The Drunken: Amazing Knife, Ruined by its Pocket Clip.

[spyderg]

As a lefty this knife is useless to me since it can’t be carried left hand but to me the simple solution has already been mentioned. Take the clip off, bend it a little and good to go. I bend all my clips for stronger retention as it is. Also I usually bend down the ramp a little so it doesn’t catch on things as much. As long as I can get the knife out easily and back in ok, it’s all good.

Please reread the issues with the clip, just bending it isn't going to solve all of the problems and presents several new ones if attempted.

Sorry, but I’m basing my comments on what I’ve seen of the knife and clip. The knife isn’t my cup o tea for a couple reasons and no left carry means no purchase regardless. But from vids and pics I see no reason bending the clip wouldn’t work. Any knife I carry and use shows wear so that’s a non issue. And I’ve stated before that I wear out jeans as fast as clips wear out my pockets so again non issue. Also I’d much prefer prematurely wearing out a pocket than losing an expensive knife.
I’m sure some cqi could be done on this, (and many other) designs but I doubt they’re going to do a bunch of retooling on such a pricey design. I think this one will likely get discontinued and perhaps a new model down the road from Sinkovich will consider suggestions.
It’s too bad, looks like an interesting design. Not everyone can be a winner, even from Spyderco.

[spyderg]

As a lefty this knife is useless to me since it can’t be carried left hand but to me the simple solution has already been mentioned. Take the clip off, bend it a little and good to go. I bend all my clips for stronger retention as it is. Also I usually bend down the ramp a little so it doesn’t catch on things as much. As long as I can get the knife out easily and back in ok, it’s all good.

Please reread the issues with the clip, just bending it isn't going to solve all of the problems and presents several new ones if attempted.

And.....that's overlooking the amateur blade grind ( wow! ) loose screws and corroded stop pin.
Maybe Taichung needs " pep talk" or QC?
Seems like this one is living up to its name.
I know that's rough, but it's a $400+ knife.

My comments were just about the clip as it was the focus of the thread but yes on an expensive knife, the grinds should all be near perfect. From the posted pics everything looks fine but op says it’s uneven so I’ll take his word for it. I saw nothing in the original post about a corroded stop pin, (maybe I missed it or it was in a comment I didn’t fully read). Now as far as loose screws, again I missed that somewhere but on my Rhino I lost a body screw and another was loose so that’s a thing for sure! The screws on the Rhino are super short with only a couple threads.

[Wright.88]

Would a CRK Clip work?

I tried that, but it doesn't fit into the recessed part of the scale where the normal clip goes, so it would probably slide around since it's just one screw. I was also worried about it scratching the Ti scale.

[Archimedes]

You youngins complaining about pocket clips. When I was a kid Knives did not have pocket clips.

[MacLaren]

As a lefty this knife is useless to me since it can’t be carried left hand but to me the simple solution has already been mentioned. Take the clip off, bend it a little and good to go. I bend all my clips for stronger retention as it is. Also I usually bend down the ramp a little so it doesn’t catch on things as much. As long as I can get the knife out easily and back in ok, it’s all good.

Please reread the issues with the clip, just bending it isn't going to solve all of the problems and presents several new ones if attempted.

And.....that's overlooking the amateur blade grind ( wow! ) loose screws and corroded stop pin.
Maybe Taichung needs " pep talk" or QC?
Seems like this one is living up to its name.
I know that's rough, but it's a $400+ knife.

My comments were just about the clip as it was the focus of the thread but yes on an expensive knife, the grinds should all be near perfect. From the posted pics everything looks fine but op says it’s uneven so I’ll take his word for it. I saw nothing in the original post about a corroded stop pin, (maybe I missed it or it was in a comment I didn’t fully read). Now as far as loose screws, again I missed that somewhere but on my Rhino I lost a body screw and another was loose so that’s a thing for sure! The screws on the Rhino are super short with only a couple threads.

That comment was for Zatx.
I should've highlighted his comment. Sorry bout that.

[MacLaren]

You youngins complaining about pocket clips. When I was a kid Knives did not have pocket clips.

Hehehe.......didnt have $400+ knives either. :D

[TkoK83Spy]

I'm pretty annoyed at people that haven't bought this knife, chiming in about about the pocket clip or design flaws. Probably the same people that cry about the pocket clip on the Para 3 or any other features that don't suit their needs. Pretty big difference between a $130 knife and a $400 knife. If I'm spending $400 on a folding pocket knife...I expect perfection. I don't expect to have to manipulate pocket clips or tolerances.

In my eyes, this knife is a bit of a flop. Pocket clip, uneven grinds, corroded pins...give me a $25 Kershaw for those kinds of flaws. I'll gladly take free monthly truck payment for the same price of this hoopty

[bwunger]

We'll, my grinds and stop pin are fine. I just had a go at re-bending the clip and with a little more clearance it's a great improvement. Not perfect by any means but vastly better. Here's what it looks like now. I plan to tweak it a bit more later. Hopefully I don't screw it up.

[ZrowsN1s]

There’s a reason why I stick to the Japanese and Golden made knives.

Come on man, Taichung knives are debatably their best! Let’s stop that criticism right now....

I don’t think you could blame the factory for the design of the clip. I just wish I could afford one right now. If you guys love the knife, give it time and there will be custom clips.

I've got 2 Taichung's. One I really like and one with action I would describe as disappointing. They're 50/50 with me. Golden is best :D

[Ruudr]

We'll, my grinds and stop pin are fine. I just had a go at re-bending the clip and with a little more clearance it's a great improvement. Not perfect by any means but vastly better. Here's what it looks like now. I plan to tweak it a bit more later. Hopefully I don't screw it up.

That looks pretty good to me. What else are you planning to tweak? I really like the looks of the knife. If it is that easy to improve the clip I think I go for it.

[bwunger]

We'll, my grinds and stop pin are fine. I just had a go at re-bending the clip and with a little more clearance it's a great improvement. Not perfect by any means but vastly better. Here's what it looks like now. I plan to tweak it a bit more later. Hopefully I don't screw it up.

That looks pretty good to me. What else are you planning to tweak? I really like the looks of the knife. If it is that easy to improve the clip I think I go for it.

It still has a tough time on pants with a thick pocket edge and tension is a bit higher now. I want to see if I can get a hair more clearance under the clip up near the screw. Definitely going to go slow with small changes though. Don't want to screw it up.

I just took the clip off, loosely clamped it in the soft jaws of my vice and started bending where the clip goes over the edge of the cutout. The soft jaws kept the bend from being too sharp and I just started with small bends so as not to go too far.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

You youngins complaining about pocket clips. When I was a kid Knives did not have pocket clips.

And back in them thar good old days we only had two types of steel: Carbon and Carbon :)

[NickShabazz]

I just did a bit of bending myself, inspired by BWUnger, and it's definitely better. Having more room under the clip definitely helps, both in the pocket and in the hand.

[JacksonKnives]

This looks very close to the shape of the milled clip on the custom knife. Glad you guys are making it work!
Bending an anodized clip is not for the faint of heart, though. I hope we see a response here, but I also kind of doubt we will. I don't think Spyderco has a large enough repair crew to handle a full-on recall, though there's probably a threshold of buyers calling the W&R center that would trigger that.

I think threads like this are good, but if you want Spyderco to act, you have to call or email the W&R center. They need to know what percentage of owners considers this a problem.

Their SOP will probably require seeing more than a handful of knives returned before they consider the problem recall-worthy. I know that's not what most of us want to do (we've waited for this knife a long time) but that's how Spyderco judges the seriousness of these sorts of problems.

Also, for those wishing for a CQI change... That would depend on a new run. If Taichung only finished a small part of the order before this round was shipped, who knows what could happen. But typically CQI only applies to models they make thousands of.

[bwunger]

I said I was going to work on it a bit more. I thought I'd post the setup I used and the results. It's night and day from before. I honestly think Spyderco just needs to re-do the clip bends on this one and they'll have it 99% solved. It's SO much better. I really hope they do some CQI on this since you shouldn't need a shop and such to fix a $400 knife.

First pic is the vice and some popsicle sticks I used to prevent marring. The non marring jaws I had we're just a bit too soft to have good control over the bends and not accidentally over bend it.



Here's the after. It's a subtle difference but I added some height by bending the flat near the attach file up and then added back some more bend where I bent it in the middle and then had to add in more bend to the kick at the end as it was almost flat to the knife when I had finished the other bends. Hope this helps someone between now and when Spyderco fixes it.

[Ruudr]

I said I was going to work on it a bit more. I thought I'd post the setup I used and the results. It's night and day from before. I honestly think Spyderco just needs to re-do the clip bends on this one and they'll have it 99% solved. It's SO much better. I really hope they do some CQI on this since you shouldn't need a shop and such to fix a $400 knife.

First pic is the vice and some popsicle sticks I used to prevent marring. The non marring jaws I had we're just a bit too soft to have good control over the bends and not accidentally over bend it.



Here's the after. It's a subtle difference but I added some height by bending the flat near the attach file up and then added back some more bend where I bent it in the middle and then had to add in more bend to the kick at the end as it was almost flat to the knife when I had finished the other bends. Hope this helps someone between now and when Spyderco fixes it.

That indeed looks like a big difference. Makes me shift to the positive side of buying a Drunken. I know its a $400 + knife but I don’t mind bending the clip.

[Zatx]

Thank you for taking the time to document your modification of the clip. Unfortunately, it doesn't change the thickness of the material, its sharp edges, or its uncomfortable upswept tip.

[ABX2011]

You could bent the tip of the clip too but doing so without marring the anno would be a challenge.

[soc_monki]

Beautiful knife... But I don't think I could spend that much on one. Near $200 is a stretch for me. Otherwise I don't think I could even take it out except to look at it.

Maybe spyderco could make a less expensive version for us cheapskates? I'd happily buy one. $400 just seems way too much imo.

[steeljustice]

I find it priced at $409.50 US the MSRP is $630 US IMHO it's overpriced even at $409.50 for what it brings, does being a Dmitry Sinkevich design justify this pricing?