Noticeable detent and smoothness change in inlay sebenza?l

[JonizZooted]

I currently own 3 small sebenza’s. 1 cross hatch with drop point blade. 1 PJ with an insingo blade and I recently purchased 1 micarta inlay insingo that is a few months old. The micarta insingo’s detent is MUCH stronger than the other two knives (those two have identical detents). Also even though the knife is smooth to open, it feels like there is much more resistance while opening the knife. My PJ insingo is so smooth that it’s jaw dropping while this knife is smooth but not impressively so at all. Has anyone else experienced this? I’ve relubed and cleaned the new micarta inlay as well as opened and closed it constantly for 4 days straight with no huge improvement. Is this fairly normal? Is it possible it shipped with a slightly damaged washer? Any advice is appreciated. I love the look of the inlay, I just wish it was as smooth as my PJ.

 

[kidcongo]

In my experience, “smoothness” is 90% about the cleanliness and break-in of the detent track and 10% about everything else.

Take a wooden pencil or chopstick and lightly wedge the lock bar clear of the blade. If the blade (now swinging freely) rotating around the pivot is smooth, you need to consider if the detent track is fully worn in, or if the tiny ceramic detent ball (on the 21), or the track itself is contaminated with something sticky like fruit juice residue.

 

[Ajack60]

Since you’ve relubed it several times, you should have noticed if the washers were damaged. I would take that as a no. I’ve had a couple of smalls that for whatever reason had stronger detents. I know one was a Micarta inlay, don’t recall the other one. I didn’t keep them long enough to break them in. Mainly because I prefer a large.
Here’s what I’ve done before. Take it down, give it a good cleaning and relube using very little grease. Then, tighten the back screw first and snug the pivot and blade stop screws and see if that helps. You can always tighten up more if needed

 

[JonizZooted]

Since you’ve relubed it several times, you should have noticed if the washers were damaged. I would take that as a no. I’ve had a couple of smalls that for whatever reason had stronger detents. I know one was a Micarta inlay, don’t recall the other one. I didn’t keep them long enough to break them in. Mainly because I prefer a large.
Here’s what I’ve done before. Take it down, give it a good cleaning and relube using very little grease. Then, tighten the back screw first and snug the pivot and blade stop screws and see if that helps. You can always tighten up more if needed

I generally clean with rubbing alcohol on all the surfaces that attract dirt from the grease plus the blade and pivot bushing. Then I assembly the knife moving backwards, turn the screw holding the stop pin back a half turn in order to get the blade into place then tighten the screw holding the backspaced snug followed by the pivot. It generally works well, this knife is just slightly different. I guess I’m just trying to find out if I should try to move this one along and continue the search for one that feels like my other sebenzas or just wait it out in hopes that it improves.

 

[Ajack60]

I generally clean with rubbing alcohol on all the surfaces that attract dirt from the grease plus the blade and pivot bushing. Then I assembly the knife moving backwards, turn the screw holding the stop pin back a half turn in order to get the blade into place then tighten the screw holding the backspaced snug followed by the pivot. It generally works well, this knife is just slightly different. I guess I’m just trying to find out if I should try to move this one along and continue the search for one that feels like my other sebenzas or just wait it out in hopes that it improves.

Gotcha, if that's the case, it will take some time to get it broke in. I'm so use to them, I have a hard time determining if one is stiffer than another. Except for the regulars, those are crazy smooth and don't even compare to newer ones.
That's always a hit or miss as you know, to find one out of the box equal to your others. Unless you have a dealer close, it might take several attempts before you hit the right one.
If you're a patient person, it will get smoother with time. If not, happy hunting.

 

[Lapedog]

I currently own 3 small sebenza’s. 1 cross hatch with drop point blade. 1 PJ with an insingo blade and I recently purchased 1 micarta inlay insingo that is a few months old. The micarta insingo’s detent is MUCH stronger than the other two knives (those two have identical detents). Also even though the knife is smooth to open, it feels like there is much more resistance while opening the knife. My PJ insingo is so smooth that it’s jaw dropping while this knife is smooth but not impressively so at all. Has anyone else experienced this? I’ve relubed and cleaned the new micarta inlay as well as opened and closed it constantly for 4 days straight with no huge improvement. Is this fairly normal? Is it possible it shipped with a slightly damaged washer? Any advice is appreciated. I love the look of the inlay, I just wish it was as smooth as my PJ.

On the Sebenza 21s people offen accidentally pinch a washer between the pivot bushing and the titanium scale/frame.

Also make sure the detent ball itsekf is clean because I notice one of the things that makes a knife extremely gritty is if abit of sticky juice or something gets on the detent ball or track.

I agree thay you should hold the lockbar and thus detent ball open and off the side of the blade. Then check how free the action is like that. It might give you a better idea of what is getting gritty.
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Also my small 21 that is broken in is ridiculously smoother than my large 21 which is not broken in. Also despite the amazing tolerances some crks seem to come smoother than others.

 

[JonizZooted]

Thank you all for your advice!

 

[UseitorLoseit]

My experience with Sebenzas has been that strong detents just need time and use for the ceramic ball to round the edge of the detent hole in the blade. When the edge begins to round from use you'll notice the detent getting lighter.

The smoothness and resistance when opening has 2 variables assuming all parts are in good working order and not defective such as a pinched washer. This also assumes lock bar tension to be similar between your different knives. First is the condition of the detent ball track as previously stated. It will begin to polish itself from opening and closing. This will increase the smoothness. The second is the washer thickness vs bushing thickness. The scales are tightened at the pivot to the thickness of the bushing. When the total thickness of the blade and 2 washers is slightly thicker than the bushing it will require more force to open and close the knife. The washer thickness is slowly worn down through use (or polishing if one is inclined) that results in less force required to open and close the knife. If the washers become too thin then you may end up with blade play. Then the bushing must be thinned some to make up for the gap. This is the process done by hand on each knife before it leaves the shop. There will always be differences between knives because of this hand tuning. Tighter blades should loosen up with use.