Break in question

L

Lo/Rez

Joined
Feb 10, 2013
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I just received my first Sebenza (25) and the blade is pretty hard to deploy. I loosened the pivot screws a bit and it is better, but still pretty stiff. Approx how long does it take to break these in or are there any tips or tricks to help the process along? Thanks in advance.
 
Just opening and closing is all you can do. To me, the adjustable pivot is just to tension the knife to your liking. I just got mine on saturday and its super smooth right out of the box. But my "stiff" and your "stiff" might be on different levels. It does not take long to break in either if need be. I have owned many CRK folders and honestly never sat there and opened and closed them hundreds of times like others claim. I just use them and in no time at all, you will all of a sudden realize....wow, this thing is smooth.

I am just trying to decide wether I wanna keep it or sell it and buy it on down the road someday as there are others I have my eye on.
 
Just keep using it. As time goes by the area under the washers will polish the stone wash finish and almost become a mirror finish. Then it will smooth out. How long this will take depends. All you can do is enjoy the knife.

The Sebenza has a hydraulic stiffness to it. It wont be as "smooth" as a Paramilitary 2 etc. But it depends on personal preference/opinion as neyfmaker stated.
 
marthinus said:
The Sebenza has a hydraulic stiffness to it. It wont be as "smooth" as a Paramilitary 2 etc. But it depends on personal preference/opinion as neyfmaker stated.
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I personally think the Seb is just as smooth if not more than a Para. It just isn't as "fast" to deploy.
 
The increase in stiffness or at least imo come's from larger washer's and a stronger lock bar but it's still smooth.
 
All of my CRK knives have gotten smother with use, all get to the "butter smooth" point eventually. Some take longer than others, but I wouldn't force it. Just use it and it will get there
 
The Sebenza will smooth out over time. You may want to polish the washers though this is discouraged by CRK. Also technique of openning can make it seem a lot harder to open than it is. Try pushing up on the side of the thumbstud and sweeping it open. I've had friends try to open my Seb that is perfectly smooth and rthey have a hard time. Also some come are harder to open than others. My large Insingo is a bit stiff but my large wilson starbenza is smooth as silk so go figure. I've carried the Isingo for over a year and every time I think it's smoothing out it turns out to be a loose pivot. Like the above poster says just use it baby!
 
I have one of the first 30 that were more custom than semi custom and I almost sold it on day one due to how hard it was to open, it was legitimately a 2 hand knife. I've never had another CRK with that issue and it was really bothering me, to remedy it I opened and closed it a lot hoping that it'd break in but I had no such luck, the extreme detent of my 25 coupled with the tension of the pivot were just killing my love for the knife !
I ended up loosening the pivot and putting a drop of quick release on it, it helped but it seemed to tighten up again in a few days. I ended up loosening up the pivot a touch more and giving it another drop of oil and with a little more use it has broken in to become super smooth and easy to open with one hand. It's not as easy as a 21, never will be with that perfectly strong detent, but I like it the way it has turned out and suspect that with a little love and tweaking yours will smooth out as well.
I have 3 Umnumzaans so I'm no stranger to a CRK without a pivot bushing, I was very concerned about my knife needing to take a trip back to the factory but it turned out to be CRK perfect, just took a bit of breaking in to get there and now I'd never get rid of this one.
I hope that yours smooths out and you get the warm fuzzy feeling for it that mine has earned from me.
Good luck
 
This post...1AA1...is helpful. I have one of those early 25's and it's a real bear. Mine is a "hard" smoothness, and is even somewhat difficult for me to unlock and move the blade back (into the grip) as well. It results in me using plenty of BandAids on my thumb for the little nips. My other large Sebs, Classic, 21's, Regular, have always been purchased somewhat used and so have been exceedingly smooth and easy blade-movement, so have never bitten me.

...and I keep hearing that these things will get easier...but my first CRK and my favorite blade-shape (the Zaan), has never allowed me to close the blade one-handed. I realize that I'm in the minority here, but that doesn't help at all. Being hard for me to operate, my Zaan doesn't get much exercise, and it certainly won't get any easier all by itself. It also means that I never carry my favorite folder.
I hear that Chris wanted to make sure that the blade wouldn't become unlocked in the "heat of battle," this being more of a tactical blade, so he purposely minimized the thumb access to the lockbar. If that is factual, I don't think he has to worry about that at all.
I have seriously considered performing some minor (Dremel) surgery to the Zaan, in order to allow more thumb access to the lockbar. I have asked CRK whether they would perform this operation, and of course they have refused, and this I understand. Obviously, if I do so, I will void any warranty to the Zaan, but then, it doesn't need a warranty if it just sits in the safe forever. And most CRK's never need warranty work anyway.
If I were fortunate enough to have a cup of coffee with Chris, I would ask him about this. I wish I could have gone to Blade this year.
 
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Sonnydaze said:
This post...1AA1...is helpful. I have one of those early 25's and it's a real bear. Mine is a "hard" smoothness, and is even somewhat difficult for me to unlock and move the blade back (into the grip) as well. It results in me using plenty of BandAids on my thumb for the little nips. My other large Sebs, Classic, 21's, Regular, have always been purchased somewhat used and so have been exceedingly smooth and easy blade-movement, so have never bitten me.

...and I keep hearing that these things will get easier...but my first CRK and my favorite blade-shape (the Zaan), has never allowed me to close the blade one-handed. I realize that I'm in the minority here, but that doesn't help at all. Being hard for me to operate, my Zaan doesn't get much exercise, and it certainly won't get any easier all by itself. It also means that I never carry my favorite folder.
I hear that Chris wanted to make sure that the blade wouldn't become unlocked in the "heat of battle," this being more of a tactical blade, so he purposely minimized the thumb access to the lockbar. If that is factual, I don't think he has to worry about that at all.
I have seriously considered performing some minor (Dremel) surgery to the Zaan, in order to allow more thumb access to the lockbar. I have asked CRK whether they would perform this operation, and of course they have refused, and this I understand. Obviously, if I do so, I will void any warranty to the Zaan, but then, it doesn't need a warranty if it just sits in the safe forever. And most CRK's never need warranty work anyway.
If I were fortunate enough to have a cup of coffee with Chris, I would ask him about this. I wish I could have gone to Blade this year.
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I have a new sebenza 25 born May 30th, 2013, and its super smooth, both left and right handed, so I can not say much about yours since yours is of the original batch. If its anything like the zaan, its just the tinyest adjustment to the pivot will make a world of difference.

Is your zaan the original or the newer design....?? I have had a regular and tanto in the original pattern and the WC was of the newer style but pre LBS.
On the original, I can open and close it one handed, but it is hard to unlock the lockbar, so your not alone. There is not lots of room for your thumb to disengage the lock. I dont carry mine as much as I used too, but it has gotten tons of edc time. On the WC and newer versions yet, CRK made the lockbar release much higher and its a million % better and easier to unlock. I only sold the WC because of the sharp grooves that bit into my fingers when getting a very firm grip. I do wanna get a new zaan with the CRK Logo LBS and the newer thumb release. Just done know if I want the old pivot or the new.
 
I said it once before but I still can't understand why in the world CRK decided to go to a conventional pivot on the new Sebenza.

The pivot works fine on millions of knives, but a Sebenza is not that imo. The old pivot is one of the things that set the Sebenza apart for me and it really works well as we all know. So why change it?
 
Strigamort said:
I said it once before but I still can't understand why in the world CRK decided to go to a conventional pivot on the new Sebenza.

The pivot works fine on millions of knives, but a Sebenza is not that imo. The old pivot is one of the things that set the Sebenza apart for me and it really works well as we all know. So why change it?
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I think they are just trying to go with less parts to stock. Now the zaan, 25, ti-lock all have the same pivot. Now only the 21 and mnandi are different. Plus the new ones, I believe they are making themselves. I agree that thats what made the sebenza special was you just "tightened" and Go.

I was never a fan of the adjustable pivot like Strider and Hinderer have, but I do see its purpose. As the knife breaks in, you can turn it 1/8 and it feels like new again.

Like anything, I am sure there is a definitive reason behind it.
 
nyefmaker said:
I think they are just trying to go with less parts to stock. Now the zaan, 25, ti-lock all have the same pivot. Now only the 21 and mnandi are different. Plus the new ones, I believe they are making themselves. I agree that thats what made the sebenza special was you just "tightened" and Go.

I was never a fan of the adjustable pivot like Strider and Hinderer have, but I do see its purpose. As the knife breaks in, you can turn it 1/8 and it feels like new again.

Like anything, I am sure there is a definitive reason behind it.
Click to expand...

If all of that IS the case... er, I'm just gonna keep my trap shut now! :D
 
I don't want to hi jack the thread but ill see if I can help you out.

When I close my tanto Umnum, my long time edc, I find that I sort of roll my thumb from the right scale to the lock bar scale. It causes me to push the lock bar down into the knife, towards the spine as much as outward to unlock the blade. Doing it this way has made it a very easy to operate one handed knife for me. My tanto has the original shaped handle with the smaller access to the lock bar and this works perfectly, it also works on the StarTac of the same design , and even better on the newer shaped StarTac that I have.
It is an absolutely different motion than I use for any of my Sebenza 's.
give it a try if my description makes sense, if it doesn't please pm me and I'll make a YouTube vid showing the difference.
Good luck.
 
Strigamort said:
If all of that IS the case... er, I'm just gonna keep my trap shut now! :D
Click to expand...

I really have no idea, thats just my guess. Like any mfg. company, its better to use like parts for several different items than different parts for each individual item. I am sure CRK is no different. I like the " tighten and go " of the older CRK's. Simplicity at its finest. But I will will not stop buying CRK's because of the new pivot bushing system. Improvise, Overcome, Adapt. Its the way of the world.
 
nyefmaker said:
If its anything like the zaan, its just the tinyest adjustment to the pivot will make a world of difference.

Is your zaan the original or the newer design....?? On the WC and newer versions yet, CRK made the lockbar release much higher and its a million % better and easier to unlock.
I do wanna get a new zaan with the CRK Logo LBS and the newer thumb release. Just done know if I want the old pivot or the new.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this info. My Zaan bd is Dec 2010 and is pre-LBS. I love it...but won't carry it. I suspect that I will "investigate" this newer and EASIER Zaan lockbar release that you speak of. I would enjoy carrying the Zaan and really don't wish to mess with mine. I am not pro-LBS. I always figured it is basically a rather useless device, designed to outwit the witless. However, if the new design is easier to unlock, I really want to take a look.
Thanks for that information.
 
I've noticed that when I've had the knife sitting on the desk and I go to open it the first time it is quite hard/sticky and then if I do again it is somewhat easier. Is there maybe too much grease? I haven't tried it after carrying it for a while when the knife would be warmer due to body heat.
 
Lo/Rez said:
I just received my first Sebenza (25) and the blade is pretty hard to deploy. I loosened the pivot screws a bit and it is better, but still pretty stiff. Approx how long does it take to break these in or are there any tips or tricks to help the process along? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I just picked up a new Umnum. Know it is not a 25, but I had a similar issue. In fact I hated the knife and was going to return it but I scratched the scale while I was carrying it the first day. Anyway, I took it apart and put a lighter viscosity lube on it and it made all the difference in the world. With the Reeve's lube it was gritty and rough, worse than a new Emerson to me. It wa s really disappointing to me for a knife of this price. The oil made the difference for me. I plan to take it apart tomorrow and apply some Diamondlube and then check it every couple of days.
 
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