Ikuchi

Question for those of you that currently own the Ikuchi. I’ll preface by saying that I really like the knife. The profile is awesome, I find the design appealing, and it is one slicy mofo. Having said that I have some questions/concerns about the one I just received.

It was very tight upon receipt. It wouldn’t flip at all. Beautifully centered and excellent fit and finish but it wouldn’t open without big effort and some major wrist flicking. I put some KPL on the washers and worked the action a bit. Better but not as it should be, still wouldn’t flick more than 10-20% reliably.

I then loosened the pivot some and voila. I could flip it open nicely and it would smoothly shut without much trouble. Here’s the issue. No matter what I did other than keeping the pivot to the point it wouldn’t even flip, the side to side blade play was significant enough to be bothersome.

Question, for those who’s knife flips smoothly and reliably do you have any side to side blade play?

If I can’t correct this I will return it and try another one.

Opinions welcome.
 
xtremejc said:
Question for those of you that currently own the Ikuchi. I’ll preface by saying that I really like the knife. The profile is awesome, I find the design appealing, and it is one slicy mofo. Having said that I have some questions/concerns about the one I just received.

It was very tight upon receipt. It wouldn’t flip at all. Beautifully centered and excellent fit and finish but it wouldn’t open without big effort and some major wrist flicking. I put some KPL on the washers and worked the action a bit. Better but not as it should be, still wouldn’t flick more than 10-20% reliably.

I then loosened the pivot some and voila. I could flip it open nicely and it would smoothly shut without much trouble. Here’s the issue. No matter what I did other than keeping the pivot to the point it wouldn’t even flip, the side to side blade play was significant enough to be bothersome.

Question, for those who’s knife flips smoothly and reliably do you have any side to side blade play?

If I can’t correct this I will return it and try another one.

Opinions welcome.
Click to expand...

Mine was "tight" out of the box. Not so tight that I could not flip it open but tighter than I prefer.

I oiled and adjusted the pivot w/o taking it apart. Hardest thing to do was to keep the blade centered while adjusting the pivot. It flips smoothly and easily now. I find the jimping on the flipper dial too abrasive and less effective than using a finger nail to engage it in order to flip the blade open.

However, the best way to open the knife IMO is to just to flip it open while releasing the compression tab which, unless you have really slender fingers, again is best be done w/your fingernail.
 
Last edited:
sgt1372 said:
Mine was "tight" out of the box. Not so tight that I could not flip it open but tighter than I prefer.

I oiled and adjusted the pivot w/o taking it apart. Hardest thing to do was to keep the blade centered while adjusting the pivot. It flips smoothly and easily now. I find the jimping on the flipper dial too abrasive and less effective than using a finger nail to engage it in order to flip the blade open.

However, the best way to open the knife IMO is to just to flip it open while releasing the compression tab (which unless you have really slender fingers, again can best be done w/your fingernail.
Click to expand...

Any blade play on yours after you dialed in the adjustment?
 
xtremejc said:
Any blade play on yours after you dialed in the adjustment?
Click to expand...

Sorry, going to have to retract my prior "no blade play" comment. You can unlike it.

Just looked at the Ikuchi and there is "some" blade play when I "force" the blade side-to-side. Enough that I can hear some clicking when I do this but not enough that I think it would matter in normal use because I would not use this knife to pry anything; it's too delicate for that.

It's just not something that I pay much attention to and doesn't bother me because I normally only use a slicing motion w/a knife, in which case what little side-to-side blade play exists is of little importance.
 
Last edited:
xtremejc said:
Question for those of you that currently own the Ikuchi. I’ll preface by saying that I really like the knife. The profile is awesome, I find the design appealing, and it is one slicy mofo. Having said that I have some questions/concerns about the one I just received.

It was very tight upon receipt. It wouldn’t flip at all. Beautifully centered and excellent fit and finish but it wouldn’t open without big effort and some major wrist flicking. I put some KPL on the washers and worked the action a bit. Better but not as it should be, still wouldn’t flick more than 10-20% reliably.

I then loosened the pivot some and voila. I could flip it open nicely and it would smoothly shut without much trouble. Here’s the issue. No matter what I did other than keeping the pivot to the point it wouldn’t even flip, the side to side blade play was significant enough to be bothersome.

Question, for those who’s knife flips smoothly and reliably do you have any side to side blade play?

If I can’t correct this I will return it and try another one.

Opinions welcome.
Click to expand...
No play in mine. It was a little tight at first, but is breaking in nicely.
 
Mine arrived today and my first impressions are very positive, although admittedly I haven't had the chance to use it yet. Amazing action, I love the wheel flipper! Very cool blade shape, razor sharp, perfectly centered, basically no side-to-side play, and not to tight at all. I'm not a big fan of the carbon fiber but I can certainly live with it; wood scales with nice screws would really set this knife apart.

The only and major flaw to me is that the tip is so close to protruding that it will catch my finger if I run it along the closed edge. I hate the idea of having a potential stick hazard in my pocket, especially such a sharp and fine tip as this. One can hypothesize on the risk but I just don't like this. We'll see if I end up sticking myself as I start carrying it...

My last thought relates to this being a bit of an impulse buy for me: what will I use it for? The blade is quite delicate and "slicey" and would make a decent paring/cutlery knife or fillet knife.

Nice knife and I look forward to more wheel flippers!
 
sgt1372 said:
I find the jimping on the flipper dial too abrasive
Click to expand...
With this in mind, one of the first things I did when I opened the box was to rub the dial jimping; I didn't think it was abrasive at all. After flicking it a number of times I now have quite a few scratches on my index finger, so I notice it now. Still, it's probably the fastest action on a knife that I own, it's crazy how quick the blade jumps out.

I did manage to nick myself last night too. I brought the knife out of my pocket and kind of fumbled it in hand and received a small but deep-enough cut on the distal pad of my ring finger. It's a shame too, because if I put pressure on the closed knife it'll put the tip down about 1 mm or so, which is all that is needed to keep it safely away from my fingers.

I seem to recall at least one other Spyderco model with this issue and I hope they look for it in future designs, because if I didn't really like this knife it would likely be a deal-breaker. I can't imagine buying a knife knowing in advance that this was a "feature".

But what a slicer :)
 
Darkera said:
With this in mind, one of the first things I did when I opened the box was to rub the dial jimping; I didn't think it was abrasive at all. After flicking it a number of times I now have quite a few scratches on my index finger, so I notice it now. Still, it's probably the fastest action on a knife that I own, it's crazy how quick the blade jumps out.

I did manage to nick myself last night too. I brought the knife out of my pocket and kind of fumbled it in hand and received a small but deep-enough cut on the distal pad of my ring finger. It's a shame too, because if I put pressure on the closed knife it'll put the tip down about 1 mm or so, which is all that is needed to keep it safely away from my fingers.

I seem to recall at least one other Spyderco model with this issue and I hope they look for it in future designs, because if I didn't really like this knife it would likely be a deal-breaker. I can't imagine buying a knife knowing in advance that this was a "feature".

But what a slicer :)
Click to expand...

Glad but sorry to hear one of my initial impressions about the Ikuchi was confirmed. As earlier suggested, the best way to avoid the abrasiveness of the flipper dial is to use your index fingernail to engage it or just to a compression tab release wrist flick.

The "other" Spyderco model that I believe that you are referring to in terms of the "risk" of being cut is the Tropen. I have never been cut by the Tropen but the "risk" exists and there are people who have reported being cut by it. However, from what I've seen/read, the risk is greater w/the Ikuchi IF the tip of the blade rises above the edge of the liners, as it apparently does in some cases.

I fortunately do not have that problem w/mine and anyone who does should return it to the dealer they bought it from or to Spyderco for repair, if you can't make the necessary adjustments yourself.
 
Last edited:
sgt1372 said:
Glad but sorry to hear one of my initial impressions about the Ikuchi was confirmed. As earlier suggested, the best way to avoid the abrasiveness of the flipper dial is to use your index fingernail to engage it or just to a compression tab release wrist flick.

The "other" Spyderco model that I believe that you are referring to in terms of the "risk" of being cut is the Tropen. I have never been cut by the Tropen but the "risk" exists and there are people who have reported being cut by it. However, from what I've seen/read, the risk is greater w/the Ikuchi IF the tip of the blade rises above the edge of the liners, as it apparently does in some cases.

I fortunately do not have that problem w/mine and anyone who does should return it to the dealer they bought it from or to Spyderco for repair, if you can't make the necessary adjustments yourself.
Click to expand...
I now wonder if it is actually the jimping or the sharp angle above the jimping section?

I don't want to return the knife because I have a feeling it will just be a back-and-forth of getting a bunch of models until one of them is a bit better. If Spyderco can fix it I'd send it in, but I wonder if there is a fix? It seems more like a design flaw and the difference between a pokey tip and a safe one seems probably very small.
 
Thanks Colorodo Colorodo

I took the gray Spyderco stones to the tip of the spine and rounded it a bit.

That pretty much takes care of the bite problem with it. Sucks to do that to a new knife, but it's an easy fix.
 
Kreyzhorse said:
Thanks Colorodo Colorodo

I took the gray Spyderco stones to the tip of the spine and rounded it a bit.

That pretty much takes care of the bite problem with it. Sucks to do that to a new knife, but it's an easy fix.
Click to expand...
Where was this solution mentioned in this thread? I can't seem to find it. I wouldn't mind hearing more about this, it sounds like a good fix.
 
I recall people asking about a smoke ikuchi comparison before launch, I don't know if anyone is interested but I took the liberty of making a few shots as I got my ikuchi (still should have called it famine Paul! It fits it so well).
So for those interested..

YlEZRy0.jpg

qjLr5Pq.jpg

I7ifPqx.jpg

WRKfo0G.jpg

pcfQbh3.jpg

M3rwVuy.jpg



I personally like it better then my boos. But I've always loved the feel of Taichungs cf over g10. Then again I really dislike carbon fiber. Even swapped out the cf for aluminum on my 940-1, and made a all titanium black and white 0450-minus-cf hybrid. My experience might not be yours is what I'm saying.

But damn what a great grind on this blade. Perfectly centered too, awesome bevels and perhaps the sharpest spyderco out of the factory yet for me.
It's a bit too sharp at the wheel though, is there already a general consensus as to how to best remedy this without losing too much traction?
 
Last edited:
Dodgie02 said:
I personally like it better then my boos. But I've always loved the feel of Taichungs cf over g10. Then again I really dislike carbon fiber. Even swapped out the cf for aluminum on my 940-1, and made a all titanium black and white 0450-minus-cf hybrid. My experience might not be yours is what I'm saying.

But damn what a great grind on this blade. Perfectly centered too, awesome bevels and perhaps the sharpest spyderco out of the factory yet for me. It's a bit too sharp at the wheel though, is there already a general consensus as to how to best remedy this without losing too much traction?
Click to expand...

Not sure if there's a consensus but what I do is "flick" the dial w/the fingernail of my index finger OR just release the compression lock tab by my fingernail and wrist flick the blade open.
 
Mine has broken-in. It came with a freer action but there was slight side to side play felt with the blade open and lock disengaged. I tightened pivot to eliminate play and then cycled numerous times. I can now flick open reliably with thumb or index finger. No wrist action is needed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top