How to remedy blade hitting the leaf spring?

[Ilocano73]

I recently purchased a "Seconds" Siren from Spyderco during their Black Friday runs. The knife looks great and I'm in love with it. I have not used it though other than playing with it. After a day or two, I noticed that there's a 3mm spot on the blade that's dull. Upon inspection, I deduced that the blade spot seems to be hitting the spring. My question to Spyderco or folder experts on the thread, Is there a way to adjust the closing fold so it does not fold all the way to the spring? If not, is there a remedy? Can I file or maybe file a groove on the spring just deep enough to allow the blade to close without hitting metal? Thank you in advance for any recommendations. I love the blade but this is bumming me out.

Blunt area of the blade.

Impact area on the spring.

[Evil D]

This being the spring itself, you're just going to have to sharpen the blade enough to the point that it's shorter in height and no longer goes that far into the handle. You could maybe bend the spring upwards in that spot to gain clearance but this might also negatively effect the lock and/or the strength of the lock so I'm not sure if that's a good idea, I'd have to see it for myself.

I would start by taking it apart, take just the front side scale off and try to leave the rest assembled, and see if you can guess how much further the blade would close before resting on the lock/ricasso. This may be the deciding factor, if there's a lot more travel before that point then I think sharpening or essentially regrinding the blade is your only option.


Oh, alternately, you could epoxy something to the exact spot that the blade would normally rest on the kick, and that would stop the blade before hitting the spring, but this also means the blade will stick out from the handle a wee bit further. This might actually be the route I try before grinding anything else.

[Ilocano73]

Thanks for the recommendation. I was thinking of putting a piece of leather where it's hitting the spring.

[ChrisinHove]

I think the best option is to use the knife and sharpen the problem out.

If you were to use a leather shim, maybe put it where the blade nub meets kick as David suggests as the blade edge would cut through it in no time.

[Evil D]

Thanks for the recommendation. I was thinking of putting a piece of leather where it's hitting the spring.

That's what I did with my Higonokami, it doesn't have any sort of blade stop so it'll close all the way into the handle, so I cut a strip of leather and glued it inside the handle.

[8th_Note]

This part of the blade, the lower part of the ricasso known as the kick, is supposed to hit the inside of the handle first when you close the blade. Thus keeping the sharpened edge from hitting the inside of the handle. If you were to glue a very thin piece of material to the point where the kick rests when the blade is closed, it should keep the sharpened edge from making contact with anything.

You want the material to be thick enough to keep the sharpened edge contact free, but not so thick that the point of the blade is not covered by the handle when the blade is closed.

As someone else said, the best bet is to disassemble the knife and remove the scale and liner from one side so that you can see exactly how thick your material needs to be to achieve the desired result.

[Ilocano73]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I was hoping not to disassemble the knife but looks like I’ll have to. Thank you all for the help. I’ll post an update once I fix and which solution used.

[Pokey]

I have a few models, all Factory Seconds, where the blade kissed the lock spring. I think for the most part the blade was snapped shut.

I took the knives apart and filed a channel in the lock spring using a Spyderco diamond Triangle from the Sharpmaker. After I reassembled the knife I re-sharpened the blade down below the ding in the edge and closed it a bit harder than I normally do. If I see a glint, I’ll repeat the process.

In the end, that’s worked so far.

[sv4]

I recently purchased a "Seconds" Siren from Spyderco during their Black Friday runs. The knife looks great and I'm in love with it. I have not used it though other than playing with it. After a day or two, I noticed that there's a 3mm spot on the blade that's dull. Upon inspection, I deduced that the blade spot seems to be hitting the spring. My question to Spyderco or folder experts on the thread, Is there a way to adjust the closing fold so it does not fold all the way to the spring? If not, is there a remedy? Can I file or maybe file a groove on the spring just deep enough to allow the blade to close without hitting metal? Thank you in advance for any recommendations. I love the blade but this is bumming me out.

IMG_0192.jpeg

IMG_0193.jpeg

Basically the blade shouldn’t be touching the leaf spring. That’s likely why it was a seconds, with QC issues. Pokey’s solution of filing down a channel is probably the best permanent solution.

[vvs]

Have the same issue with Benchmade's Big Summit Lake (15051-2). I ended up with paper patch.

[Red Leader]

The other thing could be to observe how the spring is sitting in the slot when you take off one scale. If there is any play at all in the slot, it may be able to be shimmed on the side that would lift the spring up and away from the edge when closed.

[Wowbagger]

Looks like you have gotten some greaat advice.
also : Way to go Pokey !
good one .
Hey , being a fellow Coloradoan do I know you from Colorado Springs bike shops days ?
anyway ,
I was going to add :
taking the knife apart to find the exact spot to add thickness to is good . Sure it is going to be right at the red arrow that 8th note indicated.

In another thread here recently about lock rock , in a different model of knife , I discovered that it is fairly easy to "upset" the metal on the lock bar . . . another better term might have been "draw out" = make longer.
In any case one could . . . take the lock bar out of the knife , put it on a smooth anvil like surface and using a hardened punch and a heavy hammer push metal on that part of the lockbar toward the blade tang by punching a dent into the SIDE of the lock bar where it meets the blade tang. Forget about punching the blade tang; it is too hard to do this .
Probably wouldn't take that much .
In the unlikely chance you went too far , to the point the blade tip is proud of the handle , it is easy to file the lock bar a fraction of a millimeter .
Not enough ? Bang on 'er another time or two .

PS: I have been rebuilding the heck out of my four Sirens (two of each) of late . Swapping blades; shortened one blade, ground one of the LC200N to 1.8mm at the spine . Love these things !
PPS: no offence but putting a piece of leather between the blade edge and the lock bar would be the equivalent of sticking one's neck in a guillotine to stop the blade from making that annoying banging noise at the bottom .