Manbug doesn‘t safely lock anymore

[eekboom]

Bought a Spyderco Manbug Salt in August ´22 here in Germany.
After receiving it, I only tested the mechanism shortly and cut a few ropes, which worked reeeeally great for the small knife.
Then stowed it in my PFD where it has lived almost unused ever since. Been on the water maybe once a week (mostly sweet water).

Anyway, recently I wanted to lend the knife to a friend, but found out the hard way that the locking mechanism no longer works. I knicked my finger a bit when I showed the mechanism.
I tried cleaning it, tried tightening the two small screws a little, but no effect.
I can hear a little click when it seems to lock.
However, when I put even moderate pressure on the back of the blade, the knife folds back.

I am deeply disappointed, because it was not cheap and I expected it to last.
It‘s still very sharp and hasn‘t rusted at all, but in this state it‘s unusable.

Anything I can do other than writing it off?

[PaloArt]

Well, if you bought it from respectable vendor, it should not be hard to talk to them and ask if they can send it for you to Spyderco Headquarters in Colorado for inspection OR you can send it yourself via post to the warranty service (would recommend first getting in touch with Spyderco Warranty). Knife will be inspected and if it is not just a lint somewhere (I know you said you cleaned it..), Spyderco will sort it out :).

[Doc Dan]

What he said ^

[yablanowitz]

I have had lint collect under the lockbar as well as in the lock well in the blade tang. Lint in the lockwell is easy to see and easy to clean out, but crud under the lockbar is hard to see and can be a real problem to clean out. Open the blade half way and shine a light into the blade channel where the tang rides on the lockbar. A wooden tothpick may be enough to dislodge any debris in there. Or, since it has screws, take out the lockbar screw and remove the lockbar for easy access.

[tbdoc4kids]

Since you are in Europe, I suggest you take it apart for a thorough inspection and cleaning. Sorry for the trouble you are having, but it sounds like some debris is keeping the lock from engaging.

[Scandi Grind]

If you have a few simple tools, taking it apart for farther inspection should be fairly easy for you and might save a you a lot of hassle if you can fix it yourself. Just be reasonably careful about how you position the knife as you disassemble and reassemble, especially when working with the lock spring, just so that you don't flip the blade into yourself on accident and you should be good.

[James Y]

First thing I would do is check the lock notch at the back of the base of the blade, where the end of the lock bar fits into when the blade is locked open. There’s a very good chance that pocket lint got in there and is preventing the lock bar from fully seating into the notch.

Jim

[VooDooChild]

Take it apart. Clean everything. Put it back together. This should fix it unless something is actually broken.

The lockbar cutout for the bugs is very shallow. Basically you end up with gunk that gets stuck in there, wont rinse out, and messes with the lock.

I had a manbug that would not lock properly but worked after I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it.

[Donut]

There was a thread a very long time ago. I think it was about some professional divers who used Salt folders regularly and they definitely noticed that they had a finite life. I think they figured out that the spring wasn't salt-water proof. I don't know if the work hardening part of H1 makes it bad for a spring.

If you look inside the knife, the part closest to the butt, where it dives into the FRN, that should be where you can see the spring (which is just a small, bent piece of metal). How does that look?

As with most things, if you want a reliable knife, I think you would be looking at a Salt fixed blade.

[navin johnson]

H-1 does not work harden. It will “power grind” harden

[yablanowitz]

H-1 does not work harden. It will “power grind” harden

Power grinding (abrasive/mechanical stock removal) is work.