Customized Sebenza

randucci

randucci

CRK one piece knife collector
Platinum Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Messages
7,451
I purchased a large Sebenza to use as one of my EDC knives and wanted to make it a little more unique than the standard one. Since Tom Mayo isn't doing custom work on Sebenza's anymore, I was left to do it myself. Instead of drilling holes and adding a standard chamfer to them, I used a radiused end mill on my milling machine to create a bell shaped hole. The holes have almost a polished appearance that matches the polished stainless pins. I also smoothed up the action on the blade by using some 1500 grit wet sand paper on the bushings to smooth them out, but being carefull not to add any extra clearance to the blade when assembled. I am very happy with the results.

:D
 
Looks cool indeed! :)

About the washers, CRK advises not the polish the washers! (you wrote bushings but I'm guessing you mean the washers). The bushing is the metal ring around the pivot AFAIK.

Quote from Anne Reeve:
... nor is it necessary to do any super special polishing of the washers. Just make sure they are clean (rub them flat on a piece of paper towel to remove existing lube and any dirt that may be sticking to them) – you don’t want to get into a situation where you have altered the thickness of the washer because you are going to get problems with side play.
Click to expand...

Ted
 
Excellent work, it turned out very nicely. Would you be interested in doing that to other folks Sebbies?
 
I love the holes!Please give us an update on the effects of the washer mods.I am not sure how Tom Mayo did mine but so far, so good :D I think your mods look cool :cool:
 
When I received the Sebenza, it was a older knife (2000) that was in the box and never unwrapped. When I opened the folder for the first time the washers seemed dry and tight. I disassembled the knife and re-lubed it, but it was still tight (it was assembled correctly). I like a knife blade to where if you have the head tilted up and at a angle (45 to 80deg or so), when the pressure of the detent ball on the blade is released, the blade will fall on its own, not necessarily fast, but fall slowly. I only used the 1500 grit wet sand paper for a brief few passes, like I said in the original post, "but being carefull not to add any extra clearance to the blade when assembled". I don't see any long term problem with what I did, I can always purchase new washers if these wear out, I didn't alter anything else.

trane fan,
I am not interested in doing any work on other folks knives at this time. It was a experiment, if it went bad, it was always going to be a user knife so it would have worked for me. If something happened to a customers knife, I would have to buy a new one for them and I don't want to chance that at this time. Titanium is not hard to drill, you just need the correct speed and always a sharp drill bit. Anyone with a drill press can do what I did (you do need a special cutter to do the bell shaped hole though), I used my milling machine because I have one.
 
Randucci, looks great. I love the polished holes. Adds good contrast to the scales.
 
I agree with you that when the lockbar is pulled from the tang, the blade should slowly fall. That is an excellent test for blade action. However, I disagree with polishing the washers with 1500 paper. I think your blade did not fall when unlocked because it had been sitting in the box all those years. Maybe there was some crystalization that occurred in the grease.

But I would not polish the washers. If you look at them, you will see some fine scratches on the face of the washers. The side against the Titanium is generally more scratched that the side against the blade. I think this is because CRK hand fits each knife and opens and closes them several times. Those scratches, or the overall surface against the blade will polish by itself over time. But I notice over time that some scratches still remain. I believe that those scratches serve as reservoirs for the grease and will keep the action much smoother over time, requiring less take-apart for regreasing. If you polish the washer, you will remove those scratches and with a perfectly flat surface, I think the grease will migrate out much faster. And no matter how little you polished, you did remove material, which will contribute to blade wobble - although I'm sure that would not be noticeable on a Sebenza. But again, the slightest wobble, even if not noticeable, will squeeze the grease out from between the washer and blade.

Well, just my two cents on a cool topic. Doing some work on a Sebenza makes it "your own". Glad to see someone not afraid to mess with their $300 knife. The bell shaped lightening holes are way cool and allow you to alter the "heft" of your knife to your own liking. I saw a picture of a guy that modified his Sebenza by adding his own clip so that he could carry tip down. Guess what - he added lightening holes to the clip and this was just awesome.
 
awesome,awesome custom job, looks great. I was wondering if 1500 grit sandpaper would remove some shallow scratches i have on my handle. I tried a green scrubber sponge but it left small scratches , so maybe 1500 would take care of that.
 
Dr sharp said:
awesome,awesome custom job, looks great. I was wondering if 1500 grit sandpaper would remove some shallow scratches i have on my handle. I tried a green scrubber sponge but it left small scratches , so maybe 1500 would take care of that.
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Some time ago, in the midst of my wristwatch collecting, I picked up two different grit Satin Finish bars from a watch supply place (Frei & Borel, IIRC). I use them to polish out scratches on the clasps on my watches, in both stainless steel and titanium. They work great and have the appearance like a thick, heavy sponge with abrasive on the outside. I'd guess one of these would polish out the scratches you describe.

However, many of the watch guys recommend a hardware store solution by using a scotch brite pad rather than buying the satin finish bars. Never used it myself, but I'd assume the scotch brite is much like the green scrubby pad you mentioned.

Hope that helps.

-pb
 
Looks Good!!!

As far as polishing the washers issue...hell, go ahead and polish them if you want, I dont think your going to cuase any harm there.

BTW, I dont think CRK recommends drilling holes in the titanium handles either :p
 
Scotch Brite is a satin finish. Your Sebenza has a grit blast finish. If you go over the scratches with Scotch Brite, the area you work on will be noticeably different than the rest of the handle. The same is true for 1000 grit paper. You can but as high as 2500 grit paper in autobody stores, or you can even got to very high grit with companies like MicroMesh. But the area you work on will become noticeably different than the rest of the handle. The papers will polish the handle. So, if you use Scotch Brite or papers, you will have to do the entire handle and that is a project. You likely will not wind up with the professional finish that you purchased. For most folks that are not professional finishers, trying to fix a scratch will always make it worse. And it does not pay to return the knife to CRK for refinishing. You will only scratch it again.

So, if you dare, I have another idea. I did this with my first large Sebenza and am very happy with the results. The Sebenza blade comes with a stonewashed finish. This is a great finish, because it camouflages minor scratches. I love that stonewashed blade. So I put my first Sebenza into a zip-lock bag with a handful of coins and my keys. I jiggled that bag around every few minutes while working. At the end of the day, I had a "coinwashed" Sebenza to match the stonewashed blade. I never had to worry about that first scratch. You know that first scratch is a killer. Now I take that knife everywhere and it looks great. It's got that pocket worn look. Best of all, I'm not afraid to lay it down on a rock, or whatever. I just use it as I please. Just one caution - first wrap the blade in a paper towel and close it. This will prevent the coins from boogering your edge.
 
randucci said:
I purchased a large Sebenza to use as one of my EDC knives and wanted to make it a little more unique than the standard one. Since Tom Mayo isn't doing custom work on Sebenza's anymore, I was left to do it myself. Instead of drilling holes and adding a standard chamfer to them, I used a radiused end mill on my milling machine to create a bell shaped hole. The holes have almost a polished appearance that matches the polished stainless pins. I also smoothed up the action on the blade by using some 1500 grit wet sand paper on the bushings to smooth them out, but being carefull not to add any extra clearance to the blade when assembled. I am very happy with the results.

:D
Click to expand...

Nice job, dude! I've used end mills a couple of times that I've decided to drill out a Sebenza. The combination of the high polish appearance of the end mill against the bead blasted scales really stands out :cool:

Barry H
 
Thanks for all of the complements guys, I had fun experimenting with it.
 
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