Stiff New Spyderco, Suggestions to Loosen

P

panama

Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
128
Would love suggestions as to how to loosen up a stiff spyderco, Kris model, lockback. Thanks.
 
Congrats on aquiring a Kris. Wonderful knives these Schempp Spydies. As you noted, the action can be a bit stiff out of the box. Ed Schempp posted his action smoothing recommendation back when the Persian folder hit the market but a quick search failed to bring it up. As I recall, he recommended flushing out the pivot areo with compressed air and WD-40. I've done it and it works. However instead of WD-40, I'd recommend Kroil. It's more of a lubricant than WD-40 and it seems to stick around a lot longer. I'd also let it soak overnight and use compressed air sparingly and only to remove the excess. You can buy compressed air in an aerosol can in the computer aisle at Wally World.

Then simply work the action repeatedly a couple hundred times. Should smooth right out. Again, congrats on getting a great knife. :)
 
Lots of lube, followed by lots of opening and closing. Might have to repeat that several times.

Whoever builds Ed's designs for Spyderco does a great job, but they do tend to be tighter than a ducks ass at first. Upside of that is that Hell will probably freeze over before one of them develops horizontal blade play. And our friends in Canada should have no Customs issues with them, don't think even Chuck Norris could flick one of them open. ;)

Paul
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My Personal Website - - - - - A Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting
Dead horses beaten, sacred cows tipped, chimeras hunted when time permits.
Collector # 043 - - WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twsited up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
 
I have been using wd 40 on it and opening and closing it. Got one nice cut so far because I stupidly sharpened it on the spyderco sticks before getting it loose. I can flick it open but I have to do it so hard it hurts the arm. I guess WD 40 is not the best lube for it so I will get some other lube. Many years ago I had a stiff Police Model and called Spyderco and they told me to work the action and use WD 40. Maybe back then in the early 1990's that was the way to go. The police model eventually did get loose enough to operate the way I like.
I sure wish there was a way to disassemble the knife by knocking pin out, take the blade to a stone for a few strokes and then reassemble but I can not even see the pin to knock out so the hard way is what will have to do. Thanks
 
If you can manage to push the lock in hard enough that its not contacting the blade at all, you'll see that the blade itself will pivot freely with just about no resistance. Most of the resistance on the blade keeping it from opening is coming from the lock being in contact with the round pivot portion of the blade while you open the knife. Lube will work for a little while, but it will be pushed off by the force of the lock on the pivot of the blade.
 
wd40 will dry out and be sticky making start from 0 all over again. Clean it out and use a different lube.
 
Frankly, I don't think it's realistic to expect to be able to flick open ANY Spyderco front lock. If you want a quasi-legal gravity knife stick with liner, frame, compression or ball lock equipped models.

Paul
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My Personal Website - - - - - A Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting
Dead horses beaten, sacred cows tipped, chimeras hunted when time permits.
Collector # 043 - - WTC # 1458 - 1504 - 1508 - Never Forget, Never Forgive!
It's easy to grin when your ship comes in and good fortune and fame are your lot, but the man worthwhile is the man who can smile with his shorts twsited up in a knot. - Morey Amsterdam
 
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