What is this on the new Spydiechef lock bar?

[Brock O Lee]

I'd love to hear if others who just received the newest iteration of the knife this week see the same thing.

Got the SC from SFO (thank you for fast service ) yesterday and everything is in order. Centered, clean bevels, ceramic detent ball, good lockup (70-80%) and smooth action. The code on the box is AS!

Just broke the knife down and examined the end of the lock bar. This example has a clean line (I think someone earlier in thread talked about a tape line ) where the very end was deliberately covered before the scale was finished with bead blast /Stonewashed!?! The last portion looks like every other non finished titanium( flamed) on my Motorcross or DH mountain bike.

Hope this helps.....

James

I received mine this weeks, also code AS, and it’s pretty much perfect.

It also has 70-80% solid lockup, almost no lock stick, no blade play and is centered.

I have not disassembled it, but had a peek with the 20x loupe at the lock area and saw some copper discolouration on the lock face.

No worries, I’m a happy camper so far.

[RazorSharp86]

You got yourself a real great knife for a “first Spyderco”.
It’s my favorite EDC folder, and it meets my needs as such.
I love the performance of the steel, and how it feels on the whetstones.
The ergonomics are also great, considering its slender design and ease of carry.
The negative blade angle suits my uses excellently, as I cut plenty of media on top of various cutting surfaces quite often.

I am ambidextrous, and find it real easy to manipulate with either hand, as well.

Really cannot say much negative about the good ol’ Chef, except for the mentioned imperfections.

Luckily, it’s a framelock folder, so in use I am very confident in its ability to stay open and keep my fingers safe.

It really is an amazing knife. I haven’t been able to bring myself to sharpen it yet (Came plenty sharp and has stayed that way.), but I hope I don’t screw it up when I do. I’ve got a guided system, but nothing matches the angles Spyderco uses. I’ve been toying with the idea of grabbing a Sharpmaker or another guided system that has a 40 degree option for the angle.

I sharpened mine at about 12-13 degrees per side. I like myself a slicing beast.

Did you use a Hapstone Sharpener? and an angle cube to get it that low? I am still taking a military down to 10 degrees a little at a time as a long term project with the Hapstone giving it a Scandi grind. S90V takes a while :)

I free hand it on benchstones.

[SpyderSeth]

Mine was received back at Spyderco earlier this week. The wait begins.

[013]

You don't have to take your knife apart to see the treatment/discoloration. My original plan was to get these lockbars carbidized. On further contemplating this idea, I'm just going to wait & see how well they hold up. If & when that time ever comes, who knows what new techniques we'll have for this situation.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

It really is an amazing knife. I haven’t been able to bring myself to sharpen it yet (Came plenty sharp and has stayed that way.), but I hope I don’t screw it up when I do. I’ve got a guided system, but nothing matches the angles Spyderco uses. I’ve been toying with the idea of grabbing a Sharpmaker or another guided system that has a 40 degree option for the angle.

I sharpened mine at about 12-13 degrees per side. I like myself a slicing beast.

Did you use a Hapstone Sharpener? and an angle cube to get it that low? I am still taking a military down to 10 degrees a little at a time as a long term project with the Hapstone giving it a Scandi grind. S90V takes a while :)

I free hand it on benchstones.

Ah very skillful, a question? How do you know what degree you have arrived at? I rely on fixed sharpening systems and a digital angle cube and a sharpie to be certain. Is there another way to know for sure what angle has been achieved?

[RazorSharp86]

I sharpened mine at about 12-13 degrees per side. I like myself a slicing beast.

Did you use a Hapstone Sharpener? and an angle cube to get it that low? I am still taking a military down to 10 degrees a little at a time as a long term project with the Hapstone giving it a Scandi grind. S90V takes a while :)

I free hand it on benchstones.

Ah very skillful, a question? How do you know what degree you have arrived at? I rely on fixed sharpening systems and a digital angle cube and a sharpie to be certain. Is there another way to know for sure what angle has been achieved?

I’ve been sharpening Since I was 12 years old, and eventually you kind of get an idea of angles based on feel alone.
I used to measure my angles before, however, using a similar gadget to the one you mentioned. That gave me a point of reference. I may be off by a degree or two, but I think it’s not off any more than that.
Also, since hand sharpening always leans convex, I stopped caring about knowing the precise angle I hone at.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

Nothing beats experience. Thanks.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

Below you will see what I found on my CQI Spydiecehf lock-bar under a USB Microscope. Clearly it is the CQI version with the ceramic ball.

I also took pictures of where the lock bar contacts the LC200N Steel blade, there is no discoloration on the blade. Also for comparison I took a picture of the titanium surface next to the lock bar that does not contact anything.

What is clear to me despite what has been said in the past there has been a treatment of some sort applied to the lock bar surface.

This discoloration looks like heat treatment and also like anodizing and also like carbonizing it is very odd. The discoloration does not wipe off.

I can only guess the lockbar needs to be heated to insert the Ceramic Ball but the rest is a mystery.

Despite whatever this is, it has no ill effect and was not even noticeable until I looked at the lock bar under a magnifying glass and saw the discoloration I swore was not present before which led to a tear down.

Furthermore I am constantly amazed by the engineering of Spyderco knives, really neat how this one is built with flat areas to keep the pivot from rotating with the blade and the same was done with the titanium barrel spacers and screws. Reassembling was fun as it revealed so many hidden features and the thought that went into engineering and producing this knife.

[soulspy]

I'm guessing they used a belt with steel particles on it. Now those particles are stuck, almost welded onto the lockbar face. There is some evidence of heat with the way the lockbar is colored. You can see that they smoothed the Ti of the lockbar, removing the tumbled finish so it would slide off the tang as it passed the detent ball.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

That sounds reasonable I also was able to see where the bronze washer discolored the titanium, I have not been nice to this knife in the kitchen there was water in the washer area when I took it apart. Oh well it was good for a good cleaning happy to say no food particles etc... and oiled up nicely now.

Whatever it is all about it does not impact the knifes function in any way.

[013]

Still no word from Spyderco?

[TazKristi]

Hey, everyone:
We haven't forgotten you. I'm still waiting for confirmation. I'd like to make sure that the information I give you is accurate and current and not conjecture. Hang in there.

Kristi

[Zatx]

Hey, everyone:
We haven't forgotten you. I'm still waiting for confirmation. I'd like to make sure that the information I give you is accurate and current and not conjecture. Hang in there.

Kristi

Thank you, Kristi.

[013]

Thanks TazKristi for the reassurance...

[JacksonKnives]

What is clear to me despite what has been said in the past there has been a treatment of some sort applied to the lock bar surface.

This discoloration looks like heat treatment and also like anodizing and also like carbonizing it is very odd. The discoloration does not wipe off.

I can only guess the lockbar needs to be heated to insert the Ceramic Ball but the rest is a mystery.

Not to be contrary, but I think there are much simpler and more obvious explanations.

For example (again, this is hypothetical, but it makes sense to me):
Some part of the cutting/machining process could cause coloration of the titanum.
The lockface fit is finished after cutting/shaping, but before bead blasting, so they mask it off.
You're not seeing something added, rather, you're seeing a normal result of the manufacturing process that was removed on visible surfaces but left on the lockface to help preserve the lockup.

[Zatx]

Not to be contrary, but I think there are much simpler and more obvious explanations.

For example (again, this is hypothetical, but it makes sense to me):
Some part of the cutting/machining process could cause coloration of the titanum.
The lockface fit is finished after cutting/shaping, but before bead blasting, so they mask it off.
You're not seeing something added, rather, you're seeing a normal result of the manufacturing process that was removed on visible surfaces but left on the lockface to help preserve the lockup.

I don't take your hypothesis as contrary, but merely see it as offering another possible explanation. I agree that some of what we are seeing is as the result of heat discoloration on the titanium, but the usual manufacturing process doesn't involve heat. These scales are normally cut with a water jet or CNC machine cooled by water that prevents heat build-up.

If you look at this picture (and some of my others on the first page) you can clearly see that the substance on the lock bar face is additive in nature; it is a coating or layer on top of the titanium. The discoloring present is most likely caused by the high temperatures generated during the carbidizing process, but could also come from the electrical current used in the same process.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

Hi Zatx with the pictures I shared and the one recently brought up by Jacksonknives you can see little points where electrical contact has been made looks like carbadizing to me.

If this is the case all I can say is great Job Spyderco solved a wear issue without a screwed on steel plate, pretty neat.

[JacksonKnives]

...you can see little points where electrical contact has been made looks like carbadizing to me...

I'm not going to say it's not carbidized; I don't have extensive experience with all the production-scale processes out there. But it doesn't look like carbide deposition that I've seen before. John Grimsmo posted a great video of an early version of his process where you can see the result clearly.

It could also be heat-treated, though, for extra hardness. That would be more consistent with the coloration. (Should also make the lock less sticky, but a lot of that depends on surface finish too.) Some guys call it "work hardening" a lockface, but it's usually just a basic heat-and-quench process.
(Edit: here's what CRK's hardened lockface looks like.]

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

Well I would guess we will know in the next week or two what it is all about, mine also shows the Blue and the brownish yellow stuff but in far less quantity than Zatx and it shows dots in the blues areas like where an electrode made contact several times heat treating with electricity? Heck I have no idea.

[SpyderSeth]

Received a call from Spyderco and they are replacing my Spydiechef for the lock stick issue.