Is the over travel stop in the Umnumzaan needed?

[IMightBeWrong]

^ If CRK could come up with an internal lock-bar stabilizer that would be an awesome innovation. It would satisfy me as well as all those who are more concerned with the aesthetics of the knife.

I'm kind of an oddball, I suppose, as I actually think that every change made to the Umnumzaan since it came about has been a good change. I didn't like the old pivot because it came across as showy and not very practical and I like the over-travel stop. For me, the knife first and foremost should function as best as possible in the role it was built for. Looking good is secondary. I think the Umnumzaan as it is now is a more practical design. Different strokes for different folks, of course.

 

[lathrop]

this thread makes me get the over travel stop, "ridiculous" was too strong a word to use in my last post. The hard use concept makes sense to me.

 

[JNewell]

You can all thank me for the over travel disc I'm one of the idiots who bent back the lock bar on his new Umnumzaan

Why? Well, I had just got into collecting knives (2007ish)and CRK's for that matter. When I ordered the Umnumzaan , I had never held one before, and knew hardly ANYTHING about CRK. This particular Umnumzaan was the first generation with the lower profile lockbar.
I honestly had a difficult time disengaging the lock with my thumb. I could NOT do it one handed. I was so frustrated!(I know, I know, I had wimpy thumbs and fingers etc). I also DID NOT understand yet how these knives and their locking mechanism worked...I had no clue.
So what did I do to help "make the lock easier to open?" I pushed the lock bar out , hoping that it would ease the tension so I could "open it easier". Well I almost had a heart attack when I realized that I had totally messed the knife up! The blade rattled and would not even make contact with the lock bar...I was sick
Well....I had shipped it back to CRK and they fixed it(Sorry CRK)

I think Mr Chris made a good decision to put the over travel stop on the knives to stop idiots like me, but I really dislike the "disc". I know I don't have any room to talk, but I agree with someone above who mentioned an inner type of stop. I have also seen some other makers use an enlarged pivot as the stop.


It's ok to PM me hate messages if anyone feels like they need to

Thanks for posting that. I don't recall having read any reports on what actually happened when people "adjusted" the lock bar. It seems to be worse than I would have guessed.

 

[marthinus]

From CRK:

"The disc has been added to the Umnumzaan to prevent the reduction of tension on the lock. Because the shape of the Umnumzaan handle is a little different than that of the Sebenza, it takes a different technique to open and close. We have found some customers are not willing to learn the difference or perhaps they don’t recognize the difference but, whatever the reason, they think it is necessary to modify the lock tension, thinking the knife will open more easily. This simply makes the knife unsafe. We have had several Umnumzaans returned to us because of lock issues – almost always the customer denies having modified the lock. We can see what has been done, and are put between a rock and a hard place as we don’t want to call out the customer for not telling the truth. The disc is a solution to prevent potentially unsafe modifications.

Please note this disc is not a lock stabilizer as it has been called in some posts. It is simply in place to prevent the lock bar from being pushed out to reduce tension. Our locks are fitted properly to very close tolerances and do not need to be stabilized. And to save further speculation, the disc is press fit into the handle. It is made of 303 stainless steel, and is sandblasted along with the rest of the handle. Because it is not titanium, the sandblasted finish looks different."

 

[lemmuhj]

Thanks for posting that. I don't recall having read any reports on what actually happened when people "adjusted" the lock bar. It seems to be worse than I would have guessed.

No problem, felt like i had to "come clean", lol. The description that CRK gives above says it all

 

[LMT66]

I bought my first Umnumzaan , new, about a month ago. After spending some time with it I couldn't quit thinking about how ridiculous the people that had problems over extending the lock must have been.
It really works perfectly.

The lockbar had a change after the first few runs. It wasn't always like the current one. After the update, the little tab that your thumb pushed to unlock was made to stick out a little further. I had one of the first run and it wasn't easy to unlock but was easy to overextend if you weren't careful.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...in-the-Umnumzaan-Better-access-to-the-Lockbar