cleaning/polishing bass washers on CRKs

blanex1

blanex1

Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
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just wondering! who takes apart there Sebenzas or inkosis to regress clean & polish the washers inside! I have on my two inkosi makes them run/drop free and finger flip a lot easier, I leave the 21 alone because I think the Inkosi needs a little more help in this department , after cleaning I polish the brass washers with the dumb holes in them! wish they would just go back to using solid ones like they once did, in any case I just stop them to remove the dirt & tarnish and makes them run much better , thanks for looking guys.
 
Back when Chris Reeve was on this subforum he said Sebenza's washers were hand fit to the knife and to not polish them. The tolerances are that tight :). That may not be true for Ann&Tim's 31.
 
Ive done a couple that needed honing, the washers had high spots and after working them down, the knife was way better. Can’t say I’ve polished the entire washer though.
 
There was a time when, well into the wee hours of the night, I convinced myself I’d “fix ‘er up like nutin’ better.” It was a reminder that sleep deprivation leads to poor judgement. The knife was mailed off to Boise shortly thereafter. 🤣

I don’t polish the washers as a matter of practice.
I have come across washers with slight burrs along the margins/along the holes and softened them with a pass or two across a strop. I only work on knives well before midnight now.
 
I have done that on other knives. I used an Arkansas Black Stone to remove as little material as possible. It greatly improved the action.

I leave my CRKs alone to break in naturally though. I was always afraid of throwing off the tolerances.
 
"Sebenza's washers were hand fit to the knife"

I may be way off base here but this is my take on the washers.
They are not hand fit to the knife for "FIT" They are hand polished slightly for each knife for the "ACTION".

If they were hand fit then the washers would be way different in sizes or thickness. With the tolerances being so good there doesn't seem to be a need for different sizes of washers, just to make them smooth and have a great action.

Like I said I may be way off base here, just my thoughts. What are the measurement's of the washers? All of mine are very close to 16 thousandths, and that's what they start out as from CRK or at least what what they told me. :)
 
I think you've got it Russ. On my tour of the mothership awhile back I watched the washers being "fitted" and it looked to my eye that he was polishing for action rather than "fit" with the blade/handles.
 
I have a large 21 and a Umnumzaan, and when I do maintenance and disassemble them, I do care that I reassemble them as it was assembled ie, washers, hardware on the same side and orientation as it was. So far I have no issues with them. I do not polish the washers but I do clean all the crap/lint with wd40 and then use the crk grease to oil it upon assembly. At most times, if I find my folder gritty, all it needs is a spray or two at the pivod area and a rinse through with water. What I do appreciate with these folders is that it is a open handle which is makes cleaning it much easier.
 
I have done my Inkosi's, Umnumsaan, and my Impinda.

I use a piece of glass and M205 polish to lapp moing in a figure eight pattern for about 6-7 passes. I did this to improve the surface finish of the washers them selves - not to change the washers dimensionally. (even though these knives are pivot adjusted) But the smoothness is next level. but this process basically mirror finishes the washers.

I have yet to do either of the 31's as they basically came perfect out of the box.

Regards.
 
Once every blue moon when I cleaning mine I will do a few circular motions on some 2000 grit paper for a quick polish. For some reason my 25 needs this more than my 21s and regulars.
 
I only do it on a new knife to speed up the break in period. Small figure 8s on a leather strop maybe 3 times no more.
 
I polish the washers on the blade side with a Spyderco Sharpmaker Extra Fine triangular prism. It knocks off the high spots and can attain a mirror finish with very little material removal. Hold the washer on the tip of your finger and shine from different points of the compass. I don’t even bother to lubricate the joint when finished.
 
brownshoe said:
Back when Chris Reeve was on this subforum he said Sebenza's washers were hand fit to the knife and to not polish them. The tolerances are that tight :). That may not be true for Ann&Tim's 31.
Click to expand...

russ25 said:
"Sebenza's washers were hand fit to the knife"

I may be way off base here but this is my take on the washers.
They are not hand fit to the knife for "FIT" They are hand polished slightly for each knife for the "ACTION".

If they were hand fit then the washers would be way different in sizes or thickness. With the tolerances being so good there doesn't seem to be a need for different sizes of washers, just to make them smooth and have a great action.

Like I said I may be way off base here, just my thoughts. What are the measurement's of the washers? All of mine are very close to 16 thousandths, and that's what they start out as from CRK or at least what what they told me. :)
Click to expand...

If you watch the CRK factory tour video, you'll see that they don't hand fit or polish the washers.

The hand fitting that is done, to the pivot action, is by taking tiny bits of the pivot bushing by rubbing it in a figure 8 pattern on a strop or some fine sandpaper.
 
353 said:
If you watch the CRK factory tour video, you'll see that they don't hand fit or polish the washers.

The hand fitting that is done, to the pivot action, is by taking tiny bits of the pivot bushing by rubbing it in a figure 8 pattern on a strop or some fine sandpaper.
Click to expand...
For reasons TLDR, I once mic’d several sets of washers/bushungs from different 21s.
I saw more variability in bushings than I did in washers. I didn’t annotate the specifics.
 
353 said:
If you watch the CRK factory tour video, you'll see that they don't hand fit or polish the washers.

The hand fitting that is done, to the pivot action, is by taking tiny bits of the pivot bushing by rubbing it in a figure 8 pattern on a strop or some fine sandpaper.
Click to expand...

We do video tours of our place and the "work" you see is staged & edited, because it's not reality, but a commercial. IIRC in the original Sebenza cleaning video Chris Reeve says to not f-ck with the washers.
 
brownshoe said:
We do video tours of our place and the "work" you see is staged & edited, because it's not reality, but a commercial. IIRC in the original Sebenza cleaning video Chris Reeve says to not f-ck with the washers.
Click to expand...

Point was; the washers are not hand fit, the pivot bushing is.
 
brownshoe said:
Why does that preclude hand fitting the washers?
Click to expand...

Because they show how they hand fit the pivot in the factory tour, I don't care if YOU think it is staged or not, this is what we have of information on the subject, BD_01 BD_01 did also do some measures pointing in the same direction.
 
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