My new 21 large micarta is too stiff (long post)

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mongomondo

mongomondo

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I own a couple sebenzas that are smooth as butter, but this new large 21 micarta has really stiff action and it's very difficult to open or close the blade with one hand. I'm not talking about the blade detent, I'm talking about physically moving the blade once it's past the detent, it's like the handles are squeezing it very hard. The only difference I can see is that it has the new screws that look the same on both sides. The knife locks up perfect and has no blade play.

The weird thing is that if I unscrew the pivot and only leave the female screw inside, the action is perfect and feels great like my other sebenza. If I loosen the pivot the action is smooth as glass, and I know this shouldn't be the case since the pivot bushing should make it feel the same. As soon as I insert the male pivot screw and tighten it all the way down it's stiff and very hard to move the blade. I've taken the handles apart and cleaned everything a couple times now and tried switching out the screws from my other sebenza and it's the same result. Am I doing something wrong? Do these new screws need to be used differently for smooth action?

Also, when I first took out the sebenza from the box the pivot screw was already loose. Knife was purchased brand new from a dealer.
 
I hesitate to say this, because I know you know your way around a Sebenza, but the only time I've run into that is when I've pinched a washer.
 
JNewell said:
I hesitate to say this, because I know you know your way around a Sebenza, but the only time I've run into that is when I've pinched a washer.
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Yeah that's what I was thinking since I've read about it happening, but I dont actually know what a "pinched washer" is. Could you explain? I'm going to try stripping down the knife one more time after I call CRK service tomorrow for some advice. I might have to just return this one to the dealer. I've never had this problem before, the first thing I do with every Sebenza I've purchased was to take it apart and clean it.
 
Basically, it is possible to get the washer between the pivot and the handle/scale. That makes the pivot effectively thicker (by the amount of the washer's thickness) and when you tighten the pivot screw it binds the blade.

I don't personally like it, but the recommended blade/pivot/washer reinstallation routine (which amounts to slipping the whole assembly into a pre-tightened pair of handles from the end) totally avoids this potential problem. It's described in one of the stickies at the top of the forum. Worth trying as a troubleshooting step...?
 
That's how I normally reassemble the knife. I think I must be missing some boneheaded step here. A few months ago I thought the screws on the backspacer was stripped since it wasn't tightened down. Turns out I forgot to install that blue backspacer, took me like 20 minutes to figure it out.,
 
I got a new large micarta and a new Insingo on tuesday. They are my first sebenza/crk. My micarta was very difficult to open, like the pivot was too tight. Once I was able to get it past the detent (which was difficult using my thumb), there was still resistance. The Insingo needed very little effort to open, which is how I thought a typical sebenza should operate. I know some say that it needs to be broken in so I have played with it, opening and closing it many times over the week. 5 days later it is easier to open, but no where near the way my insingo opens. I thought about sending it back to CRK, but I was going to wait to see if it would loosen up at all in the next month.

I am a little dissapointed because my Spyderco Gayle Bradley opens up way smoother than my large micarta and I was hoping to replace my GB with the Micarta.
 
Any of you ladies want to send the large Micarta t me at a discounted rate feel free to contact me.
 
BBQ BOY said:
Any of you ladies want to send the large Micarta t me at a discounted rate feel free to contact me.
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This isn't petty whining on my part. My Strider SnG is smoother than this Sebenza right now, that's saying a lot.
 
mongomondo said:
This isn't petty whining on my part.
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Same here. that is why i did not start a post when I first got it, saying it was an issue. I gave it a chance to work its self out. But now that I see somebody else with the same model having the same problem, maybe we can find a solution.
 
mongomondo said:
This isn't petty whining on my part. My Strider SnG is smoother than this Sebenza right now, that's saying a lot.
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I know. I was just having some fun. Send it into Chris.
Try sanding the washers down a little with 1000 grits sandpaper. Just rub the washer across the paper a bit.
 
I feel your pain. I've owned five Sebenzas in total, and three out of the five were so difficult to open that they were almost dysfunctional. I'm not sure what the problem was but they were just so damn stiff. The two that opened smoothly did so wonderfully and I still own them as a result.

I don't really understand the discrepancy to be honest. There are those that praise how unbelievably smooth the Sebenza is, and there are others who say they've experienced nothing but grief. It seems I fall in the middle as I've experienced both ends of the spectrum.
 
HistoricalMan said:
I feel your pain. I've owned five Sebenzas in total, and three out of the five were so difficult to open that they were almost dysfunctional. I'm not sure what the problem was but they were just so damn stiff. The two that opened smoothly did so wonderfully and I still own them as a result.

I don't really understand the discrepancy to be honest. There are those that praise how unbelievably smooth the Sebenza is, and there are others who say they've experienced nothing but grief. It seems I fall in the middle as I've experienced both ends of the spectrum.
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would it be safe to say that CRK is slipping on quality control? It would be hard to imagine that they would let hard to operate knives go out the door.
 
BBQ BOY said:
I know. I was just having some fun. Send it into Chris.
Try sanding the washers down a little with 1000 grits sandpaper. Just rub the washer across the paper a bit.
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Yes to the first...YMMV but IMHO negative on the second... :)

BBQ BOY said:
would it be safe to say that CRK is slipping on quality control? It would be hard to imagine that they would let hard to operate knives go out the door.
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Not pickin' on ya...I don't think that'd be a safe conclusion ^^^ but it'd be interesting to see what others here think.
 
JNewell said:
Yes to the first...YMMV but IMHO negative on the second... :)



Not pickin' on ya...I don't think that'd be a safe conclusion ^^^ but it'd be interesting to see what others here think.
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What does YMMV mean? Your method may vary?
I have heard of someone doing this and it working very well for them
 
JNewell said:
Yes to the first...YMMV but IMHO negative on the second... :)



Not pickin' on ya...I don't think that'd be a safe conclusion ^^^ but it'd be interesting to see what others here think.
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it may or may not be a safe conclusion but what do you call a knife that doesn't operate as it should? I have a few Sebenza's that open with such gracefulness but then again I have 3 that are a freaking pain in my ass. Does all of that sounds perfectly normal.
 
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BBQ BOY said:
would it be safe to say that CRK is slipping on quality control? It would be hard to imagine that they would let hard to operate knives go out the door.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. Whilst each was stiff to open, they were still absolutely flawless in every other respect.
 
Or is it that the tolerances are SOOOOO tight that break-in for some is inevitable? If so shouldn't CRK work the knife over a little more to make the end user more happy?
 
HistoricalMan said:
I don't know about that. Whilst each was stiff to open, they were still absolutely flawless in every other respect.
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I am starting to think they are slipping in the QC department. Also "flawless in every other respect" is not true. At least not in mine.
 
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