loosen the detent?

[tonyteosound]

Hi, folks. I'd like to loosen the detent on my Manix 2, so that I can flick the blade out with a wrist movement. Can I do that without creating any play on the lock-up? Any advice would be greatly appreciated? (I'm new to spyderco knives) :)

[Chris_H]

I think you'd have to modify the blade tang to get the opening action looser at the start of opening. There is a notch on the underside of the tang that the ball bearing drops into in the closed position. From what I can tell, you could shorten or round off the edge of that notch to effectively decrease the "detent" action.

Another option, though, would be to replace the springs in the CBBL for weaker tensioned ones. This, too, would allow the lock to open up easier to get the ball bearing out of the notch and onto the rounded part of the tang that the ball bearing rides on during opening.

[The Mentaculous]

I wouldn't recommend modifying it...you'd have to either change the spring tension (which I don't believe if possible) or smooth out that area of the tang. Either way, I think you should just practice doing it without any modification. I can do an inertial opening (aka without touching the blade) on both my Manix's, but it took me a while to learn and refine the technique. If you learn to do it through practice, it should be more satisfying in the end.

BTW a good tip for inertial openings is to drop the elevation of your arm down slightly as you rotate your wrist. M. Janich also shows another technique where you kind of jerk it downward to release the blade, then flick it out...but I always stuck with the standard rotation based opening--although I only do it for fun, when I use it I generally either flick the blade out, or do a standard spyderco opening (pushing the blade out in one motion)

Good luck and be careful :D

BTW I find the detent in the Manix to be fairly weak...that's just me though.

[tonyteosound]

Thanks, guys, for the replies. Modifying the knife is too much work, not that I'd know how. :D

I can use the inertia method, but it takes quite a bit of force to get the blade out. There is also the danger of flinging my knife hard into the floor. That would be painful. hehehehe

[The Mentaculous]

The backspring got quite a bit looser in both of my Manix models just through use btw, so depending on how long you've had yours, the detent may loosen up on its own actually

[jackknifeh]

Hi, folks. I'd like to loosen the detent on my Manix 2, so that I can flick the blade out with a wrist movement. Can I do that without creating any play on the lock-up? Any advice would be greatly appreciated? (I'm new to spyderco knives) :)

I think that if you can flip the blade open without touching it with your other hand or by using a thumbstud or Spyderco hole it can be considered a "gravity knife". There are places where gravity knives are illegal. I'd bet NYC is one of those places. There has been a lot of activity there to get rid of a lot of knives, even ones that aren't "made" for fighting and it has been discussed on this forum among others.

Jack

[shimage]

Maybe I am missing something, but the way I've seen people do it with axis locks is to pull back the lock with their index finger and thumb, and then flick it out. Seems like it should work with the BBL too?

[Creepo]

Maybe I am missing something, but the way I've seen people do it with axis locks is to pull back the lock with their index finger and thumb, and then flick it out. Seems like it should work with the BBL too?

Yes it does, and I don't know if Tony actually thought of this.
Works great that way.

[bada61265]

it is possible to polish out the groove the ball rides against in the backspacer. i polished out the back spacer on mine , just the outside at first then decided to do the area where the ball rides. i wouldnt want to do more than a light polish as just the little bit i did causes the ball to ride up higher in the notch of the blade. when apart i noticed the spring had made indentations on the plastic guide( part of the cage) i smoothed them out with some 400 grit. this is a tough knive to dissasemble. i wouldnt reccomend it and wouldnt do it again myself on a bet. i do feel however that its much smoother opening and closing than stock. plus i drilled and polished out the liners as best i could so shaved some weight as well. i also added a spacer in the butt end bolted threw to reinforce the liners at that end of the knife because only the lanyard barrels press fit holds it together otherwise.
like i said , wouldnt recommend it. had a long post about it a while back and it all turned out good in the end. was giving me fits though for a while.

[FLYBYU44]

I just pull the lock back and the blade swings out with no effort.

[kitman22]

Are you considering that if you do any of these mods or tamper with the ball detent, that this may mean the knife opening up at times when you wouldn't want it to. I.e. in your pocket or bag. That could turn out nasty

[tonyteosound]

I have short fingers... and the lock is new and VERY stiff... haha. I'll just flick it out with a twist of my wrist. That seems to be the easiest way. And it gets easier with practice.

[dsmegst]

The spring should wear in and loosen up a bit with use. I find the Manix 2 to be one of the easier opening designs in the lineup due to the absolute lack of friction in the pivot. As for the detent, I like a little resistance there for security in the pocket. My user Manix 2 has finally loosened up to where I can just barely unlock the knife with just my thumb.