Recommendation? My first CRK with blade play

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
Messages
4,474
My new sebenza 21 has play side to side. Is there a way to get rid of this besides sending it in? I cleaned everything with acetone and regreased. Washers aren't pinched. Everything is tight. It's not a little bit, I could live with that. It feels like a loose pivot screw. With the lock disengaged or locked up without flicking the blade out it can be felt. I've owned 21's before, this is the first one I've had issue with.
 
Might be a slightly oversized pivot bushing if the washer is not pinched and everyting is tight. Definitely not within spec and since that is a pretty mission critical part, I would send it in and CRK will take care of you.
 
I flipped the washers around and that made a difference but still blade play a little bit. What does that say to the issue?
 
Since it is brand new and has not been messed with from the factory, I would guess that the pivot bushing is ever so slightly longer than it should be causing the blade play. The only way to take away the blade play would be to either sand the bushing so it is the right length, or install ever so slightly thicker washers. Can't buy washers from CRK and sanding the bushing is pretty high risk with not much reward. If you remove just a fraction of a thou too much and you risk jamming the blade when the pivot screw is tightened. I'd contact CRK first and see what they say.
 
jiggyfly16 said:
Yea, if there's play on all sides, then the bushing would need to be replaced. Gotta send it to CRK get 'er fixed up.
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Printed off the form. In anybody experience, do I have to pay shipping to and from them on a LITERALLY brand new knife?
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Printed off the form. In anybody experience, do I have to pay shipping to and from them on a LITERALLY brand new knife?
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When I sent my small 21 in for lockstick, I paid for the label to ship to them. Since they determined that it was under warranty, When they shipped the knife back, they included a check for the label. Also, don't send it in with all the original box and paperwork, just send the knife.
 
jiggyfly16 said:
Also, don't send it in with all the original box and paperwork, just send the knife.
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Was curious about that...thanks. Still pretty new to CRK, but seem to have run the gamut on Sebenzas (21s) in terms of action. My first was a small, which had perfect action, but I found it too small, so sold it. Then got my first large, which was pretty stiff. Lapped the washers on a 1200 grit stone until it was dialed in to my liking. But it was a PJ, and decided I wanted an inlay. So got a large black micarta and sold the PJ. The inlay had some play like the OP describes. Figured lapping the washers on the PJ worked, so why not try lapping the bushing on the inlay? Took a bit more work since it's steel vs bronze, but now have it dialed in perfectly and I love it. Full disclosure...all 3 were bought here and were in used condition to varying degrees.
 
jlauffer said:
Was curious about that...thanks. Still pretty new to CRK, but seem to have run the gamut on Sebenzas (21s) in terms of action. My first was a small, which had perfect action, but I found it too small, so sold it. Then got my first large, which was pretty stiff. Lapped the washers on a 1200 grit stone until it was dialed in to my liking. But it was a PJ, and decided I wanted an inlay. So got a large black micarta and sold the PJ. The inlay had some play like the OP describes. Figured lapping the washers on the PJ worked, so why not try lapping the bushing on the inlay? Took a bit more work since it's steel vs bronze, but now have it dialed in perfectly and I love it. Full disclosure...all 3 were bought here and were in used condition to varying degrees.
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I thought about taking down the bushing but would rather have CRK do it. I know I could fix it but in the off chance I screw it up, I'll have to pay for parts, shipping and whatever else. I assume the pivots are all the same diameter and they take down the washer to make the difference?
 
jiggyfly16 said:
When I sent my small 21 in for lockstick, I paid for the label to ship to them. Since they determined that it was under warranty, When they shipped the knife back, they included a check for the label. Also, don't send it in with all the original box and paperwork, just send the knife.
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Thank you. I just feel somewhat annoyed that the knife has an issue right out of the box after paying $750 for it. Mind you I've had my share of knives, but I bought the 21 for that reason, to not have to fidget with fitment lol. I'll see what happens, I hope it gets back to me quick.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
I thought about taking down the bushing but would rather have CRK do it. I know I could fix it but in the off chance I screw it up, I'll have to pay for parts, shipping and whatever else. I assume the pivots are all the same diameter and they take down the washer to make the difference?
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You can definitely do it, but it carries some inherent risk. Plus with the vertical play the diameter of the bushing might be undersized or the blade pivot hole oversized so it wouldn't help anyway. The CRK's bushed folding knives are all tuned by hand so this one might have slipped through. That's what their warranty is for.

SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Thank you. I just feel somewhat annoyed that the knife has an issue right out of the box after paying $750 for it. Mind you I've had my share of knives, but I bought the 21 for that reason, to not have to fidget with fitment lol. I'll see what happens, I hope it gets back to me quick.
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Yea, it's pretty annoying. That's what happened to my small 21. Out the box, the lock was so sticky that I couldn't unlock it so back to the mothership it went. Don't know about the turn around time currently, but for me it took about 3 weeks (in 2016)

Also, use your legal name when you contact them or they'll send you a check with with a name that you can't deposit. I still have the check sitting at home cause I used my nickname when I contacted them.
 
Has anyone ever measured the thickness of the CRK washers? Everyone one of mine is the same thickness. Kinda makes me wonder about them polishing the washers to "FIT".

Would love to hear about anyone else who has measured there washers. :)
 
russ25 said:
Has anyone ever measured the thickness of the CRK washers? Everyone one of mine is the same thickness. Kinda makes me wonder about them polishing the washers to "FIT".

Would love to hear about anyone else who has measured there washers. :)
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If the bushing is the same and the blade stock is the same, it would make sense to me to take down the washers to fit the handles. Now if the handles are usually dead on and the washers are the same thickness, the bushing being taken down to the blade would make sense and then the washers after that. I've never seen evidence of hand fit washers myself in the 3 I've owned. I'm just hoping they get it right the first time so it's not a back and forth thing.
 
Just as a guess, if I send the knife out Monday and it gets there Thursday, how long will it take as a turn around for warranty work?
 
And then one last question. If he blade bushing hole(in the blade) is too large, can they compensate for that with another bushing or are they all the same size?

I wrap it up in the cloth, put in a box with bubble and insure the shipment to them? Is that all?
 
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SuzukiGS750EZ said:
And then one last question. If he blade bushing hole is too large, can they compensate for that with another bushing or are they all the same size?

I wrap it up in the cloth, put in a box with bubble and insure the shipment to them? Is that all?
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That’s it. Include the form and you’re good to go
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Just as a guess, if I send the knife out Monday and it gets there Thursday, how long will it take as a turn around for warranty work?
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Depends on how backlogged they are. The last time I sent back a brand new inkosi that had some issues right out of the box, it took more than a month to get back. May have been two months. I would have to go back and look at my old thread.
 
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