Chris Reeve and warranty?

Joined
Jan 20, 2008
Messages
104
What's CR's official position on knives that have been "pimped"? What I'm talking about is the simple, not functional pimps (i.e. "fizzing", polishing scales, etc).

Thanks in advance :)
 
Everyone raves about the CRK warranty but after reading some of the threads on this forum I'm less and less confident. CR seems really anal about "flicking" and doesn't want "dirty laundry" aired on these forums. Nothing I can really put my finger on but a lot of "oh he's been an expert on knife abuse for over thirty years" and "we switched to a solid thumbstud but there wasn't a problem with the two-piece design" (even though the very knife Reeve HIMSELF was carrying flew apart and had to be loctited back together). Look around the archives and decide for yourself. You'll see a lot of flacks and sychophants hearalding the great CRK warranty but you gotta wonder if they've actually had to exercise it.

And if the warranty REALLY IS all it's cracked up to be, why can't we send our Zaans that have the two piece thumbstuds in and have them upgraded to the new solid stud design? Hmmmm.... :mad:

And we can't even nail down a changeover date for the one-piece thumbstud, you know, the thumbstud that isn't actually an improvement as the two-piece wasn't "an issue". :jerkit:
 
Everyone raves about the CRK warranty but after reading some of the threads on this forum I'm less and less confident. CR seems really anal about "flicking" and doesn't want "dirty laundry" aired on these forums. Nothing I can really put my finger on but a lot of "oh he's been an expert on knife abuse for over thirty years" and "we switched to a solid thumbstud but there wasn't a problem with the two-piece design" (even though the very knife Reeve HIMSELF was carrying flew apart and had to be loctited back together). Look around the archives and decide for yourself. You'll see a lot of flacks and sychophants hearalding the great CRK warranty but you gotta wonder if they've actually had to exercise it.

And if the warranty REALLY IS all it's cracked up to be, why can't we send our Zaans that have the two piece thumbstuds in and have them upgraded to the new solid stud design? Hmmmm.... :mad:

And we can't even nail down a changeover date for the one-piece thumbstud, you know, the thumbstud that isn't actually an improvement as the two-piece wasn't "an issue". :jerkit:

I'm not sure I understand the big deal about double thumbstuds since every Sebenza I've bought has had the single thumbstud. :confused:

Warranty aside, I think that you'll be pressed to find another knife maker that has as good customer service as CR. I could give you names of several other makers who don't return phone calls, emails, etc, and their knives are also in the $400+ price range.

As to "dirty laundry" I would imagine that CR has paid to have their sub-forum here. That's one of the main draws to BF for me is the chance to hear directly from CR as to the "latest and greatest".
 
Everyone raves about the CRK warranty but after reading some of the threads on this forum I'm less and less confident. CR seems really anal about "flicking" and doesn't want "dirty laundry" aired on these forums. Nothing I can really put my finger on but a lot of "oh he's been an expert on knife abuse for over thirty years" and "we switched to a solid thumbstud but there wasn't a problem with the two-piece design" (even though the very knife Reeve HIMSELF was carrying flew apart and had to be loctited back together). Look around the archives and decide for yourself. You'll see a lot of flacks and sychophants hearalding the great CRK warranty but you gotta wonder if they've actually had to exercise it.

And if the warranty REALLY IS all it's cracked up to be, why can't we send our Zaans that have the two piece thumbstuds in and have them upgraded to the new solid stud design? Hmmmm.... :mad:

And we can't even nail down a changeover date for the one-piece thumbstud, you know, the thumbstud that isn't actually an improvement as the two-piece wasn't "an issue". :jerkit:

Are you so biased that you never deciphered the lies told by that liar? He claimed his knife was almost brand new and used lightly. Have you seen the photos? Clearly not Everyone would agree that the knife was heavily abused in every way possible other than it being grinded by a chainsaw.

Was flicking really the issue with that liar's knife? People carry Sebenzas for years and dont look 1/10th as bad. He was lucky they even offered to fix it for a price.

How about you go find a thread where CRK decided to charge someone for no reason? Find a thread where the knife was only flicked and CRK decides to charge them. One of the strongest knife on the market.

About the stud, if your stud came off, send it to CRK, they wont charge you anything.
 
Everyone raves about the CRK warranty but after reading some of the threads on this forum I'm less and less confident. CR seems really anal about "flicking" and doesn't want "dirty laundry" aired on these forums. Nothing I can really put my finger on but a lot of "oh he's been an expert on knife abuse for over thirty years" and "we switched to a solid thumbstud but there wasn't a problem with the two-piece design" (even though the very knife Reeve HIMSELF was carrying flew apart and had to be loctited back together). Look around the archives and decide for yourself. You'll see a lot of flacks and sychophants hearalding the great CRK warranty but you gotta wonder if they've actually had to exercise it.

And if the warranty REALLY IS all it's cracked up to be, why can't we send our Zaans that have the two piece thumbstuds in and have them upgraded to the new solid stud design? Hmmmm.... :mad:

And we can't even nail down a changeover date for the one-piece thumbstud, you know, the thumbstud that isn't actually an improvement as the two-piece wasn't "an issue". :jerkit:

Are you so biased that you never deciphered the lies told by that liar? He claimed his knife was almost brand new and used lightly. Have you seen the photos? Everyone would agree that the knife was heavily abused in every way possible other than it being grinded by a chainsaw.

Was flicking really the issue with that liar's knife? People carry Sebenzas for years and dont look 1/10th as bad. He was lucky they even offered to fix it for a price. It doesn't take 30 years of making the Sebenza to see the abuse, even an unobservant knife noob like me can see that.

How about you go find a thread where CRK decided to charge someone for the simple reason of flicking before you spew out your verbal diarrhea? Find a thread where the knife was only flicked and CRK decides to charge them; I doubt CRK can tell from flicked to not flicked.

About the stud, only a small percentage of users were experiencing that problem. A minority of the Umnumzaans didn't have enough loctite to hold it together; it is not a design flaw. Even then, if yours came off CRK will take care of you like they posted. Think of the one piece thumb stud as 2nd gen; an improvement of the original. Do you send in your 1st Gen Strider to Strider to tell them to add a Hinderer Lock Stabilizer because your 1st gen Strider's lockbard might over bend and cause issues?
 
Yeah, I seen those pics. Didn't look a heckuvalot different from the Seb I carry (with the exception of those scratch marks). Pay close attention to the pics of the lockbar however. Those pics look an awful lot like MY lockbar and I don't flick my knife open. This (along with some other stuff that's been on these forums of late) have given me pause concerning the "legendary" CRK warranty. I heard the Woodsmonkey.com interview where CR stated that they've replaced entire scales after "dremel accidents" and that gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. But what I've been seeing on these forums here lately gives me a little pause.

The whole thing about the thumbstud on the Zaan has me concerned. Do I have an "early" model? I dunno, there's been no definative dates of the changeover announced. Should I be concerned? Well, the thumbstud DOES serve double duty as the stop pin. Is an "upgrade" the same as a "warranty". Probably not. But there's been no pricing announced for upgrades to the new solid thumbstud. I don't want anything to do with the two piece design and I don't even know if I have one. No way to tell without a changeover date announcement. That's a little un-nerving from my standpoint. :confused:
 
Harry,

I think there are two things to remember about that Sebenza.

#1. Those are only photographs, so its not easy to judge the depth of the abuse it was in. However, from those photos, you sort of have an idea how bad it will be in hand.

#2. The guy was lying and retracting what he say he did with every post he made. It started from the description of 'almost new and extrremely well cared for'' >>" slightly used'>>>"I bent the lock by myself many times">>>"I took it apart every day to 'clean' it. You'd have to wonder how much more he will reveal if the mod hadn't closed the thread.

I understand your concern about the stud. The Zaan is still a new design and they are still improving it constantly. The studs shouldn't be causing you so much worry because a few out of hundreds had come off. The double lug sebenzas are made the same way. If you are really worried you should give CRK a call and inquire about ways to tell if its a double piece or not; if not I'm sure you can send it in to get replaced (for a fee or not I do not know).

Also, I dont think the Chris Reeve was referring to the stud thread when he said to contact them first before making a thread raving about it. I think he was remembering and referring to that liar you mentioned. Even after CRK has posted pictures of the serious abuse, it already has created doubts among possible buyers (such as yourself and others) and turned away many.
 
Everyone raves about the CRK warranty but after reading some of the threads on this forum I'm less and less confident. CR seems really anal about "flicking" and doesn't want "dirty laundry" aired on these forums. Nothing I can really put my finger on but a lot of "oh he's been an expert on knife abuse for over thirty years" and "we switched to a solid thumbstud but there wasn't a problem with the two-piece design" (even though the very knife Reeve HIMSELF was carrying flew apart and had to be loctited back together). Look around the archives and decide for yourself. You'll see a lot of flacks and sychophants hearalding the great CRK warranty but you gotta wonder if they've actually had to exercise it.

And if the warranty REALLY IS all it's cracked up to be, why can't we send our Zaans that have the two piece thumbstuds in and have them upgraded to the new solid stud design? Hmmmm.... :mad:

And we can't even nail down a changeover date for the one-piece thumbstud, you know, the thumbstud that isn't actually an improvement as the two-piece wasn't "an issue". :jerkit:

I had a warrenty issue, having owned over 30 CRK knives at one time or another, its bound to happen. I sent the knife in, takes about 4-5 days from PA, Mr. Reeve called me personally early the next week and described in detail what had happened and what he was going to do to fix it. We spoke aprox 1/2 hour on the phone. Mr. Reeve is a very busy man and for him to take the time to call me personally, to me, that tells you something. I have sold nearly every other knife I own and use the funds to buy CRK exclusively. The only other knives I have or have owned in the $400 + range are striders and as much as I like them, they are no CRK Sebenza. I really like my SMF and its definately a keeper, but I would take my large regular sebenza any day, thats how much confidence I have in it. And I also know if I ever have a warrenty issue, Mr. Reeve will fix it and make it right......The abused sebenza that has been talked about, would any of you fix it for free if it came into your shop ??? Hell NO. Plus to have the story change 1/2 dozen times, give me a break...........CRK has made Thousands upon Thousands of knives in their 30+ years. They would not have made it this far if their reputation of quality and customer service were not up to par. I am sure if you look, you will find far more people that are happy with their CRK knives and any warrenty issue they may have had, than the few stumble bums that have had issues. And when you see knives that were clearly abused and they whine and cry about a warrenty not being fulfilled ?? Put yourself in CRK shoes. He even offered to fix it for a price even though there was obvious abuse. Now thats customer service. I take my hat off to Mr. Reeve, not only for his ground breaking knives, but for his ground breaking customer service :thumbup::thumbup:
 
The thumblug question was answered in detail elsewhere. Timing? Sometime in July they began changing over to the solid thumblug. Sending in an old one for replacement? It requires a new blade to accept the new thumblug. Not a reasonable option when nothing has gone wrong with the original.
 
This is my first-hand experience with them...

I've had about 15 Sebenzas now, so I've used CRK's CS and warranty services. In fact, I've used them enough so that they recognized my name from my name tag at Blade this year. Nothing but good experiences here.

They replaced an entire blade free of charge on a new Seb because of a problem with the factory sharpening job. They've rebuilt and tuned up several pre-owned Sebs that I've sent them for just the standard tune-up charge. They do the work quickly and return the knife to me usually within 10 total days (not 10 workdays), sometimes less.
 
The thumblug question was answered in detail elsewhere. Timing? Sometime in July they began changing over to the solid thumblug. Sending in an old one for replacement? It requires a new blade to accept the new thumblug. Not a reasonable option when nothing has gone wrong with the original.
Well that almost certainly makes mine an early model then. The new thumblug requires blade replacement? First I've heard of that. I hope you are mistaken about this.
 
Well that almost certainly makes mine an early model then. The new thumblug requires blade replacement? First I've heard of that. I hope you are mistaken about this.

There is NO mistake.

Why are you so worried when yours is not broken ?

CRK said if it breaks they will fix it as always.

Maybe you should read the threads in full next time before you post. :)
 
I had a warrenty issue, having owned over 30 CRK knives at one time or another, its bound to happen. I sent the knife in, takes about 4-5 days from PA, Mr. Reeve called me personally early the next week and described in detail what had happened and what he was going to do to fix it. We spoke aprox 1/2 hour on the phone. Mr. Reeve is a very busy man and for him to take the time to call me personally, to me, that tells you something. I have sold nearly every other knife I own and use the funds to buy CRK exclusively. The only other knives I have or have owned in the $400 + range are striders and as much as I like them, they are no CRK Sebenza. I really like my SMF and its definately a keeper, but I would take my large regular sebenza any day, thats how much confidence I have in it. And I also know if I ever have a warrenty issue, Mr. Reeve will fix it and make it right......The abused sebenza that has been talked about, would any of you fix it for free if it came into your shop ??? Hell NO. Plus to have the story change 1/2 dozen times, give me a break...........CRK has made Thousands upon Thousands of knives in their 30+ years. They would not have made it this far if their reputation of quality and customer service were not up to par. I am sure if you look, you will find far more people that are happy with their CRK knives and any warrenty issue they may have had, than the few stumble bums that have had issues. And when you see knives that were clearly abused and they whine and cry about a warrenty not being fulfilled ?? Put yourself in CRK shoes. He even offered to fix it for a price even though there was obvious abuse. Now thats customer service. I take my hat off to Mr. Reeve, not only for his ground breaking knives, but for his ground breaking customer service :thumbup::thumbup:

My thoughts exactly!!! I've owned 3 Striders (including a SMF/GG and a PT) -- both Striders sold to buy more CR knives!!!
 
Yeah, I seen those pics. Didn't look a heckuvalot different from the Seb I carry (with the exception of those scratch marks). Pay close attention to the pics of the lockbar however. Those pics look an awful lot like MY lockbar and I don't flick my knife open. This (along with some other stuff that's been on these forums of late) have given me pause concerning the "legendary" CRK warranty. I heard the Woodsmonkey.com interview where CR stated that they've replaced entire scales after "dremel accidents" and that gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. But what I've been seeing on these forums here lately gives me a little pause.

The whole thing about the thumbstud on the Zaan has me concerned. Do I have an "early" model? I dunno, there's been no definative dates of the changeover announced. Should I be concerned? Well, the thumbstud DOES serve double duty as the stop pin. Is an "upgrade" the same as a "warranty". Probably not. But there's been no pricing announced for upgrades to the new solid thumbstud. I don't want anything to do with the two piece design and I don't even know if I have one. No way to tell without a changeover date announcement. That's a little un-nerving from my standpoint. :confused:

Why the concern ??? CRK already said they would fix it for free !!! Below I will "Quote" Anne & Chris as they clearly stated a rough timeframe as they do not know the exact date, hour, minute, second they changed over, so expecting that kind of info is rediculas. I dont yet have a umnumzaan, but is this going to stop me from getting one ? Heck NO. The only reason I dont yet have one is I have bought some more One-Piece knives lately and some more mnandi's. But a umnumzaan is in my future and I plan to buy both the regular AND tanto versions. I know if I have an issue, I can send it in for service and there will be NO issues........Also watch the CRK DVD, ALL Dual Stud Sebenzas have a TWO Piece Stud and I have never heard of an issue with them. Like Mr. Reeve stated, the Sebenza has been in production for 20 years, any and all bugs have been worked out. The Umnumzaan is what, roughly 1 - 1 1/2 years old and you expect it to be perfected. As much as it is similar to a Sebenza, it is yet so much different !.........Please read ALL posts pertaining to an issue without jumping to a quick conclusion. Especially the ones posted by CRK, they never sugar coat anything. You get the facts right from them. And you will find most of the time, if you read all the posts, the answer is already there. I have seen issues or questions many times in the past and after reading them, I want to know the answer as well, so instead of interpreting an answer, I email CRK, GET THE FACTS, then post the answer for my fellow forum members and friends. Not a bad idea is it ? How many other owners of companies take the time to chime in ???
Below is a quote from CRK.

"We have been in direct contact with Joe – we only received his email this morning - and have given him some help on a short term repair, with the request that he return the knife to us for permanent repair once he is stateside again.

His knife is an early Umnumzaan. As can happen with a brand new product, we experienced some unexpected issues where parts did not work as intended. We have remade the relevant fixtures and have taken the additional precaution of redesigning the thumblug into one solid press-through piece.

That these early Umnumzaans had some problems does not mean they are inferior in any way, and we have taken care of the few that have had issues. Please remember that the Sebenza has had 20 years of development – a brand new concept sometimes takes a while to fully develop.

I carry an early style Umnumzaan every day. Last weekend one thumb lug fell out – because I had been wrist flicking, prompted by the thread concerning lock abuse. I re-set the lug with some loctite and have had no problems. I test and carry all my knives so I know what works and what does not.

One thing I do ask of all our customers: come to us first, let us take care of the situation and then post on the forums, not the other way around. This will preclude much of the accusation, extrapolation and general mis-information that seems to come into some of these threads. We ask this not to hide any problems – if there are issues, they need to be discussed – but to get correct information published. "


Chris

"Hey guys – I am sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. Please believe me when I say I have started on this several times over and something always gets in the way!

The issue of the thumb lug problem of the very first batch of Umnumzaans is rather complex and the technicalities of it are difficult to describe so I am not going to go into detail. It revolves around an error on the handle fixture, and the way the lugs connect. Immediately we realized there was a problem, we altered the fixture and changed the tolerance of the connecting sections of the lugs so that they fit much closer. We do not know exactly how many knives we produced like this but our best estimate is well under 100. We have received fewer than 10 knives returned for this problem, and every Umnumzaan sent in for sharpening, refurbish etc. is checked. With these changes, the thumb lugs have been rock solid.

Since we always work to upgrade our engineering, Chris sought to improve the thumb lug which was already performing to all expectations. He designed the single bar thumb lug and we made them in-house during the first part of June. We do not have a day marked on the calendar as to when we started using them but estimate early July. There would have been a period of cross-over since the blades are slightly different for the two styles and the guys fitting would use whichever lug was appropriate as they worked through a batch of prepared blades.

And I say again – if you have a problem with one of our knives, you know we will make it good! "

Anne



Anne
 
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I sure wish one of my Sebbies or Ums would go bad so I can bitch and become a celebrity... I guess it's not gonna happen, darn you Chris Reeve for making such a good knife! Bart1
 
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