New KA Insingo-off center

M

martinlutherbling

Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
457
Hi all,
I just recieved my Knife Art cf small Insingo. As expected, the knife is pretty much perfect, except for one detail. The blade is ever so slightly off center. The knife is brand new and came like this out of the box. I've tried tightening and loosening the pivot to no effect. I know it's a small detail but at this price point I have to say I expect perfection out of the box. Sorry for the cruddy pic, it's a tough thing to photograph.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1420318732.865952.jpg
 
Couple things:

1. You will probalby get very little sympathy here. It is not just bad form, it is questionable why anyone would come post here instead of contacting the vendor, or the manufacturer (actually few will question it, they will just assume a thing or two).

2. Expecting perfection at any pricepoint is silly. Perfection does not exist, and if you think it does, you simply lack the ability to spot the flaws.

Sorry, I have to call it like I see it (shrug)

That said, it does look a bit off center to me. I would have to pull mine and check if any of mine are like that...honestly blade centering is not somthing I get overly picky about.

Regardless, KA is a great company to deal with. Call them on Monday, and I am certain that they will accept your return (provided the knife is still in the condition you received it).

read this:

http://www.knifeart.com/info.html

you have a 7 day inspection period.
Cheers
 
Although that does look like its slightly off center its something that would not bother me at any price point. Contact the vendor or CRK and they will take care of you.
 
I have dealt with KA many times . They are good people and they will take care of you. Don't use or carry the knife at all, and get in touch with them. I've had many knives come to me from them as expected, and the one time I got a knife from them that was less than satisfactory, they did everything in their power to make it right and helped me out greatly.
 
fq55 said:
Although that does look like its slightly off center its something that would not bother me at any price point. Contact the vendor or CRK and they will take care of you.
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slightly is the key word here.

i can barely notice it myself but IMO that's some serious nitpicking...
 
Unit, in response to #1, I'm not sure how my post was in bad form or questionable in anyway. This is a knife discussion forum and I'm discussing my knife. Why anyone would "assume a thing or two" about me other than "I assume this guy got a slightly off center knife" is beyond me.
#2, my plain jane small Seb had no perceptible flaws. Whether that's because I lack a refined perception or not, I see the flaw on this one.

I have no doubt that KA and CRK will take great care of me should I chose to contact them. Im not even sure that I will, it's just something I wanted to bring up. I was posting more to see if there was an easy way to fix the centering, to see if this is a common characteristic of the CF scales knives, and to have a general discussion.
I'm new to higher end knives, and Sebenza's in particular so I don't have a good feel for what's abnormal or what's acceptable. Sorry if I ruffled and feathers, stepped on any toes, or rubbed anyone the wrong way. I love CRK and this knife! Don't hurt me!!
 
I think your best bet would be to just return it for a refund, or exchange it for a different one with the retailer. It just comes down to whether you can live with it or not. If not, then return it promptly or you will have to keep it or sell it.
 
I bought a small CF 21 Insingo from KA that is also slightly off center. It also had a very slight flaw in the carbon fiber scale (from the CF manufacturing, not the machining). I noted this in a review on KA and they offered to replace it instantly. I didn't want to wait a couple of weeks for a replacement, so I kept it. The funny thing is, in the beginning I'd say the tip center was about 45% and favored the lock side. I checked again today and it now is 45% and favors the presentation side (and by 45% I mean maybe 5% off-center if you divided the spacer width by 100). Weird. I guessed that it may have something to do with the CF and Ti having different characteristics, but who knows. I'm no expert. Other than bugging me a little at first (it was also my first CRK), I have used the knife daily for at least six months and still love it. I love CRK and have purchased several more since. Just letting you know that it apparently does happen. I'm a pretty nit-picky person. In my case I doubt anyone else would have even noticed the "flaws".
 
martinlutherbling said:
Unit, in response to #1, I'm not sure how my post was in bad form or questionable in anyway. This is a knife discussion forum and I'm discussing my knife. Why anyone would "assume a thing or two" about me other than "I assume this guy got a slightly off center knife" is beyond me.
#2, my plain jane small Seb had no perceptible flaws. Whether that's because I lack a refined perception or not, I see the flaw on this one.

I have no doubt that KA and CRK will take great care of me should I chose to contact them. Im not even sure that I will, it's just something I wanted to bring up. I was posting more to see if there was an easy way to fix the centering, to see if this is a common characteristic of the CF scales knives, and to have a general discussion.
I'm new to higher end knives, and Sebenza's in particular so I don't have a good feel for what's abnormal or what's acceptable. Sorry if I ruffled and feathers, stepped on any toes, or rubbed anyone the wrong way. I love CRK and this knife! Don't hurt me!!
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I read your OP as a complaint. I feel that complaining in a makers forum is bad form. If I wanted a tip on blade centering, I would post something in the form of a question seeking that directly (and it would look a lot different from your post).

martinlutherbling said:
Hi all,
I just recieved my Knife Art cf small Insingo. As expected, the knife is pretty much perfect, except for one detail. The blade is ever so slightly off center. The knife is brand new and came like this out of the box. I've tried tightening and loosening the pivot to no effect. I know it's a small detail but at this price point I have to say I expect perfection out of the box. Sorry for the cruddy pic, it's a tough thing to photograph.
View attachment 502036
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There is not a question in there anywhere.



What will people assume about you? That will become evident soon enough, perhaps.

To the point, I often wonder why people post things like this. If you want to center a blade, ask that. If you want to get your knife fixed or replaced, this is NOT the first (or second, or third, or ....) place you should go...in fact, the chances it will get fixed or replaced on this forum are almost nil.

Ruffled feathers or stepped on toes? No, I am just fine. And I will repeat the senttiment that no knife is perfect and I certainly have no problem believing that CRK has made a few mistakes (it is folly to believe otherwise). But they work pretty hard to keep the numbers pretty low;)

If this sort of thing (blade centering) bothers you, do NOT I repeat NOT try and fix it yourself. Anything you do, can be grounds for the maker and seller to step back and let you own any problems you create by trying to fix it. If it bothers you, pursue a return as I metioned earlier.
 
I'd say Unit nailed it. Serious nitpicking indeed. Take it apart, clean it up, put it back together and go cut some stuff. These are production knives, not customs, if you want perfection, you might want to find a custom maker that has a 4-5 year backlog and see if you can get a spot and have a few $1000+ handy. I'd be willing to bet that you can center that by adjusting the pivot and body screws.
 
I have two Insingo's (large and small) and both are what I would consider "slightly off center". I figure it's the nature of the beast with these grinds. If you want dead-center, I'd skip the Insingos.
 
blade centering fluctuates with use, so as rev said "go cut some stuff". :)

no need to sweat little sh*t.

honestly, it's barely noticeable in this case so just use that bad boy and enjoy it.
 
Use to be the pivot isn't really an adjustable thing, it's set by the machined pivot spacer, so you would tighten it down and forget it, unless that's changed?

As to being off center, it does look very slight, I've never worried much in that regard unless it was scraping the sides and causing untoward damage to the side of the blade.

Nice knife there, as others have said, enjoy ;)
G2
 
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I would not let it bother me, it appears to be in spec. Some things u just have to let run off your back.
 
I also think the grind might be off just a bit. No biggie, but I would return it if it's gonna really bother you.
 
I don't necessarily look only at the tip of the blade to determine if the blade is off center. I look at the whole blade against a light to see if there is the same gap running down the length of the slab. If it looks like the gap is the same then the knife is not off center, but rather the blade may have a slight bend in it or the titanium is warped. I perform this test by looking at it, I may have some that are considered off center, may have to purchase some sort of fancy measuring device to determine the exact gap. But then again, sometimes my eyes deceive me.
 
martinlutherbling said:
I have no doubt that KA and CRK will take great care of me should I chose to contact them. Im not even sure that I will, it's just something I wanted to bring up. I was posting more to see if there was an easy way to fix the centering, to see if this is a common characteristic of the CF scales knives, and to have a general discussion.
I'm new to higher end knives, and Sebenza's in particular so I don't have a good feel for what's abnormal or what's acceptable. Sorry if I ruffled and feathers, stepped on any toes, or rubbed anyone the wrong way. I love CRK and this knife! Don't hurt me!!
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This is the best response written. Martinlutherbling, you answered your own question better than any of us really could, so bravo for that. I don't think you were wrong to have very high expectation of perfection for your 1st CRK. This "perfection" aspect is built up and built up, including by Chris himself in the various videos, but the truth is that CRKs are not all perfect. Certainly there are some great ones out there, but many fall just a little bit shy, which might come as a surprise with all the hype. The blade centering issue is one that crops up often as they don't, or simply can't, get that right consistently. With more experience with CRK you may come to accept some off-centering as the lesser issue when it comes to these folding knifes. With my collection, I find myself amazed at the ones that are perfectly centered, and accepting of the ones that are not. If I were to only have one, maybe it would be more important to me. Fact is they are great value for the money, and a timeless and proven design, backed by a fantastic company, but 100% perfect they are not.

Good luck with whatever you chose to do.
 
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martinlutherbling said:
I was posting more to see if there was an easy way to fix the centering,
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The easy way to fix it is to contact CRK !

Its the easiest way to fix it!

Very easy!

Very fast!

Very simple!

No wait time when somebody is respond to your question!

Contact CRK! They can F I X I T !!!
 
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