 compare to a Manix 2 or Para3 in-pocket?

GB940Rookie pretty much nailed it. Most people find no issues with the GB2 as is. But I now have enough knives that I either really like most of a specific blade's form and function, or it gets put up and never used. I'd rather like it, even if it means a little tweaking. And sometimes the said "tweaking" is simply fun to do.

I've seen some fancy scales added, but the non-epoxied CF/G10 that Spyderco uses is quite attractive in my opinion. Although my favorite is still solid CF if I had a choice. Who knows, if this one stays in my pocket for too long, I'll probably attempt to make new scales for it at some point. I have a short attention span.

May also try out a deep clip.

In my opinion, the GB2 carries MUCH better than the Manix2. And a little better than the PM2. I don't have a Para3, but would guess that it's pretty close in width to the PM2.

blueblur · Jun 10, 2019

Nice job. I did the same thing to my GB1 and like it much more. Not sure how to post pics since photobucket charges to host now.

bflying · Jun 10, 2019

blueblur said:
Nice job. I did the same thing to my GB1 and like it much more. Not sure how to post pics since photobucket charges to host now.

Thank you.

For pics, I've been using Tinypic.com. It's not amazing, but not horrible either. The worst part is the stupid pop-up ads. At least they pop as a new tab behind the current, so easy to close without even looking at them. Hard to complain about "free" though. I've got well over 1k pics hosted there right now.

Lots of people use Imgur. I've tried that one, but ended up going back to tinypic. Not sure if it was really easier, better, or simply more familiar.

TRfromMT · Jun 11, 2019

The relief doesn't need to be much to make all the difference. This is probably no more than 1/16" on mine.

With the right tools it takes longer to disassemble and reassemble than to do the grinding.

oldmanwilly · Jun 11, 2019

Has anyone ground down the protruding steel liners to make them flush with the CF scales around the entire knife? I would think that could help it feel slimmer and more comfortable in use. Or is that a terrible idea?