Coarse Leafstorm action

[65535]

Has anyone experience an almost gritty or coarse feel when opening and closing their leafstorm? It seems to be the detent ball sliding across the blade which has a semi rough grind on it, I imagine it'll wear in fine, but just curious if anyone experienced it.

[jonUSA,EARTH]

Has anyone experience an almost gritty or coarse feel when opening and closing their leafstorm? It seems to be the detent ball sliding across the blade which has a semi rough grind on it, I imagine it'll wear in fine, but just curious if anyone experienced it.

Don't have the leafstorm, but i;ve got the same coarse grind on my Sage 2.

[supermatch38sa]

Hi, yes mine was very coarse and stiff, but I disassembled it, polished the detent ball track and things changed radically. I also bent up the spring a little and now opens REALLY smooth.
Greetings from Arce, Spain my dear :spyder: Spyderfriends!!!! :)
Jose

[freeman7]

Yes, my Leafstorm was very stiff and gritty at first but it did break-in pretty well after I opened and closed it many times while sitting at the computer!

[Pneumothorax]

Has anyone experience an almost gritty or coarse feel when opening and closing their leafstorm? It seems to be the detent ball sliding across the blade which has a semi rough grind on it, I imagine it'll wear in fine, but just curious if anyone experienced it.

I dont have a Leafstorm, but I encountered that with my Endura G10. I had to oil the pivot, open/close, wipe off excess for a bit. There appeared to be a lot of metal particles in there. I think this is a sporadic thing that happens. My Caly 3 SE has the same thing, just not as bad. None of my other did this.

[Pneumothorax]

Two posts in a row, 28 days apart. I now have a leafstorm. I've been wanting one for a while. Just got it in the mail today!! Now I know what you guys are talking about. I have the same sort of rough gritty action during last part of the blade opening. That doesnt bug me that much since it sounds like that will smooth out...the thing that does bug me is that the lock seems to really grab the blade. I apply pressure until it snaps/clicks out almost like the two surfaces are rough and bind. Ive never experienced this type of action with any Walker or Reeve liner lock type. For now, Im going to keep opening and closing and cycling the blade and lock to see if it will smooth out. To be honest, after waiting and wanting all this time, Im a little disappointed to have this type of issue with such an expensive knife. Outside those thing, I really like the look and feel of this knife!!

I appreciate your thoughts on the lock issue.

[christoph]

Mine dd this as well, and I can't remember where I read this advice, but I just rubbed a little graphite (ie, drew with a mechanical pencil) on both the lock and the blade where the lock engages. Worked the lock a few times, it's been perfect ever since, even after cleanings that left the pivot in need of re-lubing. So I think the graphite may have just assisted with or eased me through the break-in period; doubt there's any left at this point.

[Pneumothorax]

Mine dd this as well, and I can't remember where I read this advice, but I just rubbed a little graphite (ie, drew with a mechanical pencil) on both the lock and the blade where the lock engages. Worked the lock a few times, it's been perfect ever since, even after cleanings that left the pivot in need of re-lubing. So I think the graphite may have just assisted with or eased me through the break-in period; doubt there's any left at this point.

Great suggestion. I will try it today. Thanks much. You can imagine what kind of torture it is to have this new, cool knife and not be able to carry it? I cant carry it in case I need to send it back - can't take any chances to have scratches on it if they want to trade it out...I've got my fingers crossed on this idea!!

[noddy]

I often have this grittiness with production knives - I usually take them apart and find its a bit of G10 dust or swarf got in there. If I cant get into the pivot (because it is riveted for instance) I just gradually work the junk out by adding the occasional drip of synthetic lube and opening and closing it a few (dozen) times.

What radically improves the feel of satin finished Spydercos, I think, is to polish the blade up - start at abut 2000, go to 6000 and then autosol polish. Dead slinky sexy then :) The satin effect stays, with some added glamour, and this won't give a mirror finish, but it looks and feels just great.

Spyds often benefit from convexing too. I do it by stropping on a sheet of 3000 and polishing over time, rather than taking all the metal off in one go. That way it picks up my hand habit over a period, rather than on just that morning. In the process of this with my Lobster, and its slicing capacity is already dramatically improved. Might put the Para through the same process :D :D

[Pneumothorax]

Mine dd this as well, and I can't remember where I read this advice, but I just rubbed a little graphite (ie, drew with a mechanical pencil) on both the lock and the blade where the lock engages. Worked the lock a few times, it's been perfect ever since, even after cleanings that left the pivot in need of re-lubing. So I think the graphite may have just assisted with or eased me through the break-in period; doubt there's any left at this point.

I did this and it did not seem to help that much. It still binds and audibly click unlocked. I checked all of my other liner locks and this is not an issue, they disengage from the blade with no problem and minimal pressure. This is my first titanium RIL. Is this a common characteristic of RILs (doesnt happen with my Spin) or titanium RILs? I notice the matte/unpolished finish might be the reason for a) the lock/blade binding and b) the gritty blade opening. Is this something that I just need to live with? Wish I could see someone else's in action and feel it for myself. Additional thoughts welcome.

[Chris_H]

I think your Leafstorm may have a tighter fit than others. If I recall correctly, titanium and steel have a tendency to gall -- being two different metals. This galling is what your feeling/hearing when you try to release the lock.

Mine had some similar issues -- gritty feel and sticky lockbar. Now, though, it functions pretty smoothly.

[christoph]

Pity. :-( I'm an advocate of this knife and I wouldn't be if mine had stayed that way, but it really did sort itself out a few hours into ownership. To flesh out my own anecdotal experiences: I never had this problem with a Sage RIL, but I have had very similar issues with a used small Regular Sebenza I got from ebay. And unlike my experience with the Leafstorm, my Sebbie frequently "resumes sticking" and needs lube to play nice. So clearly I'm no expert. :-/

[Pneumothorax]

One thing I did notice that might be affecting the lock is that only the tip of the lock and tip of the blade stop actually engage. There is very uneven contact of the lock bar and the blade stop. So, this might be focusing or concentrating the lock on a very small area and causing the sticking. A nice benefit of the translucent G10 is that you can see light thru it and view the lock/blade contact easily. So, I sent this new info to Charlynn to see if it might be a spec issue. Will see what happens. If it's not a "send it back" issue, I will just continue to work it and hope it breaks in.

[65535]

I ended up swapping mine at the store, the other one had a smooth action and the lock had perfect engagement.

[Pneumothorax]

One thing I did notice that might be affecting the lock is that only the tip of the lock and tip of the blade stop actually engage. There is very uneven contact of the lock bar and the blade stop. So, this might be focusing or concentrating the lock on a very small area and causing the sticking. A nice benefit of the translucent G10 is that you can see light thru it and view the lock/blade contact easily. So, I sent this new info to Charlynn to see if it might be a spec issue. Will see what happens. If it's not a "send it back" issue, I will just continue to work it and hope it breaks in.

So, Charlynn said the lock looked normal and w/in spec but couldnt tell what was going on unless I sent it back. Then I decided that Im going to contact Jeff at CSI to see if he heard of this gritty/sticking lock. He just said to send it back because I wasnt happy with it. Didnt matter what the issue was. So decided to send it back Monday.

Over the weekend, though I decided to try one more thing. I put a small dab (maybe 4 grains of salt amount) of silicone grease on the lock bar. I did this and cycled it about 20-30 times and it got better and better. Now, it is perfect. No sticking, no clicking, just smooth disengagement of lock just like all my other liners. I have no idea if the silicone grease helped since I think it was the titanium surface texture that caused the problem. Either way I'm good and will stop complaining and bugging you guys about this. Case closed.

The one thing that I wish Spyderco would do is that when the have a knife that they know will take some breaking in due to materials/design, whatever, that they put a little note in the box that says something like "due to the special materials/design of this knife, you should experience a rough/gritty opening/closing action and a sticky lock. This will go away after repeated cycling and the materials break in with eachother. This should/might take X cycles..." Something like that so I would know what to expect. While I dont mind working it to get it nice and perfect, a $135 knife, should be pretty darn close to perfect out of the box. If this was my first Spydie, I would have been pretty disappointed. Since it isnt and I got it figured out, Im a happy camper with my super smooth Leafstorm to play with and its ultra cool translucent green G10!!

Yes...I'm done. Thanks for reading. Hope these posts might help some other new Leafstorm owner.