Soft detent on my Caribbean

[highly_toxic]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here. I just bought Caribbean from campsaver. This is my fourth spyderco after s35vn pm2, zdp delica and dragonfly. The detent on my Caribbean is too soft. With my PM2, I can easily spydie flick and use thumbnail to flick open. But with my Caribbean, I can only spydie flick with certain angle and large force, and thumbnail flick is not possible. What should I do now?

Cause I live in Singapore, I bought it from campsaver by first send it to a friend and he send it to me, and the cost of send it to spyderco in USA is not very small, so I need your advice!

Thanks a lot!

[dsvirsky]

It doesn't sound to me like the detent is too soft, but rather, is stronger than you wish. The purpose of the detent is to keep the knife closed until you want it open, so a strong detent is considered a good thing by many, myself among them. I don't think this would be considered a warranty issue by Spyderco (I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time).

My suggestion is to use the knife and see if the action loosens up to your liking over time.

[sal]

Hi Toxic,

Welcome to our forum.

I share Dsvirsky's question. If it's too soft, the knife will open too easily. If it's strong, the knife will be more difficult to open. Which is the case?

sal

[Surfingringo]

I’m pretty sure he means that the detent is so soft that there is little to no “preload” of force when flicking it open.

...and welcome to the forum toxic. :)

[The Meat man]

I’m pretty sure he means that the detent is so soft that there is little to no “preload” of force when flicking it open.

That's how I understood it as well.

Welcome to the forum highly_toxic.

[Bodog]

I’m pretty sure he means that the detent is so soft that there is little to no “preload” of force when flicking it open.

That's how I understood it as well.

Welcome to the forum highly_toxic.

I understood it this way also

[Sumdumguy]

Mine is perfect, I can't find a flaw.

It opens anyway I want it to.

[Sjucaveman]

I’m pretty sure he means that the detent is so soft that there is little to no “preload” of force when flicking it open.

...and welcome to the forum toxic. :)

That's how my caribbean is. Wish it was stronger so as to be safer in the closed position.

[highly_toxic]

It doesn't sound to me like the detent is too soft, but rather, is stronger than you wish. The purpose of the detent is to keep the knife closed until you want it open, so a strong detent is considered a good thing by many, myself among them. I don't think this would be considered a warranty issue by Spyderco (I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time).

My suggestion is to use the knife and see if the action loosens up to your liking over time.

Hi Toxic,

Welcome to our forum.

I share Dsvirsky's question. If it's too soft, the knife will open too easily. If it's strong, the knife will be more difficult to open. Which is the case?

sal

Thanks for reply! It is too soft that there is little force required to open the knife or release the blade from detent. There is huge force difference between opening my pm2 and Caribbean. Actually after familiarize myself with the Caribbean, I get muscle memory to spydie flick it at a fixed angle and almost 100 % success rate. However, I still prefer the stronger detent on my pm2. Is there any way to increase the detent?

[sal]

Hi Toxic,

The best solution is to send it to us to modify. Where are you?

sal

[highly_toxic]

Hi Toxic,

The best solution is to send it to us to modify. Where are you?

sal

I live in Singapore.

Thanks!

[Monty]

Hi Toxic,

The best solution is to send it to us to modify. Where are you?

sal

I was looking through old threads for DIY instructions but if this is a Spyderco service I definitely need to send in my Caribbean, the light detent is my only real complaint with the knife.

[James Y]

The detent on my Caribbean is less solid-feeling than on my two Pm 2’s and on my Para 3. But if I try to vigorously shake my Caribbean open, it stays closed. Which I find a bit interesting, because it has a fairly large blade.

Jim

[Sharp Guy]

Hi Toxic,

The best solution is to send it to us to modify. Where are you?

sal

I was looking through old threads for DIY instructions but if this is a Spyderco service I definitely need to send in my Caribbean, the light detent is my only real complaint with the knife.

There have been several threads/posts about this in the past year or so. It's fairly easy to do if you have the right tools but you could also mess up if you're not careful. Might be a good idea to send it into Spyderco if it's not something you're comfortable with.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=82412&hilit=detent+tuning

[Evil D]

A note on flicking knives open....there is a lot more to it than how strong the detent is, specifically speaking the thumb hole location when closed and the distance from the pivot, and how deeply the hole is recessed into the handle when the blade is closed. Some knives (your Para 2) may have holes that are positioned so that they're easier to flick open vs other models. With the Caribbean there are even two blade shapes and the holes are positioned in different places when closed due to the difference in how far the blades seat into the handle when closed, and this will make them feel very different when clicking them open.

In other words it may be more about you and what you're used to than the detent itself. I do agree that detents in general need to be stronger though.