Crucarta, what's going on?

[ducatijosh]

Hello, I bought my first Spyderco knife yesterday, the PM2 with Cruware / Micarta, it was great and I was spidey / thumb flicking it in the parking lot after I bought it, No issues. When I got home it was super stiff and you could hear the blade dragging something like nails on a chalkboard as I tried to open it, with any type of flick it only went open like 1/4 of the way. I couldn't figure it out so I returned it today and got a new one. The action was smooth as glass, zero issues and I could whip it open and closed without a problem. After about 2 hours of playing with it at home it's all gritty and grinding again. If I slightly pull back on the micarta near the lock it seems to be good for 2-3 flicks then it gets gritty again. Is the Micarta warping / bending and pushing the lock in after a bit of use? ....That appears to be the case which is ridiculous. What do I do about this?

[TazKristi]

Hi, ducatijosh:
Welcome to our forum. I would recommend sending your knife to our Warranty & Repair Department for evaluation. It's tough to say what might be happening without seeing the knife in hand. You'll find all the information you need here: https://www.spyderco.com/service-suppor ... ty-repair/.

We're sorry to hear about your frustration, but we'll do our best to make it right. We hope you enjoy your time with us.

Kristi

[RustyIron]

Kristi

Working on Sunday? Easter Sunday?
Good golly, you kids are a dedicated bunch!

[yablanowitz]

Yeah, they are.

They've even given us the Micarta we demand in spite of their past experience with the material. Dimensional changes and warpage due to changes in humidity, temperature and altitude are known issues with Micarta.

[Wartstein]

Welcome to the forum, ducatijosh!

I don't have the Crucarta PM2 myself and also no experience with Micarta in a comp.lock knife, but that said: I can't recall ever reading here what you now describe.

Weird that it happened with two knives in a row and with each in such a short period of time, I unterstand your disappointment.

Could it be that there happens to be some Micarta-dust-residue from the manufacturing process inside both knives and howosever that ends up being moved into a position through "playing" with the PM2 where it impairs the action?

In this case cleaning the pivot area once could help - blowing through with compressed air, moving the blade while holding the pivot area under a running water tap, or, if you feel comfortable doing so, disassembling the knife and cleaning it.

But if this is a viable option for you (i.e. you live in the US) and since you are new to Spyderco: I'd do what Kristi said and send the PM2 in.

[phaust]

Unlike the above poster, I have seen quite a few posts with this exact complaint around the Internet in the various Spyderco and knife groups. It just seems to be part of the crucarta version, either due to micarta as yablanowitz said or something with the design. If you want a PM2 to use like that, best to change to a g10 version.

[yablanowitz]

Unlike the above poster, I have seen quite a few posts with this exact complaint around the Internet in the various Spyderco and knife groups. It just seems to be part of the crucarta version, either due to micarta as yablanowitz said or something with the design. If you want a PM2 to use like that, best to change to a g10 version.

Yeah, I don't do social media, but I have seen the exact same complaint on Bladeforums from a poster with the same username. I have to wonder if all the complaints you have seen are from the same source.

[phaust]

Unlike the above poster, I have seen quite a few posts with this exact complaint around the Internet in the various Spyderco and knife groups. It just seems to be part of the crucarta version, either due to micarta as yablanowitz said or something with the design. If you want a PM2 to use like that, best to change to a g10 version.

Yeah, I don't do social media, but I have seen the exact same complaint on Bladeforums from a poster with the same username. I have to wonder if all the complaints you have seen are from the same source.

Yeah I've seen the same on Facebook groups and reddit subs

[Wartstein]

Unlike the above poster, I have seen quite a few posts with this exact complaint around the Internet in the various Spyderco and knife groups. It just seems to be part of the crucarta version, either due to micarta as yablanowitz said or something with the design. If you want a PM2 to use like that, best to change to a g10 version.

Interesting and good (or rather "bad"...) to know.

I have never been on Instagram, Facebook (generally, not only concerning knives) or the like and also not on Bladeforums, but exckusively on this forum, so my insight is limited as it shows here.

[Pokey]

Well here's an outlier in the data. I own two CruCarta PM2's and they're both smooth opening and closing, and have been for years since they were released. It could be due to living at the same altitude/temp/humidity as Spyderco. I don't know where the OP lives but it might make a difference.

I will say I've had some Spyderco knives get a little sticky after driving over the Rockies. (Colorado to California) Sal said humidity is one thing that can change the action on them. Once I got back home I adjusted the pivots screws and they've stayed the same since.

[Danke]

I too have a CruCarta PM2 and out of the box it was the slickest opener compared to the prior few I have. Still slick.

I would strongly suspect that if you can crush the full steel liners with your normal grip strength the circus will have a job for you.

I also suspect that the Micarta scales are made and finished in a very different area than final assembly. There won't be any dust to jam things up at the factory.

[Ferruginous]

All new factory knives:

1. Wash in hot water with a little bit of dish soap
2. Let air dry
3. Remove pivot screws
4. 1 drop of non-toxic Froglube between each PB washer and blade (easy to do because the pivot screws are gone leaving gaps to get oil into)
5. Clean and apply loctite to screw threads
6. Tighten slowly until side-to-side play is eliminated but blade still moves freely open and closed when lockbar is held away from blade
7. Let sit for 24 hours
8. Enjoy

If I did not know how to clean and adjust pivots I would be miserable sending knives back and forth to the factory until they were right. Pivots are subjective and even if the factory knew how you prefer yours, they wouldn't be able to do it thousands of times without letting one by that was too tight or too loose. Even if it were prefect every time, it would still gunk up from use and the environment and need a bath or an adjustment at some point.

[attila]

All new factory knives:

1. Wash in hot water with a little bit of dish soap
2. Let air dry
3. Remove pivot screws
4. 1 drop of non-toxic Froglube between each PB washer and blade (easy to do because the pivot screws are gone leaving gaps to get oil into)
5. Clean and apply loctite to screw threads
6. Tighten slowly until side-to-side play is eliminated but blade still moves freely open and closed when lockbar is held away from blade
7. Let sit for 24 hours
8. Enjoy

If I did not know how to clean and adjust pivots I would be miserable sending knives back and forth to the factory until they were right. Pivots are subjective and even if the factory knew how you prefer yours, they wouldn't be able to do it thousands of times without letting one by that was too tight or too loose. Even if it were prefect every time, it would still gunk up from use and the environment and need a bath or an adjustment at some point.

Do you do this with M4, K390, 52100, etc.?

Letting these and some other steels air dry sounds like a recipe for rust.

[VandymanG]

I have a PM2 Crucarta that I bought in Golden Colorado last August. I drove cross country to Syracuse in the heat dome that was going on and then back to Washington state. The knife was pretty smooth out of the box. It did get a little stiff when it got dirty in my pocket. All I did was wash it with dawn soap, dried it, sprayed it with frog lube oil and rubbed frog lube oil into the Micarta and I’ve had no issues. The thing opens like a gravity knife when I press on the compression lock to open and close it.

[Danke]

All new factory knives:

1. Wash in hot water with a little bit of dish soap
2. Let air dry
3. Remove pivot screws
4. 1 drop of non-toxic Froglube between each PB washer and blade (easy to do because the pivot screws are gone leaving gaps to get oil into)
5. Clean and apply loctite to screw threads
6. Tighten slowly until side-to-side play is eliminated but blade still moves freely open and closed when lockbar is held away from blade
7. Let sit for 24 hours
8. Enjoy

If I did not know how to clean and adjust pivots I would be miserable sending knives back and forth to the factory until they were right. Pivots are subjective and even if the factory knew how you prefer yours, they wouldn't be able to do it thousands of times without letting one by that was too tight or too loose. Even if it were prefect every time, it would still gunk up from use and the environment and need a bath or an adjustment at some point.

Do you do this with M4, K390, 52100, etc.?

Letting these and some other steels air dry sounds like a recipe for rust.

I put M4 away wet all the time, it's fine. I do force a patina first thing.

I only take the knife apart if I see rust in the jimping. That's usually a pretty good sign that it needs attention.

[Spyderwebs]

I put M4 away wet all the time, it's fine. I do force a patina first thing.

Whats your preferred Force Patina method? I am getting some surface rust and micro pitting on Cruwear and want to try a force patina to see if that mitigates its reappearance time.

[Danke]

I put M4 away wet all the time, it's fine. I do force a patina first thing.

Whats your preferred Force Patina method? I am getting some surface rust and micro pitting on Cruwear and want to try a force patina to see if that mitigates its reappearance time.

I've tried a bunch and I think Mustard is a good one.

I've also done potato, onion, vinegar. The one below was grainy mustard.

[horzuff]

I also like to force patina on tool steels. My goto method is sticking it in hot vinegar for however long it's necessary (from a couple minutes to overnight, depending on the steel)

[JoviAl]

If you’re after a really jet black patina the sap from the fig family of trees (Ficus) does a fantastic job. These photos are taken after extensive cleaning and a liberal application of Marine Tuff Glide (my poison of choice for tool steels).

[VandymanG]

I put M4 away wet all the time, it's fine. I do force a patina first thing.

Whats your preferred Force Patina method? I am getting some surface rust and micro pitting on Cruwear and want to try a force patina to see if that mitigates its reappearance time.

I've tried a bunch and I think Mustard is a good one.

I've also done potato, onion, vinegar. The one below was grainy mustard.

Love the patina look! It turned out awesome.