Southard Lock Stick

[amue]

My Southard has lock stick. Does yours have or did yours have any and if yes, did it go away over time?
I seem to be having no luck with Spydie flippers.

Thanks.

[Screwdriver]

I had a Southard.....what do you mean by lock stick?

When I released, there was a slight resistance....but it is two different metals and I think that would be expected.

[Blerv]

Titanium does tend to have a bit of stick when new that goes away over time.

[IG-88]

Mine has been in my pocket for the last year and the detent is beginning to show wear but no sticky lock at all.

[Johnnie1801]

have you tried adding a bit of pencil graphite to the back of the blade tang?

[Cujobob]

I've read sharpie works, as well.

Edit: Mine has never had any lock stick.

[PayneTrain]

I got mine second hand and the seller claimed it had a slightly sticky lock. I could hardly tell when I first got it, and any stickiness is certainly gone now. Smooth as butter in every way.

[Enigma]

Haven't noticed that on my Southard

[amue]

I do know the pencil trick, but it did nothing against the stickiness.

I've been playing with it for a while now and it's still as sticky as it was originally.

[Blerv]

I had to 2-hand close a semi custom framelock for about a week before it lost that initial bite; probably a hundred cycles. How long have you been working on it?

[amue]

I had to 2-hand close a semi custom framelock for about a week before it lost that initial bite; probably a hundred cycles. How long have you been working on it?

Not longer, but certainly more cycles. I'd say a few hundred.

[amue]

Ok, so:

- Graphite/Pencil doesn't work
- Sharpie makes it even worse

The only thing that's helped so far is Nano-Oil, directly on the blade tang. Isn't that messed up

[Evil D]

Ok, so:

- Graphite/Pencil doesn't work
- Sharpie makes it even worse

The only thing that's helped so far is Nano-Oil, directly on the blade tang. Isn't that messed up

I wouldn't say messed up at all. You have to consider the style of lock and opening method being used here. By design the blade is being put into locked position with quite a lot of force, so naturally the lock tab is going to be wedged in there quite tight. If it slid out like butter, I'd be even more concerned than with any kind of "sticking". On mine, it doesn't slide over as easily as my Military, but then there's also a LOT more surface area of metal to metal contact happening at the lock too, combined with the force applied in putting it there, I think it's quite reasonable that the lock takes a little force to disengage. I've handled some ZT's that literally took my left thumb on top of my right thumb to break the lock loose, so I wouldn't call it unreasonably stiff to unlock. Just keep using it and let it break in naturally and avoid unnecessarily rough openings. There was a kid on the Spyderco Facebook group that kept opening his by inertia and he ended up mushrooming the lock face.

[Molle Ninja]

As much as I want to get a Southard and a Slysz Bowie, I fear the stick. I will stick to the Dice and others with a steel insert for now.

(Love my Techno, and though not super sticky, it's not nearly as smooth as steel-on-steel. Chokwe was horrible.)

[Blerv]

My Sage2 has always been butter. Rather than fearing the fear I would assume rational examples: Decent to great.

[rycen]

Ok, so:

- Graphite/Pencil doesn't work
- Sharpie makes it even worse

The only thing that's helped so far is Nano-Oil, directly on the blade tang. Isn't that messed up

I would try washing it with hot soapy water. Lubricant on the lock bar can actually make this problem worse.

[Knutty]

I've handled three Southards. Two of them have had "lock stick". One of them was particularly and unforgivably bad, and it also had a tight pivot that seemed irremediable. That piece of junk went right back. The other one with lock stick isn't bad, it's just annoying. And one of the three Southards I've handled has been fantastic; nice and smooth, no lock stick at all. But as luck would have it, that one arrived with damaged G-10 for some stupid reason.

I'm having a hard time swallowing this type of defect and variation in a knife that costs this much. I used to have an extremely high opinion of the Taichung producer; not so much anymore.

[araneae]

My factory 2nd had a stiff lock for about a week. It's nice and smooth now, just took a week of use and flipping.
At the SFO, Sal mentioned that Kit Carson liked Ti for frame locks as it was "sticky".

[Evil D]

My factory 2nd had a stiff lock for about a week. It's nice and smooth now, just took a week of use and flipping.
At the SFO, Sal mentioned that Kit Carson liked Ti for frame locks as it was "sticky".

There are a lot of things in life that one person hates while another person loves. As my high school teacher Mr. Meeker used to say "one man's trash is another man's bread and butter".

[bearfacedkiller]

I believe lock stick is just very common with ti on steel locks. I suppose it does make the lock slightly more secure if you don't mind a little stick and it isn't to bad. Every sticky knife I have had has smoothed out eventually.