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Question about new sebenza...

U

UrQuattro

Joined
Mar 8, 2011
Messages
51
Hey, so I received the small sebenza with unique graphic an the hematite inset. I just had a question about the knife for y'all.

One question I have about the action of the blade... The COA card that came with it says that it is from 2008, and has been in the box in the original packaging since then. On the other non-assisted folders that I have, they will open fully with just a flick of the thumb on the thumbstud, but with this knife, it doesn't flick open, I have to manually open it fully. It isn't a big deal, but I'm just wondering if maybe the original lube that was applied at the factory has dried up and is giving less lubrication. When I first got it, I opened and closed it a bunch of time to see if it would loosen up at all. After about 20 cycles, it started feeling less smooth and almost like the movement was "gritty" but after I kept open and closing the knife, it started being really smooth again.

I could order some of the recommended lubricant from chris reeve, but there has to be somewhere local I can get some you'd think... There is a knife/gun shop that I think sells a lot of quality knives. I could give them a call.

Do you know if there are any other lubricants for the bearings? As far as generally cleaning it and giving it a coating of of either wd-40 or a gun oil. I haven't done that on any of the knives I have. But I've onl been collecting for abbout 4 months or so, maybe a little longer, and I don't use the knives really, I've just been building a collection, but I want to make sure I take care of them properly. So any suggestions on products an techniques would be awesome.

Any advice on that, or just general education about the characteristics of these knives?

Thank you so much in advance. I really appreciate it!

Michael
 
Do not flick. It's my understanding that they are designed to NOT be flicking knives.
I went through the same process when I got my first one. You will soon find the joy of just opening them with purpose..not flicking them, I have :D
 
I would just take it apart and clean it. Go ahead and order some of the CR grease.

I know they say, "not to flip a sebenza", but if you do it light enough with just thumb power(after yours loosens up) im sure its not going to hurt it.
 
I would not use any oil type lubricants on the bushings or WD-40. The lubricant CR sells is a grease, you do not want excess oil running out while the knife is in your pocket, good way to ruin some cloths. I would get the CR lubricants although some have posted that they got good results with some hi end gun grease. But I figure as much as I spent on my Sebbies and Zaan, why not spend the $12.00 to get the recommended grease. The grease will last a very long time.

Today I ordered another new small Sebenza with a build date of March 07. The first thing I'll do is take it apart and clean and lube the knife because the grease has been sitting somewhere since 07. I use soap, water and a tooth brush to clean mine up and make sure I dry every part real good, then lube it while putting it together. Welcome to the addiction, I purchased my first Sebenza in the beginning of May, as of June 1st, I have 3 Sebenza and 2 Zaans. Good luck.
 
Hey, I'm totally new to the CR forum but I'll tell ya...if you want a knife that'll slam open time after time and stay super tight, get one of the new Cold Steel offerings with the Andrew Demko lock back design. I have a tanto recon and I've been slamming that thing open for the past year and it's still super tight. I'm not knocking CR knives especially after I read the post from CR last year about slamming the door of a Porsche open. You should get one just to take your frustrations out and then put your Sebbie in your pocket. Think of it as warming up before a game. You just need to warm up before using a Sebenza. :)
 
In my experience a sebenza thats in perfect working order is very easy to flick open with just flipping the thumb. No wrist movement involved. Just a flick of the thumb and it opens
up nice and quick. The grease on your old stock sebbie will definitley be dried out and probably be a dark color. It would be a good idea to break it down and re lube with Chris grease that
he sells. This grease is very viscous and doesnt disspate as quickly as the thinner oils out on the market. Make sure the sebbie is assembled correctly and proceed to break it in for a couple
days. It should be in great working order in no time.
 
I have never had a properly lubed Sebenza that would flick. They just don't, the tolerances are very tight, and really flicking (as opposed to "thumb flicking") is going to batter any knife pretty quickly. I've bought Sebs a little older than that, new in the box, and the grease does get a little dry. I would use the CRK grease. The knife is meant to be disassembled for cleaning and lube, unlike almost any other company's knives, so don't worry about voiding warranties, etc.

UrQuattro said:
Hey, so I received the small sebenza with unique graphic an the hematite inset. I just had a question about the knife for y'all.

One question I have about the action of the blade... The COA card that came with it says that it is from 2008, and has been in the box in the original packaging since then. On the other non-assisted folders that I have, they will open fully with just a flick of the thumb on the thumbstud, but with this knife, it doesn't flick open, I have to manually open it fully. It isn't a big deal, but I'm just wondering if maybe the original lube that was applied at the factory has dried up and is giving less lubrication. When I first got it, I opened and closed it a bunch of time to see if it would loosen up at all. After about 20 cycles, it started feeling less smooth and almost like the movement was "gritty" but after I kept open and closing the knife, it started being really smooth again.

I could order some of the recommended lubricant from chris reeve, but there has to be somewhere local I can get some you'd think... There is a knife/gun shop that I think sells a lot of quality knives. I could give them a call.

Do you know if there are any other lubricants for the bearings? As far as generally cleaning it and giving it a coating of of either wd-40 or a gun oil. I haven't done that on any of the knives I have. But I've onl been collecting for abbout 4 months or so, maybe a little longer, and I don't use the knives really, I've just been building a collection, but I want to make sure I take care of them properly. So any suggestions on products an techniques would be awesome.

Any advice on that, or just general education about the characteristics of these knives?

Thank you so much in advance. I really appreciate it!

Michael
Click to expand...
 
The opening of the sebenza is more hydraulic than a slick flipper type action. Sebenzas are not designed to be "flicked" or "flipped" open and many many threads debated that topic and Chris has even spoken about it. In my experience, the regular sebenzas feel more hydraulic than the 21's, but maybe thats just me. My newest large regular sebenza, when I got it, I took it apart, thoroughly cleaned it and lubed it up. With the the flick of the thumbstud ( not flicking, opening as intended ), it opened lightening fast, almost xm-like. I actually did not like how fast it opens, so I removed the blade and removed the oil I added and now its back to a more hydraulic-like opening. I still opens smoother and faster than I would like, but its a 100% better I think. I am sure my large regular opening that fast lubed up would be a dream for many owners, but not for me. I just like em how I like em.....:D
 
nyefmaker said:
.. In my experience, the regular sebenzas feel more hydraulic than the 21's, but maybe thats just me. .
Click to expand...

It's not just you ;)

You can get a Sebenza to have that greasy-fast opening, but it's not designed that way from the shop. The perfectly-smooth "hydraulic" feel is intentional, and the CRK grease further promotes this trait. I had a Classic that I experimented on by polishing the washers and the inside of the titanium handles, then lubbing the pivot area with extremely viscus "Super-Lube" oil. I could pop it open as fast as my Benchmade after that little treatment. After a couple of weeks I decided that I prefered the signature Sebenza feel to "greasy-quick", so I stripped the oil off, roughened up the washers a little, and then reassembled the pivot using CRK grease. Perfectly smooth, controlled, solid opening - a real Sebenza.

Then I sold it.:o
 
Last edited:
This seems to come up regularly these days about a new Sebenza (be it old stock 2006 or new, that has been lying around for some time).

I am just going to quote myself.

marthinus said:
First: Congrats on your knife.

Now some technical stuff:

When you receive the Sebenza new the knife will need to cycle a few hundred times in order for the stone wash finish under the washers to become polished. This holds the same for the travel area under the ceramic ball. So you will feel resistance due to the stone washed finish until it becomes polished like a mirror under the pivot washers. This takes TIME!

My Insingo was hard (compared to my old small), I handled a polished blade from CR and the difference was HUGE! That is how I realised the stone wash finish gives resistance and just kept on using it and it smoothed out dramatically.

If you have taken your knife apart just a word of advice, look at some vids and the sticky to make sure you do not pinch a washer!

Other then that, just use the knife. Everyone has their own lube that works for them. Mine is a machine oil designed for the fine gears in a sowing machine.
Click to expand...

You wont be able to thumb (flick) the blade open when new, the tolerances are to tight. Just keep using and it will smooth out. Excessive flicking will cause wear on any knife. I think CRK advise against it because they want the knife to last you a life time and so that you dont have to send it in for repair. Sometimes I push a bit to hard with the thumb and there it goes....it sometimes just happen.

Here it states in the CRK FAQ on their website.

"Please note that excessive flicking of the blade will also produce a rough action. Continuous wrist flicking will eventually damage the lock because the stop pin and back of the blade are not designed for that sort of continual shock."
 
Hey all,

Thanks for the feedback.

Wardleather - I'm going to assume that whole post was a joke. Though I do drive an '81 Porsche 911 and take it to the track every month. Quality engineering is built to be used HARD for it's originally designed purpose.

I guess I need to clarify a bit. I'm not trying to basically "throw" the blade out of the handle using my wrist as leverage at all. I just wondered if it is normal to have to push relatively hard on the blade all the way through it's travel, till it's open, with my thumb, or should it feel easy enough to open that if I WANTED to give it a good flick, it would open. With mine (and I do assume some time for the break-in process to occur, with the bearings seating and such), it feels almost overly tight.

Even if I tried really hard, I wouldn't be able to flick the knife open, wrist or not. The blade just won't move at all unless I put a fair amount of pressure on the thumbstud. Again, the action is really smooth, but it feels pretty tight.

I'm gonna place the order for the oil that the factory sells. I was wondering if anyone knew if any of the online dealers for chris reeve knives sell it, and have an automated payment system.

Oh, and I noticed that if I pull back the frame lock from the portion of the blade that it rides on, it moves MUCH easier. I'm assuming that is normal. Should I lube the track that the pressure from the lock puts on the blade as it rotates open? Or is that just part of the break in process?

I don't have any ambitions of abusing this knife, but I do plan on using it, and I don't want to accidentally mess up the knife by using it as is until I can get ahold of the proper grease for it.

Thanks everyone.

Michael
 
Yes, put lube on the ball detent track of the blade, ball, ball hole, frame lock top *why not* and anything having to do with the ball detent. This is the answer to those that have a gritty opening/closing Sebenza if you have a smooth moving blade when the frame lock is pushed away *not touching* from the blade.

Everyone always mentions to take apart the knife completely. This is not needed if the blade moves smoothly but the ball detent causes the gritty motion.
 
Keep cycling it open and closed. After a while the ceramic ball detent will wear a mirrored path on the blade tang, and the phosphor bronze washers will start to get polished.

For what it's worth, I can thumb flick mine easily. I just don't wrist flick it.
 
I Removed the blade assembly a couple weeks ago and found that whatever lube MAY have been there when it was sent out from CR, none/not much was left. I got a syringe of ptfe lube grime radio shack and cleaned the washers well, as well as the pivot bearing and the inside of the handle. After applying the lube and reassembling it, it was like a totally different knife.

I did the requisite wrist-flick a few times to set it, and now it opens beautifully. It isn't loose enough to be shaken out of the handle, but a thumb-flick will get it open. The action was a little OVER lubricated at first, but it has been getting better as I break it in.

And I think I'm driving heather a lt CR CRAZY with my order for my large sebbie with Spirograph Damascus, and mammoth inlays. I really wanted to add a small cabochon, but she said that wouldnt be physically possible, and my idea of having an inlay of ivory and one of ebony on the top with ivory bark on the bottom was rejected. The inlays have to be the same material.

But now I can't decide between mammoth bark or the inner ivory. Most of tue bark is either uniformly brown and looks like wood, or just doesn't seem to look much like ivory. So I'm trying to find out if I can request the character of the mammoth bark.

Hehe... I mean, I'm paying a grand for the knife, and I think I'm gonna order a second one too as a sister knife, but I don't know what I would do with that one. Maybe one has raindrop Damascus with bark ivory and the first one is the Spirograph with inner ivory.

I just don't know.

Michael
 
nyefmaker said:
The opening of the sebenza is more hydraulic than a slick flipper type action. Sebenzas are not designed to be "flicked" or "flipped" open and many many threads debated that topic and Chris has even spoken about it. In my experience, the regular sebenzas feel more hydraulic than the 21's, but maybe thats just me. My newest large regular sebenza, when I got it, I took it apart, thoroughly cleaned it and lubed it up. With the the flick of the thumbstud ( not flicking, opening as intended ), it opened lightening fast, almost xm-like. I actually did not like how fast it opens, so I removed the blade and removed the oil I added and now its back to a more hydraulic-like opening. I still opens smoother and faster than I would like, but its a 100% better I think. I am sure my large regular opening that fast lubed up would be a dream for many owners, but not for me. I just like em how I like em.....:D
Click to expand...

You nailed it. I've never seen the word "hydraulic" applied to describing the opening/closing operation of the Sebenza, but it fits perfectly.

Prof.
 
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