All Stone Washed Sebbie-Why Not?

nate3993

nate3993

Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
1,496
I absolutely love the stone washing that CRK does. It's very shiny. Some stone washing isn't nice looking and almost has a matte look to it. I hate those. Hinderer also does the same kind of stone washing. AND Rick does it to his handles. So, my question is, why not CRK? I doubt it's a cost issue. So, let's hear those knowledgeable CRK collectors anwsers. Thanks
 
I know I would like to see a sebenza stonewashed completely. That would be a cool offering. It certainly would not show the scuffs the bead blasted does. Good Idea !
 
I much prefer the look of the blast and satin finishes to a tumbled one but there really is no beating a tumbled finish when
it comes to hiding wear. That finish still looks new even after years of use. I probably wouldn't go for a full tumbled finish Seb
my self as I just don't like it enough. I can see it working out nicely for those who do though. It's also very easy to have that
done by a machine shop or the like if you wanted it done to one of your knives you already have. (There was a guy here who
had his Umnumzaan tumbled IIRC).
 
tf8s said:
do aftermarket finishing jobs change the tolerances a significant amount?
Click to expand...

That would be my only concern.......I think it would be cool if CRK would do a run of completely stonewashed sebbies. Its not like they have to make 5,000 of them, just do a couple hundred and see how they sell. They do sebenzas with completely stonewashed blades, they also do them where the hollow grind is polished, while the rest is stone washed, like on the uniques. I dont think it fits a plain too well, but they do do it. I think it would be great for EDC. But, I also like that mine is slightly scuffed. Every mark is an adventure I had with my sebenza :) Then again, I want a large regular or classic plain with ss damascus blade and you dont see them around either really. Everywhere I see them, they are "temporally sold out" :eek:
 
tf8s said:
do aftermarket finishing jobs change the tolerances a significant amount?
Click to expand...

There is ways round those sorts of "problems", I doubt it would cause a significant difference any way.
It would be easy to mask the areas you want to keep untouched for example.

CRK will re-blast the Ti slabs, obviously with no problems. I don't know if they have to tweek the bushing
or anything when they do that but I doubt it.:):thumbup:
 
Haze said:
There is ways round those sorts of "problems", I doubt it would cause a significant difference any way.
It would be easy to mask the areas you want to keep untouched for example.

CRK will re-blast the Ti slabs, obviously with no problems. I don't know if they have to tweek the bushing
or anything when they do that but I doubt it.:):thumbup:
Click to expand...

I saw on the CRK DVD they mask the lock bar end area while bead blasting to keep it nice and smooth.
 
You are kidding yourself if you think CRK will EVER change the way a Sebenza looks :).......but a great idea,:thumbup:

Of course the price would go up, it's easy and less expensive to blast. I have blasted my own Seb's several times(easy).
 
I'm no expert, but I tried stone washing/tumbling the titanium handles of a Benchmade Pinnacle. Perhaps the tumbling medium was not quite right for it, but I had to sand the handles down to almost a 600 grit finish for the tumbler to noticeably affect them. Where I left the bead blast finish, the tumbler didn't do much. Like I said, maybe the medium wasn't right. If this is standard though, it seems like more labor to slick the titanium and tumble, rather than just bead blast.
 
Here's a picture of mine that I stonewashed with some 600 grit.

DSCN2243.JPG
 
spikedog said:
Here's a picture of mine that I stonewashed with some 600 grit.
Click to expand...
That's not stone washed. That's sanded, and (imho) its nicely done. Maybe there's some confusion of terms here - that's ok - metal finishing is a specialized field. Tumbling and vibratory surface finishing are different but can provide similar results. It's all dependent upon the equipment... vibratory equipment often uses steel shot with water and maybe some industrial 'soap'. Tumbling barrels use a variety of media, 'stones' (a generic term) of varying shapes, sizes, and grits - either wet or dry - depending upon the size of the workpiece and the finish to be achieved. Titanium is pretty tough and I'd guess far easier and less time consuming to bead blast. fwiw.
 
Stoneweashing is done with ceramic stones/rocks that have exposed edges on them. Those exposed edges randomly scratch the surface of the blade and or handle. Manufacturers (microtech, for example) typically have very large tumblers where they can run several blades at a time. From a manufacturing stand point, the machine does the work: put your blades or handles in the tumbler, turn on the unit, walk away and do something else.
 
Yes absolutely true Barry, walk away and the machine does the work. It's not labor intensive at all (other than filling up the barrel and then later emptying it. I'd worked in metal finishing. We had quite a few tumbling barrels of various capacities and a few spirotrons, but the average size of the barrels... well... you're talking more like five to thirty pounds of parts per load. That's a fair amount of blades and or handles.
 
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RobME said:
Yes absolutely true Barry, walk away and the machine does the work. It's not labor intensive at all (other than filling up the barrel and then later emptying it. I'd worked in metal finishing. We had quite a few tumbling barrels of various capacities and a few spirotrons, but the average size of the barrels... well... you're talking more like five to thirty pounds of parts per load. That's a fair amount of blades and or handles.
Click to expand...

yeah. hand blast it, or have the machine do the work. and they wouldn't have to go buy some new equipment because they already obviously the machine. it'd be cool, but who knows.
 
Stonewash finish leaves kind of a slick surface. The beadblast offers some grip. The XM-18 and the Striders can get away with it because of the G-10 scale. I think it would look fantastic, but I don't think it would offer much grip.
 
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