New umnumzaan very difficult to open

Sounds like we share the same issue. Mine is around the 20th also. It's cut me twice when it popped coming out the detent and the blade passed my finger. Naturally my finger caught the blade. I thought that your knife was being hard the entire opening. I really like this knife so :) Regardless, if its not something I can fix I'm sure they will take care of it.
 
Merlinus, a little off topic, but your knife was born on 20 April 2011, was the steel S30V or the S35VN? I curious because I want to order another Zaan but I want to try the newer steel and have one each with the different steels. So I'm hoping since April 20th was not to long ago they might have started using the S35VN.
 
There was a post by Annie saying that the umnunzaans that were marked 35 was a mistake and that none had been made yet. Sometime this summer before we see any.
 
Thanks for the feedback ssblood, sorry merlinus for getting off topic. I'm not sure I will wait till summer.
 
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I initially was going to wait until the S35VN version was available, but since S30V has worked well for me in three knives (small sebenza, Ritter MK I, custom-made fixed blade), decided to go ahead anyway.

At this point, however, if it is only a month or so away, I will probably wait before purchasing another.
 
My Zaan is April 21, 2011 - S30V and it works very well - a day later - Mine came from KnifeCenter but I waited almost 4 months for it to be built. I stuck with it because I got it on sale for $360.
 
When I purchase another umnumzaan, which I am definitely going to do, I will ask CRK (or the merchant) to test it before sending it off. I have done this when purchasing new camera lenses (admittedly, they are lots more expensive!), and the dealer was more than happ to oblige.

If they are not willing to test the knife, I will look elsewhere. And to my mind, this makes total sense, instead of having to deal with returns, etc. of faulty products.
 
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Reeek said:
My Zaan is April 21, 2011 - S30V and it works very well - a day later - Mine came from KnifeCenter but I waited almost 4 months for it to be built. I stuck with it because I got it on sale for $360.
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Wow, that is a good price. I paid $340.00 used so you did very well and I do not have any issues with S30V so it is not that big of a deal to me. But I will try to wait.
 
My new StarTac 'zaan - from Wilson Combat last Sept for $430 delivered - was somewhat hard to open, too. Learning how to hold my nose - okay, to push the thumbstud parallel to the handle first - helped. I could feel the knife become slicker to open as I did so repeatedly - maybe 10 or 20 times - perhaps to spread the grease out? In any case, by the time the maintenance kit arrived several days later, I had no need to loosen the pivot screw... but that didn't stop me - then I returned it to it's original position. It's been eight months and it is just as slick, centered, and generally so far beyond my expectations that I am humbled by it. The only other CRK I own deploys effortlessly, too... but it's a Nyala fb - great knife, too.

Stainz

PS I am serious re the grease needing to be 'spread' - my local pusher got a new one last month that was stiff - a customer said he'd buy it if it was as slick as mine. After a few minutes - it was - and he did buy it! It could be the lube reaching the detent ball - ceramic or not - it needs lube.
 
Here is a cheaper solution to opening the Umnumzaan without buying the toolkit or snap-ring pliers:
IMG-20110521-00109.jpg

IMG-20110521-00110.jpg


Costs about $3 for like 10 of them
 
Wow! Ingenious!!!

Do you need to hold down the pivot screw on the bottom so it will not turn?

Also, which Bic pens are these? Hard to tell from the photos...
 
edlex said:
Mine took about a week of playing with it constantly to finally loosen up. After that it flicks silky smooth as long as you push towards the pivot. It was pretty tough at first though.
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This has been my experience, too. I bought one about 2mo ago and it's taking its own sweet time.

Gives me an excuse to fiddle with it.
 
merlinus said:
Wow! Ingenious!!!

Do you need to hold down the pivot screw on the bottom so it will not turn?

Also, which Bic pens are these? Hard to tell from the photos...
Click to expand...

For my umnumzaan I dont really need to hold down the other side the friction from pin contacting the handle is enough to hold it in place while I unscrew it, but if you have to just use two on each side. They are the Bic pencil#2 0.7mm lead.
 
I relubed mine today with some teflon lube I got at the bike shop. The guy there told me to put some in a bottle cap and let the solvent evaporate away then apply. Totally different knife. I don't have to flick it open hard now just smoothly open it. No more cut fingers! The Miltec1 and RemOil didn't have enough viscosity IMHO. CRK has ruined the knife experience. Nothing compares to this thing :) I want a micarta large sebbie now.
 
When I got my first umnumzaan, the tool was not available yet, so I undid my pivot screw and cleaned the knife. Reinstalled it and set the correct tension............using nothing more than round tooth picks. I kept cutting the pointed tips down until they fit the holes on the pivot screw correctly, then cut them in half. So I was able to take my umnumzaan down with only two tooth picks ( one cut in half and fitted for each side ). Works like a charm !!!!!!!!!!
 
ssblood said:
I relubed mine today with some teflon lube I got at the bike shop. The guy there told me to put some in a bottle cap and let the solvent evaporate away then apply. Totally different knife. I don't have to flick it open hard now just smoothly open it. No more cut fingers! The Miltec1 and RemOil didn't have enough viscosity IMHO. CRK has ruined the knife experience. Nothing compares to this thing :) I want a micarta large sebbie now.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if I understand. A bottle cap? How can you apply the solvent if you let it evaporate away?
 
I cleaned the knife parts with a dry paper towel. The lube is ptfe I'm guessing mixed with a solvent. I put the lube in a cap to allow to solvent to evaporate leaving the actual lube. The solvent is to flush old grease and dirt out of a bicycle chain then evaporating to leave just the teflon behind. It's dang close to CRK grease in texture and appearance.
 
Ah wow, wish I would have seen this thread and chimned in the day or day after original post. I purchased my Zaan from Knifeart w/ S35V (if ssblood is wrong about the Zaans not being released with this steel till summer) back in April sometime. Two things stood out to me aside from the amazing quality of the knife - Super sharp and Super hard to open. Forget one-hand opening, I had trouble even with two hands! I also kept searching Youtube videos and was thinking "Gosh, theirs isn't THAT hard to open". LOL (not then of course). I was so enamoured by the knife and having it being my first CRK that I thought maybe it just needs a break in period. Well, a week went by and still super hard to open and a rare thing to do it one-handed without breaking a thumb. I probably would have sent it back and even contacted CRK's. Unfortunately and fortunately, the power went out up here and stayed out for a week! What a power outage. So I had plenty of time and set my mind to breaking this thing in. I can't say if the number was close to a couple hundred or a thousand opening and closing (particularly from start to mid position) but by the end of that week I noticed a big difference.....one-handed opening was only a step away. I worked on it another week in my free time when I could and by the 3rd week, I was smiling pretty :). The rest is history but the thing opens and closes smoother and easier than my large sebenza I bought used and smoother than any other knife. In fact, I was amazed at how fast the opening became and what inititially was major frustration turned to sheer joy. It sounds like you plan on giving the Umnumzaan another go, and if you get another stiff one and aren't put out by a day or weeks, perhaps month of breakin period, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
 
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