Sharp Guy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:24 am
This has been discussed quite a bit and, IIRC, Sal was of the opinion that the lock became a little easier to use over time. They also radiused the edge of the narrow lockbar slightly to make it a little easer on the thumb. I think it's probably best for Spyderco to keep the spring in it's default position. I'm pretty sure Spyderco would agree. Those who want a little softer lock bar spring can go ahead move the spring forward a little like I did to my CF Chap back in 2016. But it does result in a slightly weaker self-close. It's still not likely to open up in the pocket but definitely not as strong bias toward close as it is from the factory. That said, I liked how my CF Chap felt so much that I moved the spring on my FRN Chap right after I received it. But the change isn't for everyone and shouldn't be the default. It's pretty easy to change if someone wants
viewtopic.php?p=1191817#p1191817
See Sal's comment here...
viewtopic.php?p=1270319#p1270319
Thanks for providing all this background info, Sharp Guy
I don't know whether the slight changes you describe have been implemented on the FRN model only (and even then, it doesn't seem to be sufficient) - because my CF Chap from years back was unpleasant to operate (due to the hard backlock), and the Rafir Chap I bought this year also had an unpleasantly hard backlock, to such an extent that I had to disassemble it and move the lockbar as close to the front as possible. Only
now is it actually agreeable to use for me.
I haven't followed the discussions surrounding the many other Spyderco models, so I may well be wrong, but my impression is that only the Chaparral is at the receiving end of recurring complaints regarding its hard backlock. This has been going on for years.
Like, do people complain about the Delica's backlock in the same way ? Or the Dragonfly's ?
Surely this must be indicative of an unsorted issue squarely related to the Chap's backlock.
And by "issue" I mean "ambivalent customers' opinions" ; I'm not implying that the backlock is technically faulty.
Finally, regarding the self-close action, it's good that you mention it, because a
too strong self-close is also unpleasant to deal with. A user shouldn't have to fight with a blade just to open it. Sure, the stronger the self-close, the safer it is - one could argue. And I'm all for safety. But we have to consider that at some point, there's a diminishing return regarding self-close strength. Past a certain threshold, it becomes only marginally safer whilst becoming exponentially more annoying.
Thank you for listening to my TED rant
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