Spyderco Forums

What is your ritual when you get a new Spydie?

Do you reprofile them? Sharpen them? Change the clip position? Remove the clip entirely? Add a lanyard? Do you inspect them carefully for centering, action, blade play, etc? Do you take them apart? Polish the washers? Clean and oil them? Check all of the screws? Adjust the pivot screws? Open and close 10,000 times in a row to break in? Keep the boxes or throw them out? Put them in your daily user rotation? Put them in a safe deposit box down at the local credit union?? :rolleyes: Someone actually did this last one...can't remember who now :confused:

On my users, I open and close them a few times and immediately adjust the pivot screws to dial in the action to my preference. I put the box in a dresser drawer with the rest of the boxes, and I put the knife in my desk drawer with the rest of my users.

On the few models I have backups of (my grail knives so to speak), I will compare the 2 or 3 or however many I got and look for any flaws. The least "mint" one of the group goes with the users, and the rest into the safe.

I've probably unboxed well over 100 Spydies at this point (though I have sold many of them as my knife preferences evolve) and I can honestly say I have never returned a single knife or sent one in for any kind of warranty issue. I am sure some people would have found something to be unhappy about in some of those knives, be it centering, action, a scratch, uneven grind, etc., but I don't really inspect them with a fine tooth comb. Aside from a few backups of my grail models, all of the knives I buy are users so I don't get too obsessed with fit and finish.

Check the action, check the edge. If the pivot is tight I adjust and see if that makes me happy with good action and no blade play. If so, I loctite the screw. If not I'll disassemble, clean, oil, and reassemble. Ive only had to do this on my Blade HQ dlc shaman. It was stiff for a while but has nicely broken in now.

I've never had to fix an edge out of the box. They're always stupid sharp out of the box and I just use them and sharpen them as necessary.

I open the new box, admire the knife, check it over real good, then start looking for something to cut.

Sharpen it. I've only once had a knife or tool that didn't need sharpening straight away. It takes a few sharpening cycles to get it run in anyway.

I open the box and admire it for a few seconds. Then make hubby admire it too. Then I grab whatever fruits I have and start cutting! I’m not that technical so I don’t inspect it. If it cuts well that’s good enough for me.

I’ll look them over, swap the clip to lefty carry, work the action, try them in a few different grips, check the edge, then usually go to the stones to put my own edge on them.

Depending on the knife this may happen immediately, or within a couple of hours, sometimes a day or two later. Then I go cut stuff. :D

That’s with most knives. Spydercos can be an exception. The K390 Dragonfly I just received had a nice enough factory edge, that I’ll probably continue to use it at work and home until it starts to feel dull, before grinding it thinner.

I open the knife.
See how it looks and feels for a brief moment.
Then I close the knife.
I remove the clip.
I open the knife again and start cutting something. Anything, at this point :)

When I get a new knife, I check the action (adjust as necessary), oil the pivot, check sharpness, and sharpen/strop if necessary (which it usually is). There's always some sort of small burr on new knives. I also save the boxes, in case my needs/preferences change, because it's easier to sell with the box, and also I'm unnecessarily particular.

I used to take new knives apart to clean and oil them, since it always seemed to improved the action, but I've decided that it's not necessary. I dont have the time for it anymore either.

Occasionally I'll check screw tightness, but usually I just wait until the action is off, or the clip feels loose. That will come back to bite me some day, I have no doubt.

All my knives are users, so a new one gets used immediately, unless I'm waiting until my current carry is dull before switching to a new knife. Having several knives makes it easy to sharpen whenever it's convenient for me.

I store a few in a cabinet in the kitchen and a few in a drawer, in another room. I’ve used a Condor knife organizer, but it's not something I liked for daily use. It did work well for storing my knives during a move though. The current setup is working well for me, but as my daughter gets older, I'll have to find more responsible storage solutions. A nice gun safe is in my future.

I usually looks it over for flaws and then put it in my pocket.

Over the course of the next few days I will usually oil the pivot and adjust the pivot screws if needed.

While I do look forward to putting my own edge on a new knife I usually use up the factory edge first.

I always check the Mrs isn’t looking before I open the package....

bearfacedkiller wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 9:23 am

I usually looks it over for flaws and then put it in my pocket.

Over the course of the next few days I will usually oil the pivot and adjust the pivot screws if needed.

While I do look forward to putting my own edge on a new knife I usually use up the factory edge first.

This usually what I do too. It depends if there's already a new knife in my pocket but the newest will usually start getting used and adjusted not long after I get it

ChrisinHove wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 9:40 am

I always check the Mrs isn’t looking before I open the package....

I do this too! :)

New DLT OD Green Delica was in my pocket last night after I received it. In my pocket again today

Is it weird if one of the first things I do is to smell the knife and the literature that goes with it?

Some habits from comic book/trading card collecting when one was younger by a few decades ago truly dies hard...

Quick check for defects and then I clean any gunk or old buffer grit off. I haven't seen any on Golden made knives in a few years but I check anyways. I clean the action, dry it off then lube it with tuff glide ( PM 2's etc.) or dry aerosol teflon ( Seki backlocks). If a tool steel with no coating I wax the blade with Renn wax.

I don't ever adjust any knife until well used and broken in enough to see if it needs adjusting. In my case they rarely do. Then, if needed I sharpen them. I haven't had to sharpen any brand new Spyderco for some time. In fact the new robot arm sharpened Golden models are often so sharp that all but my best work will be a downgrade. The new ones have gotten to be pretty amazing right out of the box. The last Spyderco I was disappointed with out of the box was the Persian and Kriss bladed lockbacks. Both were well built but came just plain dull. That was how many years ago?

Joe

nerdlock wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 10:01 am

Is it weird if one of the first things I do is to smell the knife and the literature that goes with it?

Some habits from comic book/trading card collecting when one was younger by a few decades ago truly dies hard...

Yes, but I only know because I do this too. :)

Check it out, lube and adjust pivot as needed, move the clip over for LH carry.

I use the factory edge for a short while before I fix it up. Waiting takes a lot of discipline.

I wipe off whatever "factory goop" happens to be on it, and then make whatever easy improvements I can make to the knife. Polish washers, replace factory grease with nano oil, fix uneven bevels, lightly sand sharp corners, etc.

If there's a big problem I can't fix I tend to just prep the knife for sale. I usually know weather or not I'll sell something within the first few days, and my collection tends to stay pretty reasonable for that reason. I really only keep what I use or really love.

I check new folders for any QC issues, clean up any dried up gunk, and re-lubricate the pivot (especially important if it's an old, discontinued model that I know has been sitting in storage for a while).

I tend to use the factory edge unless it's especially bad (never had this issue with a Spyderco) & just put on my own edge after I've either partially dulled the factory edge or just have the free time to put on my own edge.

Open the knife using the spydie hole one handed to get that first "thwack" high and ride out the dopamine hit for the next 2 minutes

Spydergirl88 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 1:36 pm

Open the knife using the spydie hole one handed to get that first "thwack" high and ride out the dopamine hit for the next 2 minutes

Yep. This 100%.

Spydergirl88 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 1:36 pm

Open the knife using the spydie hole one handed to get that first "thwack" high and ride out the dopamine hit for the next 2 minutes

Ha, this!!