Old Spyderco Chinook 2 restoration

[Nestor]

Got my hands on this knife a couple of days back. Kind of sad condition really. Rust visible on all the parts, side to side blade play, pocket clip with no tension, gritty action, dirty G10 scales, body screws packed with very fine sand, scratched blade. Took it apart, dumped everything in the mineral spirits for a couple of hours, cleaned the gunk and rust off, reconditioned the G10 scales and worked on the blade for two days. I replaced the PB washers with the new ones as the old ones were so worn out that they were almost transparent (surprise! surprise! this massive Chinook is using the same washers as Delica 4). Put the new pocket clip (era appropriate) on. Polished the pivot and put everything back together. I was surprised how easy the lockback was to reassemble. I've heard some horror stories about the three hands being required to accomplish that. Took me 5 minutes altogether. Super easy. The blade was sharpened at 35 degrees with the convex on the edge at 40 degrees. It glides through the paper now. Hollow grind and sharp edge and it's a cutter. Action is smooth like an old vault and so is the lock-up. No more blade play in any direction. It's rock solid. Pocket clip came from my spare parts box and it has very strong tension. My only wish would be for Spyderco to replace the T6 body screws with T8 and enlarge the pivot...but still...it's a beast. Love the hollow grind. Thanks for your time Guys!

Before

[Nestor]

Restoration process:

[Nestor]

Now:






Thanks!

[jwbnyc]

What a great job! Thanks for showing us! Awesome knife!

[8th_Note]

thats nice. I'm glad you saved it. great job !!

[Manixguy@1994]

Looks awesome ! I bought mine at time of release and is a long time favorite . I can’t really add anything about the knife your thoughts are same as mine . Still love the sound when blade locks in . It also a great outdoor knife , I’ve did field dress a Whitetail with no issues. Must confess it took longer to clean knife than dressing out the deer . Dan

[apollo]

Great find and amazing work!

My Chinook 2 is not in the best condition anymore either. Sadly i can not try and rescue it as the former owner stripped all the screws to the point there basiclly rivets.
It still luckily has no bladeplay but its backlock is not as functional and bankvaulty anymore as my Manixes or original Chinook locks are.

[Wandering_About]

Nice work on the restoration. Has a whole lot of life left in it yet!

[Mr Blonde]

That looks amazing, great job!

[Peter1960]

Very well done, now the knife at least has a second life!

[xceptnl]

Well done. I really enjoy seeing others do this as rejuvenating an old find is one of the joys if this hobby for me personally.

[Nestor]

Thank you Gents for your kind words. This might be a perfect retirement hobby for me eventually. The only thing that I still would like to replace is the spring as there’s no closing bias right now. I’m guessing that the spring is just not very springy anymore…

[mikey177]

Looks good as new. How did you recondition the G10? Asking as the G10 on a few of my older Spydies are starting to turn white as well.

[Nestor]

Looks good as new. How did you recondition the G10? Asking as the G10 on a few of my older Spydies are starting to turn white as well.

To start with a mineral spirit bath (a couple of hours), followed by a soap, warm water and nylon brush x3. Let it dry and apply a liberal amount of Ballistol. Leave it on for 5 minutes and wipe off the excess. That's it!

[mikey177]

Got it. Thanks for the information, Nestor.

[8th_Note]

Looks good as new. How did you recondition the G10? Asking as the G10 on a few of my older Spydies are starting to turn white as well.

I've had good luck using Hoppes Elite gun cleaner and a stiff nylon brush to clean up dirty G10 (and every other part of a dirty knife). It won't hurt G10 and it has no odor at all. It removes dirt and grime and removes oxidation from steel. It's really good stuff.

[mikey177]

Looks good as new. How did you recondition the G10? Asking as the G10 on a few of my older Spydies are starting to turn white as well.

I've had good luck using Hoppes Elite gun cleaner and a stiff nylon brush to clean up dirty G10 (and every other part of a dirty knife). It won't hurt G10 and it has no odor at all. It removes dirt and grime and removes oxidation from steel. It's really good stuff.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to find that product locally.

[Paul Ardbeg]

Great find and well done on restoring it

[wrdwrght]

Great find and amazing work!

My Chinook 2 is not in the best condition anymore either. Sadly i can not try and rescue it as the former owner stripped all the screws to the point there basiclly rivets.
It still luckily has no bladeplay but its backlock is not as functional and bankvaulty anymore as my Manixes or original Chinook locks are.

Nestor, indeed, did some magic on a rare find.

Like you, Apollo, I acquired a used Chinook2 (a welcome addition to my 1 and 4). Mine looked almost unused in the eBay pics.

But on receipt, I noticed that several screw heads (especially the pivot’s) seemed deformed. I then noticed the blade had pronounced side-play, which I cannot abide.

I tried to tighten the pivot but, given the deformation, I had little purchase and stopped immediately. Rather than add to the deformation, I applied heat to the pivot for about 10 minutes, and cautiously backed out one of its screws.

Red threadlocker (!!!) seems to be the reason for all the deformation the original owner created to get rid of the sideplay.

Now I’m at a standstill. While I’d like to follow Nestor’s takedown tutorial and remove all the threadlocker, I see little point until I can replace the deformed screws.

My first call into W&R told me those screws are not in stock.

Anyone know their specs, so I could take them to McMaster-Carr?

[kennethsime]

My first call into W&R told me those screws are not in stock.

Anyone know their specs, so I could take them to McMaster-Carr?

I don't know where you're based, but in similar cases I've been successful with taking the screws down to my local neighborhood hardware store and comparing the screws against their thread checker. Sometimes they have the exact screw in stock, other times they have a mild steel version and you can order the same on McMaster-Carr after clarifying the sizing.

Home Depot sometimes has these also, if you're not lucky enough to have a good hardware store around.