Problems with my Chaparral

[adancingmonkey]

I just got a carbon fiber chaparral this week, was super stoked about it. When I first opened it, it had a sort of gritty feel to it but that has smoothed itself out. However the tang grinds against the liner around the finger choil area and makes an audible noise when opening. This only occurs when opening one handed with the thumb hole, but not very much pressure is required to make the noise. My other knives with steel liners such as the sage 1, g10 dragonfly, and sprint g10 manix do not suffer from this problem. Also the blade seems ever so slightly bent. If you place the lay the blade against something flat, on its left side both the ricasso and the point of the blade touch the surface it is laying on, and on its right obviously the point does not touch the surface as it angles slightly upwards. It's a knife, made of metal parts, so am I being anal about the grinding? It does not seem characteristic of my other spyderco blades though.

Thanks for any info.

[Holland]

The noise will go away of you tighten the pivot a tad

[Bill S.]

I don't think you are anal-retentive (excessively orderly and fussy) at all. And I certainly do not think you are being anal (*******). You are simply expecting a great product from a company that makes lots of them. The Chaparral isn't a cheap trinket. If you are not satisfied send it back under warranty with a note explaining the problems you have observed. A bent blade is certainly not right. Noise means something is rubbing. Get it checked out.

B.

[SolidState]

Pictures would help us all.

[Sully]

Bent blade on a $100+ new knife. Send it to the W&R with a note. They'll be happy to replace.

[gbelleh]

I got a bad Chaparral when they first came out, and immediately sent it back to the dealer for an exchange. Now it's perfect, as a Taichung knife should be.

[RadioactiveSpyder]

My new Chap had exactly the same grinding issue as you describe, making noise when one-handed opening. As Spencer mentioned, I adjusted the pivot a tad, oiled the pivot (NanoOil 10W), and opened and closed it repeatedly many times. The issue is now gone save for a very slight sound when I open it with some pressure to that one side. If your blade is actually bent, absolutely send it back to W&R for a replacement. Mine made the grinding sound closest to the pivot area, if yours is grinding further down the blade, it's definitely not straight. For me it recovered fine with a little TLC, and I'm carrying it this week in Detroit (wish I had my Millie though, this place is definitely sketchy!). It's a beautiful knife! Cheers, Radioactive :)

[senorsquare]

Have there been any cases of the internal stop pin making any grinding noises?

[RadioactiveSpyder]

Have there been any cases of the internal stop pin making any grinding noises?

Good question... For me it was definitely blade against liner contact causing the problem.

[adancingmonkey]

Thanks a lot for the prompt responses folks. This is exactly what I was hoping for.

[donutsrule]

For mine, it was actually the microscopically-raised lettering on the tang making noise, so that polishing them down with the UF Sharpmaker stones made the noise go away without otherwise marking up the tang.

But if you're going to return one for being bent, do that before you take the stone to one.

[adancingmonkey]

See how the spine is bowed on one side compared to the other and the tip of the blade touches the table when on its one side but is like 3mm from the table on the other.

[The Deacon]

To me, it looks like the blade is ground a bit asymmetrically, rather than being bent. However, in either case, posting photos here won't change the shape of the blade. If you are dissatisfied with the knife, the logical thing would have been to return it to Spyderco for evaluation.

[adancingmonkey]

well its a bit pricey to just to mail back the knife on a whim, i was just looking for feed back on if it was warranted or would they just send it back to me saying its within their levels of quality.

[Blerv]

Yea, it looks like the result of a hand grind on a distal taper more than a bend. Slight asymmetry.

Is it very obvious in hand? I guess you could request a more symmetrical one. Not sure I would but I guess it's a fair request.

[Doc Dan]

See how the spine is bowed on one side compared to the other and the tip of the blade touches the table when on its one side but is like 3mm from the table on the other.

I laid a straight edge along the sides of the blade of #3 and it really is out of whack according to that photo. I would send that knife back to the dealer for a swap or send it to Spyderco to warranty. Someone in the shop might have used it to pry something.
It might be the grind, but on that thin of a blade, I am not sure it would be off that badly. Send it back.

[jabba359]

See how the spine is bowed on one side compared to the other and the tip of the blade touches the table when on its one side but is like 3mm from the table on the other.

I laid a straight edge along the sides of the blade of #3 and it really is out of whack according to that photo. I would send that knife back to the dealer for a swap or send it to Spyderco to warranty. Someone in the shop might have used it to pry something.
It might be the grind, but on that thin of a blade, I am not sure it would be off that badly. Send it back.

If it was an issue, he should have returned it to the dealer 3 1/2 months ago when he got it. He might have a hard time getting the dealer to take it back after so much time has passed.