Lock Bar tension on Sebenza 31

[Danny Linguini]

Of course posting this next comment is considered sacrilege by some on a CRK based forum but since I’m not brand specific on any level, I will trudge on.
Have you considered just selling your CRK knives while they are still worth somewhere near the original price and prior to altering them, possibly losing all of your investment and voiding any warranty?
It’s a knife. CRK is not for everyone. There are several high quality blades out there in this price range that require no special grip adjustments, no toughening of the thumb or anything special but are just a joy the minute you first try them.
I personally find CRK knives to be without a doubt the hardest to open and get used to “for me” of all the thumb stud opening folders I have ever held and I have handled A LOT of them from customs to bargain basement cheapo’s. That doesn’t mean they’re not high quality pieces, just that they might not be the right design and fit for you regardless of how pretty they are.
This difficulty with opening is widely publicized. Obviously there are plenty of people out there that don’t experience this difficulty (or just refuse to admit that it’s a big deal) and absolutely love CRK’s but many do find the opening difficult and objectionable.
CRK’s are great knives but there is a reason that there are all sizes, shapes and types out there.
Sometimes just accepting that something is beautiful and desirable but just not a fit for you is a good thing.
I like the looks of Ferrari’s and Porsche’s but they aren’t a fit for me.
Let’s face it: if you had been able to pick those knives up and handle them prior to purchase, would you have gone ahead and bought a knife designed to be, but that you can’t open with one hand? Hopefully the answer is no.
They tend to hold their value and sell well if in the box and new condition.
Just food for thought

Ok, I thought it was just me. I have many other knives, some a LOT cheaper, that are more comfortable to use. In fact thumbstuds are not even my preferred opening mechanism - I’d rather flip ‘em. But there’s just something about these three (Mnandi, small Inkosi, small sebbie) that’s still gratifying to have in the collection. I haven’t had them for very long, and yes, I’ve briefly pondered the possibility of selling the Inkosi and Sebenza, but I know I’d regret it. I waited a long time before deciding to pull the trigger, then got lucky when the ones I wanted came up for sale, so I’m keeping ‘em. I figure they’ll hold most if not all of their value for a good long time, in case I change my mind down the road. No matter what, unless I become really desperate for cash, the Mnandi stays.

 

[dialton]

Ok, I thought it was just me.

It’s not just you man. You won’t hear a lot about it on the CRK forums as it appears to insult or offend the loyal followers. Fact is: truth is truth and it is what it is. I’m not bashing the knives or the company.
Fact: There is a reason that someone coined the phrase “Sebenza thumb”.
Twernt me
I’ve been happy with my “altered” Sebenza, getting better every day with my Zaan (and I dig everything about it but the difficulty in opening) and I snagged a beautiful Mnandi but passed it on. Fantastic knife but too fancy for me and also too close in size to the small Sebenza.

 

[Danny Linguini]

It’s not just you man. You won’t hear a lot about it on the CRK forums as it appears to insult or offend the loyal followers. Fact is: truth is truth and it is what it is. I’m not bashing the knives or the company.
Fact: There is a reason that someone coined the phrase “Sebenza thumb”.
Twernt me
I’ve been happy with my “altered” Sebenza, getting better every day with my Zaan (and I dig everything about it but the difficulty in opening) and I snagged a beautiful Mnandi but passed it on. Fantastic knife but too fancy for me and also too close in size to the small Sebenza.

I just pulled the blade and cleaned, stropped the washers and re-lubed the Sebenza. What a difference. Almost as easy and light as the Mnandi now.

I hear ya, though - I’m not trying to be critical of the knife. I have a few other not-so-cheapies that are more difficult/less comfortable to operate. The Mnandi is super light and easy, but the small Inkosi and Sebenza aren’t quite as much so as I expected. Not a bad thing, just different from what I expected. A lot of other knives take some getting used to as well. I sold a couple of OTF’s because they were just too stiff for me to comfortably fire (yes, one was a Microtech), so it’s not unique to CRK. But I’m definitely not selling mine!!

 

[Charles Carroll]

If you can't open a CRK one handed, something has gone wrong with the knife. The factory will fix it.

Could this just be a quality control issue? The demand for Chris Reeve knives is terrific. By its own admission the Company is having difficulty meeting this demand. If you cannot open you new knife as advertised, doesn't this suggest that the knife is not completely ready for prime time?

/Charles

Ps I love the two Sebenzas. But when I ordered them I did not suspect I would have to devote so much time to understanding why I could not open them one hand and trying to solve the problem. Instead of honoring a warranty to fix this problem by sending them back to the factory, would it be a good idea to solve the problem before they are shipped to the customer? Ah, but isn't there almost always a silver lining in every cloud? Now that I appear to have solved the problem of opening the knives one handed, I have a much better understanding and appreciation of Chris Reeve's integral lock frame.

 

[Modernflame]

Could this just be a quality control issue? The demand for Chris Reeve knives is terrific. By its own admission the Company is having difficulty meeting this demand. If you cannot open you new knife as advertised, doesn't this suggest that the knife is not completely ready for prime time?

/Charles

Ps I love the two Sebenzas. But when I ordered them I did not suspect I would have to devote so much time to understanding why I could not open them one hand and trying to solve the problem. Instead of honoring a warranty to fix this problem by sending them back to the factory, would be a good idea to solve the problem before they are shipped to the customer? Ah, but isn't there almost always a silver lining in every cloud? Now that I appear to have solved the problem of opening the knives one handed, I have a much better understanding and appreciation of Chris Reeve's integral lock frame.

It's always possible that it was faulty. In general, I've found the qc to be excellent, but no one is perfect. Their warranty service operates quite quickly, so I doubt you'd be long without your knives.

 

[Modernflame]

Since this is your first go around with CRKs, I'll throw this out there. You may already know from your research, but there is an order of operations for reassembling a Sebenza. If you do things in the wrong order, you can pinch a washer. That's why I asked about disassembly in my initial response. It can really mess up the action.

 

[Charles Carroll]

Since this is your first go around with CRKs, I'll throw this out there. You may already know from your research, but there is an order of operations for reassembling a Sebenza. If you do things in the wrong order, you can pinch a washer. That's why I asked about disassembly in my initial response. It can really mess up the action.

I have disassembled both knives and then cleaned and reapplied grease sparingly. I have even tried adding a bit of nano oil to the grease. I am so new to all this, so I have no previous experience to guide me.

I, however, am pretty sure that the reassembly was done correctly. When I reassembled the knife the lock bar was so stiff that I could not use the sandwich method of inserting the blade. It kept popping out before I could insert the pin. Finally I removed the pocket clip and laid the knife flat and very carefully put blades and washers in.

I believe everying is working correctly because when the knife is open and the blade is out and at a 90 degree angle and I push the lock bar off the blade, the blade drops of its own accord smoothly and effortlessly into place with a nice click. This leads me to think that the lock bar is excessively stiff and is putting excessive pressure against the blade when the knife is locked in the closed position.

 

[Modernflame]

I should link a video. Assemble the handle first. Slide the blade, bushing and washer assembly in from the front. This will protect the washers.

 

[Danny Linguini]

Could this just be a quality control issue? The demand for Chris Reeve knives is terrific. By its own admission the Company is having difficulty meeting this demand. If you cannot open you new knife as advertised, doesn't this suggest that the knife is not completely ready for prime time?

/Charles

Ps I love the two Sebenzas. But when I ordered them I did not suspect I would have to devote so much time to understanding why I could not open them one hand and trying to solve the problem. Instead of honoring a warranty to fix this problem by sending them back to the factory, would it be a good idea to solve the problem before they are shipped to the customer? Ah, but isn't there almost always a silver lining in every cloud? Now that I appear to have solved the problem of opening the knives one handed, I have a much better understanding and appreciation of Chris Reeve's integral lock frame.

If you’re like me, you probably feel like you’re admitting defeat before exhausting all other options when you send a knife in for repairs. Like, am I that stupid that I can’t resolve an issue with something as simple as a folding knife??? I know, I’ve been there before with another knife.

Anecdotes aside, I’ve got three CRKs now, admittedly for only a very short time, but what you’ve described is definitely not normal for these knives. After two weeks with the small Inkosi and just a few days with the small sebbie, I’ve come to believe my ‘issues’ are just a matter a good cleaning and maintenance (both were pre-owned) and a little time getting used to the knives themselves to resolve. The lock bar tension wasn’t one of the problems; keeping finger pressure off it was. That’s on me, not the knife, and I confess it’s not the first time. All that being said, I would strongly suggest contacting CRK customer support and sending them both in. You’re not conceding defeat, you’re simply putting the problem in the hands of the experts to fix. I think both you and your wife will end up loving your knives even more.

 

[Modernflame]

I have a hypothesis. It's one thing to say the action is stiff, but quite another to say it can't be opened one handed. Could be wrong, but here it goes.

You got two new knives with a stiff action, which is common. Like many new sebenza owners, you wanted to clean and lube the action. Everything was on track until you reassembled with the sandwich method, pinching a washer on the bushing. Upon reassembly, the pivot was more or less locked. You addressed it by relieving lockbar pressure, which allowed movement to return, but now there are questions about the safety of the lock.

If I'm right, the only remedy is to have a new set of washers fitted at the factory. While it's there, you should have them return the lockbar to spec. When you get the knives back, you should allow them to break in naturally.

One more question. Are the blades still centered?

 

[Peter Hartwig]

This whole Sebenza thumb thing is new to me. Back in my Strider days, people often refered to Strider thumb as a right of ownership. At the time many would comment, why doesn't the Strider arrive ready to use like the Sebenza.

 

[Charles Carroll]

It's always possible that it was faulty. In general, I've found the qc to be excellent, but no one is perfect. Their warranty service operates quite quickly, so I doubt you'd be long without your knives.

I am going to keep opening and closing the knife for another week or two because I still wonder if I have given the breaking-in period enough time. If it is still so difficult to open after that, I'll send it back to Chris Reeve for the experts to wrestle with.

I have a hypothesis. It's one thing to say the action is stiff, but quite another to say it can't be opened one handed. Could be wrong, but here it goes.

You got two new knives with a stiff action, which is common. Like many new sebenza owners, you wanted to clean and lube the action. Everything was on track until you reassembled with the sandwich method, pinching a washer on the bushing. Upon reassembly, the pivot was more or less locked. You addressed it by relieving lockbar pressure, which allowed movement to return, but now there are questions about the safety of the lock.

If I'm right, the only remedy is to have a new set of washers fitted at the factory. While it's there, you should have them return the lockbar to spec. When you get the knives back, you should allow them to break in naturally.

One more question. Are the blades still centered?

The blades are still centered, or so they look to me. Initially I decided to disassemble the knife because I could not open it with one hand, and had to struggle to open it with two hands. My wife's small Sebenza is pretty much the same.

Disassembled both knives looked dry. I cleaned the knives with Windex while looking at Tim Reeve's YouTube video and trying to add Grease as he does in video. Then I reassembled the knives while again trying to be very careful not to pinch the washers.

As the knives are now I can at least open each with one hand. But they are still difficult to open. I wouldn't want to be on a ladder holding something delicate with one hand while trying to open either knife with my other hand. The knives offer too much resistance to open comfortably with one hand.

 

[Charles Carroll]

If you’re like me, you probably feel like you’re admitting defeat before exhausting all other options

It is nearly impossible for me to concede defeat before I have exhausted everything I can think of. So in this respect we seem to be very much alike. /Charles

 

[Charles Carroll]

... what you’ve described is definitely not normal for these knives.

I have been meaning to mention this but for some reason it is always pushed aside before I post.

If the Sebenza is not fully locked — that is, not closed tight — it is not difficult to move the blade to its full open position.

Could this suggest that one of the washers has been crimped?

/Charles

 

[Modernflame]

I hate to keep banging on, but that's not right. It's probably a washer. I can't think what else would obstruct the pivot. The bushing may not be seated correctly, but I'm not sure the knife would screw back together if that were the case.

 

[rishma]

I have been meaning to mention this but for some reason it is always pushed aside before I post.

If the Sebenza is not fully locked — that is, not closed tight — it is not difficult to move the blade to its full open position.

Could this suggest that one of the washers has been crimped?

/Charles

Since you have two that do the same thing, I really just think it’s a strong detent. My son’s 31 has a strong detent, was challenging to break loose when new out of the box, now is smooth. Since the knife is smooth after the detent it disengaged, it doesn’t sound like a mechanical/assembly problem to me

 

[Charles Carroll]

I hate to keep banging on, but that's not right. It's probably a washer. I can't think what else would obstruct the pivot.

Thanks. You and others on the Forum have settled it. I will send it to Chris Reeves tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who tried to help and posted to this thread. You have been especially generous with your time and patience.

/Charles

 

[Charles Carroll]

Since you have two that do the same thing, I really just think it’s a strong detent. My son’s 31 has a strong detent, was challenging to break loose when new out of the box, now is smooth. Since the knife is smooth after the detent it disengaged, it doesn’t sound like a mechanical/assembly problem to me

That seems very reasonable. My guess is that when the knives are returned from Chris Reeve they will be easy to open & close. Of course I will post what happens ...

/Charles

 

[Wild Willie]

That seems very reasonable. My guess is that when the knives are returned from Chris Reeve they will be easy to open & close. Of course I will post what happens ...

/Charles

It could very well be your detent, that's a big ol' ball that has to wear a ramp into a pretty wear resistant steel. It took a bit for my small 31, but it broke in eventually.

 

[Peter Hartwig]

Thanks. You and others on the Forum have settled it. I will send it to Chris Reeves tomorrow.

I want to thank everyone who tried to help and posted to this thread. You have been especially generous with your time and patience.

/Charles

I would give them a call 1st, just in case they could help without sending it. They are very easy to deal with .