Dragonfly 2 blade centering

[JCOutdoors]

When I open the knife it rubs against the left side of the frn. I’ve voided the warranty by taking it apart in hopes of centering it myself. I removed the pivot screw and tried to bend the blade while it was open and re-inserting the pivot screw and even the lock screw.

Anything else I can try? I don’t need it perfect but I’d like it to move away from the liner.

[Evil D]

If it's a lightweight model without steel liners it may never get any better. Your only option might be to sand down the inside of the scale a little bit to gain some clearance. If it's a G10/steel liner version there's more you can try..

[JCOutdoors]

If it's a lightweight model without steel liners it may never get any better. Your only option might be to sand down the inside of the scale a little bit to gain some clearance. If it's a G10/steel liner version there's more you can try..

It’s the lightweight model

And lastly, does blade centering get worse over time after a lot of opening and closing? Frn wear around the screw holes or anything like that?

I’m willing to deal with it as long as it doesn’t go entirely flush against the liner when closed. It hits the liner when I open it but it’s not as bad as it could be, I’m sure. Awesome knife otherwise!

[The Meat man]

As an aside, disassembly/reassembly no longer voids the warranty unless you mess something up in the process.

[araneae]

It's never a good idea to try bending a blade. How bad is it rubbing? That slot is pretty tight and the blade can't move too much. There is little adjustment you can make on that knife. It's a 2.5mm blade in what is probably a 2.6mm slot, pretty little room for adjustment.

Unless the blade was warped, I can't see how much of the blade could be rubbing. I never quite understand why people don't return knives they aren't happy with...

While disassembly no longer voids the warranty, trying to bend a blade sounds like abuse or misuse to me.

[JRinFL]

I would call Spyderco to discuss. If the blade or if the scale(s) are warped, it should be a warranty issue.

[JCOutdoors]

It's never a good idea to try bending a blade. How bad is it rubbing? That slot is pretty tight and the blade can't move too much. There is little adjustment you can make on that knife. It's a 2.5mm blade in what is probably a 2.6mm slot, pretty little room for adjustment.

Unless the blade was warped, I can't see how much of the blade could be rubbing. I never quite understand why people don't return knives they aren't happy with...

While disassembly no longer voids the warranty, trying to bend a blade sounds like abuse or misuse to me.

I wasn’t trying to bend the blade itself. I was trying to flex the liners near the pivot. When sighting the knife it looks like the blade spine leans to one side. I loosed the screws and did a little flex as I’ve read from forums on here

[Cambertree]

Sometimes, loosening all the screws and then progressively retightening them from the rear of the knife to the pivot, with something wedged to center the blade can help. This may not work that well with a Dragonfly.

Also, it’s been a while since I dismantled a DF, but if it has PB washers, you may want to check that they are not burred or kinked at the edges. Of course, if it doesn’t have washers, this won’t work at all. :D

What steel is the blade? The laminated blades can sometimes be slightly warped off centre. Laminated blades can actually be straightened whereas monometal blades can’t really be.

[Cowboyfromhell]

I have had 4 dragonfly and 2 had that problem. Not much you can do. It is what it is and its only a $60 plastic knife so there's that too.....

[kennethsime]

I don't worry too much about centering in lintless FRN - eventually, the steel will wear away at the plastic and it should fix itself.

If the knife was REALLY hard to open, and didn't improve at all in a week or two, I'd probably send it back to Spyderco.

[sal]

Hi JCOutdoors,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Doc Dan]

Send it to Spyderco and ask them to fix it. Call them, first.

[JCOutdoors]

I don't worry too much about centering in lintless FRN - eventually, the steel will wear away at the plastic and it should fix itself.

If the knife was REALLY hard to open, and didn't improve at all in a week or two, I'd probably send it back to Spyderco.

Sorry I’ve been away for awhile. How could it fix itself? I thought possibly it would worsen because it’s leaning to the left and I push it that way to open it because I’m right handed. It hasn’t changed yet but I haven’t been opening and closing it alot

[JCOutdoors]

[kennethsime]

I don't worry too much about centering in lintless FRN - eventually, the steel will wear away at the plastic and it should fix itself.

If the knife was REALLY hard to open, and didn't improve at all in a week or two, I'd probably send it back to Spyderco.

Sorry I’ve been away for awhile. How could it fix itself? I thought possibly it would worsen because it’s leaning to the left and I push it that way to open it because I’m right handed. It hasn’t changed yet but I haven’t been opening and closing it alot

I'm no expert, obviously, but over time I'd imagine the harder steel would wear away at the softer FRN. The metal parts also wear on each other a bit, causing the "break in" effect.

[awa54]

First, the FRN D'fly has "washers" that are cast into the inside of the handle, no discreet bronze or poly washers, so the loosen, shim, tighten trick is all you'll be able to do for getting better centering.

Second, if that's a work knife, the moderately off center blade will be forgotten as soon as you put a few gouges in the handle and scuff the blade up some... newness wears off pretty quickly when you actually use a knife.

However, if that level of blade centering error (more than normal for a D'fly, but not really a functional issue), is something you can't live with, then send it back to the original seller and ask for them to hand pick you one without the centering problem.

Yet another solution is to upgrade to micarta or G10 scales, these have only recently become available; the Micarta are from an Australian seller on Etsy (fast service, good product, but requires you to assemble with care and benefits from the addition of .005" PB washers and longer Delica or Endura lockbar pivot pin), the G10 versions are from bladescales.com (haven't tried these, but he says they'll be back in stock soon).

here's a thread on my experiences with the micarta scales: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89736&p=1530072#p1530072