Sebenza lockup problems?

You can push any knife beyond it's intended design. CR tolerances and design are the best I've seen in 30/years of looking for EDC perfection.
 
Livefreeordie92 said:
I've had 3 sebenzas, all of which I could get a very small ammount of up and down lock flex/lock rock out of. It's annoying as hell. Especially for a knife that's supposed to be perfect. Anyone else have this problem, or is this just normal? Idk. It almost makes me want to stop buying them.
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Livefreeordie92,
Chris is interested in seeing the three Sebenzas you are having trouble with. Could you please send them to us at Chris Reeve Knives? If you email me at crkinfo@chrisreeve.com I will send you instructions on how to send your knives to us.
Thank you,
Heather
Chris Reeve Knives
 
I'm not saying that this can't happen or that every knife that leaves the shop is perfect, mistakes happen, but that's what the superb customer service and outstanding warranty are for isn't it?
With that said I only have seven CRK's right now and none of them have blade play in any direction, nor have any of the other 6 or ten that I've owned.
I searched a long time for the perfect edc blade and CRK is as close to knife nirvana as I've found.
Yes, Heather does rock!
I hope that you send in your knives so that they can be repaired and you can find in your knives the same happiness that the rest of us have found. Good luck.
 
I just received my first Sebenza on Friday, a large 21, and it's rock solid any way I try to move the blade. It's hard as hell to open with one hand, but it's solid. :D
 
diracismyhero said:
In every single CRK I have ever handled, small sebenzas, large sebenzas, and umnumzaans, I could feel movement when the knives were fully opened. Most of these were new and it is many more than I can count. It isn't the blade flexing, it is the lockbar flexing. It is an element of the design. If someone says they can't feel movement, more than likely they aren't trying hard enough.
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Why would it be necessary to try hard enough? Seems to me leaning on the blade hard enough to make it move is a pointless endeavor.
 
I own two, a large regular and small classic.

I started to notice some lock-rock (vertical play) on my large after a couple of months of carrying and use. It only happened when I forced it a bit (I shouldn't, I know... but my OCD about these types of things caused me to "test" it a bit more than I should have. I don't know if I was hoping it would stop or what). My rather obsessive toying with it unfortunately came to a stop after the lock failed and the blade bit pretty deep into my thumb.

After that, I took to trying to fix the issue myself. I probably should have sent it in, but I have a weird thing about having to at least attempt to tackle repairs myself.

I noticed my issue came from two things, first being the way I closed it. I normally close my knives one-handed, disengaging the lock with my thumb, and closing with my other fingers. Since I am putting closing pressure on the knife while the lockbar is still engaged, the edge of the lockbar was getting ground away a bit. This ended up changing the angle of the interface between the bar and the blade. This changed angle meant more of the vertical force on the blade would be converted to horizontal force on the lock bar. With enough force, it was able to disengage itself to a point (it flew open past the stopping point on the one occasion that it completely failed).

The second part, and probably part of the cause behind the first issue, was due to decreased lockbar tension, likely from overtravel when disengaging. The lock-up was extremely early, and never really settled too much further, likely due to the tension not wanting to push it a whole lot further.

I bent the lock bar a little further to increase tension, and flattened out the face of the lock bar slightly. I also would press the lock into position whenever opened to try and force it into a later lock-up. It was sticky for about a week until everything settled in, but it took care of the issues and the thing is now pretty much perfect.

My small Sebenza, although I carry it quite a bit less, hasn't experienced any of these problems, and is pretty much perfect. I think part of it is due to the shorter length of the lock bar, but also a deeper initial lock-up. Now that it has settled in a bit, I believe I'd have to try extremely hard or use power tools to recreate the issue I had with my large.

I would offer video or pictures... but the issue has been fixed for close to a year now, and my "tweaks" aren't really noticeable beyond normal wear. If anyone is interested, I suppose I could draw a picture of what happened for clarification. It's kind of an issue that I would assume to be inherent in any RIL folder if wearing of the lock face takes a certain path. I believe it would be an issue that either happens early in the life when the lock hasn't quite settled, or it doesn't. If it does happen, it is a bit self-reinforcing and does get worse.

Only "fixes" I could think of would be to add a lock-bar stabilizer, carbidizing the lock-face (or using an insert), or changing the distance of the lock face to the pivot... all of which would change the clean aesthetics that make the Sebenza a Sebenza.
 
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