Should locking bar not stick at all?

J

JohnW

Joined
Sep 11, 2000
Messages
144
I just received my large Sebenza in the mail the other day. What a beautiful piece of engineering! After two days, I'm still finding small touches I hadn't noticed before.

My question is: Everything opens smoothly, and the locking bar engages to cover 75% of the tang. However, it seems to "stick" to the blade. It doesn't require excessive force to move it over, but it does require some force, and audibly "unsticks" as I do so.

Is this normal? Will it go away? Should it go away? I don't know whether to expect closing to operate as smoothly as opening.

By pressing against the locking bar at a slight angle, I'm able to easily open and close the knife single-handedly. But the locking bar still has to unstick, and the stick is sometimes lighter than other times. Is this bad for the locking bar? Will it cause unnatural wear on the lock? Should I send it in to be looked at?

Thanks!

p.s. BladeForums both introduced me to the Sebenza, and led me to buy it. It was not a mistake! Thanks to everybody here.
 
Congratulations on your new Sebenza, welcome to the club!

I've noticed that my small Sebenza does seem to "stick" to the blade a little bit, especially if it's been opened quickly. When it's flicked open the lockbar tends to cover something more like 90% of the tang, so the action is decidedly stickier.

It was a little bit difficult to unlock when it was new. Now it doesn't seem to require any more effort than a normal lockback knife. The unlocking action did feel a little "gritty" once (a grating feel when pushing the lockbar over, not the usual slight click) but disassembly and cleaning took care of that.

I think a little bit of sticking is normal...

If not, I'm going to feel really guilty.
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My large Sebbie did the same thing when I first got it. After about a week of opening and closing it became nice and smooth.
 
Slight sticking is to be expected, as one of the properties of Titanium is to "gall" when it comes in contact with the steel blade. This is a desirable attribute when it comes to liner locks (or integral locks). That's why the use of Titanium in liners has become so popular. All of my Sebenzas and Umfaans exhibit some degree of "stickiness", which is good - you wouldn't want the liner to slip easily!
 
It should stick a little, but you can try a little grease on the contact surfaces and see if that helps.

-Johnny
 
A little sticking is normal, that should smooth out after a couple weeks. If not, contact CRK. I wouldn't worry about a little sticking, it's part of the "bank vault" lockup of the Sebenza.
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Thanks for the tips. I'll give it time. It seemed to me also that little bit of stickness would be a good thing, to further prevent unwanted release. I only worried that perhaps the "galling" effect would cause metal transfer; I don't know what causes the stickiness, but I assumed it was some form of electron bonding.

BTW- The fact that so much "prior experience" is available on these forums is what makes them priceless! I've been led into a new-found love of metallurgy just by reading your posts. Thanks again.
 
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