Sebenza Titanium Strength

I recently purchased a new large Sebenza. In looking at the monolock part of the handle I see that a substantial portion of Titanium material has been milled out. It would be my understanding that this is done to allow the locking mechanism to bend in. The question is: Given how much material has been milled out how strong is this remaining section of Titanium? Has anyone performed any kind of failure testing on this? I would appreciate feedback from the Chris Reeve people as well.

Thanks.

Martin
 
Smooth Bone

Smooth Bone

Joined
Oct 31, 1999
Messages
392
Martin,

Don't have a clue, just wanted to welcome you to the forums.

Your first post is a good one. I was wondering the other day if anyone had taken a Sebenza and tried to see what it would take to break one.

------------------
Frank Norman
Frank's Knife Page
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, if he gets angry, he'll be a mile way - and barefoot.
 
I believe Spyderco tested a bunch of different locking mechanisms including the Sebenza. While I don't know the exact results, I think it was quite impressive.
 
I read that the lock collapsed at 400+ pounds of static pressure. Mind you the knife did not close, the Titanium buckled inward and was therefore rendered inoperable.
I hear that the "Military" model fare a bit better.
Go figure.
rolleyes.gif
 
It sure sounds like it took a lot for the sebenza to fail. Martin welcome to the forum and congrats on your purchase. Hermie
smile.gif
 
I too have a large with the scoop under the clip and the milling on the other side and wonder " how thin can we get?"

CRK doesn't do things helter skelter but it does seem as though alot of material was removed from one place.

Now, with the new clip, I wonder how much missing material was/is necessary?

[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 07-14-2000).]
 
I think you would find it difficult to break, even if you tried to break it, using bare hands. High grade titanium alloy is amazing stuff.
For example, there are several mountain bike manufacturers tha make a rear suspension that allows the titanium chain stays to flex up to 1-1/8" while riding over rough terrain. The chain stays are thin walled titanium tubing - much thinner than the Sebenza lock at it's thinest point. These chain stays take a continuous pounding with heavy riders getting airborne and flying down rock strewn mountainsides. And they never fail. Titanium has basically no fatigue limit. That is, it can be flexed forever with out breaking as long as it is with in the design limits.
If the Sebenza locks tended to break, I doubt Chris would continue to make them this way.
But I would be interested to know if any testing was done.

Bill
 
Chances are, if you can defeat a sebenza lock, you are abusing it or using it in a way it was not intended.
 
I've compared the cutouts on the knives I've had in stock and it appears that on the ones that have the pocket saver milled into the handle, the flexing cuts on the other side are not milled as deep as the ones without the cut. The thickness of the metal in that area appears to be the same on either version.

At any rate, with the new clip, that clearance cut seems no longer necessary.

Oh yeah, the proper name for the lock on the Sebenza is "integral lock". Monolock is a Benchmade term for the lock used on their knockoffs.

Welcome to the forums.

------------------
Dennis Wright
("Have a knife day!")

wrightknife@ixpres.com

[This message has been edited by Dennis Wright (edited 07-14-2000).]
 
My friend has a large wood inlay with the pocket saver milling and NO flex cuts on the other side. Is there a difference with the slab on the wood inlay models?

[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited 07-14-2000).]
 
Martin:

Welcome to the forums! It's great to have you on board.

To answer your question, "Yes", tests have been done for the past 13 years; not only by us but also by our customers. We have NEVER had a knife sent back because the lock has failed. I have NEVER heard of one failing either.

Spyderco has done testing and the lock failed at 400 + lbs., but NOT catastrophically. It merely bulged at that point. The knife was still be serviceable but the blade a little sloppy. I cannot bench press 400 + lbs., can you? I can think of no situation where that kind of force would actually be used.

On the Sebenza inlays we tried a different method of cutout but decided to go back to our original method for continuity in our production rather than which was the best. Dennis is right when he says the thickness of the cutout under the clip remains consistent.

We at CRK do not change for the sake of changing. There must be a definite improvement. The Sebenza was given that name for one reason and we take the execution of that very seriously.

We appreciate the questions. Keep them coming!

Chris
 
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