CRK Fit and Finish

Maprik

Maprik

Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
2,779
Over the past month I have been experimenting with stonewashing and anodizing my Large Sebenza. During this time I have disassembled and reassembled the knife at least 20 times. Each time I do so I have a tiny fear that it's going to wear down, that I'm taking off too much Ti in scrubbing, scotch briting, anodizing, etc over and over again. Each time I put it back together I wonder if it's going to lose something. Looking at my knife today I can honestly say that tolerance wise is's till EXACTLY the way it was when I bought it new. It's still tight and perfectly centered. PERFECTLY. Deployment is smoother than ever and I can flick it out with my thumb without too much effort, although this is not typically how I open it. I like feeling the buttery smooth action of the slow opening and that satisfying CLACK when the lock engages. What an amazing precision instrument this knife is. I really appreciate it. To anyone debating the purchase because of the price - you get what you pay for. Perfection. :thumbup:
 
Dude I wouldnt pay more than $150 for a tactical crk folder dude.
 
kawr said:
Dude I wouldnt pay more than $150 for a tactical crk folder dude.
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Dude, and it's a hollow grind blade. And there's no steel insert on the lockbar, what's up with that? Dudes, we know that any titanium framelock without a steel insert is gonna fail catastrophically when you baton through a redwood with it! And hollow grind blows, that means I can only sharpen it on my EPA like 4000 times! Dude, no knife is worth more than my SOG Flash 1.
 
Dud the bradley alias is the same thing. This hollow grind just blows, but the jimping isn't too bad:D
 
Nutnfancy's given birth to a whole new Sebenza jargon for those "in the know"! ;)
 
It's the new CRK inside joke. A horse that will continue to be beaten, long after its death.
 
Sebenza has lockbar heat treated so its many times harder than regular titanium so framelock on CRK are much longer lasting than other framelocks.Its worth every penny,sebenza is just that good.
 
rexromic said:
Sebenza has lockbar heat treated so its many times harder than regular titanium so framelock on CRK are much longer lasting than other framelocks.Its worth every penny,sebenza is just that good.
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I will quote my post from another recent CRK thread. :D
I'll just add, CRK doesn't need to anything more than setup the perfect lock geometry they are known for to achieve lock longevity/strength/awesomeness.

Nullity said:
6AL4V titanium cannot be hardened by heat-treating.
Heating titanium can form a thin (a few microns), hard layer of titanium oxides, but it does not change the hardness of the titanium underneath.
Most knifemakers agree that heating the lockface does help with the stickyness of a titanium liner/frame-lock, but I haven't read that it improves the locks longevity to any useful degree.

Heat can change the properties of 6AL4V titanium in other ways, but hardness isn't one of them.

Simply sharing some interesting information I learned on the forums... :D
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Nullity said:
I will quote my post from another recent CRK thread. :D
I'll just add, CRK doesn't need to anything more than setup the perfect lock geometry they are known for to achieve lock longevity/strength/awesomeness.
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Well, CRK "carburizes" (NOT carbidizing!) their lock face, which in fact does improve lock longevtiy to a useful degree.

People have shown 16 year old Sebs with zero wear on the lock face, depsite being opened and used heavily for those 16 years. I'd say that is irrefutible evidence that the thin hardened layer is more than effective at mitigating wear. :)
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
Well, CRK "carburizes" (NOT carbidizing!) their lock face, which in fact does improve lock longevtiy to a useful degree.

People have shown 16 year old Sebs with zero wear on the lock face, depsite being opened and used heavily for those 16 years. I'd say that is irrefutible evidence that the thin hardened layer is more than effective at mitigating wear. :)


Well said sir, and very true indeed. :thumbup:
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I just read on another knife forum how to fix an uncentered blade. The process is moving the handles back and forth in relation to each other to cause a shift in the pivot angle. This moves the blade tip significantly. Now this is from a very popular knife manufacturer who has a couple of models that are VERY popular among BF members. You can move the handles around in relation to each other to affect the pivot angle! Some might view this as a good thing, you know, being able to tweak things to get it right. But this is why I love CRK - no movement- no adjusting - just consistency every time.
 
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CrimsonTideShooter said:
Well, CRK "carburizes" (NOT carbidizing!) their lock face, which in fact does improve lock longevtiy to a useful degree.

People have shown 16 year old Sebs with zero wear on the lock face, depsite being opened and used heavily for those 16 years. I'd say that is irrefutible evidence that the thin hardened layer is more than effective at mitigating wear. :)
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I don't agree with you conclusion that the thin layer of titanium oxides is the reason for the Sebenza's lock longevity.
I think it has more to do with CRK's lock geometry and lack of play in the lock-up.

I have seen pictures of this thin, hard layer of titanium oxides formed by "curburizing" being worn away in around 6 months.

If you have any reputable sources on how carburizing relates to titanium, I would enjoy reading it.
As far as I know, the process of carburizing is not related to titanium.
 
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