Possible BG-42 Small Regular???

[TyFrameLock]

I finally got my second Small Regular Sebenza today and I noticed it had a very early lockup, so the first thing I did was tear it down to clean it up, make sure everything was kosher, and swap out the lanyard to the blue spacer style and as soon as I took the larger washer off I noticed that there was no "S" stamped on the blade....so I tore down my first Small Regular and sure enough it had an "S"....

My first one has a birth card of May 2007 and this second one is April 2007 both say they have S30v...Plus they were both supposedly NIB which they were both MINT when I got them with the factory lanyards tied on and the washers were a little tarnished which led me to believe that they sat in there boxes until now.

So my conclusion is either:

A) CRK didn't stamp a blade by accident?? Which i doubt?

2) Someone did a blade swap from s30v to bg42?

What do you think?

Also, the lockup is still very early, so I might have to call up CRK and have them look at it, see if they can adjust the lockup while being able to keep the blade if it is bg42 because I thought it was s30v and it really turned out to be BG42 which would be BONUS!

Plus they could swap out to perforated washers while it was there anyways.

Picture Porn...i mean Evidence!

 

[safetyman]

I can't say for sure. You'll need to send me the knife for a closer inspection...as well as your address so I can send you the bill .

 

[Professor]

Despite the birth cards, what is the alpha-numeric stamping on the inside of the handle slabs of the Seb in question? Could be a mis-matched card and knife. If the stamping matches the card, then your theory about someone swapping out a BG-42 blade is not a bad one at all. Stranger things have happened, and I would guess your theory is correct given the pic of that lockup.

Professor.

 

[DallasSTB]

I'm more inclined to think that the "S" was left off by accident. Chris has said many times that even though the knives are checked several times before they leave the shop, his guys are human and sometimes miss things. IIRC they only have about 18 employees producting all the current models of CR knives. Since BG42 blades are so desirable these days, having one swapped out for a current S30V, or even a damascus, would be quite odd. The only way to be really certain would be to have someone perform a hardness test. A BG42 blade would come in around 60-61, while an S30V blade would be 58-59RC.

If you send the knife back to CRK for the lockup issue, you might ask them to check the blade. Maybe they can run a hardness test themselves if you ask nice. Maybe not.

 

[Professor]

I'd be happy with that lockup, though CRK would consider it out of spec. The lockup is a clue to me that there may have been a blade swap, regardless of blade steel type.

Professor.

 

[stjames]

Did they come with those lanyards? The lanyard posts and beads were not in use back in '07.

 

[DallasSTB]

The CR sleuths are out today

I'd be happy with that lockup, though CRK would consider it out of spec. The lockup is a clue to me that there may have been a blade swap, regardless of blade steel type.

Professor.

Good observation and a valid point, but that condition could also be caused by other issues - such as improper reassembly or too much/too little lube. Again, if the OP isn't satisfied with the lockup, then I'd recommend sending it back to the CR shop with the express desire to preserve the blade. In theory, it should be easier to adjust a blade with too little lock-up vs. one with too much.

 

[TyFrameLock]

Both slabs on both sebenzas have an A07 stamp which matches the birthcards.

I added the lanyards which I got from northwest blades. I stated in my life story above that both knives had the factory lanyard tied on without the pin.

I took the knife in question apart and put it back together 3 times with the same lockup resulting.

thanks for the suggestion on the hardness test I will contact the reeves today and see if they can do that.

thanks for the replies I hope I can figure this out.

-Tyler

mobile HTC message

 

[stjames]

I'm more inclined to think that the "S" was left off by accident.

I'm with Steve on this one, it is more than likely a stamp was missed than a swap was made and not mentioned somewhere down the line.

 

[JNewell]

I'm with Steve on this one, it is more than likely a stamp was missed than a swap was made and not mentioned somewhere down the line.

Yes...among other things, it's a little hard to imagine someone forgetting that they'd put a BG-42 blade into a Seb and then selling it as a normal S30V knife. It's equally hard to imagine someone doing an accidental installation of a BG-42 blade at CRK.

Actually, now that I think about it, when I talked to CRK a year or so ago about DL'ing a BG-42 Seb and concerns about cracking the blade, they told me they didn't have any spare BG-42 blades and hadn't had any for years, so it is very possible that there were no BG-42 blades in the shop when those knives were made.

 

[flintsghost]

While you may not plan on using these, I know you could tell it was BG-42 or not if you used it. I have a Crawford mini Kasper with a BG-42 blade and I used it a lot. It's stays sharp well, but when it gets dull, you'll get bored before it gets sharp. That's almost a career in itself.