Sebenza Stiffness

[knarfeng]

Sorry Nathan, It was no reflection on you. Your title reminded me of the old line, "is that a gun in your pocket..."

 

[Nathan Ihrke]

oh, i see exactly what you mean... too bad another title wouldn't fit the situation
my own brand name for erectile disfunction pills though
zulu for work stiffness

 

[Midget]

Like the others have said, they smooth out with use.

It seems to me that most Titanium framelocks are a little stiff/rough at first but all pretty much break in eventually. I think a lot of it has to do with the ball/detent as much as anything else - the ball has to wear into the blade a tiny bit in order for things to really smooth out (this will be exacerbated if the blade has a rougher finish). Also you have to keep in mind that Ti galls against steel.

Not a Sebenza but the same principle (plus I would have had to disassemble my Seb. to get the same effect ).

p.s. I know that you were also thinking about a Strider and they tend to be just a little stiff (read that as: usually even stiffer than a Sebenza/hard as heck to open and close) when new as well.

I think JAB nailed it on the head for this one. the ball detent needs to wear into the blade a little to allow for smoother opening. i haven't really experienced it as a problem on CRK sebenzas, however, because the stonewash finish of the blade is already relatively smooth. i DO have this issue with any strider folder, SNG/SMF. the beadblast finish is extremely rough and takes quite some time to wear in. in addition, that wear-in time causes premature wear on the ceramic ball detent-- you will notice on probably every sng/smf you see the detent will be worn flat even after just a few months use.



on every SNG/SMF i get, the first thing i do is disassemble the knife and polish the ball detent/contact area with a dremel felt wheel and polishing compound. this takes quite some time, but i find it to be worth the work. when it is very smooth and shiny, i reassemble the knife and immediately notice a difference in the knife action.

perhaps, if your sebenza is running rough you could consider this as well? or for any linerlocking/framelocking knife for that matter.