Official Sliverax Discussion Thread

[Docmiller]

Joq21,
I have the same problem. The lock bar is very stiff. I thought about bending it back a bit just to take some tension off but you then run the risk of it not sliding all the way across and having some lock up movement, which is no good.

As an aside, I also did a little work on the edge of the lock face where the decent ball first makes contact. Mine required a good bit of pressure to close if not depressing the lock bar from that point. As a disclaimer, do not mess with the lock face unless you are ok with possibly ruining the knife.

[Evil D]

Any trick to help with how stiff the lock is? I find I have to apply so much more pressure on it than I do my para. After about 5 days of constantly messing with it the tip of my index finger is actually sore.

If you really wanted to you could take it apart and bend the lock bar back a bit, but that's a risky business because you're reducing locking force too (that is, the force of the lock bar pushing into the tang/lock face). I don't think mine is any stiffer than my Yojimbo 2's or Para 2, but what I did notice is there are no sharp edges on any part of this knife, everything your hand touches is radiused and smooth, including the lock tab. If you compare it to other compression locks, the top edge of the lock tab is rounded off. I like how it feels but I also feel like I need to press harder just to keep my finger from slipping off of it.

[DigDug72]

My Sliverax just arrived, and It's definitely love at first sight. The ergos are amazing - it really just locks into my hand. The modified wharnie blade shape is sheer perfection imo. Love the negative blade angle, low tip, and slight belly, and while the blade stock is fairly robust it still slices like a champ. I'm not having any troubles w/ the flipper tab/comp lock getting in each others' way - I have found ways to make that happen if I try, but so far it's definitely not an issue for me. The action is buttery smooth on the one that I have, so I guess I lucked out (even though I'd bet that most grittiness experienced by other users is just a pre-break in type of issue). Would prefer a slightly stronger detent like others have stated here, but the flipping action is fast and consistent. I love the feel of this knife - the fit and finish is immaculate, and while the weight is light, the knife still feels very solid and satisfying in hand. The aesthetics are unbeatable as well - I just love the lines of this knife, both open and closed. Thanks Paul for such an awesome design, and thank you Spyderco for bringing it into reality.

[hambone56rx]

Reassembly....Phil Wood bearing grease. Bearings = grease.

Loved your video Evil D! Also thanks for the tip here on the bearing grease. What are the pros/cons of this compared to Vaseline? I also applied some benchmade blue lube, and while it helped, it's not quite to where yours is, or to where my PM2's action is at.

My compression lock is also taking more force to apply and can sometimes prevent the blade from completely free falling.

Definitely loving the knife! You have made a winner Paul!

[Evil D]

Reassembly....Phil Wood bearing grease. Bearings = grease.

Loved your video Evil D! Also thanks for the tip here on the bearing grease. What are the pros/cons of this compared to Vaseline? I also applied some benchmade blue lube, and while it helped, it's not quite to where yours is, or to where my PM2's action is at.

My compression lock is also taking more force to apply and can sometimes prevent the blade from completely free falling.

Definitely loving the knife! You have made a winner Paul!

Both are on the thin side when it comes to grease, Vaseline is just food safe so I tend to use it on carbon blades to prevent rust so I can still use it for food prep if I need to. Otherwise I'd just use bearing grease. I've been using it in my washer pivots too and I prefer it over any other lubes I've tried, but I don't have anything fancy like Nano oil. Make sure you put a little dab on the detent ball, that will help with opening and closing action quite a bit.

[chuck_nunface]

EvilD, I watched your YouTube review last night and am convinced that this is a very efficient design. I think I will wait on a sprint, however.

[W7H2O]

I'm glad I held off. Since I waited this long , I could wait for the improved version or at least till the detent issue is fixed.
Now I have enough money to get the Manix Natural G10.

[mattman]

I'm glad I held off. Since I waited this long , I could wait for the improved version or at least till the detent issue is fixed.
Now I have enough money to get the Manix Natural G10.

I'm not sure you'll see a "fix" to the "detent issue"...

Paul has a pretty good write-up about how they arrived at the current detent setting. (It's a trade-off between flipping, and thumb-hole opening)

[mb1]

Wonder what the record is for most posts on one knife model thread? This one seems rather popular.

[mattman]

I'm glad I held off. Since I waited this long , I could wait for the improved version or at least till the detent issue is fixed.
Now I have enough money to get the Manix Natural G10.

I'm not sure you'll see a "fix" to the "detent issue"...

Paul has a pretty good write-up about how they arrived at the current detent setting. (It's a trade-off between flipping, and thumb-hole opening)

[snip]
So, on to some additional observations/comments that may be of interest…

First up the detent strength. I personally prefer a bit stronger detent than what was implemented at the factory, but I hesitate to say it “needs” to be modified. Because the Sliverax provides the user with sooo many opening options, it is literally impossible to make a knife that is optimized for each and every one. The best example of this is comparing flipper tab operation with controlled thumb hole opening. For flipping, a really strong detent that lets you build up quite a bit of force on the tab before you overcome the detent threshold pretty much ensures you get snappy deployment in any orientation/condition. But if you want to gently open the knife by swinging it with your thumb in the Spydie-hole, that strong detent can feel really awkward. You have to push with your thumb pretty hard to overcome that detent threshold, and once you do, because of the bearings, the blade starts moving much more freely, and almost runs away from you, which feels a little strange and maybe not too safe. Tune it the other way, and the lighter detent means you have to use a bit more technique for flipping because you don’t have that higher threshold that guarantees a higher force input to the tab. I designed the Sliverax so the Spydie-hole wouldn’t be occluded by the handle and it could be full sized, so “standard” opening was definitely as important to me as flipping, which in turn means we could not just amp up the detent to levels seen in a lot of flippers on the market today. With all that said, I did pop my Sliverax open and ground the detent hole ever-so-slightly larger in diameter (I don’t recommend doing this if you don’t have a strong understanding of knife design, because you could inadvertently cause a little rattle when closed if you widen it in the wrong direction). Flipping action does get a little more snappy, which I like, but controlled thumb opening isn’t as smooth as it originally was. [snip]

[Evil D]

The detent on mine is no less than a Para 2.

[Sharp Guy]

The detent on mine is no less than a Para 2.

Mine's pretty close to that too, maybe a hair lighter. No issue for me. I can shake the blade out but I really have to work hard at it. For a flipper I'd prefer th detent be a little stronger but I've adjusted my technique a bit and it's flips great.

[Evil D]

The detent on mine is no less than a Para 2.

Mine's pretty close to that too, maybe a hair lighter. No issue for me. I can shake the blade out but I really have to work hard at it. For a flipper I'd prefer th detent be a little stronger but I've adjusted my technique a bit and it's flips great.

Yeah I can do the same with most of my knives with the right wrist flick. It probably could be a little stronger for a flipper but it worked. For what it's worth I can't do the light switch method on any of my Spyderco flippers.

[W7H2O]

OK, If its like a Para 2 I'm cool with that.
The shaking out the blade I was reading on BF got me wondering.

[Docmiller]

I found the area where my finger landed after flipping the blade open was not very comfy. Better than some ZT's and their cheese grader landings, but still not very comfortable. Not saying I have girly hands.... I just like to moisturize.

I just found spidey-flicking the blade open much more satisfying with this particular knife. Before carry this knife for this week, I had a Giantmouse GM3 which is great fun to flip open with the flipper.

[joq21]

I find the detent to be exactly like my pm2

And I have come to love flipping it. It took a minute but flipping and releasing with the compression lock is a nice action.

[dplafoll]

EvilD, I watched your YouTube review last night and am convinced that this is a very efficient design. I think I will wait on a sprint, however.

There will almost certainly not be a sprint run of this knife, if history is any indicator. The models out of Taichung just don't get "sprinted" nearly as much. I thought that the Domino had sprints in the red and black CF versions, but like the blue G-10 they were dealer exclusives, which don't count as sprint runs.
Sages and Chaparral's don't count, as they're not sprints but variants. That includes the Sage 3, because the newer version is a replacement, not a sprint.

It seems very vast majority of sprints are from Japan or Golden. Can anyone point out any Taichung sprint runs? What about from China or Italy or the other Taiwan OEM?

[chuck_nunface]

EvilD, I watched your YouTube review last night and am convinced that this is a very efficient design. I think I will wait on a sprint, however.

There will almost certainly not be a sprint run of this knife, if history is any indicator. The models out of Taichung just don't get "sprinted" nearly as much. I thought that the Domino had sprints in the red and black CF versions, but like the blue G-10 they were dealer exclusives, which don't count as sprint runs.
Sages and Chaparral's don't count, as they're not sprints but variants. That includes the Sage 3, because the newer version is a replacement, not a sprint.

It seems very vast majority of sprints are from Japan or Golden. Can anyone point out any Taichung sprint runs? What about from China or Italy or the other Taiwan OEM?

Either way, I'd like to see an upgraded blade steel. Thanks for clarifying that though.

[SG89]

It seems very vast majority of sprints are from Japan or Golden. Can anyone point out any Taichung sprint runs? What about from China or Italy or the other Taiwan OEM?

only ones that come to mind is k390 urban, Elmax squeak, elmax pingo. k390 urban with its low price outsold the more expensive sprints so hopefully we get more frn Italian sprints. 2 Italian exclusives were made as well bb forums urban and edge matters pingo both great. only can think of chinese exclusives like all the different tenacious, or Taichung exclusive dominoes. can't think of any sprints for those factories

[Evil D]

I swear, we knife buyers are like Goldilocks. This flipper's too hard, this flipper's too soft. This detent is too strong, this detent is too soft. Y'all crack me up sometimes lol.