Yeah Yeah another Southard thread...

[Leatherneck]

Wanted to give Spyderco kudos for such a well thought out design. It's the first of many RIL knives that I really like. Can't find a darn thing wrong with it. Grip is great, lockup perfect and F&F spot on. I also appreciate the shape as it fits against the back of the pocket making it almost unnoticeable. The cutout area around the thumb hole also makes it very easy to disengage the lock-bar which is not the case on many frame locks. My vote goes for it being one of the best Spydercos as of late.

[kawr]

Congrats with your new purchase. I agree with you, it's the only Spyderco I bought a multiple of.

[SpyderNut]

Thanks for the great pics and review, Leatherneck! The Southard is definitely on my "want" list for '13. :)

[jackthedog]

It's a great knife. Incredibly smooth and easy to deploy.

[SQSAR]

I'd say it's the best Spyderco even made. Also: Aberdeen Proving Ground, , , now that brings back memories.

[Holland]

great looking knife, hope to pick this up eventually/ when the funds allow it anyways....

[kelpie]

Wanted to go back in time and get a feel for the hype that the Southard entered the world with, so I choose to bump this thread and add some of my thoughts about the Southard (and the influence of the forum on my thoughts!).

I think about 3 years ago I purchased my Southard, at the time I believe it was my most expensive knife, and it still is my only ti frame lock. loved the design, especially the blade shape and grind but never really settled on it as an edc option. at this stage I usually carried a pm2, BM940 or dragonfly. Southard was taken out of the box every other month, played with, sat on the shelf and turned down morning after morning till I boxed it back up. after about 18 months of this the impossible happened.

My Southard stopped flipping!

I live in New Zealand (sending it back would be $$$), consider myself handy enough (umm yeah) so out with the torx and into the guts. now in hindsight this is where I involve the influence of the forum in the story of me and my southard. flattened detent balls, deformed liners, defunct caged ball bearings, fragile internal stop pin ... I cleaned down, noted all the issues that the forum warned me about, put the knife back together, flipped ok, couple of hours /days later and stiff.

I put the issue down to the detent, maybe the deformed pivot liners, anyway the Southard found the bottom of my humble box of knives and out of fear there it stayed until an evening after New Years about 6-7 weeks ago. for the better part of the end of last year I edc'ed a d'allara 3 during the week and a BM barrage on the weekend, loved the combo. New Year, second chances and back out with the torx,a cloth and some Abu Garcia oil.

Detent is flattened, pivot liners seemed bent, cages ? (never sure what the issue has been here), anyway, cleaned it all bit by bit, too much oil, then soak it up (more screw up than planned but it maybe helped), carefully put it back together (here the word carefully denotes thinking!!!) and flip flip flip! smooth!! But this happened last time, then over time it ground itself to a stop. since it hasn't looked back, still smooth, still fun. why was it getting stuck previously? it still has a ground down detent ball? my best thought is some small grit or lint has found its way into the pivot, why hasn't that happened again ... don't know. I haven't done a lot of "gunky" jobs (blood, juice fluid) but have done some. the knife has lived in pocket or dusty ute, haven't blown or oiled it either. what I do know is I love this thing, flipping is enjoyable, aggression of the wide blade with the thin hollow grind is phenomenal! (crap on an apple, amazing when day dreaming of building a shelter with only what you have on your person) blade shape is in my opinion perfect for edc.

I am very happy with my Southard, I am not unhappy that I have had to take it apart to solve some wear and tear issues, I am perplexed about how I let information from forums and reviews sour my opinion for a time (the complex world of reality vs perception)

now ... to talk myself into purchasing a serrata and batoning down a forrest with it!!!

[gundamaniac]

In my experience most of the time the friction from flipping comes from the detent track. Just make sure that the track the detent rides on is clean and lubed. I've found that my pivot can be smooth as butter, but if the detent track is dry or messed up....yikes you're in for rough openings and closings. You can give it a try next time you have rough openings and closings - if you hold the lockbar open, is the action still rough? If yes, then it's the pivot itself, but if not then it was your detent and detent track.

Glad your Southard worked out for you .