Can that little ball on the Seb21 lockbar be damaged?

[kidofthekids]

I just got my first pocket knife so I thought, why not a large seb21 w/micarta? Any way, when closing the knife I'd say a little past an L shape I felt something weird so I grabbed the blade spine loosely and gave it a very gentle jiggle/wiggle and there was horizontal movement at the pivot(that's what it felt like even though I could not see where the movement was coming from) even though the screw was tight, brand new knife and all I was kinda pissed about having to send it back already, but from reading the boards often I notice a common fix for generic problem is to break it down, clean and lube, and re assemble so I did that and no more wiggle. When I was taking it apart though I fudged up and forgot to hold the lock-bar down so when I pulled the blade out, the lock-bar and the little ball snapped shut on the opposite side pretty hard so I'm nervous it may have put a flat spot on the ball, it's pretty damn to smooth open and close but if I put my ear to the lock-bar and open/close sometimes I can hear a clicking sound like I would imagine it would make if the ball had a flat spot. Any ideas, opinions, or suggestions?

 

[Corytr]

I wouldn't worry about the detent ball at all. It is ceramic which is very hard. I think it would crack before it ever developed a flat spot from an impact.

I noticed the same thing with a couple of my NIB Sebbies and in just a short period of time they all smoothed out. It almost sounded as if there was grit in there. It may just be the ball creating it's unique track on the blade. Once it breaks in, I bet it goes away as mine have.

BTW, congrats on your first pocket knife. A large Micarta CRK none-the-less! Well done!

 

[kidcongo]

It's important to not the ball does not roll. A flat spot won't click like on a rolling ball bearing. The ceramic ball will develop a small flat spot over time which is normal.