Spyderco Forums

Able Dog wrote:Every Taichung model I've owned has shown moderate to severe detent ball wear over time.

My GB2 showed the least, while the detent ball on my Southard is almost flush with the framelock.

I used to think it might have something to do with the bead-blast, acid etch, and tumbled finishes somehow weakening the ball. But the liner on the GB2 lacks all of those features. Perhaps the detent balls are sub par to begin with.

I've not had the same problem with the detent balls from other factories. The detents in my Millies, PM2, Yo2, Pattada, and Herbst don't show signs of wear (to the naked eye).

Ceramic detent balls would fix all of these issues at an extremely negligible cost. Maybe $5 per knife? Any who, some of these suggestions and resolutions are extremely negligible and the only real reason spyderco wouldn'twant to implement them is because they're focused on profits alone (which I don't believe) or they're not listening to their consumers (which I can believe if they value their own employees more than what's posted here). If they're listening to their own R/D department more than their own buyers then it's going to be on them when it's put out on the publics brain that Spyderco is failing somehow. That's on them as a business who they listen to more.

Spyderco already uses ceramic detent balls in the Tusk, which is also made in Taichung (I think), largely for corrosion-proofing reasons.

I think there are pros and cons to either ss or ceramic detent balls, so designers/manufacturers just need to account for the trade-offs being made.

In the case of a harder, more wear resistant steel, ceramic makes sense to me. The higher cost of installment (marginal, but not negligible) can sort of hide in the fact that a higher end steel likely appears on a higher end knife. The possibility of the detent wearing out the tang is lessened on a super steel.

dplafoll wrote:@Sal and Co.: I'd appreciate some guidance on this. I sent the knife in already, but the issue wasn't corrected and the paperwork we received back didn't mention anything about it. I did find out today that the instructions sent with the knife might've been a bit ambiguous, so it may not have been examined specifically for the detent ball. I just don't want to waste time sending it back in if this isn't something that W&R will repair. I have a picture of the invoice for the previous trip from the store that sent it in for me, if you need to see that. Thanks!

Hi, dplafoll:
Just for clarification, has the Nirvana been sent back to your dealer to return to us or did you send it directly to us? Can you PM me with details including your contact information. I'll follow up with W&R.

Thanks much!

Kristi

TazKristi wrote:

dplafoll wrote:@Sal and Co.: I'd appreciate some guidance on this. I sent the knife in already, but the issue wasn't corrected and the paperwork we received back didn't mention anything about it. I did find out today that the instructions sent with the knife might've been a bit ambiguous, so it may not have been examined specifically for the detent ball. I just don't want to waste time sending it back in if this isn't something that W&R will repair. I have a picture of the invoice for the previous trip from the store that sent it in for me, if you need to see that. Thanks!

Hi, dplafoll:
Just for clarification, has the Nirvana been sent back to your dealer to return to us or did you send it directly to us? Can you PM me with details including your contact information. I'll follow up with W&R.

Thanks much!

Kristi

Done! Thanks for the help. :)