Sebenza Incident

Barrabas

Barrabas

Joined
Feb 8, 2005
Messages
1,135
Well, had a very unusual situation occur over the Christmas Holiday..
Seems as late one night, while batonning my Large web through some Aged oak to make some kindling - It jarred the bolt loose on the lanyard end - which in fact came COMPLETELY out of the knife - never knew it until the next morning when (back at the Casa) my wife said - "What's this?" - It was the blue spacer - just lying in the floor:eek:.

Immediately I knew what it was so got the seb - and sure enough it had come out. - Blade still opened, locked securely, but you can imagine how weird that was.

Anyway, thankfully when I got to the firepit, was able to find the Screw and the bolt, and have put some plumbers tape on it to keep it from happening again.

I have been very outspoken in the past concerning how disapointed I have been with several Striders, and had made the statement "had 4 Sebs - beat the crud out of all of them -with no issues."

Well, obviously that is no longer the case;).

Yes, I obviously use my knives for more than just standard cutting - Yes, I believe that if you are going to carry a folder, and spend any time in the woods - it better be able to handle what you throw at it, and no I had not previously messed with that bolt in any way. Yes, I have put several Sebs through the same routine - and never had a problem.

I guess the good news is, - glad that happened, as was pleasantly surprised that with even the bolt coming out, did not effect the knive's performance. Also am very glad that was able to get it corrected - BEFORE I may have been in a situation where I did not have a way to rectify it, and it could have turned into a real problem.

I was batonning & making wood curls all in all for about 30 minutes (It was very damp out side, and had rained for a day or so prior so had to cut pretty deep into the wood to find the dry stuff for curls) - have no idea at what point the screw and bolt had come out, because as I said - Spacer obviously stayed in place until I was inside before it fell out.

Just thought you might get a kick out of the story.

sp
 
Stuff happens, but in truth, I've had some quality issues with my Sebs. Out of the four I've owned( one was returned and replaced), two had blade wobble and one had the blade scraping the non-lock side of the handle to the point of having to send it back for another knife all together. The only thing keeping me from selling this one is the fear of regret and going out and spending even more money again to replace it. That said, I'm getting close. It's almost like I like the idea of the Sebenza more than the reality of owning one. That might sound odd, but it's the best I can do to explain my opinion of the Seb.
 
flipe8 said:
Stuff happens, but in truth, I've had some quality issues with my Sebs. Out of the four I've owned( one was returned and replaced), two had blade wobble and one had the blade scraping the non-lock side of the handle to the point of having to send it back for another knife all together. The only thing keeping me from selling this one is the fear of regret and going out and spending even more money again to replace it. That said, I'm getting close. It's almost like I like the idea of the Sebenza more than the reality of owning one. That might sound odd, but it's the best I can do to explain my opinion of the Seb.
Click to expand...

I hate to say this, but every seb I have owned ended up sold or traded. I bought a large wood not too long ago and thought I would keep indefinitely. Nope. traded it one week later.

I guess i like the idea more than the reality also.

Oh well!

take care,
brett
 
what the hell are you doing hacking at wood with a 450 dollar knife? get a machete.. or a ebay bowie knife if you are attacking wood.
 
you can break anything if you mistreat it enough.It is simple abuse,use the right tool for the job.pocket knives aren't made for spliting wood.how can you fault a manufacturer for this?
 
failure,breaking, having issues.loose,missing screw. take your pick,it is caused by using a folding knife as a maul.
 
matt said:
you can break anything if you mistreat it enough.It is simple abuse,use the right tool for the job.pocket knives aren't made for spliting wood.how can you fault a manufacturer for this?
Click to expand...

matt said:
failure,breaking, having issues.loose,missing screw. take your pick,it is caused by using a folding knife as a maul.
Click to expand...

Can you show us where the OP "faulted the manufacturer"...
 
I couldn't care less weather he faults the manufacturer you ,or me.my point is that if you use a tool for its intended use,this will not happen.I am not trying to defend the great sebenza,or to make it look bad,I own one and like it,but I use it as a folding knife only and wouldn't expect to split wood with it.
 
matt said:
I couldn't care less weather he faults the manufacturer you ,or me.my point is that if you use a tool for its intended use,this will not happen.I am not trying to defend the great sebenza,or to make it look bad,I own one and like it,but I use it as a folding knife only and wouldn't expect to split wood with it.
Click to expand...

well, apparently, it does split wood.;)
 
No blame against the manufacturer from here - just wish I had thought to put thread tape on the screws as soon as I got it; I normally am in the habit of doing that.

All that happened here was the screw fell out, I think it is neato that the structural integrity still held up until I could take care of that.

I couldn't care less weather he faults the manufacturer you ,or me.my point is that if you use a tool for its intended use,this will not happen.
Click to expand...

The use I mentioned in the original post was/is part of "intended use" for me. - that's why I pay that much for a knife, That's why I buy Sebs - I know they can handle my "intended use".

That's why other knives have not been able to keep the right to EDC - My Intended use - was more than they could handle.

I don't fault anyone for just using a knife to do normal cutting, but I look at some knives as tools for other potential uses as well - the Sebenza is only one of a couple of knives I own that can handle the full gambit of what I plan to do with a Folder.

As far as general cutting chores, I can do that with a slip joint :)

I see no reason to send it back to the Spa for any work at this time (no blade play in any way - lock is still very secure - and issue is resolved.
Sebs are still my favorite EDC until further notice.
 
The vibrations no doubt caused the screw to loosen and fall out.
But that's the nature of screws....sometimes they come unscrewed.
In several past threads I have mentioned that sometimes a riveted or pinned folder is better than a screw-construction folder.
When I look back at all of the folders I've ever had, the ones that were screw-constructed are the ones that gave me the most trouble.
If it weren't for products like Loc-Tite I probably would stop buying screw-constructed knives alltogether.

Sometimes pins and rivets are better (like on airplanes for example).


As for batoning and how tough the Sebenza is....yeah, it's tough, but it's not designed for splitting lumber.
An while you might use it for such, given time, it will eventually fail.
It's not a question of "if", but merely a question of "when".
 
I was under the impression that the type of screw the Sebenza used, a two-part male/female, did not require loctite or other adhesive to keep it together. Of course I understand that the vibration may have jarred it loose, but it looks like loctite or teflon tape would make it a bear to try to disassemble at a later date.

Nice to know that the Sebenza could take that type punishment if needed.:thumbup:
 
While yes the knife was used for cutting, but this kind of use is outside the parameters for what it was designed to do. That is why they make axes, chainsaws. Pick the right tool for the job, it works better most of the time.
 
As for batoning and how tough the Sebenza is....yeah, it's tough, but it's not designed for splitting lumber.
An while you might use it for such, given time, it will eventually fail.
It's not a question of "if", but merely a question of "when".
Click to expand...

Yes Sir, that is a great point - I should have clarified - I don't use the knife to do things like this on a regular occasion, but my EDC has to be able to do that - if needed, or if I just lose my mind and feel like it.

In the situation that led to the incident, I wanted to build a campfire, did not want however to use paper etc to light the fire, and was to lazy to walk back to the car get my hatchet / fixed blade, so decided to use the Seb to break up some kindling. Was not chopping down trees;), just splitting some kindling.

Sure there are better tools to do it, but none that I thought I would enjoy using more at the time. It was fun.
 
I think the title of your post should be "fastner on folder incident" not "Sebenza incident" as the folder did not fail in any way-wait a minute, the fastner did not fail either!
 
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