Sebenza 31 Lock Rock?!

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bmilleker said:
I don't know what to believe when people say they don't have the lockflex. Some prominent people have said it, and it really makes me question wtf is going on. So much so that I have another 31 incoming. A large natural. I haven't seen anyone reporting issues with the naturals. But it's weird even saying that. ALL of them should be exhibiting this issue to some degree. It should be interesting to compare to my large black 31 that has flex.
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I believe rileybassman1 rileybassman1 has a natural micarta with flex issues.
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
I believe rileybassman1 rileybassman1 has a natural micarta with flex issues.
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Sharp is correct... My natural is symptomatic... my "flex" or "rock" is demonstrated by attempting to "wiggle" the blade (with my hand... not like crazy table top pressures) vertically and the movement can be felt and the tell tale "lock rock click" can be heard.

Good luck!! Hopefully your new natural is completely bug free! If the lock rock wasn't an issue, I would completely love the knife :-)
 
rileybassman1 said:
Sharp is correct... My natural is symptomatic... my "flex" or "rock" is demonstrated by attempting to "wiggle" the blade (with my hand... not like crazy table top pressures) vertically and the movement can be felt and the tell tale "lock rock click" can be heard.

Good luck!! Hopefully your new natural is completely bug free! If the lock rock wasn't an issue, I would completely love the knife :)
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I agree, the 31 is a beautiful thing...if they can get the lockup solid...CRK will have a huge winner.
 
rileybassman1 said:
Sharp is correct... My natural is symptomatic... my "flex" or "rock" is demonstrated by attempting to "wiggle" the blade (with my hand... not like crazy table top pressures) vertically and the movement can be felt and the tell tale "lock rock click" can be heard.

Good luck!! Hopefully your new natural is completely bug free! If the lock rock wasn't an issue, I would completely love the knife :)
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My expectations are set that it will have lockflex. I will be dumbfounded and shocked if it doesn't have any flex.
 
bmilleker said:
My expectations are set that it will have lockflex. I will be dumbfounded and shocked if it doesn't have any flex.
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Let us know how it is when you receive it. :)
Hopefully it doesnt suffer from the symptoms...that would be awesome. Would mean they fixed the issue. :)
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
How do we know the number of “perfectly good” 31’s vs. the number of “flexy ones?

ETA: I do agree with it being an execution in production, but I also think the lockbar and blade is too thin for the detent ball.
I feel like if someone wants the “upgrades” of an inkosi, buy an inkosi.
If you want “bank vault” lockup, buy a Sebenza. This is no longer the case, as the new Sebenza 31 is more of a Inkosi 31 with Sebenza shape.
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Basically every distributor has sold out, or nearly sold out of 31s. How many hundreds does that make if they've been trickling out since mid 2019? I'm making the assumption that just about every CRK purchaser is in some way active in the knife community because a Sebenza isn't exactly an impulse purchase, so if they had an issue (or have since become aware of said issue) they'd have joined the conversation.

I'm not so sure it's the blade thickness that's the problem (but I don't have a 31, so this is just theoretical speculation). A sphere contacts a plane (blade tang) at a point. As long as the point is located at a reasonable part of the tang. If anything, flexy 31s probably have their interfaces a bit too close to the pivot and allowing too much leverage and causing the lockbar to pivot up on the ball contact. As to why some are flexy and others seem fine, could be a combination of blade tang angles (which are CNC finished, compared to the 21's hand refined finish), slop in the blade from stop pin/washers imbalances.
 
hoimin said:
Basically every distributor has sold out, or nearly sold out of 31s. How many hundreds does that make if they've been trickling out since mid 2019? I'm making the assumption that just about every CRK purchaser is in some way active in the knife community because a Sebenza isn't exactly an impulse purchase, so if they had an issue (or have since become aware of said issue) they'd have joined the conversation.

I'm not so sure it's the blade thickness that's the problem (but I don't have a 31, so this is just theoretical speculation). A sphere contacts a plane (blade tang) at a point. As long as the point is located at a reasonable part of the tang. If anything, flexy 31s probably have their interfaces a bit too close to the pivot and allowing too much leverage and causing the lockbar to pivot up on the ball contact. As to why some are flexy and others seem fine, could be a combination of blade tang angles (which are CNC finished, compared to the 21's hand refined finish), slop in the blade from stop pin/washers imbalances.
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I agree, as I explained a few pages ago, with photos.
How many of said sold out 31’s went directly to the collectors safe? ;)
Im just nitpiking to be the devils advocate. Absolutely nothing personal. :)
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
I agree, as I explained a few pages ago, with photos.
How many of said sold out 31’s went directly to the collectors safe? ;)
Im just nitpiking to be the devils advocate. Absolutely nothing personal. :)
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Fair point (wait are people pumping PJ 31s into safes? Save some for the rest of us proles, pls)!

Definitely nothing personal taken here (and I hope I wasn't coming off sounding agitated). I just want to help solve this somehow even though I have only a small 21 on hand and internet photos and videos. Ideally, discussion here somehow stumbles into the cause for someone and the fix is something stupid like flip your stop pin around. Physically/mechanically, I can visualize exactly what's happening (the tang is 'wrapping' around 'under' the interface ball). Something is causing the ball interface to meet 'higher' on the tang than it should.

The description of your deep lockup is concerning as well and sounds like a related symptom.
 
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Sharp & Fiery said:
I agree, as I explained a few pages ago, with photos.
How many of said sold out 31’s went directly to the collectors safe? ;)
Im just nitpiking to be the devils advocate. Absolutely nothing personal. :)
Click to expand...

And quite frankly we all have different expectations of our knives... I handed my 31 to my wife after complaining about the lock rock and she tried to feel for it and said she didn't feel anything... who's to say one guy is attempting to feel for play with 5lbs of force and some of us are trying with 20 lbs. of force? I happen to have my "standard" as to the amount of force that I feel like it should be able to withstand... and I think some here have a similar bar... I'm not abusive to my knives, but I also know what, for me, a knife should be capable of... I have a $250 benchmade and a $260 ZT that are more solid then my $550 31... so for ME it causes an annoyance - but I'm the first to admit I'm anal about my knives lol.

For me it's gonna come down to A) will CRK address/fix this to where I'm happy B) if not, I will probably try a 21 as others report that it meets my criteria.

I've come to a place with my collecting where I have realized that if I have a knife that just "slightly" annoys me... I won't carry it as much and unfortunately (it's my own weakness) they become sub par in my mind... so I move on from them and find something that I have full confidence in... I think that myself, and I know sharp and others, want to be at a place where we have that odd "confidence" in our 31s.
 
rileybassman1 said:
And quite frankly we all have different expectations of our knives... I handed my 31 to my wife after complaining about the lock rock and she tried to feel for it and said she didn't feel anything... who's to say one guy is attempting to feel for play with 5lbs of force and some of us are trying with 20 lbs. of force? I happen to have my "standard" as to the amount of force that I feel like it should be able to withstand... and I think some here have a similar bar... I'm not abusive to my knives, but I also know what, for me, a knife should be capable of... I have a $250 benchmade and a $260 ZT that are more solid then my $550 31... so for ME it causes an annoyance - but I'm the first to admit I'm anal about my knives lol.

For me it's gonna come down to A) will CRK address/fix this to where I'm happy B) if not, I will probably try a 21 as others report that it meets my criteria.

I've come to a place with my collecting where I have realized that if I have a knife that just "slightly" annoys me... I won't carry it as much and unfortunately (it's my own weakness) they become sub par in my mind... so I move on from them and find something that I have full confidence in... I think that myself, and I know sharp and others, want to be at a place where we have that odd "confidence" in our 31s.
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Agreed. Im definitely OCD and a perfectionist. But I feel like, after all these years of collecting and using and tinkering with knives, I also have a certain level of lockflex acceptability. :D
 
Frank albergo said:
These are premium knives, they shouldent have lock rock ,or flecking, or Whatever you wanna call it , sebenzas are supposed to be bank vault lock up, that’s it
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Gonna have to agree with johnnytoxin johnnytoxin
All framelocks, no matter the price, will have lockbar flex with enough pressure on the spine.
 
That being said. Sebenza 21’s do have “bank vault” lockup, when you use the knife for cutting purposes. If you knock the spine off something accidentally, lock is gonna hold, and the lockbar will flex a touch.
It takes a lot of pressure on a sebenza 21’s blade spine to make the lockbar flex. And the blade spine should never have that amount of pressure on it anyways.
 
Frank albergo said:
Not when your paying 450 bucks
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Frank albergo said:
These are premium knives, they shouldent have lock rock ,or flecking, or Whatever you wanna call it , sebenzas are supposed to be bank vault lock up, that’s it
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Yes premium or not a frame lock is not the most rigid lock there is. I currently own two CRK’s. I’ve owned a Hinderer and a Strider in the past. I could make all of them flex with enough pressure. The Strider was the worst as it actually slipped instead of flexed. A frame lock is simply not the best idea for a lock no matter the price. Is it it safe enough? Yes, but it’s not the best, not by a long shot.
 
Well, another week almost hammered out with the 31.
Been using it at work to cut thick straps off bundles of wood, picked a couple slivers out, shaped some hardwood, trimmed some weeds and cut some sandwiches.
Its held up (obviously) during these relatively light tasks, but the blade play is still there. I’m trying not to let it bother me, but it still really does. :(
For now gonna keep on using it, but my Insingo 21, is always in my other pocket ready to do the work I may deem worrisome with the 31.
 
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