Advice on Sebenza 21 Srews

[cziv]

I have fairly new lg 21 Sebenza. I have a question about something that's not a big issue but is bugging me so:

This knife was extremely difficult to open when new. I sent it in for warranty work and it returned with smooth opening and all was well.

I've used it for a few weeks and figured I'd open her up and see if there was any break-in gunk built up and re-lube it. (I have owned 7 Sebenzas so this procedure isn't new to me).

I opened it up and noticed that when I reached the stop pin screw and pivot screw, they didn't have that tight "snap" sound when breaking them open. I cleaned the internals and greased it up. I assembled the knife & tightened the screws up fairly tight but not to the point of them stopping.

The knife was back to "very hard" to open again as when I received it. I backed off on the pivot and stop pin screws (not tight enough to "snap" loose) and it's back to smooth again.

Is this considered okay? Normal and within specs? My memories of opening Sebenzas always include the screws being very tight and having that snapping sound when unscrewed.

I have no complaints with my knife, only a question about screw tightness which I took a lot of space to describe - to get my question out clearly for good answers. Thanks guys!

 

[roughneckrob]

All my Sebenzas have that snap when a screw is broken lose. I have no idea what could be the problem there but when you tighten the stop pin it should not affect the tightness of the blade? I wouldn't consider it ok if the screw is not tight. I'm sure someone will know what to do.

 

[Steel_Addiction]

Did you assemble the handles first, making sure to fully tighten both the backspacer screw and the stop spin screw,

Then assemble the blade and slide it in, you shouldn't have to loosen any screw to get it to slide in.

Then fully tighten the pivot and give it one very light flick open to seat everything.

If not, you could be pinching a washer.

Hope that helps.

 

[cziv]

Did you assemble the handles first, making sure to fully tighten both the backspacer screw and the stop spin screw,

Then assemble the blade and slide it in, you shouldn't have to loosen any screw to get it to slide in.

Then fully tighten the pivot and give it one very light flick open to seat everything.

If not, you could be pinching a washer.

Hope that helps.

I'll give it a try Steel Addiction. It's working fine right now but the pivot and stop pin screws are just snugged up and not really tight. After cleaning it, I relieved the pressure on them to allow the blade to open smoothly.

What threw me off is that it came back from warranty with a snugged - but not tight pivot screw. It's a boring Saturday, time for some fun! I'll get back to you guys in an hour, thanks! :thumbup:

 

[cziv]

Thanks Roughneckbob and SteelAddiction. I figured hey "go for it" and took the pivot screw out. Then I tightened the stop pin screw down balls tight (well, real tight ).

Took it apart and in two weeks my CRK grease was gone or evaporated or something? Wiped the washers & pivot down and lubed it all up a lot more generously and stuffed that steel & bronze sandwich back into the tight handle.

Flicked it and tightened the pivot very tight. The knife works great. I detedt a bit more stiffness but no the kind that hurts the thumb or anything like that. I tried several times to thumb flick it open but no dice. Stiffer but very, very smooth. And why not? The knife is less than a month old.

I see good times ahead, thanks again! :thumbup:

 

[Steel_Addiction]

Glad I could help, but did you flick it and then tighten the pivot?
You should fully tighten the pivot and then give a light flick.

I have noticed that on most of my Sebs after a clean install right after I fully tighten the pivot it is slightly tighter and the lockup is earlier. But after a light flick it loosens up and the lockup is a little deeper.

Hope that helps!

 

[cziv]

Glad I could help, but did you flick it and then tighten the pivot?
You should fully tighten the pivot and then give a light flick.

I have noticed that on most of my Sebs after a clean install right after I fully tighten the pivot it is slightly tighter and the lockup is earlier. But after a light flick it loosens up and the lockup is a little deeper.

Hope that helps!

Yes I did.

Btw, I did some searching tonight too. It seems that over the years, a lot of Sebenza owners haven't been able to crank their pivot screws in really tight a first ut as they loosen up they progressively can tighten them a little more with each assembly until broken in.

Mine's very smooth but stiff to push open, I'm going to back it off a smidge until it's sweet and go for a little tighter with each cleaning! Thanks again S.A.! :thumbup: