Sebenza 31 Lock Rock?!

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Here is a fresh out of the box 31. The blade is perfectly centered when closed and completely tight when opened. The action is as smooth as can be. There is no flex when I apply hand pressure to the spine of the blade. The blade does not move off the stop pin, and there is no clicking noise. I will not whack the spine, and I will not do a table test. I just used hand strength to manipulate the blade. It is rock solid.

I am not saying that some people might not have defective knives, but the one I received is perfect. I have to believe that at least some of the issues people are reporting are due to obsessiveness. I would imagine that if I took this knife apart and put it back together several times, polished/sanded the washers, removed metal from the pivot bushing, or adjusted the stop pin multiple times that I could make it defective.

As far as I am concerned, the 31 is a fine knife. It is every bit as good as the 21 and probably less likely to suffer lock failure than the 21 because of the ceramic ball interface. Of course, I believe both the 21 and the 31 are perfectly safe.

Some might prefer one over the other, but that is just a personal preference. Both the 21 and 31 are great knives.
 
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Leslie Tomville said:
View attachment 1337476

I am not saying that some people might not have defective knives, but the one I received is perfect. I have to believe that at least some of the issues people are reporting are due to obsessiveness. I would imagine that if I took this knife apart and put it back together several times, polished/sanded the washers, removed metal from the pivot bushing, or adjusted the stop pin multiple times that I could make it defective.
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Wow. Try not to offend all the people with defective 31’s with one post.
My “removal of metal” from the messed up, wrong tolerance pivot bushing fixed my side/side issue.
Plus, some of us dont need to make our 31’s defective. They came that way.
 
Leslie Tomville said:
View attachment 1337476

Here is a fresh out of the box 31. The blade is perfectly centered when closed and completely tight when opened. The action is as smooth as can be. There is no flex when I apply hand pressure to the spine of the blade. The blade does not move off the stop pin, and there is no clicking noise. I will not whack the spine, and I will not do a table test. I just used hand strength to manipulate the blade. It is rock solid.

I am not saying that some people might not have defective knives, but the one I received is perfect. I have to believe that at least some of the issues people are reporting are due to obsessiveness. I would imagine that if I took this knife apart and put it back together several times, polished/sanded the washers, removed metal from the pivot bushing, or adjusted the stop pin multiple times that I could make it defective.

As far as I am concerned, the 31 is a fine knife. It is every bit as good as the 21 and probably less likely to suffer lock failure than the 21 because of the ceramic ball interface. Of course, I believe both the 21 and the 31 are perfectly safe.

Some might prefer one over the other, but that is just a personal preference. Both the 21 and 31 are great knives.
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That’s good news! I have the same knife coming at some point but with double lugs. Good to see them starting to show up with the boomerang damascus.

Hopefully I can have that same experience. If so... I am a happy customer.
 
It’s good to hear a positive review.
However, I wouldn’t discount or minimize reports of dissatisfaction.

My underlying hope is that “wonky” 31’s are sporadic (maybe sporadic+ due to novel production?) and that those knives will be made good.

I think that all of this business is amplified by the lockdown crap-show; no one has been able to send their 31 back to Bosie for a hands-on eval.

As I posted earlier in this thread, even the “infallible” 21 had sporadic QC issues from time to time.
 
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Leslie Tomville said:
View attachment 1337476

Here is a fresh out of the box 31. The blade is perfectly centered when closed and completely tight when opened. The action is as smooth as can be. There is no flex when I apply hand pressure to the spine of the blade. The blade does not move off the stop pin, and there is no clicking noise. I will not whack the spine, and I will not do a table test. I just used hand strength to manipulate the blade. It is rock solid.

I am not saying that some people might not have defective knives, but the one I received is perfect. I have to believe that at least some of the issues people are reporting are due to obsessiveness. I would imagine that if I took this knife apart and put it back together several times, polished/sanded the washers, removed metal from the pivot bushing, or adjusted the stop pin multiple times that I could make it defective.

As far as I am concerned, the 31 is a fine knife. It is every bit as good as the 21 and probably less likely to suffer lock failure than the 21 because of the ceramic ball interface. Of course, I believe both the 21 and the 31 are perfectly safe.

Some might prefer one over the other, but that is just a personal preference. Both the 21 and 31 are great knives.
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Is that a large or small? In fact, are we seeing more play with one vs the other? I’m brand new to CRK. 2 weeks to be exact. So not biased one way or the other. Like them both enough in their own way. Small PJ 31 and Large Inkosi. I can flex/bend the small 31 with gentle one fingered pressure. I can also flex/bend the Inkosi but not without 2 hands and fear of sharting. I wonder if a Large 31 would be more like the Small or the Inkosi.
 
mds694 said:
Is that a large or small? In fact, are we seeing more play with one vs the other? I’m brand new to CRK. 2 weeks to be exact. So not biased one way or the other. Like them both enough in their own way. Small PJ 31 and Large Inkosi. I can flex/bend the small 31 with gentle one fingered pressure. I can also flex/bend the Inkosi but not without 2 hands and fear of sharting. I wonder if a Large 31 would be more like the Small or the Inkosi.
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Thaks for sharing!

Another confirmed case of how the 31 is a lot more flexing then e.g. an Inkosi.

Regarding your question I sadly cannot say as I only have 21's. Surely some one that have the knives will answer you question. :)
 
mds694 said:
Is that a large or small? In fact, are we seeing more play with one vs the other? I’m brand new to CRK. 2 weeks to be exact. So not biased one way or the other. Like them both enough in their own way. Small PJ 31 and Large Inkosi. I can flex/bend the small 31 with gentle one fingered pressure. I can also flex/bend the Inkosi but not without 2 hands and fear of sharting. I wonder if a Large 31 would be more like the Small or the Inkosi.
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I literally laughed out on loud at your fear of sharting comment! Haha. Awesome.
 
I’ve got a True North Knives silver lug plain 31 on the way as well as a Knife Art CF 21 Inkosi while I still have the chance to replace the 21s I’ve sold in the past. I’ll be checking both. I’m confident CRK will fix the issue and if I have a problem I’ll be able to get it addressed. Plan to use the 31 as an EDC.
 
My pj large 31 arrived yesterday. Very slight amount of up down movement with pressure on the spine.

Not as bad as some shown here and on YouTube. I don't think I would have noticed if not for this thread.

However, the lockup is definitely not as solid as my old 25 or 21s . I'm hoping it wears in a bit .

Regardless, it will kick my 25 out of my pocket for the time being.
Matt
 
My 21 and 31 just arrived at the same time. The 21 CF locks up great. The 31 was born 3/10/20 and locks up great also. I can force about a half a mm of movement if I push pretty hard. I can’t really feel the movement, just barely can see it. It’s not enough for concern for me. I’m throwing it right in my pocket and will see if time and use causes it to become more noticeable.
 
mds694 said:
Is that a large or small? In fact, are we seeing more play with one vs the other? I’m brand new to CRK. 2 weeks to be exact. So not biased one way or the other. Like them both enough in their own way. Small PJ 31 and Large Inkosi. I can flex/bend the small 31 with gentle one fingered pressure. I can also flex/bend the Inkosi but not without 2 hands and fear of sharting. I wonder if a Large 31 would be more like the Small or the Inkosi.
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I didn't want to get caught up in this discussion much. I'll just say I think you are onto something here mds694, I had the small 31 inlayed and yes, it had minimal flex. I'll just add maybe, maybe, the large, with the bigger detent ball, would be less prone to have as much movement. Though again, it was very minimal in the small I had, and I wouldn't have a problem carrying it. My large inlayed 31 is on the way soon with Damascus. I'm excited.
 
blackend said:
I didn't want to get caught up in this discussion much. I'll just say I think you are onto something here mds694, I had the small 31 inlayed and yes, it had minimal flex. I'll just add maybe, maybe, the large, with the bigger detent ball, would be less prone to have as much movement. Though again, it was very minimal in the small I had, and I wouldn't have a problem carrying it. My large inlayed 31 is on the way soon with Damascus. I'm excited.
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I have owned both the large and small 31. Had to send the large back (not related to lock flex).

However size does not appear to matter, at least not in my case. My small 31 and my large 31 both flexed pretty easily. Compared to my numerous 21’s that barely budge at all even with much more force applied.

It is most certainly easier to eek out some lock flex with the 31s. It is absolutely a non issue for me though. I tend to just actually use my knives for what they are intended for, so I rarely find myself relying on the lock to keep myself from being injured. In actual use I never feel the lock flex on my small 31. Ever.
 
My small Sebenza 31 is rock solid with no movement of the lock at all. I am confident if there is an issue that Chris Reeves will stand behind their product. This is such a beautiful knife that I am not afraid to use.
 
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matt009au said:
My pj large 31 arrived yesterday. Very slight amount of up down movement with pressure on the spine.

Not as bad as some shown here and on YouTube. I don't think I would have noticed if not for this thread.

However, the lockup is definitely not as solid as my old 25 or 21s . I'm hoping it wears in a bit .

Regardless, it will kick my 25 out of my pocket for the time being.
Matt
Click to expand...

Just thought I'd give an update after 10 days exclusive carry and use. The minor flex issue mine had has pretty much resolved itself on my large 31 as the ball has worn in a bit against the blade tang .

Really liking the knife as well, hopefully they can sort out this issue in production soon.
 
6E6B8AF4-212B-4164-A3EA-11BDE6209AD6.jpeg
Fresh off the front steps!
Small amount of movement when pushing the blade towards the lock bar. Not enough for me to worry about for me.
Keep you guys posted on if it settles in.
 
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