My thoughts about the Positron

[vilePossum]

Sadly the Positron us another one of those "could have been great" knives from spyderco.
The clip doesn't bother me, the blade shape is great and it fits my hands well. I also have no issue with unlocking it.
But the action is poor (btw my bearings had zero lubrication) and the blade was off center in a way I couldn't fix.
This and my recent run in with a total lemon of a Myrtle will have me exploring other brands for a while.

[kwselke]

Sadly the Positron us another one of those "could have been great" knives from spyderco.
The clip doesn't bother me, the blade shape is great and it fits my hands well. I also have no issue with unlocking it.
But the action is poor (btw my bearings had zero lubrication) and the blade was off center in a way I couldn't fix.
This and my recent run in with a total lemon of a Myrtle will have me exploring other brands for a while.

I agree that it is not a good $180 knife because of the practice required to make it work, but at $100 I like it. I'd like to hear your Myrtle issues. I have been considering purchasing one.

[clovisc]

I bought one on closeout at KC. Not my usual style, but I couldn't resist S35V and the polished G10 at such an affordable price. I'm very surprised that this design is being discontinued rather than taking the knife world by storm. It flips great, and while I guess I can imagine why some people take issue with the clip, it really doesn't seem like much of a big deal to me.

[bouhunter]

I've always thought it looked like a nice knife but was not going to spend 170.00 on one. I like the orange one I just got. Flips nice, great blade, and the polished G10 is a nice change from other scales. The clip doesn't bother me at all. It's a great knife for 89.00.

[ABX2011]

I had a Myrtle issue. Side to side blade play that could not be removed by pivot adjustment. There was something funny going on with the lock engagement too although there was no play when the lock was engaged. I think what I was feeling when disengaging the lock was probably related to the pivot issue.

[zhyla]

Well it's been about 6 months since I got my Positron and I basically have had it in a case the whole time until a couple weeks ago. I had basically been planning on flipping it (ha!) so I didn't want to risk it getting used much. But I eventually decided I like it enough to keep it.

After carrying it for real for a couple weeks I've overcome a few issues.

1. The detente interfering with closing. This was a big pet peeve. As we all know this knife is not the easiest to unlock. Because of this it's hard to get the lock bar disengaged enough to clear the detente, so you end up fighting the detente when you close it. Works fine but feels bad. I was able to get a diamond needle file in there and file a small chamfer where the detente hits the blade when the lockbar is disengaged. If/when I open this knife up (I'm lazy) I'll really go to town in there. It needs a full blown ramp but this was enough to get it closing smoother.

2. The clip. I kind of got used to this. In the hand it doesn't bother me at all any longer. When clipped in the pocket is when it bugs me the most. I think any wire clip will bug me in this way -- it just sits proud of the pocket so much. I also spent some time tweaking on the clip to make it grip a little more. Time well spent but I was afraid the whole time I'd screw up the clip by bending it too much.

3. The flipping action. If anything I think this got worse. I finally figured out why it flips worse than my Boker Kwaiken which is of similar size and construction. It's the lack of exposed liners. The Kwaiken has smooth metal rails for my index finger to drag against as I flip. The Positron has smooth-but-sticky polished CF instead of liners where my finger drags. Just run your finger on the back of the knife, you can feel how much it slows you down. Easy fix: a little flick of the wrist while flipping makes it flip reliably instead of 9/10. It's kind of a bummer, I don't think there's anything mechanically wrong, it's just finger friction.

4. Grip. I've come to appreciate the ergonomics more but find the knife very slippery when getting it out of the pocket. Once in the hand it's great. I don't remember if I complained about that originally. This is partly just what I'm used to -- FRN and rough G10 -- and I've never lost my grip on it, it just feels a little less secure than I'd like. The light weight is also a factor here too I think. Nothing wrong, just takes some getting used to.

5. Plain edge. Takes a lot of getting used to after carrying only SE for at least a year.

Anywho... it's a keeper.

[PStone]

Nice write up! Making me want to get the KC orange while I still can. If you ever do the detention ramp, get us some pics :spyder:

[Drewthebrave]

Excellent write up. The Positron was my first Spydie, and it 100% convinced me of Spyderco quality. I no longer own it, as the role it would have occupied was already filled by another knife, and I can't afford to have duplicate knives to meet a single role. If money was no object I'd still have it, but it was one **** of a gateway knife for me!

My favorite features were the positive flipping action and the clip. And I still miss that satisfying *snik* when it locked into place.

[dreadpirate]

Try putting the clip on the other side so it does not dig into your palm. That works much better for me (right-handed).

[PStone]

Went ahead and placed an order for the orange KC exclusive. I’m guessing I’ll have it Monday. :spyder:

[zhyla]

5. Plain edge. Takes a lot of getting used to after carrying only SE for at least a year.

Spent some time trying to get this thing acceptably sharp this weekend. I got it sharper. Parts of the blade slice paper reasonably well. No part of it is shaving hair though.

I'm not a sharpening amateur by any means. I think part of it is due to technique -- I'm free handing it -- though I free hand my kitchen knives and they work great. Or more specifically, my free hand technique combined with a steel that doesn't sharpen as easily as I'm used to.

I measured the bevel angle on this knife. It's about 38 degrees inclusive (19 degrees per side). I think that's kind of insane for this knife. This and the trouble I'm having sharpening has gotten me looking around at sharpening options... I see there are Edge Pro like designs that you can 3d print, might give that a shot.

Any thoughts on appropriate bevel angle? I was thinking something like 25 degrees inclusive.

[Sharp Guy]

5. Plain edge. Takes a lot of getting used to after carrying only SE for at least a year.

Spent some time trying to get this thing acceptably sharp this weekend. I got it sharper. Parts of the blade slice paper reasonably well. No part of it is shaving hair though.

I'm not a sharpening amateur by any means. I think part of it is due to technique -- I'm free handing it -- though I free hand my kitchen knives and they work great. Or more specifically, my free hand technique combined with a steel that doesn't sharpen as easily as I'm used to.

I measured the bevel angle on this knife. It's about 38 degrees inclusive (19 degrees per side). I think that's kind of insane for this knife. This and the trouble I'm having sharpening has gotten me looking around at sharpening options... I see there are Edge Pro like designs that you can 3d print, might give that a shot.

Any thoughts on appropriate bevel angle? I was thinking something like 25 degrees inclusive.

Not sure why you're having trouble sharpening it. I have the KC exclusive S35VN version, so it may be different than yours, but have had no issue touching it up on the SM.

I plan to reprofile mine at 30° inclusive. I don't see why it wouldn't handle 25° just fine.

[zhyla]

Nice write up! Making me want to get the KC orange while I still can. If you ever do the detention ramp, get us some pics :spyder:

I started a separate thread about this detente ramp issue. I don't want to spoil the other thread but... ok I will anyway, adding that ramp makes all the difference.

With that out of the way I really only have one remaining complain on this knife. The bevel angle is close to 50 degrees included and just doesn't cut worth a ****. My next step is to reprofile it at maybe 30 degrees included and see what happens. In the meantime I resharpened quickly with a sharpmaker rock making sure to not sharpen at too acute an angle and actually got something that will cut. Ugh, I wasn't looking forward to reprofiling but I guess I must.

This knife gets cooler and cooler as these issues are sorted out. I'm actually really glad I picked it up now. Years ago when it showed up as a prototype I thought yes, that knife, that's exactly what I want, and it's getting close to achieving that initial impression.

Oh one last thing I'll say, I'm not sure what to do about lubrication on this knife. I put a little 3 in 1 oil in it at some point and that just got really gummy. When I had it apart I wiped all that off and it runs smother. I've seen suggestions that ball bearings need bearing grease. As logical as that sounds I think it's wrong, bearings need bearing grease when they're spinning at 10k RPM 24/7. Do these need any lube at all? I've got some teflon bike lube that seemed like a good idea, but maybe running it dry is ideal?

[colin.p]

As I mentioned in your other thread, I used BlueLube to smooth out the action and it worked wonders. I also use it on my other bearing flipper (my 0450cf) and it helps it with it's action also, even though it doesn't need much.

Just to add, I don't think it would matter too much what lube you use (as long as it's not thick), but I would imagine the bearings, as well as the detent, would benefit from lubrication.

[PStone]

Great pics in that thread @zhyla! Thank you for posting them! I ended up with the KC orange. I ordered it that day :cool:

As for lube, I have not used any at all. It fear it will gum up in the bearings too(this is my first folder with bearing washers). But it’s actually really smooth without any.

[zhyla]

Minor update. Reprofiled this thing finally. I have this cheesy Chinese EdgePro-type sharpener that I bought specifically to enable reprofiling since I generally free hand sharpen plain edge knives and that won't give me a consistent bevel.

I wanted to do 25 degrees (inclusive) but this sharpener has some design oversights that make it hard to go lower than 30. Also the angled plunge line on this knife gets in the way for this type of sharpener.

So it's now 30 degrees instead of... I wrote 38 degrees early on in this thread but I think I re-measured at one point and got like 45 degrees inclusive. Once I was done with the profiling I sharpened it to 2000 grit. On simpler steels that gives me something that will shave the hair on my arm. I used to sharpen my razors to 2000 but recently got some 3k, 4k, and 5k grit paper. On the Positron I'm still not shaving any hairs at all. It is slicing paper though, but not very well. And that Chaparral with it's stupidly thin and sharp blade was mocking it the whole time.

My only explanation is that S30V just takes a lot more strokes per grit to sharpen and I'm just being lazy.

On the bright side it does feel usably sharp. I'm going to EDC it this week and see how it does for my normal tasks (opening boxes, etc).