New Member

[benchwarmer]

Hey all!
New to the forum and to be honest new to Spyderco also!
Today my EDC’s were a Police 4 lightweight, a Native 5 lightweight and a Benchmade Aller.
Being new to Spyderco I was thinking this was the source for help.
My Native gets hung up trying to open it. Almost feels like it is rubbing on something.
Before I tear it apart any suggestions?
It is brand new and my first purchase period that has had this issue.
Thoughts?
Ps: my name is Jim and you look like a great group. Looking forward to gabbing with you all!

[JRinFL]

Welcome fellow Jim!

Is it the Native 5? If so, it was designed to have constant pressure on the lock bar as you open it. Michael Janich explained that in a post months ago. A good lube will help, but it will always have more resistance versus other backlock knives or versus older Native models.

[JRinFL]

From the earlier thread:

Three things to bear in mind with the Native 5 and DLC-coated blades:

The "humpless" design of the Native 5 (and all Natives) puts the Round Hole lower in relationship to the pivot. The trade-off for that narrower profile is less leverage when opening the knife one handed.

The Native 5 has a true concentric pivot. That means the radius from the pivot pin to the arc of the profile of the tang remains the same throughout the arc. That means there is constant, consistent pressure on the tang throughout the opening arc. Some other back locks have a shorter radius near the terminus of the opening arc, so their actions feel "lighter" toward the end of the arc. Constant pressure is different than "feeling gritty," but requires enough experience with different knives to perceive the difference.

DLC-coated blades are typically bead blasted to prep their surfaces for coating. This creates a rougher surface than a satin or tumbled finish that allows the coating to bond, but also requires more "breaking in" than an uncoated blade.

Stay safe,

Mike

[JRinFL]

Last one, I swear!

Dear Sengel:

The tang shape of the Native 5 is different than all the Japanese-made back locks it's compared to in the video. Although they're all back locks, the engineering of the Native 5 is different. It emphasizes lock strength over "flickability." Also, the Native 5 is "humpless," so the leverage point for the Round Hole is lower than blades with humps. That also makes it less "flickable."

There's probably nothing mechanically wrong with your knife, it's just different.

Stay safe,

Mike

[VooDooChild]

Oil/lube the tang.

[kobold]

Hey all!
New to the forum and to be honest new to Spyderco also!
Today my EDC’s were a Police 4 lightweight, a Native 5 lightweight and a Benchmade Aller.
Being new to Spyderco I was thinking this was the source for help.
My Native gets hung up trying to open it. Almost feels like it is rubbing on something.
Before I tear it apart any suggestions?
It is brand new and my first purchase period that has had this issue.
Thoughts?
Ps: my name is Jim and you look like a great group. Looking forward to gabbing with you all!

Yes, I have the same experience with my FRN Natives. It is rubbing against the scales. I blame this on the missing phosphor bronze washers, which should be included, IMHO, in all Spyderco LW models.

Welcome to the forum, Jim. :-)

[Airlsee]

Elaborate on "hung up"...if you mean something other than constant pressure.

If it's like a hitch or gritty, it could be dirty or just the surface finish needs to be smoothed out which will happen naturally with use.

The knife shouldn't be bone dry but you don't want lube pooling on the surface either.

[Evil D]

Once I realized that a back lock blade's tang shape shares a lot of similarities with a car engine's cam lobes, I started to appreciate the seemingly simple science that goes into their design because the car guy in me understands that a cam lobe's profile is anything but simple. If you compare a Native 5 to a Rock Jumper the difference in opening feel is pretty significant. There is a surprisingly large amount of control over the opening action that can be had in this design, far more than probably any other lock design that I can think of.

[SG89]

I unscrew the body screws a little bit and it always improves the action on my Native 5's

[Salty Dog]

Welcome aboard Jim!

[sal]

Hi Jim,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[kennethsime]

Hey Jim,

Welcome to the forum!

Open and closer the Native a few hundred times while watching a movie - or just use it regularly for a week or two. If that doesn't improve things, add just a drop of lubricant to the pivot, and work it in there real good.

Every time I go without buying a new knife for awhile, I forget that they need some time to "break in" before feeling super smooth.

[benchwarmer]

Thank you all so much for your tips!
I especially liked the “be patient” advice.
It is a Native 5 and I am also going to try a little lube to start.
I received it the same day I received a Benchmade Precinct whose blade can’t wait to get out from between the scales!
I know comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges so I know I needed to come here and ask the folks that know!
The welcome was awesome.
Thank you all!

[SpyderNut]

Welcome aboard, Jim. Nice to have you here.

[Albertaboyscott]

Welcome Jim. I'm Scott. Great place to chat with friendly people, in a civilized forum, about our spydies. Lots of good advice and info here. Cheers

[aaronkb]

I’m not at all new to Spyderco but very new to the Native 5. Didn’t love the action after a day of fidgeting so I took it down, cleaned it (it was a mess tbh), oiled it and reassembled. It got dramatically better and has continued to improve over another couple days of fidgeting.

[araneae]

Welcome. If it's new and there is an issue, send it back. If not new: have you tried washing it with soap and water? Follow up with canned air to dry.

[wrdwrght]

School can be fun, as here. Welcome.

[James Y]

Welcome, Jim, from another Jim! :)

Jim

[Sharp Guy]

Welcome Jim!