M4 Millie--satisfied or dissappointed

[Reeek]

Before I sold mine, I did the over extended lockbar test with the knife held horizontal and the blade fell freely with no excessive friction at all.

 

[Buffalohump]

I carried mine for a while after I got it and then gave it a break and went back to my usual EDC which is a S90V Millie.

I gotta say I think the RIL is a bit of overkill. I personally love how easy it is to open and close a regular Millie one-handed. With RIL its a little harder.

I think its a cool knife and I'm glad I have one but the S90V/CF still rules the roost for me.

 

[Somi]

Disappointed

Both of the screws are missing from the steel lock insert.

 

[Reeek]

Are you serious? Or is this a joke?

Disappointed

Both of the screws are missing from the steel lock insert.

 

[Somi]

Sorry, but it is not a joke.

 

[Reeek]

Is the insert still there and just held on by the post? If so Spyderco will probably most certainly send you some even to Hungary I would hope. I guess the downside would be that you would void the warranty from everything I read, if you disassemble your knife to install the screws. Sounds like a condundrum to me for you and Spyderco.

 

[Somi]

Email sent to Roger.
I hope everything will be OK.

Pictures:

 

[unit]

Email sent to Roger.
I hope everything will be OK.

That is just crazy! I can not tell, are the holes tapped? If so, it ought to be pretty simple to fix with a pair of screws (that I am fairly confident Spyderco will send to you). It is really a shame that happened, and even more so that it happened to someone over seas, but perhaps it can be remedied easily enough?

 

[mr-winkie01]

I recently received an M4 Millie in the mail a couple of days ago, and after EDc'ing it yesterday and today I'm satisfied with my purchase.

In hand, it feels sturdy and it opens just as smooth as my first Millie I ordered some months ago, and I'm going to predict it'll be smoother as time goes on with subsequent use. The G10 on the M4 feels more traction-able than on the standard Millie out of the box, and the ball detent feels a little more stronger when opening the blade. Now on my example the steel insert has two screws holding it into place unlike Somi's, so I'm chalking it up to a bad lemon in the batch.

Is it 100% perfect? Not really. It does has a minor imperfection in the jimping on the bottom of the blade near the tang, and the blade favors the locking side a little bit, but in my opinion doesn't sink the knife as a whole. I'm not familiar with M4 steel, so It'll be interesting to see how it'll perform after a year of use...

 

[lone ranger]

received one two days ago beautuful knife , perfect fit and finish custom knife for $200

 

[elkins45]

I voted 'satisfied' because the quality of the knife was quite good---exactly what I expected. But I'm not really satisfied and that's nobody's fault but my own.

Although Spyderco is unquestionably my favorite knife company and makes up the greatest percentage of knives I own, I've never liked the Military. I don't like linerlocks and I don't like to carry tip down. I realize most people think it is Spyderco's iconic design but I just never warmed to it. Since I'm a giant fan of titanium framelocks, I bought this one with the intention of converting it to tip up in the hope it would finally be the perfect Millie for me.

It didn't work out. I haven't even tapped it and probably won't. What I've learned from handling it is that in addition to the original reasons I didn't care for the model, it's just too big for my hands. I guess I'm just truly destined to not be a Millie guy...so count me satisfied and yet disappointed at the same time.

 

[Reeek]

Fair enough. I sold mine but mainly because I'm going to settle for the standard G10 models however, if the rumor of a Ti/G10 S90V (for the more stainless element, rather than M4) are true I will probably go through the motions on that one anyway. I've already pinged my dealer in case he can help but I also hear it may be a dealer spec'ed knife and not Spyderco alone as was with this model.

 

[goodeyesniper]

All is relative. I tried cutting the same food - apples, pears, bread with Koster in 3v and Millie in M4. Both knifes were treated a couple of times with Tuf cloth and the 3v blade showed no visible discoloration but the M4 had several rust spots. Our grandparents had no choice but I personally prefer more stainless blade on an EDC knife. With that said I will still use the M4 Millie until I can get one in S90v or ZDP 189

You did something wrong. My guess is you "treated it a couple times with Tuf cloth" while it still had acidic juice from fruit on it. Tuf cloth or oil does not stop or prevent actual rust. it simply acts as a protective layer so that things that DO cause rust don't easily come into contact with the steel. Steel needs to be cleaned of moisture or acid before you apply these protective methods, or else rust will simply form underneath it all.

It seriously is ridiculously easy to keep these rust free unless you are seeing some REALLY wet use constantly, like out on a boat in the rain.

Trust me, I, and many others have used much more rust prone steels for a lot wetter/dirtier work than cutting up some fruit and had no problems. Like 1095 or whatever Opinels use. Those two steels will seem to stain if you look at them wrong. M4 is way easier to take care of.

 

[xChris]

STR,

Thanks for your post ^^above^^ to add some knifemaking/manufacturing detail to mine.

Just for clarification, my example is smoothing up. I expect it to wear in just fine like mr-winkie-01 is expecting of his.

 

[vvk]

You did something wrong. My guess is you "treated it a couple times with Tuf cloth" while it still had acidic juice from fruit on it. Tuf cloth or oil does not stop or prevent actual rust. it simply acts as a protective layer so that things that DO cause rust don't easily come into contact with the steel. Steel needs to be cleaned of moisture or acid before you apply these protective methods, or else rust will simply form underneath it all.

It seriously is ridiculously easy to keep these rust free unless you are seeing some REALLY wet use constantly, like out on a boat in the rain.

Trust me, I, and many others have used much more rust prone steels for a lot wetter/dirtier work than cutting up some fruit and had no problems. Like 1095 or whatever Opinels use. Those two steels will seem to stain if you look at them wrong. M4 is way easier to take care of.

I wish the explanation was that simple. I always clean and dry the blades before applying Tuf cloth. Below is a picture comparing Koster in 3v vs. M4 Millie. Both knives were used to cut apples and other fruits but M4 seems to be leagues ahead of M4 as far as corrosion resistance is concerned. I do not care for the cosmetics but I personally prefer to spend less time cleaning the knife after each use, understandably other peoples needs and use may be different.

 

[AF]

I love the patina, darkened look. But some people don't. M4 isn't nearly as rust prone as 5160 or 1095 for example.

 

[STR]

I like the nostalgia of carbon steel. Its refreshing to once again have a blade on me that ages gently with me as we go through life together. If it bothers some of you thats fine but it goes with the territory. Buying a carbon blade knowing full well that you are getting that and then complaining about it makes little sense to me.

Anyway someone wrote me earlier and wanted to see this so I'll post it here since I'm posting anyways. Keep in mind I was just playing with a cover plate/lock stop trying to get an idea of just how little you have to play with before the action changed. Until I took out some thickness on the underside of this plate I temporarily installed on my own M4 I could not even make the blade open because the plate blocked the lock from moving far enough away from the blade to allow rotation and it was due to the pressure the plate forced the detent to put on the blade. This proves my theory that if the tab did what I made this plate do then that would explain the action problems some are experiencing. You might be able to see in this picture of it looking down into the folder that the lock stop plate I've put in place of the original clip has a section thinned down by my grinding the underside to remove enough material (about.030-.035 of the .045 thickness) to allow the action to remain the same as without the plate. Hope that makes sense. I'm sorry if I lose some of you with this. Basically if you look at that plate you can see just how thin it is at the part that is over the lock. I had to remove that much of it making whats left about the thickness of most washers used in my knives. This is how far the lock needs to be out for the action to be smooth and if anything prevents that lock from moving that far out it pushes the detent harder on the blade making things tighter.

STR

 

[goodeyesniper]

I wish the explanation was that simple. I always clean and dry the blades before applying Tuf cloth. Below is a picture comparing Koster in 3v vs. M4 Millie. Both knives were used to cut apples and other fruits but M4 seems to be leagues ahead of M4 as far as corrosion resistance is concerned. I do not care for the cosmetics but I personally prefer to spend less time cleaning the knife after each use, understandably other peoples needs and use may be different.

and it stained AFTER the tuf cloth was applied? Because rust doesn't just magically happen, especially if you have a protective covering on it. I can understand you not wanting the upkeep of a non stainless folder. Especially nowadays with tremendous steels that are very stainless.

You might be like me, and got so used to just kinda wiping the stainless blade off on your jeans, and cleaning it a week later with no problems, that you tried it on this, and didn't actually remove all the sticky fruitjuice? Then the tuf cloth just kinda seals it in. That definitely happened to me when I started getting back into carbon blades. The little extra effort it takes is very easy, but is something you have to consciously think about if you want to keep it stain free....

 

[KeithAM]

That looks like normal patina to me. In fact, I think a patina like that looks good on a blade, especially when it gets darker.

I've been carrying and using carbon steel knives since I got my first one when I turned 10 in 1968. I've used carbon steel Old Hickory knives in the kitchen for years. They all have a good, natural patina. I've never had a problem with rust. I wash them with with soapy water and rinse them with very hot water after use and then promptly dry them. I don't find oil or Tuf Cloth necessary for the kitchen, although I use mineral oil on my nicer knives for storage.

Notice I'm not saying I've never seen rust on a blade--I have. Sometimes my wife or daughter will leave a wet blade in the sink. But the rust comes off fairly easily with a polish like Flitz or Maas.

I hope all of you who bought this knife did it with your eyes open. Yes, carbon steel takes extra care, but its really not difficult. If you enjoy handling knives, its not a burden. If you do think it's a burden, then you're in luck since the vast majority of knives on the market--particularly modern one-hand openners--are stainless. For those of us who do like carbon steel, the M4 Millie was a rare opportunity.

 

[trix2004]

m4 is not for every one , s30 will work just as good for most people .