Official Sliverax Discussion Thread

[Docmiller]

I decided to grind it back to line up when open. Could still use a little touching up.



When ground in this way, it leaves a tiny tiny amount sticking up when closed. I rounded the edges so it is not enough to catch your finger or anything on, but you can feel it when you slide your finger over it.
I thought about removing it all the way down to remove the tab all together, but as this piece contacts the stop pin when closed, I did not want to mess with it too much at this point.

[Docmiller]

As others have said, it feels different in the hand but nice. The handle extends far enough down to allow a full hand grip and the large choil for your index finger makes for a solid grip. I have medium/large hands for reference.

[Evil D]

What sold me on removing the flipper was how it felt without it. If you want to test this out and don't mind taking your knife apart, take it apart and take the blade out, then put the scales back together without the blade (as best as you can) and you'll be able to grip it and get an idea of how it feels. The flipper tab does change the feeling around your index finger quite a bit.

[Kurniadion]

Paul, I just hope that you will bring out de-flipper-ed MINI version of the sliverax one day.
For me personally, Sage - Mantra's size is ideal.

[Evil D]

Paul, I just hope that you will bring out de-flipper-ed MINI version of the sliverax one day.
For me personally, Sage - Mantra's size is ideal.

I'm pretty sure somewhere in this thread he mentioned that he has smaller designs in the works so long as Spyderco will produce them, maybe not an actual mini Sliverax though.

[joq21]

Sliverax mini would be a sweet knife.

[Evil D]

https://youtu.be/pTSqpy44N3I


Well there ya have it. After 5 tries I finally got a reasonably coherent video put together. Still didn't mention some points I wanted to make but you get the idea.

[joq21]

I swear the action on mine is just different than yours. When your free swinging it it just looks buttery smooth. Mine free swings but I can hear it and feel it rolling on the bearings. Know what I mean? Do you have that effect?

[joq21]

Sure is a better looking knife without the flipper tab. But I have come to love flipping it after several days of non stop tinkering.

[Evil D]

I swear the action on mine is just different than yours. When your free swinging it it just looks buttery smooth. Mine free swings but I can hear it and feel it rolling on the bearings. Know what I mean? Do you have that effect?

Because for whatever reason it seems these knives are shipping completely dry in the pivot...I feel like this might actually be some kind of oversight that Spyderco needs to look into. I've had mine apart and packed the bearing with bearing grease and it has already started breaking in, plus I've got the pivot screws dialed in just right. When I open it slowly with my thumb I can still feel a bit of that rolling but it's pretty minimal, more than my Mantra has but less than my washer pivot knives have. Another part of that is the detent ball riding along the grind lines of the tang.

[Evil D]

Sure is a better looking knife without the flipper tab. But I have come to love flipping it after several days of non stop tinkering.

I'm a little torn on the looks of it. I really think it looked amazing with the flipper tab. It does look better without the tab when closed, but it seems all flipper tabs disrupt the lines of a closed knife.

[joq21]

Sure is a better looking knife without the flipper tab. But I have come to love flipping it after several days of non stop tinkering.

I'm a little torn on the looks of it. I really think it looked amazing with the flipper tab. It does look better without the tab when closed, but it seems all flipper tabs disrupt the lines of a closed knife.

Your right. Looks better closed without it. Looks better open with it.

[joq21]

I swear the action on mine is just different than yours. When your free swinging it it just looks buttery smooth. Mine free swings but I can hear it and feel it rolling on the bearings. Know what I mean? Do you have that effect?

Because for whatever reason it seems these knives are shipping completely dry in the pivot...I feel like this might actually be some kind of oversight that Spyderco needs to look into. I've had mine apart and packed the bearing with bearing grease and it has already started breaking in, plus I've got the pivot screws dialed in just right. When I open it slowly with my thumb I can still feel a bit of that rolling but it's pretty minimal, more than my Mantra has but less than my washer pivot knives have. Another part of that is the detent ball riding along the grind lines of the tang.

I broke it down and applied benchmade blue lube. Would I get better results from some type of bearing grease? Mine was dry and the oil helped.

[thewoodpecker]

I'm with you Evil D: Cruwear & G10 version would be amazing, flipper or no.

[Evil D]

I swear the action on mine is just different than yours. When your free swinging it it just looks buttery smooth. Mine free swings but I can hear it and feel it rolling on the bearings. Know what I mean? Do you have that effect?

Because for whatever reason it seems these knives are shipping completely dry in the pivot...I feel like this might actually be some kind of oversight that Spyderco needs to look into. I've had mine apart and packed the bearing with bearing grease and it has already started breaking in, plus I've got the pivot screws dialed in just right. When I open it slowly with my thumb I can still feel a bit of that rolling but it's pretty minimal, more than my Mantra has but less than my washer pivot knives have. Another part of that is the detent ball riding along the grind lines of the tang.

I broke it down and applied benchmade blue lube. Would I get better results from some type of bearing grease? Mine was dry and the oil helped.

I'm not familiar with that lube, but I really prefer bearing grease or Vaseline in my knife pivots. With bearings it just makes sense to me to use a product that was designed for bearings.

[Evil D]

Ok guys so I did some more investigating on this bearing smoothness thing. Part of the issue is the same as any other liner type locking knife that has a detent ball moving across the tang of the knife; the detent ball moves across the grind lines and you feel that texture through the handle and blade.

So, to combat that, I took it apart and polished the detent path:

(this is such a hard spot to sand and polish without screwing up the rest of the tang)

It isn't a perfect mirror polish but it really doesn't have to be, the point is just to remove the deeper grind lines. You have to imagine that the tiny little detent ball moving across those lines is actually much more like a car going over a speed bump than you might guess. The grind lines are very small but so is the detent ball's contact surface.

This alone has resolved a good 90% of the issue, and the pivot is now on par with my Mantra


The other "issue" here, is the machining inside the pivot where the bearings ride....

Doesn't look too hateful from a distance..



But with a little macro you can see those swirls are pretty deep.



Now, you can also see that the bearings have already started to wear a groove through those swirls, and over time they will completely flatten out and create a smooth groove. As it is now with polishing the detent path it would take the most OCD person to be unhappy with the smoothness of this pivot action.



Reassembly....Phil Wood bearing grease. Bearings = grease.



It's kind of odd, when I open the knife slowly with my thumb, it's silky smooth and I can't feel ANY of the grooves. It's only when I drop the blade closed and the blade is moving much faster that I feel any of it.


Oh, I did attempt to polish out the swirl marks inside the tang, but it just wasn't working very well. The only thing I could come up with was a small felt polishing bit loaded at the tip with compound. It needs something more abrasive to really remove those swirls, and ultimately only the little path of the bearings matter and they will wear in on their own.

[joq21]

Tempted to try that. BUT... I can hold the detent ball off the blade completely and still feel the feeling of the rolling bearings. I can not feel it when I slowly open the blade with my thumb unless I work it back and forth, I can only really feel it when I swing the blade closed or let it free swing. Wondering the path my bearings are rolling on are even bumpier than yours. Is that sort of swirl bumpy look in the macro a normal thing on pivots? Have you seen that before?

[Evil D]

Tempted to try that. BUT... I can hold the detent ball off the blade completely and still feel the feeling of the rolling bearings. I can not feel it when I slowly open the blade with my thumb unless I work it back and forth, I can only really feel it when I swing the blade closed or let it free swing. Wondering the path my bearings are rolling on are even bumpier than yours. Is that sort of swirl bumpy look in the macro a normal thing on pivots? Have you seen that before?

Definitely not normal, at least not with any other model I've had apart. It has to do with the way this pivot is machined. On any other pivot you also have washers so it wouldn't matter. The Mantra bearing/washer ordeal vs no washers at all, seems there are pros and cons will both. I do believe most of this will go away with use.

[joq21]

Any trick to help with how stiff the lock is? I find I have to apply so much more pressure on it than I do my para. After about 5 days of constantly messing with it the tip of my index finger is actually sore.

[abbazaba]

Thanks for all the detailed pictures!