My New Small Sebenza Is Really Hard To Open

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Evany

Joined
May 7, 2007
Messages
1,342
I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Seems like it takes a lot of force to overcome pressure of the lock bar against the blade. I think I may be squeezing the lock bar against the blade, make it even more difficult to open. Any tricks or suggestions--am i holding it wrong or something?
 
They take a little getting used to. If you checked your pivot bolt and made sure it's not too tight then it's a matter of how you hold it to open.
 
My large was like that. The trick on a Sebenza is to wedge your thumb between the thumb cutout in the scale and the thumb stud. You then push sideways and not towards the end of the knife.

The knife will break in over time and become easier to open. Also, yes, the hand grip makes a difference. You want a grip that doesn't put pressure on the lock bar, as you'll be fighting yourself to open the knife.

I find that's one downside of frame locks, but it becomes second nature after a while.
 
Seems a bit easier now, but my thumb is sore, so it's hard to tell. I put a little CRK grease into the detente and around the washers and that seemed to help also. Hope it breaks in--I love everything else about the knife.
 
You don't put your thumb on the stud, it goes next to the stud and swipes it out. I had the same problem at first.
 
A while back I bought a new large Sebenza and it was the exact same way. With that one I actually wasn't even able to open with one hand. I returned it back to the dealer. If it's a little hard to open it's normal for a brand new one, but if it's difficult to open then it's not normal.
 
Putting my thumb next to and not on top of the stud helped a lot, too. Amazing that I forgot all this. I had a large Sebenza as my only folder for years, but that was a while ago...
 
Evany said:
Seems a bit easier now, but my thumb is sore, so it's hard to tell. I put a little CRK grease into the detente and around the washers and that seemed to help also. Hope it breaks in--I love everything else about the knife.
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I know it's hard, but give your knife and thumb a break. First day I had the Sebbie, I hurt my thumb with all the times I opened it. Then I thought the knife felt crappy and almost decided to sell it. It's a nice knife and not meant to be opened a 100 times a day. If you just carry and use it normally, your thumb and the rest of you will be happy :)
 
I disagree that these knives should be difficult to open or that one should have to "break them in". I've had dozens of new ones that opened easily right out of the box. Today I received one that's almost impossible to open. I'm going to tak it apart, oil and reassemble. If it doesn't loosen up, it's going back to CR for repair....
 
Evany said:
I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. Seems like it takes a lot of force to overcome pressure of the lock bar against the blade. I think I may be squeezing the lock bar against the blade, make it even more difficult to open. Any tricks or suggestions--am i holding it wrong or something?
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The Logical One said:
A while back I bought a new large Sebenza and it was the exact same way. With that one I actually wasn't even able to open with one hand. I returned it back to the dealer. If it's a little hard to open it's normal for a brand new one, but if it's difficult to open then it's not normal.
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Agreed, I had the same problem with my last Sebenza. I actually held the blade in my left hand (taped and in the blue cloth) and opened it about 300 ties over the course of the first day. It made no difference whatsoever.

I sent it to CRK and it arrived back opening much easier. Being a busy bee, I tried to figure out what had been done to fix the problem. Here, one of the things that I could find out was that Chris loosened the pivot which made it easier to open.

Knowing that the screws snap open on most new Sebbies (I've owned 8 so far) I used it for a couple of weeks. Cleaned it and buffed the washers lightly on my strop of .5 micron spray (green BRKT compound). I put it together and tightend it down slightly more until it would be too much and then backed it off to a comfort level.

Repeat process, repeat, repeat over the past few months until I can now tighten my pivot fully tight and still get that butter smooth hydraulic feeling when it opens.

This broke in what could have been a very problematic Sebenza and did it easily and painlessly. Good luck! :)
 
I had the same issue too. I took it apart and greased it. A little better, but not good enough. A few light passes of the washers on a strop and bingo - now its perfection. No need to mess with the pivot. I went from almost getting rid of it to never getting rid of it.

And opening technique is very important, as others have mentioned. My thumb was sore for days until I realized I was doing it all wrong. Thumb to the side and out. Not thumb on top and up...ouch!
 
Grease, technique, etc, made somewhat of a difference, but I think I'm going to send it back to CRK and have them tune it up, rather than attempt it myself. I'm fine with disassembling it for cleaning once in a while, but I think I'll leave the set up to them. Maybe it's the lock tension or something else that they will sort out for me.
 
Evans, I agree that if it's still sticking or tough to open, then send it back
I took my new one apart last night, buffed up the washers and it's still difficult to open. When compared to other Sebenza blades I had sitting there (cleaned 3 at once), the stop hole/detent appeared to be deeper on the new one. This means it takes much more effort to get the blade open with the thumb. If I had my dremel available (lent it to a friend), I could have smoothed out the edge which would have helped, but since it's a $500 knife, I'm just going to send it back to the spa for a time up.

I'd do the same if I were you. Good luck and enjoy your knife. !
 
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Evany said:
Grease, technique, etc, made somewhat of a difference, but I think I'm going to send it back to CRK and have them tune it up, rather than attempt it myself. I'm fine with disassembling it for cleaning once in a while, but I think I'll leave the set up to them. Maybe it's the lock tension or something else that they will sort out for me.
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Evany - send me an email via clicking on my profile. You haven't got your email enabled. Do it! :D
 
Some have stronger detents than others too. Comparing two new sebs, one S30 and one S35 they were quite different. The S30 was much harder to get past the initial detent. I opened them both up and the detent ball on the S30 was sticking out of the lockbar ever so slightly more than the S35. Made the initial first step of opening harder. But once they were both past the detent, they felt identical.
 
On my knife, I think it's the detent. I did lightly polish the washers and it made the blade quite a bit smoother once past the detent, but getting that initial start is next to impossible, one handed. I went ahead and sent it back to CRK along with a detailed description of what I feel is wrong with it, in case it's not obvious. I'm sure they will make it right, but it does kinda suck that I bought this knife new and now I have had to send it away for perhaps weeks to fix what should have been right from the get go. Oh well. As long as it's right when they send it back, I'll be fine with it.
 
Evany said:
On my knife, I think it's the detent. I did lightly polish the washers and it made the blade quite a bit smoother once past the detent, but getting that initial start is next to impossible, one handed. I went ahead and sent it back to CRK along with a detailed description of what I feel is wrong with it, in case it's not obvious. I'm sure they will make it right, but it does kinda suck that I bought this knife new and now I have had to send it away for perhaps weeks to fix what should have been right from the get go. Oh well. As long as it's right when they send it back, I'll be fine with it.
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If it's any consolation, I sent my lg micarta inlay Sebenza in for stiff opening and they fixed it and called me the same day as it arrived at their shop. I didn't have to pay for return shipping or anything. Every situation is different so I can't speak for your repair or turn around time but I doubt if you'll be waiting for weeks. :)
 
I just got my new small sebenza in today, and it too, was a bit difficult to open at first. (I do own a large as well, so thought I was used to CRK action.) Number one difference was that I was now pushing on the lockbar when opening since it is a smaller knife...and that made it more difficult. Then I noticed grittiness and could actually see some particles in the pivot area. Flushed it out with water. Much better. Then I re-lubed with some dust/dirt repellant lube (can't seem to justify the flourinated grease). That plus opening and closing it about a hundred times made it a lot smoother.

Sorry you need to send yours in. When I sent my lg in for a spa treatment, it came back in 2 or 3 weeks...not too long, but I feel your pain when you buy a brand new knife and it just doesn't work. I had that with a lemon Microtech which did not lock up properly. Knowing the CS, I just communicated with the dealer who made everything right and much more quickly than Microtech would have...so that's always another alternative.
 
I got a call yesterday from CRK, saying my knife had been gone over and was on it's way back. Postage both directions had been taken care of in addition to whatever work they did. Hopefully this will resolve the issue for me, otherwise I'll go back to the "Smoothness Mod" video. I'll post an update in a couple of days when I get the knife back, but meanwhile, what great customer service! If it arrives as expected, the total time out of my hands will have been well less than 2 weeks.
 
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