Spyderco Forums

Title says it all, how’s your salt‘s action?

Let me back up. I use a manix lw at work currently. And the action gets mucked up pretty quick, not bad enough to seriously impair closing or opening. But bad enough that I may as well go back to a seki backlock like I was using before, since they take the same effort to open and close now.

Soooo the new lc200n pac salt seems like a good chance to do that. My old delica wharny also got fairly mucked up but it never really changed my closing and opening speed. I know the construction on the salt knives is a bit different though, soooooooooooooooooooooooo. Tell me your experiences!

I’ve never had any issues with mine, they still operate as they did when they were new. If you were to need to clean it out though it’s easy to do in the sink or with a hose... nothing to worry about. That’s what makes them priceless in my eyes.

Note * I’m not an “action” guy.

even when sand works it's way all throughout my pivot, my pac salt just keeps going. i depress the lock bar and move the blade back and forth under water to clear it out and it's like new. i wouldn't say i beat on my knife, but i don't baby it. i honestly don't think i've ever adjusted the pivot screw in five years.

I use my my Pac Salt SE frequently for quite some time now (and sometimes do "beat in it"), and the action is still perfectly fine.

My first Pacific Salt, a PE with pinned construction and the old jimping, has gotten fairly loose over the years. It functions fine and the lock has never failed me but there is some side to side play.

All of my screw construction salts and my pinned first run Tasman Salt are perfect.

The Pac salt is one of the few knives in my collection that I really do abuse, and the pivot is nearly always gritty with dirt when I'm done. But even then it functions just fine, and it cleans out easily. You won't hear many complaints about the Pac Salt on here, and hopefully the ffg lc200n version will be just as tough.

I think having a pivot screw should eliminate any worry of issues unless you put them under extreme abuse. The only Spyderco I have had issues with the action was an older pinned Native that I picked up second hand and was never able to dial in because the pivot was pinned rather than screwed. It is easy to adjust pivot screws. Not so easy to loosen pins, although you can carefully peen them a smidge at a time if they are too loose. I flew too close to the sun trying to get it perfect and over-peened...

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 24, 2020 10:29 pm

and hopefully the ffg lc200n version will be just as tough.

I think I'm gonna have to test that :D

Abyss_Fish wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 24, 2020 10:36 pm

JuPaul wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 24, 2020 10:29 pm

and hopefully the ffg lc200n version will be just as tough.

I think I'm gonna have to test that :D

I think many will...

Pretty smooth, I’ve got an original salt one old school, actually reprofiled it cuz I got bored and it’s still smooth as ever. Granted it’s a pinned version where as the new are screwed constriction

spyderHS08 wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 25, 2020 12:48 am

Pretty smooth, I’ve got an original salt one old school, actually reprofiled it cuz I got bored and it’s still smooth as ever. Granted it’s a pinned version where as the new are screwed constriction

How did you manage the blade swap on that Pac Salt??? I wanted to do the same, but felt like I'd break everything getting it out of the front end of the scales. Not to mention getting it back together...Finally I just got two of the new Pac Salt 2s and swapped those blades instead.

Down here the soil is mostly sand, so my Salts always end up with sand in the action. The action suffers from that, of course, but rinsing usually clears it. Sometimes it lingers and I just have to wait for it to work its way out.

Lots of pictures of shiny & clean Salts, not really sure they are having their snot beat out of them properly. Git'em dirty!

JRinFL wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 25, 2020 7:27 am

Down here the soil is mostly sand, so my Salts always end up with sand in the action. The action suffers from that, of course, but rinsing usually clears it. Sometimes it lingers and I just have to wait for it to work its way out.

Lots of pictures of shiny & clean Salts, not really sure they are having their snot beat out of them properly. Git'em dirty!

Pictures don’t pick up the dirt and scratches on the blade unless the angle and lighting is correct. If I snapped a picture of my pac salt it would look clean, minus the tip being a little messed up. If I got the angle and light right, there’s not a surface on it that’s not completely covered in scratches.

Example, and it changes in every light, at every angle.

I've abused my Pac Salt more than any other knife. It has worked just fine for 5 years running and all I do is hose it out occasionally. It cuts tree branches and roots, prunes shrubs, opens concrete mix and sand bags, I use it to make kindling, cuts up boxes, sits in the dirt, and has been to sandy beaches a bunch. I have no issues and I just clean it out with a garden hose or sink faucet.

this reminds me of the videos on YT "Will it AK"

In my experience the simpler the knife the more robust. I haven't tried feeding flex seal or a cheese sandwich into my back locks, but they take a lot of crap to not still work. They may need some TLC afterwards, but it is usually a good blow out with the air comp, a good rinse, and then a spot of oil for less stainless parts.

I have 4 and have really used the Dragonfly the most but none of them have given me any problems at all. They have been awesome :)

prndltech wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 25, 2020 7:33 am

Example, and it changes in every light, at every angle.

Honest wear!

Hopefully this posts.

My most used Salt is the Native Salt. Out of the box, the action was significantly stiffer than my other Native 5 LWs.. to the point where I considered returning it because "something must be wrong." Pivot adjustments didn't seem to help, so I took the knife apart to see if anything looked out of whack (there didn't seem to be any issues..). Reassembly seemed to help a bit, but the action was still noticeably stiffer than my other Natives. Smooth enough, not gritty.. just really stiff. I remember seeing comments around the forum about stiff actions on the Native Salt and figured that was just how they were.. I resolved to use the knife and hope it broke-in. It did.

I've had that Native in and out of the ocean/lakes, carried it on really sweaty hikes, and used it for landscaping chores.. I've picked chunks of seaweed/lake vegetaion out of it and blown sand, barkmulch, dirt, etc out of the pivot. Anytime I think there's a chance of getting wet or dirty, the Native Salt is my go-to. I haven't really cleaned it at all except to maybe rinse it under freshwater at the end of the day (if I remember) and let it dry out, and I haven't taken it apart since that first time. Through all of this, the action has only improved! I've come to consider my Native Salt as a "work knife".. I don't expect the action to be silky smooth and lightning fast, and it's still not.. but it is definitely good enough as it is.