Spyderco Forums

Quick question for you. I love my Centofante 3, which I've had for a year or so now but it is still really stiff in opening. Obviously it's pin construction means no loosening up the pivot...any other suggestions on best way to loosen the action? I'd like to be able to flick it open but it is a ways away from that.

Lube the pivot, do some wood carving, basically just using it. This is one reason many of us have begged for a Centofante sprint with a screw pivot.

Yeah...I've tried a little lube with little effect. I guess I was just wondering if anyone has used a Centofante 3 enough to make it a smooth flicker?

I have a Centofante 4 and I can't flick it. I've used it quite a bit but the pivot doesn't fall shut with gravity (and actually I'm kind of glad it doesn't since the edge would just sink into my finger). I think part of it is the angle/placement of the hole when closed, which for me makes it hard to get a good "flicking direction" on if that makes sense. The other part is that it's a back lock and by design it just has a lot of pressure on the tang throughout the opening action so the back spring is working against you as much as pivot tightness is. The pivot on mine is extremely smooth though and it does have a teeny bit of wiggle in the pivot, but I think you'll have that with a single liner/pinned pivot knife. This may just not be the best knife for flicking action.

I doubt pivot tightness has much to do with it. My Centofante 3 blade swings freely if I depress the lock, so there is extremely little pressure from a pivot standpoint. I have always maintained that lockbacks just aren't conducive to flicking open due to the reason Evil D mentions above: the lock is constantly applying quite a bit of pressure, making flicks difficult. I'm not a very good flicker (I find no entertainment value in flicking and prefer to open my knives in a controlled manner - not that there's anything wrong with those that do flick :p), so maybe I'm just not skilled at it, but I can usually flick most my liner/integral lock knives if I give them a try or two. I can't say the same for any of my lockbacks, including the Centofante.