Opening & Closing the large Sebenza

B

Bulldawg

Joined
Sep 4, 2002
Messages
103
I am sorry, I am sure this subject has been beaten to death.

What is the best way to open the Large Sebenza? I have sort of small hands and I think it is a bit hard to open. I know it is new and it may have to work in a bit. Do you guys start with opening the blade a bit with the stud then taking the other hand and pulling the blade open fully? It is obviously not the type of knife you are going to snap open which is fine with me, that doesn't bother me. Closing is a bit hard also to get the bar to slide over? My thumb is sort of taking a beating. I didn't want to go with the small at first because then I thought I would be missing out since the large just looks in my opinion awesome. Any suggestions would help, or is this just a bunch of bs on my part to get a small Sebenza?
 
Are you putting direct pressure on the stud with your thumb? Or are you sweeping it from the side? The Sebenza was designed to be opened with a sweeping motion. Just remember not to press directly into that pointy stud.
The Sebenza is a little harder to open than most one-hand folders. After a little practice you'll get used to it.

Paul
 
I agree with Paul. The sweeping motion is a must to open it smoothly. Pushing down on the stud and trying to open it at the same time would make it very hard to open smoothly. When closing put your thumb right up at the junction of frame and blade tang. The knife will break in with some use.
 
My gawd, shiver me timbers, imperfect ergonomics on a benza. Who would have known. It should lie in your hand like a lover and jump open on voice command.
 
I dont have any problem opening my small or large but the large is much easier than the small as it has double lugs so you can start off the opening with both your thumb and trigger finger.

I do find the scaloping on the my small regular locking bar to dig into my thumb after playing with for a while :D The half moon shaped cut out on the large classic does not do this at all.
 
I chewed the heck out of my thumb before I learned to open a Sebenza correctly. It's natural to want to push straight upward on the lug, as that is the direction you want the blade to go. But the blade opens in a round semi-circle, which is what you have to do with your thumb.

Of course now I am a master...
 
I don't think this topic has been overdone. When I had problems with it last year I didn't find this kind of information on the forum. I contacted the company and Chris Reeve himself called me up and gave me a short lesson in Sebenza opening. I learned, as you will, that the trick is to flip it open with your thumb against the stud. Don't press on the stud.
 
Is there anything special about the Sebenza's opening? Don't these tips apply to all folders with thumbstuds?

The arc-as-opposed-to-straight-line method is a must for knives with small pointy thumbstuds, since your thumb isn't going to be able to stay on the thumbstud if you just push in a straight line.

----

LOL, we should all step back and take a look at what we're discussing in this thread. We're incurable knifenuts. :)
 
so its more with the thumb nail than the acual thumb?
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I use the tip of my thumb (below the nail) but I think you have the general idea. If you look at the thumbstud your goal is to push it away from the handle in an arc around the pivot. You do not want to push the thumbstud into the blade. That is what causes the rough action.

Is there anything special about the Sebenza's opening?
Click to expand...
We can get away with excessive pushing into the thumbstud on most folders. The precision fit Sebenza is less forgiving. I believe that my learning to correctly open my Sebenza helped my general folder opening technique.

I'm a knife nut :D. My small classic Sebenza happens to be my EDC knife today :D.
 
Originally posted by Rev. Pete
You do not want to push the thumbstud into the blade. That is what causes the rough action.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I never thought of that. I suppose the relatively sloppy fit of other knives will allow you some slack in the amount of pressure you can put on the blade.

A problem with a framelock (Kershaw Vapor) that I have is that my middle and ring fingers fall naturally onto the locking bar when opening the knife. In effect, this holds the rather big detent ball in place and makes it very hard to open the knife, especially with the pointy thumbstud (it looks exactly like Madonna's pointy bra). So I've had to shift my hand around to open the knife. My only other similar framelock (Camillus EDC) does not have this problem because of the better thumbstud and smaller detent ball.

Does this situation occur with the Sebenza's? Please don't stone me to death for suggesting such a heretical thought, it's all in the name of knifexploration. :)
 
It is obviously not the type of knife you are going to snap open which is fine with me, that doesn't bother me. Closing is a bit hard also to get the bar to slide over? My thumb is sort of taking a beating
Click to expand...

Just as I suspected, Sebenzas are junk. Tell ya what, I trade ya a Gerber Gator, Like New for it :D
 
Originally posted by AlphalphaPB
A problem with a framelock (Kershaw Vapor) that I have is that my middle and ring fingers fall naturally onto the locking bar when opening the knife. In effect, this holds the rather big detent ball in place and makes it very hard to open the knife, especially with the pointy thumbstud (it looks exactly like Madonna's pointy bra).
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my Vapor.. drives me nuts... hate the knife. What i did to minimized Thumb distress and chagrin, is file down the top of Madonna's pointy bra.. now it hurts much less thank you :D
 
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