What's up with the terrible quality control on the Delica 4s?

[FreelanceForty]

I ordered a Delica 4 FFG orange on Amazon a few weeks ago. It arrived and I found machine marks on the spine of the blade so I returned it. Instead of betting on the next one I order to have good fit & finish, I just ordered three. I planned on returning the other two.

They arrived a few days later. To my surprise, they ALL had fit & finish issues. They weren't anything major like blade play, missing screws, or anything that impeded the functionality of the knife. But they all had cosmetic issues. One blade looked like it was sharpened by an amateur. The edge was blurry and not defined. The next one had a visible horizontal one inch scratch right below the Spyderco logo. The last one also had a few issues. It seemed like all the knives had poor fit & finish in general. Areas near the jimpings weren't machined properly. There were small scuffs on the lock-backs. Some FRNs had protruding bits at the bottom due to injection molding while some didn't.

Not to mention all the knives seemed to have uneven gaps between the knife, the FRN, and the lock back. Some blades had sloped ends where the blade and the lock meets. One knife had an unusually large gap where the FRN and lock-back meets. Oh also, did I mention that 1/3 of the knives didn't have loctite on the screws? I thought tightening of the screws would fix the gap on one of the knives. I found that it had no loc-tite. I checked all the other knives and three of them didn't have any at all.

I ordered two more. And I FINALLY got one that doesn't have any visible cosmetic damage.

Really? If a knife costs more than $50, I expect good quality control. My CRKT Drifters I ordered a week ago had flawless fit & finish and they were less than $30.

Now I am feeling hesitant to purchase more Spydercos. I absolutely love the Delica itself and am interested in getting the PM 2, the Manix, etc. But I don't want to go through this process again just to get a knife with good fit & finish. I hope their higher end knives don't have this issue. Stuff like a $30 multi-tool from Victorinox has perfect fit & finish almost every time..

[FreelanceForty]

edit: accidentally quoted the main post when editing. Ignore this reply.

[FreelanceForty]

god **** it ignore this reply as well. Sorry I am new and apparently have trouble differentiating the edit button from the quote function.

[Evil D]

I stopped reading at Amazon. You're most likely buying knives that have been returned.

[Sirens1]

Evil D most likely nailed it. The only time I've ever returned a Spyderco was one from Amazon. Jerks often pull the ol' switcheroo...order a nice one, then return a "flawed" one.

[bearfacedkiller]

Also keep in mind that you are comparing a Chinese made knife to a Japanese made knife. That is not exactly an apples to apples comparison. It costs more to make things in Japan and the Japanese knife is made with superior materials. I am glad you had good luck with those CRKTs but their quality control is known to be quite spotty. They make some awesome knives and some of the designs are great but they do mostly make Chinese made value folders. I am not knocking them either. They fill an important niche and I own some of their products. The Japanese Spydies unfortunately don't come out on top when it comes to value. The American, Taiwanese and Chinese Spydies offer far more value.

We are all entitled to expect whatever we want when we part with our money and you have the right to expect a high quality product or even a perfect one but keep in mind that as your expectations go up at a given price point so does the likelyhood that you will be disappointed. I don't usually buy Chinese knives so they haven't overly skewed my perception of value. I personally don't expect perfection in a $50 knife. I just expect a functional tool made from quality materials in a country whose ethics and values are in line with mine.

I am glad it worked out for you in the end. If you want to cherry pick specimens maybe you could find a local dealer that would let you pick the one you want from their stock. Also, many online dealers will hand select for you if you ask them too. I have had good luck asking for them to inspect knives for me before shipping. Many of these online dealers are pretty close in price to Amazon if not exactly the same due to MAP pricing. On top of that these dealers help support the hobby/industry and Amazon does not. I use Amazon for a lot of stuff but knives are not usually one of them.

[SG89]

Fortunately there are many reputable dealers that don't sell used Spyderco knives... New Graham, Knife Center, Knife Works, the list goes on. Amazon is too risky.

[Steeljunkie]

I agree there is a risk in ordering from Amazon.com.
There are videos on YouTube of some pretty convincing fake Spydercos that seem to mostly be sourced from either ebay or Amazon.

[ejames13]

If you're expecting flawless fit and finish on a $65 knife, you're going to be disappointed. I've had the same experience with many of the Japanese Spyderco's (and even some of the US models), and I've just made peace with it. They're still great knives.

[Molle Ninja]

My Japanese Spydercos all seem to have some sort of insignificant "flaws." This has been my experience in terms of ranked fit and finish:

1. Taichung
2. Golden / Maniago
3. Japan

I have no Chinese-made Spydies.

[Doc Dan]

So far, all of my Japanese Spydercos have been perfect. I love them. I have a couple of Taichung knives that had some small, easily fixed issues. My Golden knives are superb, as well, except one. I had a Manix 2 XL in which the lock was far and away too difficult to operate. I have big strong hands and if it is too hard for me there is something wrong. Otherwise, the Goldens are golden.

[Evil D]

Instead of betting on the next one I order to have good fit & finish, I just ordered three. I planned on returning the other two.

This is your answer right in this sentence. I understand your reasoning for doing this, but this practice is what leads to buying used knives. Maybe you're handling these knives with a white glove and you're being careful to not blemish them, but can you be sure other people aren't? Do you think you're the only person with this idea? How are the other people handling these knives they return, and is there anyone on Amazon's end checking returns before they're sent back out?

This is why you buy from a reputable dealer. You may get lucky and find a reputable seller on Amazon, but with MAP pricing being what it is, it makes sense to buy from the people who have the best customer service and who will be checking for these things and not selling you a knife that either has a legit factory defect or has been used and returned.

Even beyond all that, would you be OK buying a knife that someone fondled already? Not me. I like to think the last person who handled my knife is either the person who assembled it and put it in the box, or the dealer who I asked to check the knife for blemishes.

[The Mastiff]

I agree with Evil.

I don't have any idea of what the OP's idea of good or perfect fit and finish is and I have no idea of how bad or good those knives were. The whole idea of asking for perfection is strange to me. My drifter is a nice knife for about $20 , what I paid for it but it sure isn't up to Spyderco standards. Not even close.

I'd love to see pictures of the problems the OP is talking about. There is no perspective without them.

Joe

[Bugs]

Well I just got my Delica ZDP-189 today and it is perfect. Centered blade, even grinds, nice smooth action. Looking forward to using it.

[timlara]

I haven't really had many QC problems with the Seki Spydies in general, so I tend to agree that the OP's issue sounds more like an Amazon/dealer issue than a Spyderco issue.

I do love Amazon for most "mass market" brand things that I buy, but I do not consider Spyderco to be a "mass market" brand. I'd categorize Spyderco as more of a "medium-to-large" business that makes niche products on a scale just large enough to usually make the price fairly affordable. As such, they are not really set up to do mass distribution on an Amazon or Wal-Mart scale. For a good example, look at this product listing / review from Wal-Mart.com...

Wal-Mart doesn't care or know enough about the product to get the model listing right, so in turn, it created a bad experience for the customer and the net result is a little bit of brand damage for Spyderco since the N5 got a very undeserved 2-star review. (The review is really of Wal-Mart's web data entry people!)

These are the types of reasons that I prefer to buy direct or from dedicated dealers for the smaller brand, niche products that I like.

[FK]

In the past 6 months I have been on a Delica & Endura binge.

Total of 8 Delica and 5 Endura knives,,, all have been absolutely excellent in fit and finish, quite impressive for the pricing.

I agree with the Amazon risk of returned used and some reports of counterfit knives returned and shipped out to unsuspecting customers.

Regards,
FK

[Robbob]

I stopped reading at Amazon. You're most likely buying knives that have been returned.

This. If you're going to order from Amazon make sure it's fulfilled by or, even better, sold by Amazon. Otherwise, make the safe bet and order from a reputable source, like Cutlery Shoppe, Knife Works, Knife Center, The Knife Connection, etc.

[BTG]

I've only returned 2...both from Amazon....a fake civilian...and a Native I'm sure was poached...came with no clip...so someone broke their clip, ordered a knife, took the clip, then returned the knife....Amazon takes the return no problem, just a waste of time...and now with map pricing everyone is right in the same ballpark so no real reason to risk it anymore.

[PaleMoon]

There are so many amazing, smaller knife dealers out there, run by the kind of people who make you feel like old friends even on your first purchase... like most already pointed out, there's really no sense in buying Spydies from Amazon anymore.

[Bloke]

I don't know fellows? My HAP40 Delica that I bought from a Spyderco dealer and thief here in Oz was a crock! The bloke who ground it was drunk and without his glasses and the FRN scales at the pivot rubbed the blade.
I disassembled it, cleaned it up, set the bevel a little under 30deg, resharpen it, lubed and reassembled it. It's the second knife I've ever taken to free hanging hair whittling, but that's just me. It pissed me no end and all I invested was some time. I feel for the fellow who saves his pennies to buy something that needs reworking and doesn't have the tools or skill set to do the work.

The bloke that ground the Delica must have ground my HAP and SuperBlue Manbugs too. Both bought from Spyderco dealers. I'll fix them too, but it shits me! :eek:

End of rant! :)