My Thoughts on the Umnumzaan After Few Months Of EDC.

nyefmaker

nyefmaker

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My thoughts on the Umnumzaan after carrying it for a couple of months........

I got my umnumzaan a few months ago in a trade. My first reaction was how impressive it is. A great new design. But there are things about the sebenza that I like better.

Umnumzaan;

Pros: I really like the tactical look of the umnumzaan, awsome blade shape..... I like the grooves which give you a better grip..... When newly cleaned, it opens like a automatic. And is Very quite when opening..... The glass breaker is a nice feature, just hope I never have to use it..... Its a very heavy duty knife, it looks big, but in hand it feels small. Meaning its not overly large and it just the right size for a larger knife..... The perferated washers are a nice feature to help keep the lube in the knife better..... I like the sharpened swedge as well, great for grooving cardboard and for firestarters. The love the overall design and style.

Cons: Its cons are the things I like about the sebenza that the umnumzaan is missing in my opinion..... I like the pivot bushing on the sebbie. You just tighten it down and your ready to go. No loc-tite or special tool needed. (If I have my sebbie and it needs taken apart, its pretty easy to find an allen wrench). If the pivot bushing is too tight, the umnumzaan will not open, so you have to get it just right and then let it sit to dry. With the sebbie, you just tighten it down and thats it..... The biggest thing that I love about the sebbie compared to the umnumzaan is the lockbar. When I open my large regular sebbie and hear that "click", I KNOW its Locked Open !!! When I open my umnumzaan, I have to look to make sure it is..... My umnumzaan was like an automatic until I was cutting some food with it and then rinsed it off. Must have washed the greese from the bushing because now it is soooo tight. I can hold the handle and rotate the pivot , so its not tightly put together. This will happen to a sebbie after a few rinses as well, but the sebbie is so easy to take apart and clean and put back together. SO an umnumzaan cleaning is coming up.

Just a few thought I have about the umnumzaan that I wanted to share. Overall, I really like the Zaan and if I did not have a sebenza to compare it too, I would probably think its the greatest knife ever. Its a great thing that the knife I am comparing the Umnumzaan too is a CRK Legend.
 
RICKSTER said:
Tom
Thanks For A Great Review :thumbup: :D:D:D Rick :D:D:D
Click to expand...

Thanks, I know there alot of good reviews out there, but I figured I would just share some of my thoughts on the umnumzaan of what I like and dont like about it.
 
I can agree with all of that other than the handle texturing. I'm just not a fan of it at all. I''m
going to make a plain Ti or CF scale for my Umnumzaan I actually like the texturing so little.

And where are the pics at ? :grumpy:
 
Actually the con you mentioned was one of the factors why I held off getting one. It may not be a big deal for some but I like my Sebbie's simplicity and truthfully it is already more knife than I need. Thanks for your thoughts.
 
I've been kicking around with an Umnumzaan for the past 10 days and I completely prefer a Sebenza to it. The main thing is the closed retention... it is completely unacceptable IMO...especially compared to the Seb. The Sebs pivot bushing is genius compared to any "improvement" in the Umnumzaan's design. It is a cool thing, but it really is not a step forward in overall design... just a different one. Overall I like it better than I thought. It's comfy, good sized, and well... it's a CRK... But I'd take a Seb over it any day.
 
Very Good review Tom.Ive been edc my reg. zaan most of the time since I

got it the day after Thanksgiving.There are a couple of points I dont seem

to have any problems with thou that you mentioned.Mine locks up at 80-85%

and makes an opening "clack" sound almost as loud my other sebs.I wash off

almost all of the blade after Im finished cutting up food and having had any

problems with the oil staying on the washers.

I say oil because I took it apart 3 weeks and had a lot of dirt on the washers

and used oil instead of grease.
 
I like the Zaan better except for the loctite issue. I HATE loctite.:grumpy:
So, I just have to tighten the pivot every so often with a toothpick. Easy to find a toothpick or other small piece of wood. I can even use my knife to cut a piece of wood to tighten my knife.:thumbup:
 
Archieblue the closed retention of my zaan is Much better than my sebs.

The zaan blade Snaps into palce when I close It.I dont get that same

sound or feeling with the seb.

I dont understand the term "completely unacceptable" when the zaan blade

Snaps closed with such authority.Just my feelings.
 
clockman said:
Very Good review Tom.Ive been edc my reg. zaan most of the time since I

got it the day after Thanksgiving.There are a couple of points I dont seem

to have any problems with thou that you mentioned.Mine locks up at 80-85%

and makes an opening "clack" sound almost as loud my other sebs.I wash off

almost all of the blade after Im finished cutting up food and having had any

problems with the oil staying on the washers.

I say oil because I took it apart 3 weeks and had a lot of dirt on the washers

and used oil instead of grease.
Click to expand...

I only use the CRK Greese on my CRK folding knives. It seems anytime I rinse or submrge a sebbie or umnumzaan in water, even if its only a few seconds, they tighten up alot. Believe it or not, it seems to happen worse on my umnmzaan. And like I stated above, the sebbie only takes a few minutes to take apart, clean, and re-assemble. With the zaan, I have to get the loc-tite out and tools to take it apart. I can hold the handle and rotate the pivot bushing, so my zaan is not tightly assembled. But after washing, its Very Tight Now. I just find the pivot bushing on the sebenza much better, just tighten down and your ready to go.............As for lock-up, when I open my zaan it initally locks up at about 25%. ( this is with the "O" rings NOT being compressed ). If I open it up more forcefully and Compress the "O" rings, it goes to about 50-55%. If I open it up and put pressure on the cutting edge, it will compress the "O" rings and go to the 50-55% lock-up. I dont know if all of the zaans are like this or not. It does all this with NO Sound. This is why I feel I have to "look" at the zaan to make sure it is locked. With my sebbie, when I hear that click, I KNOW Its Locked. I do not feel there is anything wrong with my umnumzaan, I just think that is the way its designed. To me, a Umnumzaan with a sebenza style lock; and the sebenza pivot bushing would be the best folding knife EVER Devised !!!.

Please keep in mine I am in NO WAY bashing the umnumzaan. I love the knife, there are just a few things that I like better about the sebenza than the zaan. I also only like the regular sebenza and do not care for the 21 design, so I am comparing the umnumzaan to the large regular sebenza. I have the upmost respect for Mr. Reeve and his designs, there are just some I like better than others.
 
The only thing about having to use Loctite that bothers me is that it requires (1) that the threads be clean and dry and (2) a fairly long period to cure, so it's not just assemble-and-go. OK, so realistically those aren't usually problems, but if I were in the field rather than at home it could be an issue.
 
Great post.

I just took apart the umnumzaan (made a post about the ceramic ball) and have to agree with the loctite issue. On the other hand, a pro is that you can actually adjust the pivot so that is is a little more loose or a little less loose to open. I actually liked that, since I want to make a little effort to open it. It will still open very smoothly, just with a bit more force.

Also, in my experience I do not have any problem noticing if the ummie is locked/open. You actually feel that it opens fully and locks, since it will 'snap' at about 10 degrees before full opening because of the lock engaging.

I do like the fact that the knife feels so very BIG, the thick strong parts/shapes around the pivot and the beginning of the blade and also the feel of the spine and swedge and the jimping on the spine. Totally different from a sebenza, which is obviously way cool too!

grip is good enough for me 2, but I love to see other patterns coming out, or even the current pattern all over the whole handle, or plain, or inlays :D

When I compare them, I get the feeling that the ummie is stronger somewhat, but this is very subjective of course, just my thoughts.

I also noticed that the silent opening is very dependent on the use of the blade. When using it for a while or having it had open for a while, the o-rings kindof compress a little, exposing the metal of the thumbstuds to the titanium stop. When opening it again after that, it will make a very audible sound. I also found that it takes a while before the o-rings get back in shape again, but they do get back in shape.

The detent functions well for me, but does swing open when I hold the knife horizontally, quickly move it horizontally downwards and abruptly stop the movement. The blade swings open. This does not happen when I hold my fingers on the framelock at the same time (of course). Since I always carry it against the backliner of my jeans pocket, I'm not really concerned about it opening, but I do feel that it is not so great as the sebbie's lockup.

On the other hand, this might be related to my thread about the ceramic ball not moving.

@nyefmaker: when you do take apart the umnum, please have a look at the ceramic ball to see if it is moving and post your experience/thoughts in my thread please :)
 
zyhano said:
Great post.

I just took apart the umnumzaan (made a post about the ceramic ball) and have to agree with the loctite issue. On the other hand, a pro is that you can actually adjust the pivot so that is is a little more loose or a little less loose to open. I actually liked that, since I want to make a little effort to open it. It will still open very smoothly, just with a bit more force.

Also, in my experience I do not have any problem noticing if the ummie is locked/open. You actually feel that it opens fully and locks, since it will 'snap' at about 10 degrees before full opening because of the lock engaging.

I do like the fact that the knife feels so very BIG, the thick strong parts/shapes around the pivot and the beginning of the blade and also the feel of the spine and swedge and the jimping on the spine. Totally different from a sebenza, which is obviously way cool too!

grip is good enough for me 2, but I love to see other patterns coming out, or even the current pattern all over the whole handle, or plain, or inlays :D

When I compare them, I get the feeling that the ummie is stronger somewhat, but this is very subjective of course, just my thoughts.

I also noticed that the silent opening is very dependent on the use of the blade. When using it for a while or having it had open for a while, the o-rings kindof compress a little, exposing the metal of the thumbstuds to the titanium stop. When opening it again after that, it will make a very audible sound. I also found that it takes a while before the o-rings get back in shape again, but they do get back in shape.

The detent functions well for me, but does swing open when I hold the knife horizontally, quickly move it horizontally downwards and abruptly stop the movement. The blade swings open. This does not happen when I hold my fingers on the framelock at the same time (of course). Since I always carry it against the backliner of my jeans pocket, I'm not really concerned about it opening, but I do feel that it is not so great as the sebbie's lockup.

On the other hand, this might be related to my thread about the ceramic ball not moving.

@nyefmaker: when you do take apart the umnum, please have a look at the ceramic ball to see if it is moving and post your experience/thoughts in my thread please :)
Click to expand...

I replied to this post in your thread as you requested.
 
I will always regret the day I sold my large regular sebenza. Now I can't find a replacement :(
 
I have several Zaans....i have had them apart easily over a hundred times...pivot and one screw...much easier than the Seb ( i have over 50 sebs).... No big deal and i don't buy the crap that the seb pivot is better...there both good !!...i cut all kinds of stuff from sheetrock to fruit.....they get dirty and some times i don't clean for days...I'll wash them with water and wipe them off or if i'm around the shop i'll spray them with what ever cleaner is handy and blow them out with compressed air and lube with what ever.

At the end of the day there just pocket knives.
 
For those of you that havent take apart you zaan(I have 3)Theyre a piece

of cake.The looctite takes 30 Seconds+ to dry.Tighten the pivot down,

back it of a hair(maybe 2 hairs) and youre good to go.
 
clockman said:
For those of you that havent take apart you zaan(I have 3)Theyre a piece

of cake.The looctite takes 30 Seconds+ to dry.Tighten the pivot down,

back it of a hair(maybe 2 hairs) and youre good to go.
Click to expand...

Honestly, you need to read the manufacturer's directions for 222 Loctite. It is not a 30-second cure. The cure times are pretty involved, depending on temperature, bond gap, materials you're "locking," etc. Here's a link to the TDS:

https://tds.us.henkel.com//NA/UT/HNAUTTDS.nsf/web/4992AF0F8B721998882571870000D607/$File/222-EN.pdf
 
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The instructions on the umnumzaan kit says that the loctite will start to dry within 30 minutes. They are simply saying that you need to adjust the pivot to the right tension before then. It doesn't mean it only takes 30 minutes to set, you need to let it dry overnight at least.
 
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