Just got a refurb'ed Sebenza back...question

Starfish

Starfish

Joined
Jun 14, 2001
Messages
1,256
Hi all,

I sent my recently acquired small regular Sebenza in to have the handles blasted and the lock inspected. It came back to me today (thank you USPS Express Mail!), and I would not be able to tell the difference between this and a new knife! If you could have only seen how beat up the handles before!

And s-h-a-r-p!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: I do believe that this is the sharpest Sebenza I've ever handled, and quite possibly the sharpest knife I've ever owned!!! This is the first time that I've ever tried to shave arm hair and almost cut myself...

On to the question: in order to fix the lock travel, the shop replaced the BG-42 blade with an S30V blade. The knife is now considerably more difficult to open. I know that the problem does not lie with my technique, as I have owned many Sebenzas before and never encountered this problem. To clarify the level of difficulty, there were several times that I was unable to open the knife at all.

I am able to open the knife every time now, but it still seems very stiff. I am not used to "breaking a knife in", but is this what I need to do?

Last words - I cannot say enough good words about the CRK shop. Great, great, great, great, GREAT SERVICE!

Thanks for your help,

Matthew
 
It shouldn't be like that. Take it apart clean, lube and carefully put it back together. Hopefully that will solve the problem. If not, back to Boise she goes.
 
I would say use it a little and see before sending it back right away.

they come back from the dead like a new baby!;)
 
Thanks for the help. I gave CRK a call, and they suggested that it may need a little time to wear in the lube, and that I can/should also loosen up the pivot a little to add more if necessary (and re-tighten, of course!).

I plan to work the action for a week or so, and to disassemble/lube/reassemble the knife. If it doesn't get any better, than back she goes...

I wonder if the shop has a loaner program ;) :D :rolleyes:

Matthew
 
i don't understand. are these services (blast, sharpen, repair) a part of chris reeve's warranty service? or did you have to pay money to get this done? how fast is the turnaround time?

i'm comparing this to strider's service, as i've had lots of experience with them. they reblast/sharpen for free, but these days their turnaround time is a lot slower than what it used to be.


anyhow, just curious. i'm getting more and more interested in a CRK ;) keep your eyes peeled on ebay, i just might be selling off one of my sngs haha.
 
may or may not be relevent, but the lock bar or newer sebenzas seem to have progressively more tension then older ones.
 
I agree with DaveH.

Try pushing the lock bar back out, so that it is totally clear of placing any tension onto the blade, then try swinging the blade, freehand.

With this, the blade should become totally free and smooth, or there is something wrong worthy of a return.

If, when you let it go back in and the problem comes back you'll know it's a simple matter of an overkeen piece of Ti - rather than the pivot, bushing, etc being at fault.

Regards.
 
Midget said:
i don't understand. are these services (blast, sharpen, repair) a part of chris reeve's warranty service? or did you have to pay money to get this done? how fast is the turnaround time?

i'm comparing this to strider's service, as i've had lots of experience with them. they reblast/sharpen for free, but these days their turnaround time is a lot slower than what it used to be.


anyhow, just curious. i'm getting more and more interested in a CRK ;) keep your eyes peeled on ebay, i just might be selling off one of my sngs haha.
Click to expand...

Midget,

Blasting the handles costs $23 plus return shipping (at this time).
Sharpening is free, but you pay return shipping (at this time).

Repair costs are determined by whether or not the repair falls under warranty. In this case, the lock travel was deemed to not be the result of abuse, and therefore fell under the warranty. I do not know if one pays return shipping for warranty problems.

Check their web page for service costs for the most accurate information.

CRK received my knife on the Thursday before Blade Show, I believe. I received the knife back to me on Sunday (via Express Mail). I probably would have received it sooner if I only wanted the knife blasted and sharpened.

CRK's shop staff is never slacking, you can bet on that! I've never been less than pleased with the service I have received from CRK...:)

Matthew
 
Hexagraph said:
I agree with DaveH.

Try pushing the lock bar back out, so that it is totally clear of placing any tension onto the blade, then try swinging the blade, freehand.

With this, the blade should become totally free and smooth, or there is something wrong worthy of a return.

If, when you let it go back in and the problem comes back you'll know it's a simple matter of an overkeen piece of Ti - rather than the pivot, bushing, etc being at fault.

Regards.
Click to expand...

Hexagraph,

Perhaps I'm just dense, but I can't imagine how I can perform this test without running significant risk of losing a digit or two! :eek: :eek:

Matthew
 
Don't worry about it, Matthew. I wasn't trying to call you dense, if that's your taking of a little bit of help - excuse me !

Incidentally, that is actually a factory test to quicky establish a fault location
 
Hexagraph said:
Don't worry about it, Matthew. I wasn't trying to call you dense, if that's your taking of a little bit of help - excuse me !

Incidentally, that is actually a factory test to quicky establish a fault location
Click to expand...

Hexagraph - my apologies. Thank you for your suggestion, it makes sense. I was only commenting on what I perceive to be the difficulty of performing the test safely. I am away from my knife at the moment; perhaps it will be clear to me once I see the knife in front of me.

Sincerely,

Matthew
 
Matthew

Perhaps the word freehand may have been a mistake on my part. What you would need to do is hold the knife in your right hand, relieve the lock bar pressure with your thumb and use your left hand to test blade swing. It should be totally free and smooth. If the blade has any catching or delays anywhere within the entire swing {with the tension off} send it back. This will not be sorted out with use/wear.


This simple test very quicky takes away or locates any guilt at the pivot area.

Hopefully, the blade swing is free and the tightness only comes back when you engage the bar, then wear will cure it - very slowly though!

BTW, my earlier post was a little short, forgive that, please.

I hope that the problem you're having is just a keen lockup - it's not a bad thing, Matthew.

Regards.
 
Here's how I do that test. Open the knife then turn it upside down, so the sharp edge is up. With one hand hold the knife, put your htumb on the pivot screw and pull the lock bar out with you index. With the other hand lift the blade up towards vertical and see if it's stiff or hangs up. The one I have right here will fall back open under the force of gravity alone.
 
Starfish said:
Hi all,

I sent my recently acquired small regular Sebenza in to have the handles blasted and the lock inspected. It came back to me today (thank you USPS Express Mail!), and I would not be able to tell the difference between this and a new knife! If you could have only seen how beat up the handles before!.....The knife is now considerably more difficult to open. I know that the problem does not lie with my technique, as I have owned many Sebenzas before and never encountered this problem. To clarify the level of difficulty, there were several times that I was unable to open the knife at all.

Last words - I cannot say enough good words about the CRK shop. Great, great, great, great, GREAT SERVICE!

Thanks for your help,

Matthew
Click to expand...

Well done on the reworkings, Matthew - BTW, I've just sent off a knife, myself, for a little refurbishment work. Nothing too major, just some surface Titanium scratching and a couple of marks on the inlay which need rubbed down and polished. Oh, and a new guild on the thumb lug.

I am very pleased to hear of the superb customer service which you received. It's good to know that they are always there for these little concerns! I hope to have my knife back in a few weeks time, all being well.

Post us a couple of snaps of your knife, for the fun ! I don't even know what model she is !

Cheers

Mark
bigthumbup.gif
 
Roefisher said:
Well done on the reworkings, Matthew - BTW, I've just sent off a knife, myself, for a little refurbishment work. Nothing too major, just some surface Titanium scratching and a couple of marks on the inlay which need rubbed down and polished. Oh, and a new guild on the thumb lug.

I am very pleased to hear of the superb customer service which you received. It's good to know that they are always there for these little concerns! I hope to have my knife back in a few weeks time, all being well.

Post us a couple of snaps of your knife, for the fun ! I don't even know what model she is !

Cheers

Mark
bigthumbup.gif
Click to expand...

Not sure if my thumbs are getting stronger, or if it's starting to wear in, but it feels like it is not as much of a struggle to get the knife open now. I haven't taken it apart yet, but I'll probably get around to that this weekend. For now though, it's acceptable.

No pictures yet Mark! I've been busy at work, with no time for play at home. It's just a small plain regular Sebenza, of which you can find plenty of pictures around! I wish I had taken a picture of the knife before I sent it in though...it was a mess! Veeery well loved! :)

Matthew
 
Congrats on another Sebenza and your Mnandi as well ;)

As to the difficulty in opening, I had one from them once where the
ball bearing detent wasn't pressed in far enough into the lock bar.
So it extended out too far and went into the detent of the blade
making the detent very strong and hard to open. I returned the knife
and they pressed in the ball bearing ever so slightly and it made a
great deal of difference in opening the blade.

Since you paid to get it repaired and shipped back, I'd email/call them
up and see if they could cover the cost of shipping it back to them
and have them check out that ball bearing detent?

I'm Sebenzaless as of late, sold my lovely wood inlaid large Classic that
I knew I would dearly miss and now do, the steel virus is coming back
again and I would guess I'll be watching the forsale threads a little closer
for another wood inlay classic, most likely a small this time ;)
G2
 
The unique small I just got was stiff.It still had the factory grease in it.I took it apart and cleaned it,lubed it with Militec-1 and it is now super smooth.I don't now if it just needed a little cleaning or if the Militec just does that much better.
 
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