Spyderco Forums

The detent ball in one of my orange Militaries flattened in about 6 months. I sent it in and got it back with a letter saying it's within spec. The liner lock itself is fine but the detent sucks unless you crank down on the pivot.

OT - Non-Spydercos
I have a 9 year old Benchmade liner lock that the detent ball against the other liner is the only thing keeping the lock from going any further. No play but it's been retired.
Gerber EAB lite, lock traveled over after about 20 open/closings. Lots of play, POS.
The stop pin in my edc SnG got loose after about a year and had lock rock. I sent it in and got it back with a larger OD pin on the Ti side.

How do they replace a detent ball? Can that even be done?

I have no clue but I've read before that STR can do it.

evil d wrote:well, i could see it eventually mushrooming out with enough use, or just wearing at the tip to the point it created blade play. Then again, i can't say i've ever heard of that happening but where there's metal to metal there's gonna be wear eventually.

niol. :D

Frankly, unless someone repeatedly does very foolish things with their ti Military, I think by the time the insert needs replacement that the Military, or at least the RIL version thereof, will have gone into retirement.

I have a Ti framelock (not spyderco) that I've opened enough times in the last few months to cover a lifetime of normal use. Hasn't worn any discernible amount.

Same thing with my Gayle Bradley.

I have "worn out" a Khalsa, but that's nothing unexpected. Once people discovered "kinetic openings", that happened quite a bit. The one that I wore out wasn't abused, but it did see kinetic openings periodically as a demonstration. The fact is, the C40 Khalsa was not built for hard use at all. The stop pin on that was absolutely tiny. I don't recall the exact dimension, but 1/8" seems to serve my memory correct. Ill have to check when I get home tonight. It was, and is, a gorgeous knife, but not built particularly well for extended or hard use.

I killed a couple of no name, knock off liner locks in my day and have seen a Buck CrossLock that died a quick death as well.

STR can replace detent balls. He did so for me on an old 440V Military that W&R said they couldn't help with. It's not W&R's fault either. That Military was a near daily carry for about 6 years in a work environment where we used diamond lapping grit and silicon carbide blasting grit. That kind of stuff isn't very kind to steel.

Everything in this thread is exactly why I am really trying to stay away from liner/frame locks from now on.

ChrisM wrote:The detent ball in one of my orange Militaries flattened in about 6 months. I sent it in and got it back with a letter saying it's within spec. The liner lock itself is fine but the detent sucks unless you crank down on the pivot.

Same exact thing happened to me on my Sage 1. The detent became DANGEROUSLY loose very quickly to the point the blade would just flick open with an almost laughable amount of force. So I sent it in, and a couple weeks later I get it back with a letter explaining it's all fixed. Only problem was it was the exact same. I wrote Spyderco about it and got a reply simply stating it was "within specs." Don't use it much any more for safety reasons, but can't get it fixed either! To put oil on the fire, that was $12 in shipping I'll never get back. Lesson learned about liner locks...

Jay_Ev wrote:Yup, I have a Spyderco Cricket with the lock bar all the way over touching the opposite scale. If that scale wasn't stopping it, I think it would keep going.

i have the smae problem only mine came that way NIB....

JNewell wrote:I just sent a much-used 15-year old small Sebenza back to CRK earlier this year for a tweak on the lock, which had gotten to 100% or a little more engaged. I assume they simply fitted a slightly larger OD stop pin. Whatever the case, it came back fast for no change and is all set for at least 15 more years.

That really is what you pay the big bucks for, one more vote for buying quality. I am curious do you remember how much you paid for that knife 5 years ago?

The Deacon wrote:Frankly, unless someone repeatedly does very foolish things with their ti Military, I think by the time the insert needs replacement that the Military, or at least the RIL version thereof, will have gone into retirement.

My Ti Millie is already more than 60% across from normal use. It is a Ti model without the steel insert. I don't feel it is unsafe but I do feel like it has worn rather quickly from only one year of use.I plan on sending it in for them to check it.

v8r wrote:My Ti Millie is already more than 60% across from normal use. It is a Ti model without the steel insert. I don't feel it is unsafe but I do feel like it has worn rather quickly from only one year of use.I plan on sending it in for them to check it.

It's possible it will stop moving? Sometimes Ti RILs do tend to 'settle in' and then remain at the same engagement for a LONG time.

Or does it seem to be steadily/rapidly wearing more and more?

v8r wrote:My Ti Millie is already more than 60% across from normal use. It is a Ti model without the steel insert. I don't feel it is unsafe but I do feel like it has worn rather quickly from only one year of use.I plan on sending it in for them to check it.

I thought the consensus was that Spyderco doesn't cover liner lock wear. You may want to write them and ask before you waste your money.

Typicially wear (most warranties) is not covered. Failure is.

It's similar to sharpening away edge life, wearing out brake pads, or wiper blades that stop working. Spyderco could be totally different though as I haven't looked into it.

Jazz wrote:I really don't like liner locks at all. I love my large Wegner, and it feels quite secure, but it's almost all the way across the blade - then what? They just don't give me any real sense of safety. My Millie is very strong and doing fine, but I wouldn't feel safe stabbing it into something. My Sage 2 makes me feel a lot safer, to a point. It hasn't moved at all. My Crickets and Spin are almost all the way across. Give me a back lock any day (compression is quite the good lock, too).

- best wishes, Jazz.

You really think a compression lock is any stronger than a liner lock? How could it be? It is the exact same technology only harder to operate.

I used to be a liner lock fan but have had a few fail on me over the years and now avoid them. I have had frame locks, lock backs, back locks and compression locks all fail in some way. By "fail" I am including anytime a lock gets unintentionally disengaged even if the lock itself didn't fail. I have had a non-Boyd Delica fail because I was wearing gloves and the knife closed on me. It cut me but the gloves took most of the damage. Had I not been wearing gloves, I would have had a VERY serious cut. The gloves helped cause the failure but protected my hand as well. I had a compression love fail the same way while wearing gloves.

I personally don't like compression locks after owning several that had way too much blade play. Add to that the fact that it is not easy to operated for a normal right handed person and it is not hard to avoid ever buying one again. In fact, it is a deal breaker for me. If I see a model with that type of lock, I write it off and look for another model to own.

I'm pretty sure it's stronger than a liner lock. They are not the same technology. I find the comp lock the easiest to open and close without ever touching the blade or having my fingers in the way. Just my opinions

DRKBC wrote:That really is what you pay the big bucks for, one more vote for buying quality. I am curious do you remember how much you paid for that knife 5 years ago?

IMO, the price of a military, sage 1 or sage 2 is big bucks, as are most spyderco knives. i would think buying a spyderco is buying quality. I shouldn't have to pay $4-500 dollars just to get a liner lock warrantied (considering I didn't do anything abusive to the knife in question,)

It is possible to add in another detent ball, but then you'd have to drill all the way through the lock to get the ball out, then put in a new one.

Any lock can be made stronger or weaker by upsizing or downsizing the parts and/or materials, but the statement in bold red below is completely mistaken. The locking method is completely different, as are the failure modes.

kgriggs8 wrote:You really think a compression lock is any stronger than a liner lock? How could it be? It is the exact same technology only harder to operate.

I used to be a liner lock fan but have had a few fail on me over the years and now avoid them. I have had frame locks, lock backs, back locks and compression locks all fail in some way. By "fail" I am including anytime a lock gets unintentionally disengaged even if the lock itself didn't fail. I have had a non-Boyd Delica fail because I was wearing gloves and the knife closed on me. It cut me but the gloves took most of the damage. Had I not been wearing gloves, I would have had a VERY serious cut. The gloves helped cause the failure but protected my hand as well. I had a compression love fail the same way while wearing gloves.

I personally don't like compression locks after owning several that had way too much blade play. Add to that the fact that it is not easy to operated for a normal right handed person and it is not hard to avoid ever buying one again. In fact, it is a deal breaker for me. If I see a model with that type of lock, I write it off and look for another model to own.

JNewell wrote:Any lock can be made stronger or weaker by upsizing or downsizing the parts and/or materials, but the statement in bold red below is completely mistaken. The locking method is completely different, as are the failure modes.

Every so often someone does come along declaring that comp locks are merely reverse liner locks.