Stiff Dragonfly?

TAH

TAH

Joined
Jul 3, 2001
Messages
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My FRN Dragonfly PE is about one week old (still in the nymph stage :D ). I absolutely love this knife - only problem is the action is very stiff. It's hard to flick the blade down to close it and yes, I am depressing the lock. :p Will this eventually loosen up?

Thanks!
 
Open and close the knife every chance you get and it WILL loosen up in a little while. Sometimes the metal to metal fit is a little tight. Opening and closing many times will "polish" the contact points and eventually you'll have a smooth operator. Just had a similar experience with a C93 Navigator II. After about 1 1/2 months of use it's just now starting to smooth out. Be patient.
 
I agree with NativeAmerican, but it only takes me about 2 weeks to break in a pinned FRN Spyderco.

I have an older FRN dragonfly and it was the same way. It's perfect now.
 
I've had mine for about 3 weeks and it's just reached the point where the blade will drop pretty easily when I press the lock and give it a little flick of the wrist. That's with every day use at my warehouse job, plus quite a bit of playing at home.
 
you could also try leaving the knife partially open overnight, at about 30-45 degrees if you can. that helped loosen up my stretch pretty easily
 
I recently got an frn Dragonfly in a trade. Not sure how old or new the knife is (though it's in great shape) but it also was fairly stiff. I ran warm tap water over the pivot, opening and closing the knife repeatedly for like 5 minutes. Then I carefully dried it and gave it a good blast of WD-40. Then I wiped that off, and hit the pivot with a drop of Rem Oil. Now it's smooth as silk. Like you, I'm loving this little cutter.

My wife and I just bought a new apartment and are in the process of moving. Last night, while hanging curtain rods, I used the knife to open the packages that contained the mounting hardware. They're made of some really thick, tough plastic, but the D'fly zipped right through it. Sweet.
 
It's an amazing little knife for its size. At 1.2 oz., I'm also using it for ultra-light backpacking and day hikes.
 
I've had a stainless DragonFly for about 4 years now. The action is still a little on the stiff side. I don't mind it at all. This is a sign of quality. The worst feeling is a sloppy pinned knife. The DragonFly is not a self defense knife. It opens and closes fast enough. Love this little sucker.
 
I just realized today that my Dragonfly has gotten to the point where I can snap it open with a push from my thumb to start it, and a flick of my wrist to get it the rest of the way open . I didn't think the blade was heavy enough that it would ever be able to do that. Not that I need to . . . as coop1957 said, it opens fast enough anyhow. It's just kinda fun to do sometimes, and it's cool that it can be done with such a small knife.
 
After receiving my own Dragonfly FRN, I have to say this knife is perfect and nothing needs changing. Better blade steel would be appreciated, and a Caly3-ified version of the Dragonfly would be pretty freaking sweet, too. But the FRN version is great as-is.
 
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