Serious side blade play in Shaman, problem solved

[Michal O]

I'm starting this topic for science and for better awarness about quality control at factory.

Recently I bought genuine Shaman, regular model in S30V, from very good source, knowing about that this piece has some side to side blade play, even when screws are tightened to maximum. It doesn't bothered previous owners, except one guy maybe, anyway I got this knife and started to figure out what's wrong with it. Because blade play amount was really very dissapointing in $200 knife from such famous brand. Especially because I'm picky about such things.





Before purchase I've been reading, on Facebook gorups and forums, about that it's common issue in Shaman - hard to tune up, or has some side to side play anyway. Pocket Perspective youtube channel advised to polish liner area around pocket clip screws sockets with fine stone etc. But that didn't helped in this case. After full dissasembly I noticed that D shaped hole for pivot has some serious burrs, and pivot was not able to go 100% into that hole. That caused some space between blade, washer and liner on this side where D shaped part of the pivot goes in. After some work with file and sanding paper, I put it back together. Effect is no blade play in any direction and smooth action. Practicaly every hole in liners had some small burrs, but that in D shaped pivot hole was main reason what was wrong. Maybe someone solved it in the past, but I couldn't find anything before started this new thread.

High tolerances and good finish to the liners are important factors. Now my new Shaman is flawless.

[troutinCO]

This was the same issue I had on my M4/Micarta. The little burrs left on the D hole caused horrible blade play that no amount of tightening was going to fix. Once gone the knife was perfect.

[Michal O]

I'm happy that I didn't jumped off that selling offer, but it was a little va banque what to expect. That blade play of course doesn't affect function of the knife, but can be dissapointment at this price range.

[Vaugith]

Hm, a number of my shaman have had issues and I've always just used them until the issues worked themselves out. And they always have. Now I'm going to have something to keep an eye out for as a possible cause. Thanks.

[Woodpuppy]

My M4 micarta Shaman actually can go too tight. Upon reassembly I actually had to back off pressure a titch. My Z-wear Shaman is locked down as tight as I felt comfortable and there’s still a titch of blade play. Not enough to make me take it apart and fuss with it, but I’ll look at it more carefully when I do.

[JRinFL]

I'm starting this topic for science and for better awarness about quality control at factory.

Recently I bought genuine Shaman, regular model in S30V, from very good source, knowing about that this piece has some side to side blade play, even when screws are tightened to maximum. It doesn't bothered previous owners, except one guy maybe, anyway I got this knife and started to figure out what's wrong with it. Because blade play amount was really very dissapointing in $200 knife from such famous brand. Especially because I'm picky about such things.





Before purchase I've been reading, on Facebook gorups and forums, about that it's common issue in Shaman - hard to tune up, or has some side to side play anyway. Pocket Perspective youtube channel advised to polish liner area around pocket clip screws sockets with fine stone etc. But that didn't helped in this case. After full dissasembly I noticed that D shaped hole for pivot has some serious burrs, and pivot was not able to go 100% into that hole. That caused some space between blade, washer and liner on this side where D shaped part of the pivot goes in. After some work with file and sanding paper, I put it back together. Effect is no blade play in any direction and smooth action. Practicaly every hole in liners had some small burrs, but that in D shaped pivot hole was main reason what was wrong. Maybe someone solved it in the past, but I couldn't find anything before started this new thread.

High tolerances and good finish to the liners are important factors. Now my new Shaman is flawless.

Great post, thank you. It is good feedback to Spyderco and a very useful guide for those who want to tune their own Shaman.

[Michal O]

No problem. Worth mentioning is that liner with D shaped hole is tricky to remove from scale. Finally it moved with help of fingernail, but was sticked to g10.

[Woodpuppy]

I didn’t realize the Amalgam was so long. If only the edge went all the way back to the handle. A liner lock would get it there.

[Hopsbreath]

Had the same issue with a 52100 Military I bought second hand due to the play. Sanded down the burrs on the D pivot — problem solved. Took me a while to figure it out though, ended up buying replacement scales thinking they were the problem only to figure it out. That said, the Allen Putman contoured G10 is really nice.

[Michal O]

I didn’t realize the Amalgam was so long. If only the edge went all the way back to the handle. A liner lock would get it there.

Yes, even with CL still there is room for edge. Just like in Sliverax.

[Beardedjeeper]

Glad to see this thread. My shaman has side to side play with the pivot tightened all the way down so I'm sure it's the same issue. I never considered or realized a burr could be the issue. Now I don't have much experience sanding knives or liners so what grit sandpaper do you use? Does going from course to finer grit make a difference or is only one grit necessary? Thanks for the help and info

[Michal O]

You should dissasemble knife completely. Be careful with screws, especially small ones on clip. They may have loctite. You also need to be careful when you put it back, screwing backspacer is tricky, make sure you have screw holes lined right or you can strip thread on screw. Torx 10 for pivot screws, T8 for handle, T6 for clip. Better to have high quality tools from Wiha.

Be gentle with that D side liner if it's stuck in scale. You ma try to pry it with shaving razor or something like that.

Then inspect all holes on liners with fingernail if they have burrs. Also inspect pivot if it doesn't have any burrs where it should be hamfered. Put pivot into each liner without washer, to see how deep it can go. If you have significant gap on D side or O side, there must be some burrs inside pivot hole, so pivot end can't go deeper in that designated hole.

I used small diamond files for more precise work to remove burrs, then some 800 paper on file to finish it after file. Doing it few times and inspecting how pivot goes in. If you have no gap or very small gap, it should be ok right now. You have washers to go between liner and pivot anyway.

You can check also backspacer for burrs making it thicker around screw holes. Mine was ok.

Removing gently any other burrs outside/around holes may help too. Pocket Perspective youtube channel advised to do it with fine flat ceramic stone but I think fine sand paper may be ok as well, only it takes longer. You want only to remove burrs, not to make liner thinner. My piece had burrs around many holes and some bigger leftovers like pimples after cutting holes. I used precise files, but be careful with screw holes where thread is. Burrs left inside such hole may corrupt thread on screw or inside.

After all of it, put some oil on washers, it helps better action but also remove very tiny blade play that may left. You can feel it only when you grab tip of the blade.

I did it because it wasn't my first time tuning some folder, so I have knowledge and experience, thanks to my work manual skills too. And for me sending knife to Spyderco is rather expensive and takes time (I live in Poland). If you don't feel sure that you can do it, send it to service, especially if you're living in USA. Or maybe you have some experienced knife guys in your area.

[Mpoakes]

I found this thread after installing Ripp’s Garage Tech scales on my Shaman and increasing the already sloppy blade play to an almost dangerous amount. I have two Shaman’s, one in DLC and one in stonewash, both in S30V.

Unfortunately, while trying to remove the blade play on my stonewash model I over torqued one of the pivot screws and ended up sending it back to Spyderco for a pivot and pivot screw replacement as they said they won’t sell me the parts to do it myself. I looked around online and found hints that the PM2 pivot and screws may work but no concrete evidence so I paid the $25 for Spyderco to do the work. I know…overpriced, but I was out of options and wanted my knife in working order again.

While replacing my scales on the DLC model I ran into the same exact issue as the stonewash model…very excessive blade play. The knife already had way too much for a $265 knife (current 2024 pricing) but the RGT scales just exacerbated that like crazy. Two knives in a row, both with RGT scales and both with blade play that I can’t remove by tightening the pivot screws and one that I already snapped a screw from over tightening. Hmmm…

This time I got wise to it and did some thinking like…what changed? It came down to the minimal thickness change of the original Shaman scales as compared to the RGT scales. To the naked eye it isn’t much but it’s enough that the pivot screws don’t tighten down into the pivot tight enough to remove the blade play. To fix this, I simply removed each screw, one at a time, a filed down the first thread. What do you know? This fixed the issue and removed ALL blade play and allowed me to recenter my blade tip as well. Now, when the stonewashed version returns from its three week hiatus at Spyderco (with blade play) I’ll have the exact fix to remove its blade play also.

I just wanted to share this for those with both factory and aftermarket scales as there is blade play in both but it only gets worse with “skinny scales”.

Michael