Blade play home repair?

flipe8

flipe8

Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
2,823
I've come to the conclusion I'm going to have to break down and return my Sm Regular in for some TLC, as it has developped a very slight hint of blade play. If I engage the lock very lightly, you can feel it(not there when lock is opened in normal manner). If I hold the lock off the blade with the blade fully open, you can really feel it. My take is that the pivot bushing is just slightly too thick, so the play is there regardless of how tight the screw is. I'm going to try to very lightly sand the bushing before sending it in, but reality is, it's going for repairs.

Now, that being said, this knife also has a few other "issues". The hardened area on the lock face has chipped off a bit to the point where the lock sometimes sticks(not in a while, though as I haven't taken it apart to clean-weird that dirty equals better function:confused:)) I've also found the clip has a tendancy to loosen up a bit. I tighten it and a day or so later, it loosens up. Not totally, but maybe side to side wiggle of about .5mm. Still, I think any movement in the clip isn't right. Now I know CRK will fix it(already contacted them), but I gotta say it leaves me with some level of dissatifaction as this knife is only a year old and was the replacement for another Sm Seb I purchased through TNK. That one came with terrible lock engagement and a blade that actually made contact with the non-lock side of the handle. Further to that, of the 4 Sebs I've owned, only one has had no issues. I've carried a Seb as my primary carry for 3 years now, so I'd consider myself a CRK guy, but am I the only guy who get the duds:confused:?? There's something about the annoyance of already paying once to have to send a knife back for a replacement only to have to send another back across the border for more repairs that leaves me shaking my head.:(

Sorry for the sourness, but I had to vent a bit and I'm still wondering if anyone has attempted lightly sanding down the bushing? If so, how were the results? You see, I'll likely hold off on sending the knife in as long as possible if the pivot issue can be remedied.
 
That's all they are going to do, to fix the play. Put some purple loctite on the clip screw only. Do not use it for the pivot...

For the clip it's ok because you will be able to back it out when you need to. The pivot has a smooth back without a "D" female bolt. Loctite here will cause lots of pain.

CRK is great, but they are not Gods... So you should be able to fix her yourself ;)

One thing that you can not do is recoat the lockbar face. So you may need to send it in anyways. If thats the case, just let the pros fix all of the problems :cool: Never felt a need to slam their service but the three times I have ever tried to us them, nothing was done right. In fact one time, nothing got done at all... Well except they reprofiled my edge back to their thickness.. I had the edge angle down because I like thin edges ;)

All they did was knock 1/8 of steel off my knife and shipped her back without fixing the problem it went in for! :thumbdn:
 
DO NOT SAND ANYTHING, This will Ruin your sebenza as the tolerances are Very tight, plus it will void your warrenty. Send it in and Chris will have it take care of for you with no problems. Just enclose a detailed letter explaining the problem. I have sent a sheath and 2 knives to them over the years and they came back as good as new if not better. I have 23 CRK and part of the reason other than being of Excellent Quality is there Excellent customer service.
 
Then there was that time I waited a year for a stainless damascus blade, and when it came up I sent her in for them to fit it. When she was back in my hand I was billed for a "stainless" blade.... But it was a carbon blade, that had a cheap clear coat on it! :eek:

That's not my idea of stainless, and I know it's not Chris's because I also had a real Stainless one at the time also. No cheap clear coat on that one, and no rust.

Sorry for the rant, CRK service does NOTHING for me!
 
I can only speak great things about CRK. I had a blade issue and Chris Reeve called me at home personally to let me know why it happened and that he was personally taking care of the issue and mailing it himself. We spoke on the phone for 1/2 hour. There is not a knife company other there that will do that. I have delt with others, benchmade, buck, etc. All I get is excuses elsewhere. At CRK, I get truth and honesty and for my hard earned dollar, thats what I want.
But everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and this is mine !
 
Thanks for the responses, guys. I appreciate it. I ended up lightly sanding the bushing and after a number of small attempts, I got it to the point where I'm unable to feel the play. If the time comes when I have to send it in as result of the bushing or the lock face, I'll admit my doing and simply pay for the bushing work/replacement. Loctite was what I had in mind as well.

Wasn't intended as a CRK bashing, but I'm pleased to read I'm not the only one with some minor issues(was beginning to think the Maritimes was the dumping grounds for faulty Sebs:D)

Thanks again:thumbup:
 
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