Native Chief blade play when closed?

[Stas]

I got a brand new S90V CF Native Chief and the action is pretty stiff – not easy to open with one hand and tension when closing even when back lock is fully pressed. So I put a drop of nano oil on the blade tang and shaken the knife to distribute it in the pivot area. To my surprise I felt the blade is moving a bit. When the knife is open, no blade play and the lock is solid. But when closed I can move the blade side to side for ~1mm with my finger.

Any Native Chief owners who experience the same? I wanted to let the knife to break in and didn’t want to mess with the screws before this. But not sure what to do now.

On my M390 there is no blade play when closed at all and the action is super smooth from new.

[Naperville]

I took a look at all of the Native Chief's that I own upon arrival. They were all fine. But maybe I don't look them over as closely as some of you.

I have carried my S90V since it was released, no blade play. Love the knife. The actions are all kind of "stiff" and require 2 hands to open, and they all have a slow close until around the 50% mark them BOOM. None of this bothers me.

I am not an expert by any means on knives anymore nor am I trying to be. I carry a knife for protection and that is it. I don't open boxes or cut tape with my self defense knives or fidget with them. I try to maintain the edge in case I need it.

[James Y]

The blade on mine can move a bit side to side when closed. But otherwise, everything is rock-solid. It's not something I worry about; it doesn't scrape the other scale at any time. Maybe it's a quirk in the design itself, or in some samples of the design?

Jim

[Naperville]

Stas, I just wanted to say I have them all, and 2 of the M390 DLC. Love them all and plan to collect backups. Best defensive tool in Spyderco's catalog maybe. It all just depends on what type of defense you want to put up.

If you're thinking of the law, and on the safe side, I'd get the Yojumbo. Very good knife I am absolutely sure, but to me it is just a bit limiting in some self defense knife movements.

If you're thinking I may want to thrust and do a figure 8 in this guys mid section, the Native Chief is the knife to own. I love it.

Don't overthink it. I am almost sure the knife you have is good to go.

[BigFishShamu]

Stas, I just wanted to say I have them all, and 2 of the M390 DLC. Love them all and plan to collect backups. Best defensive tool in Spyderco's catalog maybe. It all just depends on what type of defense you want to put up.

If you're thinking of the law, and on the safe side, I'd get the Yojumbo. Very good knife I am absolutely sure, but to me it is just a bit limiting in some self defense knife movements.

If you're thinking I may want to thrust and do a figure 8 in this guys mid section, the Native Chief is the knife to own. I love it.

Don't overthink it. I am almost sure the knife you have is good to go.

I’m trying every bit to resist the DLC Chief. I’ve used my plain Jane Chief for many chores and carry it at least 3x/week. I got my Dad the uncoated one for Christmas. Every time I see it I get that urge to pull the trigger on the DLC one.

[Naperville]

Stas, I just wanted to say I have them all, and 2 of the M390 DLC. Love them all and plan to collect backups. Best defensive tool in Spyderco's catalog maybe. It all just depends on what type of defense you want to put up.

If you're thinking of the law, and on the safe side, I'd get the Yojumbo. Very good knife I am absolutely sure, but to me it is just a bit limiting in some self defense knife movements.

If you're thinking I may want to thrust and do a figure 8 in this guys mid section, the Native Chief is the knife to own. I love it.

Don't overthink it. I am almost sure the knife you have is good to go.

I’m trying every bit to resist the DLC Chief. I’ve used my plain Jane Chief for many chores and carry it at least 3x/week. I got my Dad the uncoated one for Christmas. Every time I see it I get that urge to pull the trigger on the DLC one.

I hear you!!!! I want them all with backups because there is a finite time and supply of these knives and when they are gone they may never be made again. What if nothing like them comes again? It's time to buy, right now. I implore you to buy multiples right now.

M390 is a wonderful steel. Spyderco is one of the top producers of steels that are rare and hard to get, and then look at the design. The profile of the knife screams self defense!

The Native Chief runs that have happened are rare and wondrous things. I hope they keep coming. I'd like to see an 15V and M390 at a minimum. I'll do the best that I can to keep buying them.

[Senfkarte]

I got a brand new S90V CF Native Chief and the action is pretty stiff – not easy to open with one hand and tension when closing even when back lock is fully pressed. So I put a drop of nano oil on the blade tang and shaken the knife to distribute it in the pivot area. To my surprise I felt the blade is moving a bit. When the knife is open, no blade play and the lock is solid. But when closed I can move the blade side to side for ~1mm with my finger.

Any Native Chief owners who experience the same? I wanted to let the knife to break in and didn’t want to mess with the screws before this. But not sure what to do now.

On my M390 there is no blade play when closed at all and the action is super smooth from new.

The whole blade or just the tip?

[Stas]

I took a look at all of the Native Chief's that I own upon arrival. They were all fine. But maybe I don't look them over as closely as some of you.

I have carried my S90V since it was released, no blade play. Love the knife. The actions are all kind of "stiff" and require 2 hands to open, and they all have a slow close until around the 50% mark them BOOM. None of this bothers me.

I am not an expert by any means on knives anymore nor am I trying to be. I carry a knife for protection and that is it. I don't open boxes or cut tape with my self defense knives or fidget with them. I try to maintain the edge in case I need it.

Thank you for the reply! Interesting, maybe S90V models are "stiff" due to carbon liners then...

Stas, I just wanted to say I have them all, and 2 of the M390 DLC. Love them all and plan to collect backups. Best defensive tool in Spyderco's catalog maybe. It all just depends on what type of defense you want to put up.

If you're thinking of the law, and on the safe side, I'd get the Yojumbo. Very good knife I am absolutely sure, but to me it is just a bit limiting in some self defense knife movements.

If you're thinking I may want to thrust and do a figure 8 in this guys mid section, the Native Chief is the knife to own. I love it.

Don't overthink it. I am almost sure the knife you have is good to go.

I really do love the Native Chief! It is one of my favorite designs in general. So ergonomical and well-balanced.

If I'll need to use a knife for SD (hope not) and it will be S90V CF Chief in my pocket, I can't see myself opening it under the stress quickly and may end up using it like kubotan with the blade closed
In this case I would trust Emerson Endura or at least some model with the well exposed spydie hole and ease to open one handed.

[Stas]

The blade on mine can move a bit side to side when closed. But otherwise, everything is rock-solid. It's not something I worry about; it doesn't scrape the other scale at any time. Maybe it's a quirk in the design itself, or in some samples of the design?

Jim

Thank you! Looks like we've got the similar examples. Then it may be a quirk in some samples as my M390 Chief doesn't have this. Both are rock solid when opened indeed.

[Stas]

The whole blade or just the tip?

Just the tip. Within the radius of 1–1.5 mm.

[Senfkarte]

The whole blade or just the tip?

Just the tip. Within the radius of 1–1.5 mm.

And when you put the knife flat on something solid, you can't push the opened, locked blade ~1mm down?
I mean, mine moves too, when closed, but I also can move the tip when opened. The blade is rather long for its thickness, so there is flex in the blade itself.

[Stas]

The whole blade or just the tip?

Just the tip. Within the radius of 1–1.5 mm.

And when you put the knife flat on something solid, you can't push the opened, locked blade ~1mm down?
I mean, mine moves too, when closed, but I also can move the tip when opened. The blade is rather long for its thickness, so there is flex in the blade itself.

If it was a flex, the tip will return back to its position, right? And you wouldn't feel the blade moves a little when shaking the knife when closed.

In my case I just move the blade left-right a bit and the tip stays in that direction. And I don't apply much pressure.

[Senfkarte]

The whole blade or just the tip?

Just the tip. Within the radius of 1–1.5 mm.

And when you put the knife flat on something solid, you can't push the opened, locked blade ~1mm down?
I mean, mine moves too, when closed, but I also can move the tip when opened. The blade is rather long for its thickness, so there is flex in the blade itself.

If it was a flex, the tip will return back to its position, right? And you wouldn't feel the blade moves a little when shaking the knife when closed.

In my case I just move the blade left-right a bit and the tip stays in that direction. And I don't apply much pressure.

Ah, sorry. Missed the part, that it stayed that way. Then there is a difference to mine. The tip on my Chief, the CF S90V as well, returs to the center after releasing the finger.

[Basko00]

The whole blade or just the tip?

Just the tip. Within the radius of 1–1.5 mm.

And when you put the knife flat on something solid, you can't push the opened, locked blade ~1mm down?
I mean, mine moves too, when closed, but I also can move the tip when opened. The blade is rather long for its thickness, so there is flex in the blade itself.

If it was a flex, the tip will return back to its position, right? And you wouldn't feel the blade moves a little when shaking the knife when closed.

In my case I just move the blade left-right a bit and the tip stays in that direction. And I don't apply much pressure.

My S90V Fluted CF Native 5, new 22 days ago from the dealer, also does this same exact thing. With a much shorter blade. The action on the knife was tight and rough out of the box. I was slowly opening and closing it when I discovered it. There was no side to side or up and down blade play when open. The knife appeared centered when closed. After opening and closing it again, it was then off centered, almost rubbing on the show side. At first, I wasn’t sure what was happening. You’d think the pivot was really loose, but it was not.

When closed the blade moves back and forth, and it stays there where you put it. Something isn’t right because you can just barely hear it at the pivot when you push the blade over. It’s almost a rocking action. I have no idea what might cause it. I haven’t seen this issue before.

I’m already outside the dealer’s return window and this model was pricey so I’m probably going to send it to Golden. Something is off. This is the first Spydie I’ve had do this and I have a quite a few. I have no idea what the problem is and I don’t want to risk damaging it by taking it apart. I’m a lousy knife mechanic.

[cjk]

A back lock locks up pretty square, so if even if there's a little side to side play in the pivot when unlocked, it may not be evident when locked up. Try opening the knife, then depress the lock bar, then see if you can wiggle the blade side to side. If you can, the pivot might just need tightening. I hope this helps.

[Basko00]

Thanks, cjk. That may have done it. I thought it was already pretty tight but there was just a bit of pivot adjustment left. The action should smooth out with time.

[Stas]

A back lock locks up pretty square, so if even if there's a little side to side play in the pivot when unlocked, it may not be evident when locked up. Try opening the knife, then depress the lock bar, then see if you can wiggle the blade side to side. If you can, the pivot might just need tightening. I hope this helps.

Thank you! Will try to tighten the pivot.

[cjk]

Thanks, cjk. That may have done it. I thought it was already pretty tight but there was just a bit of pivot adjustment left. The action should smooth out with time.

A back lock locks up pretty square, so if even if there's a little side to side play in the pivot when unlocked, it may not be evident when locked up. Try opening the knife, then depress the lock bar, then see if you can wiggle the blade side to side. If you can, the pivot might just need tightening. I hope this helps.

Thank you! Will try to tighten the pivot.

No problem. You're both welcome. You may want to end up putting thread locker on the pivot screws (and the lock bar screw(s) too if a given backlock has that, I don't think the Chief does). Some of my backlocks want to work loose and some of them don't.

[Naperville]

I took a look at all of the Native Chief's that I own upon arrival. They were all fine. But maybe I don't look them over as closely as some of you.

I have carried my S90V since it was released, no blade play. Love the knife. The actions are all kind of "stiff" and require 2 hands to open, and they all have a slow close until around the 50% mark them BOOM. None of this bothers me.

I am not an expert by any means on knives anymore nor am I trying to be. I carry a knife for protection and that is it. I don't open boxes or cut tape with my self defense knives or fidget with them. I try to maintain the edge in case I need it.

Thank you for the reply! Interesting, maybe S90V models are "stiff" due to carbon liners then...

Stas, I just wanted to say I have them all, and 2 of the M390 DLC. Love them all and plan to collect backups. Best defensive tool in Spyderco's catalog maybe. It all just depends on what type of defense you want to put up.

If you're thinking of the law, and on the safe side, I'd get the Yojumbo. Very good knife I am absolutely sure, but to me it is just a bit limiting in some self defense knife movements.

If you're thinking I may want to thrust and do a figure 8 in this guys mid section, the Native Chief is the knife to own. I love it.

Don't overthink it. I am almost sure the knife you have is good to go.

I really do love the Native Chief! It is one of my favorite designs in general. So ergonomical and well-balanced.

If I'll need to use a knife for SD (hope not) and it will be S90V CF Chief in my pocket, I can't see myself opening it under the stress quickly and may end up using it like kubotan with the blade closed

In this case I would trust Emerson Endura or at least some model with the well exposed spydie hole and ease to open one handed.

What I do to draw right handed is stand left foot fwd, and slightly crouch and aim my left shoulder at the target while simultaneously drawing (almost) with both hands. Keep the folder or fixed blade at your hip toward the rear. Don't expose the tool. It need not be a knife, it could be a roll of quarters. Immediately raise your left hand to chest height to block any attempt to grab your right hand/arm/head.....

[Stas]

What I do to draw right handed is stand left foot fwd, and slightly crouch and aim my left shoulder at the target while simultaneously drawing (almost) with both hands. Keep the folder or fixed blade at your hip toward the rear. Don't expose the tool. It need not be a knife, it could be a roll of quarters. Immediately raise your left hand to chest height to block any attempt to grab your right hand/arm/head.....

Thanks for the “tip” :)