Umnum blade play?

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pinkfloyd101

Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Messages
187
I have a few questions regarding my umnum. First off, I really like this knife, but there is a concern I have after using and owning this knife for about a year. I notice I have vertical blade play on my umnum. I notice this when I open the knife....and if I wiggle the blade up and down with my left hand while holding the frame in the right, I have minor PLAY. Is this normal? I was thinking it could be normal for a few reasons. 1) The tang of the blade is resting on a ceramic ball which has a small contact area. The blade when moved up and down, slides easy on the ball. I also notice the lock bar is also moving slightly up and down when I check for play. 2) I sent the knife in at the beginning of last summer for this play reason, and when I got the knife back, nothing was changed...it still seemed to have this minor vertical blade play. Can other people with umnum's check theirs out and see if they have this minor play??? I was also wondering if you can push your lockbar to the other side of the ti handle because I can on mine. When I open mine, it doesn't engauge 100% but if I squeeze the handle tight or push the lockbar over it will engauge 100%. THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE.
 
When I grab the blade on mine and try to move it up and down, there is a very, very slight bit of movement. It can be felt and seen at the thumbstuds around the O-rings. I also notice the lock bar is has a bit of movement in it when pressure is applied to it. I'm also of the opinion it's the result of the smaller contact surface with the ceramic ball. It doesn't concern me, but I wish it wasn't there, truth be told.
 
Mine did this as well. It looks normal and I think the small contact of the ceramic ball is the cause. Functionally it's safe I think.
 
I had a similar problem and the knife failed a minor spine tap on the bottom of my foot. After an excellent conversation with Chris Reeve himself I decided to send it in so they could take a look at it. I'm hoping to hear back Monday.

I wasn't comfortable with the lockup. Play of that sort just wasn't what I pictured. I love the ceramic ball, but locking up and then sliding across the tang backwards just didn't feel right.
 
I just checked mine. I got it used in a trade last fall. It locks up at 60% no matter how much I squeeze the handle. There also is no blade play either verticle or horizontal.

I do agree with you guys and have made posts on this very thing. This is where I like the sebenza better because it has more contact service on the lock. Not only does this reduce blade play, but I feel it makes for more of a positive lock up as well.
 
flipe8 said:
When I grab the blade on mine and try to move it up and down, there is a very, very slight bit of movement. It can be felt and seen at the thumbstuds around the O-rings. I also notice the lock bar is has a bit of movement in it when pressure is applied to it. I'm also of the opinion it's the result of the smaller contact surface with the ceramic ball. It doesn't concern me, but I wish it wasn't there, truth be told.
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat as you. It doesn't concern me because the knife still works and functions just great, but at the same time the slight blade play does bother me because for the cost of the knife....it would be nice to have zero blade play. I guess I should have went with a sebbie, except I like the look, blade shape, and thumb spine/ramp much more on the zaan.
 
nyefmaker said:
I just checked mine. I got it used in a trade last fall. It locks up at 60% no matter how much I squeeze the handle. There also is no blade play either verticle or horizontal.

I do agree with you guys and have made posts on this very thing. This is where I like the sebenza better because it has more contact service on the lock. Not only does this reduce blade play, but I feel it makes for more of a positive lock up as well.
Click to expand...

The lockbar has vertical movement if you squeeze it and that is what causes the bladeplay. The ceramic ball is smooth against the blade tang so you can move it.
 
mongomondo said:
The lockbar has vertical movement if you squeeze it and that is what causes the bladeplay. The ceramic ball is smooth against the blade tang so you can move it.
Click to expand...

I have noticed that ( the guy stabbing the fridge video showed it ), but my umnumzaan does not have any blade play. Because of the ceramic ball you can do this because of the round surface. With the sebenza you cant because you have a wider locking surface, aprox. 1/4

I only pushed mine a little when I saw that video, to me, it puts pressure on the lock in the opposite way. If constantly doing that, I am thinking it could weaken the lock or cause lock failure.

I am happy with my umnumzaan, I like he lockbar on the sebbie better as I feel its more positive, but I have had no issues with mine at all. I got it used, so its been around a bit. I like it so much I would like to get the tanto version.
 
nyefmaker said:
I only pushed mine a little when I saw that video, to me, it puts pressure on the lock in the opposite way. If constantly doing that, I am thinking it could weaken the lock or cause lock failure.
Click to expand...

Mine gets pushed up/down and in when I am using my knife. I grip my knives hard when using them. I really hope it doesn't cause lock up failure by the lock bar moving up and down on the tang during use. I don't really see how this could affect lock up, but if it does, then my knife and a lot of other owners are in trouble. I actually just wish that the umnum used the same design as the sebbie for the lock, but I like everything else about the zaan way more than the seb( I do wish the zaan used a bushing too).....:(
 
pinkfloyd101 said:
Mine gets pushed up/down and in when I am using my knife. I grip my knives hard when using them. I really hope it doesn't cause lock up failure by the lock bar moving up and down on the tang during use. I don't really see how this could affect lock up, but if it does, then my knife and a lot of other owners are in trouble. I actually just wish that the umnum used the same design as the sebbie for the lock, but I like everything else about the zaan way more than the seb( I do wish the zaan used a bushing too).....:(
Click to expand...

Thats why I went for the seb over the Zaan. I am glad I did :P
 
Wow so many ppl saying their so glad they didnt get a zaan, show some compassion for those that are stuck with one :-p lol, mine also fails when the spines tapped, I dont know how I can trust it, none my other knives do this.
 
My knife has a similar problem to the OP's; a faint but perceptible vertical play, best observed at the studs, that occurred regardless of lock engagement. The knife was new, and had never been taken apart or even used hard. I related this problem intimately to CRK, with lengthy descriptions and photos, and even spoke with Chris myself about it.

His advice was to send the knife in. He told me that the 'Zaan should not have blade play under any circumstance. It alarms me that this might be a common issue.

Note - I haven't sent the knife in yet, due to financial restrictions.
 
pinkfloyd101 said:
Mine gets pushed up/down and in when I am using my knife. I grip my knives hard when using them. I really hope it doesn't cause lock up failure by the lock bar moving up and down on the tang during use. I don't really see how this could affect lock up, but if it does, then my knife and a lot of other owners are in trouble. I actually just wish that the umnum used the same design as the sebbie for the lock, but I like everything else about the zaan way more than the seb( I do wish the zaan used a bushing too).....:(
Click to expand...

Here is a thread I posted awhile back with my thoughts on the zaan. I still feel the same way. I like the lock on the sebenza better, but I love everything else about the zaan. To me, the sebbie lock is a proven design for over 20 years. Put that sebbie lock on the zaan and you have one of the best, toughest knives ever devised..........BUT, thats not going to happen...lol.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=714971

If I open mine very softly ( lockup is aprox. 20%), the lock will fail with a spine tap on my hand, but if you open it normally ( lockbar engages 60%, the lock is fully engaged and will not close at all........Knowing and understanding the Umnumzaan, I can use it without worry..............I just used it thoroughly during a full kitchen remodel and it never failed once. And believe me, I USED IT. The Zaan passed with flying colors. I posted pics in http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=714971

Enjoy !
 
my umnum has no play so far. it could creep in later with more use. even though i see no blade play, i do notice that i reach for my small sebenza more often than the umnum.

a firiend of mine compared his BG42 large sebenza to my umnum and he was surprised at how similar in size, shape, etc they are.

in any case, i ordered a profesional soldier recently and i am planning a large sebenza purchase later this year (a large 21 black micarta inlay: nice IMO).

i think that the Reeve people are right. it took years to get sebenza 'right' and its no surprise that the umnum has kinks to work out. that is true for any manufactured product.

with time, they will get umunum to be as good as sebenza or even better but right now i think that sebenza is a better knife based on the pivot design alone. :)

PS: i would not hesitate to get any Reeve product no matter what, incuding an umnum. their work is simply excellent no matter how you see it.
 
mine has NO play and NO umnumzaan should have that.
my lockbar cannot be pushed to the other side and NO umnumzaan should have that.

send it in.

for the peepz that say they are glad they didn't get the umnumzaan: don't be too hasty in judging. Seems that every once in a while something is said about the umnum and people jump to conclusions.
It is a great knife, rock solid. Every now and then there seems to be an issue, but guess what; the same is true for the sebenzas, just do a search on the forums.

The OP has a littlebit of play, so what, it happens in every knifebrand every now and then. We don't like it to happen and we certainly don't want it to happen, but hey 'shit happens'. I have the same problem on my emerson horseman, but then again, I used it to the extreme. Maybe the assembly was wrong, maybe it has been used in the wrong way, maybe CR had something in his eye when doing QC :). point is, we shouldn't be too freaked about it.

I do like the sebenza and the umnumzaan very much and use them both. And I never have any problems. That said, I probably don't use them as much as a lot of you guys here. But whenever I can, I try to use them correctly. So @nyef, I know you love the umnum, but I don't open them as soft as I can and then do a spinewack :). I don't put a piece of paper between the lockbar and the knife to see if it will fail. I don't stick it in chewing gum to see if the ball detent comes out, I don't do a 360 flippie reverse to the left arial with the blade half open to see if it maybe doesn't lock when it closes ;) I don't use it as a toothpick on a refrigerator. These are conditions we create to check if something fails under -my take on it- strange and induced circumstances.
I do try to handle it normally, since it will probably has the most chance of functioning normally and so far, so good.

I think that when a knife has flaws, we should discuss it here, no censorship. But I see some people hastily jumping to conclusions in this thread. Please be aware of what you are deducing from the little information we are getting. Sometimes, the deductions are not justified.


So, no, it is not a common issue. And when it sometimes occurs at all, CR takes care of you apparently. Isn't it great ;)

whew, and now for a little break after all this typing :D
 
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