Kinda disappointed with my PM2

[ZMW]

So I just my first PM2, my 4th spydie. Persistence, Matriarch, and Delica are my other ones. I love my Delica. This being my first knife from Golden and the legendary PM2, perhaps I had my expectations too high.

Fit and finish is ok, but for a $122 knife I wanted more. G10 is super grippy, blade shape is awesome, and the compression lock will take me a little getting used to.

My issue is, I took the knife apart and take a look. One of the screws that holds the body together was internally stripped and will not come out (it just turns and turns but the groves do not bite and it does not come out), so I could only remove 1 side of the G10 and liners. The bronze washers were dirty, and one of the bronze washers is literally cemented into the liner (on the side I can not fully remove). I could not pry it off to clean it.

Maybe I had my expectation set too high. But I sold my Griptilian to buy this knife and I am not really sure this is an upgrade.

Thoughts? Did I get a lemon or is this just how it goes with knives, even more expensive ones?

[farnorthdan]

Possibly, where did you buy it. Unfortunately Spyderco voids their warranty if disassembled. Was there a problem with the knife before you took it apart or was it just curiosity? Myself, I've only disassemble a couple of mine and that was only to add after market scales, I'm generally too cautious to take mine apart just to have a look-see, crap usually breaks when I mess with it so I don't unless I absolutely have too, I seem to be cursed that way . You can send it in to Spyderco warranty and repair but now they are going to charge you (most likely but not always) to make any repairs. Do you have any pictures we can see, we like pictures. :D

[ZMW]

I bought at Knifeworks, which everyone says is very reputable. I will post some pics later today or tomorrow. At work now and I have a busy couple of days, but I will post pics!

The knife seemed fine before I disassembled, nothing really wrong with. Just a lower grade of craftsmanship then I hoped for. 1 screw being internally stripped so complete disassembly is not possible. Bronze washer stuck to the liner, literally glued on there...

[ejames13]

I can't picture exactly what you mean when you say the screw turns and turns but doesn't come out. If it's stripped, should you be able to just pull the backspacer off of the screw right? Or are you saying the backspacer and the screw are spinning together? If that's the case then it's probably just that the screw is locked into the backspacer with a generous amount of loctite. You could try using a hairdryer to heat it up and see if you can unscrew it then.

As for the washer being stuck to the liner, I don't think that's terribly uncommon. Sometimes the loctite can spill out of the pivot bushing upon assembly and adhere to the parts around the pivot area. I had this happen to me multiple times when trying to re-assemble a Military. Loctite kept spilling out of the pivot and gumming up the action once it dried.

I personally don't take my spydies apart. Like Dan said, they're too easy to mess up. There's a reason Spyderco's warranty doesn't cover damage from disassembly.

[ZMW]

Good info Ejames. I will try the hair dryer trick, and yes I believe the screw and backspacer are spinning together, so it is not going anywhere. I assumed the internal of the spacer and screw somehow got off track and locked up, but loctite is a good idea for the cause of the problem.

[Archimedes]

You can also run the stuck screw under hot tap water. This has worked for me. But it has to be hot not warm. Good luck.

I am so glad my days of taking new knives apart have passed. :D

[araneae]

Did you get a lemon? Far as I can tell from your post, the knife was fine until you took it apart, now it has issues; tinkering with a perfectly fine knife can create issues. You voided the warranty by disassembling, doesn't really sound like a lemon to me. Hope the situation works out for you, the PM2 is a great knife.

[Studey]

Did you get a lemon? Far as I can tell from your post, the knife was fine until you took it apart, now it has issues; tinkering with a perfectly fine knife can create issues. You voided the warranty by disassembling, doesn't really sound like a lemon to me. Hope the situation works out for you, the PM2 is a great knife.

Well, pretty much. If you don't have enough experience to recognize what was going on with the washer and screw/spacer, that's a good sign that you might not ought to be taking knives apart.

I have zero issues with taking apart knives, but it sounds like your only issues began with you disassembling your knife. That's not Spyderco's fault.

As was mentioned, hopefully you get the knife squared away to your satisfaction and can begin enjoying it again.

[ChrisinHove]

Bad luck!

[harronek]

Over the last thirty years I have discovered that there isn't a machine or tool that can't be fixed , if you develop the skills , and have the tools and equipment .
Your problem isn't the end of the world or even really that much of an inconvenience in the grand scheme of things .
There are two options available that you can take from this experience .

Never attempt to dismantle a knife ever again .
Or
Learn from this , and treat it as the first step in an adventure .

Neither option is wrong , it just depends on you .

Ken

[ZMW]

Thanks Ken, I am the type that likes to fiddle with things, learn how they work so i can expand my skill/knowledge base. That is just me. I know that comes with breaking a few things along the way. My first experience was taking apart my Persistence and losing the stop pin for a week in my garage. I found it with a high powered magnet and all is well. Now I disassemble in a tuperware jar so things do not go rolling. Live and learn!

Ironically, I broke more stuff on my PM2 I used the Torx 6 to try and move the pocket clip, but I completely stripped the screws. It is like this knife was slathered in loctite. Super frustrating, but I guess I will get used to carrying tip down.

[v8r]

A soldering iron placed on the very end of the screw for a few seconds will typically make it where screws could be loosened.
Make sure you have quality/ well fitting torx drivers as well. Really easy to strip heads of screws if the drivers are of poor quality.

[palonej]

I can't stress enough to use good torx drivers!! Got that garbage driver from Home Depot and stripped every screw I touched!
Not to be a PITA, but was there any reason at all to pull the knife apart?? You spent $120, the knife was fine.....and you took it apart??
The screw you say is spinning and not coming out.....prob no problem if you hold back on the pin. Never saw stripped threads on a Spydie......just stripped heads that were my fault!!
Good luck!!
Joe

[ZMW]

Joe - its just how I am. I wanted to take a look at the internals. I am curious cat.

To answer your question, the deployment action was very tough at first. Closing the knife was even tougher. I know loosening the pivot would make it smoother, but then I got side to side play. So, I wanted to see what was going on. The bronze washers were pretty grimmy. Some CLP took most right off. But, 1 washer is glued/loctite or somehow stuck to the liner, and I mean stuck, so perhaps that washer not moving freely slows the action down? Maybe not and it just needs a break in period.

Stripping the screws was probably from buying that same cheap t6 you mentioned. Lesson learned, I will buy a better tool next time.

As for the backspacer screw turning without coming out, since I am already messing with the knife I will take another look to see if I can figure that out. I will also try the hairdryer and hot water trick to see if I get the bronze washer to unglue itself.

Stripped screws, I will leave them for now and just get used to tip down carry. Maybe I will like it.

[Malfeasant]

Personally, don't see an issue with taking your knife apart. As for stripped screws, I thought you meant the threads not the head. I don't see how it would be your fault that a screw is stripped at the threads when all you did was try to loosen it (I presume), or a washer cemented. I've always been curious as to take almost anything apart... Computers,tvs,cars,radios,knives.. you get the picture. It's good to know how things work IMHO. So that it could be self fixed, not sent to a shop. Literally saved thousands fixing things myself.
You could always buy new screws and remove the stripped ones. They're not too expensive, there's even titanium ones on the market.
The warranty stipulations are for good reason, sucks for people that like to take things apart.
I don't think a few little issues like this should take away from the knife itself, don't let it get you down!