M2 15V lock stick default?

[eventhorizon]

So I've handled three different Military 2 in 15V (one from a 2024 batch, two from a 2025 batch) and all of them came with a imho quite off-putting amount of lockstick that wouldn't go away regardless of what I tried... I went disassembly and thorough cleaning, I went sharpie, I went lead pencil, I went stop pin swap, I went use, nothing helped.

Three out of three. Is the lock stick a feature?

[Jeb]

I have one I got a month ago now and it works flawless. I setup all my blades so that when I clutch the blade lock the blade drops quickly. This setup is not for everyone, it's just how I prefer mine.

I clutch my M2 - 15V and the blade drops and it locks instantly when I open the knife. I am not so sure what you got going on there...

[eventhorizon]

I have one I got a month ago now and it works flawless. I setup all my blades so that when I clutch the blade lock the blade drops quickly. This setup is not for everyone, it's just how I prefer mine.

I clutch my M2 - 15V and the blade drops and it locks instantly when I open the knife. I am not so sure what you got going on there...

I get lock stick no matter of how I dial the action in, I tried tight, I tried loose and all in between.

[Brock O Lee]

I have two and they have no noticeable stick.

[ejames13]

I've only owned two, but both had it. One was so bad it was painful to disengage and would slap the liner when it finally did.

I was able to dial that one in by loosening all the screws and tightening back one by one after rotating the stop pin, some oil, and the pencil trick. It took a good while to get it worked out. I sold the other one.

[eventhorizon]

I've only owned two, but both had it. One was so bad it was painful to disengage and would slap the liner when it finally did.

I was able to dial that one in by loosening all the screws and tightening back one by one after rotating the stop pin, some oil, and the pencil trick. It took a good while to get it worked out. I sold the other one.

I tried that on all three knives, took me literally days of repeated loosening, tightening, dis- and reassembly. All three still remained sticky, no matter what.

[Brock O Lee]

Have you tried to polish the stop pin?

I recall someone mentioned that his stop pin had slight milling grooves, and when he polished the stop pin it solved the stickiness.

[WilliamMunny]

I have had two Para 3 15Vs. One had some slight lock stick but quickly went away. The other one had horrible lock stick, to the extent you could hear an audible click each time you disengage the lock. I tried taking it apart, oil, deburing, etc and never could get it to work well.

I have more than a few compression locks and this is the only time I had an issue.

[eventhorizon]

Have you tried to polish the stop pin?

I recall someone mentioned that his stop pin had slight milling grooves, and when he polished the stop pin it solved the stickiness.

I inspected all three stop pins very carefully in that direction whilst cleaning, but they were all shiny and smooth, so there's no way I could polish them even more without risking actually exacerbating the problem.

I have a PM2 (52100 CF) that basically just lives on my shelf because of absolutely untolerable amounts of lock stick while my Kapara got rid of some inital stick quickly after one disassembly. I don't quite get what's the underlying problem here (which bugs me because I'd really like to understand the technical side of it) but I'm starting to believe that the compression lock is more prone to sticking than others lock types are.

[RustyIron]

You could call customer service and see what they have to say.

[eventhorizon]

You could call customer service and see what they have to say.

Since I'm in Europe, sending the knife in (which would be the customers service advice, I'd guess) isn't really an option.

I'd rather get to the gist of the problem in order to understand what exactly is going on and to then maybe fix it myself.

[WilliamMunny]

Have you tried to polish the stop pin?

I recall someone mentioned that his stop pin had slight milling grooves, and when he polished the stop pin it solved the stickiness.

I inspected all three stop pins very carefully in that direction whilst cleaning, but they were all shiny and smooth, so there's no way I could polish them even more without risking actually exacerbating the problem.

I have a PM2 (52100 CF) that basically just lives on my shelf because of absolutely untolerable amounts of lock stick while my Kapara got rid of some inital stick quickly after one disassembly. I don't quite get what's the underlying problem here (which bugs me because I'd really like to understand the technical side of it) but I'm starting to believe that the compression lock is more prone to sticking than others lock types are.

Agree, mine drove me nuts. Two clean pieces of metal should not “stick”. But somehow the lock bar just feels like it gets “jammed” in there. If your up for it, I would consider slightly rounding the lock bar edge were it contacts the pin. It would at least make sure the corner/edge of the lock bar is not digging into the pin somehow.

Also as someone else said it might just be a warranty thing. Sal generally likes to see the issues so if there is something more wide spread it can be corrected.

[8th_Note]

Maybe try polishing the notch in the tang where the lock bar engages it.

I have a 15V Mili 2 and the lock is flawless on it

I have an exclusive Para 3 in S35VN DLC that had a little lock stick. A small application of 3in1 oil on the tang notch rectified it though. Same thing on my PM2 S90V exclusive.

[Jeb]

I agree here completely about wanting to fully understand what is going on with these knives. It would drive me nuts till I did lol. I tend to like to fix my own stuff regardless of warranty or not...

Is the lock bar going in to deeply, as if it was just a hair to short? I could see in my mind how that could maybe create a jamming so to say... the blade tang basically has like a seer on it somewhat like on a trigger of a firearm.

Man I wish you were on this side of the big pond, I would make an offer to take a look at one of these and compare it to the one I have.

As mentioned by someone else here, I too; have more than quite a few compression locks and once I have lubed, honed these and setup the loose blade drop I prefer all of mine are perfect.

So there is definitely something all jacked up with these, and I bet it's something you would have to mic out in order to see it...

[Red Leader]

Just one man's opinion or observation -

We live near the SFO, so we will go and handle knives, and we've probably handled about 75-120 compression lock Spydies over the past year or two. We have about 8-10 compression lock Spydies in the house. The general observation is that finding a Golden compression lock with no stick at all is the exception, and finding a Taichung compression lock with no lock stick is the rule. Seki City doesn't have many compression lock models, but the few I've tried (mainly the LT3) have had no appreciable lock stick.

With the Golden models, on most it is very slight. On a few more it is slightly more sticky and with an audible click. On some it takes extra effort to disengage the lock to the point of being annoying. Also, it is noticeable in some models more than others - it tends to show up quite a bit more in the Para 3 LW, for example. Recently I had about 6 in front of me to buy one and they all had it. The Paysan I tried had it real bad.

We have about 4-5 Para 3s in the house, and all of the have some form of lock stick. One has barely any, but if you are looking for it, it is there. The latest one, a Para 3 LW 15V (a lovely little knife) has it, but if I give it a harder Spydie flick, and disengage the lock w/ my left hand only (I'm left handed), it isn't present. Weird, huh?

I would also too like to understand the mechanical details of it. Mainly because I would say for most it is a distraction, but at worst it makes a knive unusable and honestly creates a bit of a poor reputation for the brand and 100% there are individuals who don't/won't own Spydercos because of this issue. Because I hardly notice it in most of the Taichung models I've tried, I do think it is a manufacturing/design issue, I think it would be very beneficial for Spyderco to do a deep dive on it and really drill down to the 'why' so they can start trying to manufacture it out of the knives. I'm one of those that doesn't mind a slight bit of lock stick, but probably would not prefer it and see lock stick as a QC issue, not a feature.

[vivi]

no lock stick on my sample of 1, but the blade centering was bad enough the blade rubs on the scales when I open it. Been sitting on it since I got it and I should send it in, but I think id have to swap the original scales back on first.....

[bearfacedkiller]

My 15V Military2 as well as my Crucarta Military2 have zero lock stick. Both are perfect. I just checked.

I recently picked up a Rex121 Sage5LW that had extreme lock stick that took considerable tuning to almost eliminate. It hurt my finger to disengage and made an audible click. I probably should have returned it but I got it sorted out. I got a Sage5 Salt currently taking the long way to my house from Dack and I’m really hoping it is not the same way.

I have owned at least a couple dozen Golden made comp locks and never had anything more than very subtle stick and most had none. I have never owned a Japanese comp lock knife and I think that REX121 Sage5 is my first Taichung comp lock.

[Stas]

I have two M2s in 15V—no lock stick on either. I’ve noticed that if I flick my Magnacut M2 open, there’s a slight bit of lock stick, but nothing too bothersome. That’s not really how I prefer to open it anyway, so it’s not a big deal.

[Paul Ardbeg]

Always wonder how "bad" the lockstick really is. My recent M2 in 15V and S90v hardly have any lockstick. Opened up both, cleaned and lubed and they are smooth after a few days of use. I have the first sprint run in S90v of the PM2 and that one has bad lockstick, but it is the exception.

[Evil D]

I have two, one has absolutely none and the other had a crap ton, so I made the sticky one my user and it has completely cleared up with use/break-in. Lock stick seems to be a trend with the M2, my Salt had it too but it also has cleared up with use.