Spyderco UK Pen Knife Disassembly (and mod) - Pics

[David Lowry]

Well as some of you know I am very OCD about certain things. Having the tip of a knife sunken well into the handle is one of them. I decided to void my warranty and make mine the way I like it.

The UK Pen Knife came apart much easier than I thought it would and it was easy to put back together. I just had to be patient, work slow, and have good lighting.

I thought you might like to see the pictures.

I would also like to suggest that maybe Sal and crew consider making a small improvement change to the UKPK for the future. I would like to see this hump ground down a tad more from the factory. I understand it's probably laser cut or stamped (I would bet laser cut) but I think if it's laser cut it wouldn't be a huge deal to change that hump where the choil sits when the knife is closed. Just a suggestion.

On to the pics....in order.











Here is where you can see how much more the tip sits into the handle now. I love it. You can even see that if the blade were about 1/8" longer that it would make the tip covered even more by the handle bump at the butt end.


This shows where I removed material a little bit to sink the tip into the handle.


All back together.

[tonydahose]

nice lil tutorial David.

[dc50]

Great stuff David!

Sure appreciate the effort, of taking time, to share with us the inner workings.

[Pneumothorax]

Outstanding work! I'll have to print those pics out for the day when it bugs me enough to do it. I will probably wait until I use it a bit more and am more willing to take the plunge. Since from your original thread it seems this is common for the UKPK, it seems like it could be a 'simple' fix at the factory. (yeah, easy for me to say).

[genius5th]

nice work dave!

[bh49]

Great work David,
What did you use to remove steel and how long did it take?

[David Lowry]

I used a regular old metal rasp. I had to refit the blade about 3 times until I got it to the point I liked it. It took me about 40 minutes total, from the time I took it apart until it was back together. The file time took only about 6 or 7 minutes at most.

[aebfroman]

When in the closed position are you able to squeeze the knife and the blade travel beyond its at-rest position?

[duff72]

Great Work

[5.56]

Hmmm, makes me wonder if one could grind down the secondary notch and make the UKPK flickable?

[Murdoc]

Grinding off the second notch wouldn't be enough to achieve that. The spring on mine is so strong it takes quite an effort to even start the opening process, and it stays quite stiff during the whole way. It is so much more than on a normal lockback that I honestly do not think that it would be possible to grind enough metal off to loosen the action enough to allow flicking. Even if you would do that, you still would be left with a big "hump" at the end that is necessary to ensure enough resistance against accidently closing the blade and nearly impossible to pass with flicking. Grinding off that hump too would create a knife that would close just as easy as the unlucky T-Mag, and we all know we don't want that

Dennis

[bh49]

I used a regular old metal rasp. I had to refit the blade about 3 times until I got it to the point I liked it. It took me about 40 minutes total, from the time I took it apart until it was back together. The file time took only about 6 or 7 minutes at most.

Thank you David.
40 minutes is not bad at all to get what you want.

[David Lowry]

When in the closed position are you able to squeeze the knife and the blade travel beyond its at-rest position?

If you squeeze it SUPER hard it moves about 1/16" deeper. That's about all you get. The spring is tough a heck.

[Jazz]

Very nice - very ambitious - thanks for sharing, bro.

- best wishes, Jazz.

[gull wing]

Excellent do!

[224477]

Good job Dave, are happy about it now?

[David Lowry]

Yep, I'm happy. I've realized the fact that everyone cannot be happy with everything right out of the box. With the Paramilitary I am. With the Military and Dragonfly, I am. Same with the Calypso Jr. Some things I just need to customize a little. I don't know why I didn't realize this a long time ago.

[224477]

Yep, I'm happy. I've realized the fact that everyone cannot be happy with everything right out of the box. With the Paramilitary I am. With the Military and Dragonfly, I am. Same with the Calypso Jr. Some things I just need to customize a little. I don't know why I didn't realize this a long time ago.

I think thats true, I sometimes fight over the same OCD issues you mentioned. The most important thing is to stay calm and not to destroy the thing by a 'repair' attempt LOL!

[Pneumothorax]

David,

Question: what was the hardest part of the dis-re-assembly? Getting the blade back on the pivot against the spring? Curious since it looks like Im going to have to do your mod.

I recently dropped my UKPK and it nicked the tip. After I resharpened it and got the nick out, I can now catch the tip with my fingernail in the closed position. Its probably not going to catch anything else, but its now bugging me. So, before I use your tutorial, Im trying to find out as much as I can.

Mike

[David Lowry]

David,

Question: what was the hardest part of the dis-re-assembly? Getting the blade back on the pivot against the spring? Curious since it looks like Im going to have to do your mod.

I recently dropped my UKPK and it nicked the tip. After I resharpened it and got the nick out, I can now catch the tip with my fingernail in the closed position. Its probably not going to catch anything else, but its now bugging me. So, before I use your tutorial, Im trying to find out as much as I can.

Mike

The hardest part for me was getting the blade back on, and really it wasn't that hard. Just go slow and use your head.

I took a little flathead screwdriver (you can see it in the pics) and I would put the blade on after the backspring had been put in place on one side. I would then put the blade down about half way on the pivot and then it wouldn't go down all the way because the spring needed to be pushed away from the pivot. I did so by carefully prying the backspring away from the pivot while the screwdriver was against the blade tang. I did it with the blade in the position that you see it in this picture:



The spring also takes a little effort to get on and off just because it's a spring. If you've ever taken anything apart before and put it back together this will not be that hard. Again, just go slow. If something doesn't fit or go, don't hurry and get frustrated. Think about it and go slow.

If you need more help just ask.