I spoke with Mr. Reeve once. I'll give all of the details so as not to be accused of trolling. For those who do not like to read, it is sufficient to say my experience is a bit like cktenders' and ssblood's.
My first NIB Sebenza (second total) came so tight it literally couldn't be opened one handed, and it was very hard two handed. I took it apart, cleaned it, and reassembled it, to make sure everything was put together correct, and there was no change. So, I figured it just needed to be worked in and opened and closed it awhile, and it slowly got a bit better. After awhile, I took it apart again to clean it and noticed the lock bar was dented (which didn't change the lockup--still at 50% to this day). I posted in the CRK subsection of the forum, and no one thought it looked right, so I emailed CRK. I received an email right away saying to call and ask for Mr. Reeve directly the next day, which I did.
I took two things from the conversation. First, he is very confident in his knowledge about his knives. You also can see that confidence in most of his posts. Some, clearly, would call it cockiness. From the pictures I had posted to the forum, he was sure it was from excessive use (opening and closing). He said it resembled Sebenzas opened and closed around 20,000 times. I tried to explain I had only had it three weeks, which makes a fraction of that figure all that would be possible, and about its problem out of the box, but the conversation continued to return to excessive use as the culprit. It became clear that there was no use continuing to find the reason behind it because he was sure he knew what it was.
Second, he made sure I understood any problems would be covered under their warranty. He told me to send it in, despite his belief that it was excessive use. It was clear that no matter what he thought, it would be covered.
At the time, and still to this day, I'm not really sure to take from the conversation. On one hand, I would not call it a pleasant experience. I felt like I was pleading my case the whole time since he kept saying I was to blame through excessive use. I had called just to find out if it was something to worry about, and if so, to figure out the cause and didn't get anything close to an answer. I do not like arguing, but the direction of the conversation made it feel like one. Instead of working together to find out the problem, we were at odds. I'll say it again; it wasn't pleasant.
On the other hand, it was a unique experience to speak with the namesake of a company within 24 hours of emailing their support just to find out if I had a problem. It did not change the lock up or anything, and I had really posted the initial thread on the forum expecting a "yeah, that's normal, and that's a question asked a million times by over-worried new CRK owners"
, so to speak with him directly was a bit of a shock. Furthermore, even though he clearly thought I was to blame, it was covered under warranty.
edit: And going back to the original topic
p), I plan to sell of that Sebenza because of the whole situation surrounding it.
. It's a damn good knife:thumbup:.
and deduced that the price point of $385 would be too high for to me buy at the moment this post was made.
