Vertical blade play on sebenza? - Update

[TheModernNeanderthal]

Also, this flicking = blade play is total BS.

:thumbup:

I payed $116 for them to fix it and refurbish the knife, and now I have a beautiful knife WITH bladeplay.

:thumbdn:

I also think its funny that when I talk to (crk) on the phone they say blade play isnt acceptable but as the OP was told By Mr. Reeve himself that the knife should work just fine with blade play. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Another example of CRK trying to weasel out of doing the right thing.

I have a damascus sebenza on order and after that I think that will be My last sebenza.

I have a large classic now, a small Insingo in the mail, and the large 21 coming in from warranty, I may sell one of the larges and be done with CRK.

Spending $400 on a knife known for being perfect lock up and an awesome warranty and then having CRK not fix it and tell me I abused my knife is rediculous.

Again, what is the justification for the so called "abuse"? You have only their judgement which, IMHO, is very skewed.

I know CRk is listening but Im sure not much will be done about our issues, they will probably just weasle there way out of it.

I hope they are listening. I know they will not respond directly to this thread because it is far too condemning. But I hope they realize that if they continue to treat customers this way they will stop buying. Why would a company be so crass as to think this is acceptable?

 

[RobertK]

I have a Sebenza that also has some marks in the lock face, and I may have finger flicked it about 10 times in cleaning and reassembling (my knife doesnt have any blade plade, not up-down or side-side.

Im a fan of CRK products, leaving in a few days and carrying with me a folder and fixed CRK, but to be honest I dont really like this kind of "guarantee issue". I totally agree with you guys in your last posts ( CrimsonTideShooter, sh00ter01 wolf5391 ). This scares a little to be honest... guarantee void if you open your sebbie

Regards

This resonates with me. Just picked up a used seb from the forums and am happy. I normally just slide it open, but I've been practicing opening it more quickly with the thumb (no wrist, and it's not easy to do for me and my weak hands), but this thread makes me a little nervous.

 

[lemmuhj]

I'm confused as to how much up and down play you guys are talking about. I've checked all of my CRK's, and i can feel some SLIGHT up and down on most of em(about a dozen) I've always attributed this to the lockbar "bending" a little from the pressure. How much up and down is too much?

Oh, and i thumb flick ALL my CRK's. I don't do it hard, but enough to get it to open perfectly without ABUSING it.

 

[mongomondo]

What happens when you tell them you didn't flick it? Damage shouldn't occur unless you're flicking it open hard over and over again while watching TV or something. You do have to flick it to set the lock when you take it apart. I've done it for years and never had problems. I wonder if they'll just refuse to fix it even if you tell them you didn't flick it.

 

[CrimsonTideShooter]

What happens when you tell them you didn't flick it? Damage shouldn't occur unless you're flicking it open hard over and over again while watching TV or something. You do have to flick it to set the lock when you take it apart. I've done it for years and never had problems. I wonder if they'll just refuse to fix it even if you tell them you didn't flick it.

I can tell you what happened when I told them that.


Let me set the scene for you: I recieved my first ever sebenza, a Large Micarta 21. Less than 3 days after receiving it I noticed it had late lockup as well as a little rock. I got a call from Chris himself where he rudely explained to be that the late lockup had to have been caused by me, from flicking. I tried to explain to him that I had the knife less than a week, but he wasn't having it. He pretty much did everything but call me a liar outright, and was just generally rude as hell.

I never sent the knife in, I just dealt with it. I vowed to never use their CS. If I have a problem, I'll just sell the knife.

 

[wolf5391]

What happens when you tell them you didn't flick it? Damage shouldn't occur unless you're flicking it open hard over and over again while watching TV or something. You do have to flick it to set the lock when you take it apart. I've done it for years and never had problems. I wonder if they'll just refuse to fix it even if you tell them you didn't flick it.

Thats exactly what they did. They said no matter what the lock damage is only caused by flicking the knife. I explained it was not because of that and they would not accept that. So.... Im either gonna have to deal with the up done blade play or pay $120 to get a new lock bar side and thats not even guranteed to work either. lesson learned never use a sebenza as edc and expect them to fix it (free) when theres bladeplay.

 

[mongomondo]

I'm thinking they had better manufacturing years ago? I've had a few problems with Sebenzas I bought the last couple years. Most recently I sent in a knife to upgrade to the perforated washers. When I got it back the opening action wasn't smooth anymore and if I tightened the pivot all the way down it would be difficult to open the knife. It's still a working knife but I think they just aren't as precisely made. I also bought a large Micarta 21 last year and it had the same problem. If I tightened the pivot the blade no longer opened smoothly. All my older Sebenzas work as they should.

I recently bought a new in box 2006 Classic and it's perfect.

 

[CrimsonTideShooter]

I'm thinking they had better manufacturing years ago? I've had a few problems with Sebenzas I bought the last couple years. Most recently I sent in a knife to upgrade to the perforated washers. When I got it back the opening action wasn't smooth anymore and if I tightened the pivot all the way down it would be difficult to open the knife. It's still a working knife but I think they just aren't as precisely made. I also bought a large Micarta 21 last year and it had the same problem. If I tightened the pivot the blade no longer opened smoothly. All my older Sebenzas work as they should.

I recently bought a new in box 2006 Classic and it's perfect.

The pivot tightness is something I have noted as well. You always hear that no matter how tight the pivot is the blade will open easily. I've had a couple Sebs so far which weren't like that. In fact I had to have the pivot loose to be able to open it smoothly.

And before anyone asks, these were new knives and yes I know how to assemble them correctly.

 

[wolf5391]

I'm thinking they had better manufacturing years ago? I've had a few problems with Sebenzas I bought the last couple years. Most recently I sent in a knife to upgrade to the perforated washers. When I got it back the opening action wasn't smooth anymore and if I tightened the pivot all the way down it would be difficult to open the knife. It's still a working knife but I think they just aren't as precisely made. I also bought a large Micarta 21 last year and it had the same problem. If I tightened the pivot the blade no longer opened smoothly. All my older Sebenzas work as they should.

I recently bought a new in box 2006 Classic and it's perfect.

maybe they are crippling under the pressure of making so many knives that they are cutting corners more these days. Either way I dont like it.

 

[JNewell]

Deleted.

 

[JNewell]

I've got Sebenzas from 1996 to 2011 and haven't noticed any trends one way or another with them.

I'm thinking they had better manufacturing years ago? I've had a few problems with Sebenzas I bought the last couple years. Most recently I sent in a knife to upgrade to the perforated washers. When I got it back the opening action wasn't smooth anymore and if I tightened the pivot all the way down it would be difficult to open the knife. It's still a working knife but I think they just aren't as precisely made. I also bought a large Micarta 21 last year and it had the same problem. If I tightened the pivot the blade no longer opened smoothly. All my older Sebenzas work as they should.

I recently bought a new in box 2006 Classic and it's perfect.

 

[Tripton]

I personally have 5 Sebenzas and an Umnumzaan. The only one that has any bit of bladeplay is a small 21 that I got for $190 off of eBay...and the it takes a lot of pressure to induce, and is barely perceptible. I think it is just the lockbar flexing a bit, because it is such a little knife.

My brother and I both have new "Dont tread on me" Sebenza 21s, and both of them are rock solid, with zero notable defects. When you tighten the pivot, the blade tension is perfect on both. (Same goes for his older, USED everyday Sebenza 21, which probably is borderline abused all the time, and works perfectly.)

I sent a large Classic in for bladeplay, and pinched washers from a previous owner. They fixed it for me and wouldnt let me pay for anything other than return shipping.



I've said it before, but it is going to take more than a couple pictureless posts on the internet to go up against 25 years of running a business known (and awarded for) manufacturing excellence and great customer service.

 

[wolf5391]

I personally have 5 Sebenzas and an Umnumzaan. The only one that has any bit of bladeplay is a small 21 that I got for $190 off of eBay...and the it takes a lot of pressure to induce, and is barely perceptible. I think it is just the lockbar flexing a bit, because it is such a little knife.

My brother and I both have new "Dont tread on me" Sebenza 21s, and both of them are rock solid, with zero notable defects. When you tighten the pivot, the blade tension is perfect on both. (Same goes for his older, USED everyday Sebenza 21, which probably is borderline abused all the time, and works perfectly.)

I sent a large Classic in for bladeplay, and pinched washers from a previous owner. They fixed it for me and wouldnt let me pay for anything other than return shipping.



I've said it before, but it is going to take more than a couple pictureless posts on the internet to go up against 25 years of running a business known (and awarded for) manufacturing excellence and great customer service.

I have sebenzas without bladeplay too, but if you spend $116 to have a lock fixed then it better be fixed when you get it back. I also think its funny how they charged me for a re blast of the handles when they wouldve had to do it anyway when fixing the lock. I heard of other guys getting it for free when they sent it in for lock re-heat treatment why did I have to pay for it? I would have loved to have them refuse my payment anyways Im glad you had good customer service but mine was good until I got the knife back with blade play. Granted the knife looks amazing but the lock sucks. Either way It shouldv'e been taken care of if they have such a great customer service.

 

[CrimsonTideShooter]

I would like to add that 25 years of running an award winning business does not make any one person or organization exempt from problems, or bad practices.

It isn't like these posts are rare now days. They seem to be getting more frequent. In just this one thread we had 3 different people with the same problem. Are we really going to just look over that fact because CRK has won awards for 25 years?

 

[mantzao]

I would like to add that 25 years of running an award winning business does not make any one person or organization exempt from problems, or bad practices.

It isn't like these posts are rare now days. They seem to be getting more frequent. In just this one thread we had 3 different people with the same problem. Are we really going to just look over that fact because CRK has won awards for 25 years?

Agreed.
I have an almost ten year old large Regular Sebenza that when tightened all the way it is very hard to open. I have to loosen the pivot so it can be open somewhat smoothly!
I also have a small 21 that has a bit of side to side play but that can only be noticed when i'm not pressing the lockbar when the blade's open. Is that normal?

 

[wolf5391]

I would like to add that 25 years of running an award winning business does not make any one person or organization exempt from problems, or bad practices.

It isn't like these posts are rare now days. They seem to be getting more frequent. In just this one thread we had 3 different people with the same problem. Are we really going to just look over that fact because CRK has won awards for 25 years?

:thumbup:

I could understand if its only 1 person with these issues but in one thread alone, 3 people including me are having issues and the only explanation is that we abused our knives....... come on people theres a problem that needs to be fixed.

I understand Chris's scepticism on us abusing his knives but I can personally say Im not abusing anything and if opening boxes and cutting envelopes open counts as abuse to a sebenza then Im done buying them.

 

[wolf5391]

Agreed.
I have an almost ten year old large Regular Sebenza that when tightened all the way it is very hard to open. I have to loosen the pivot so it can be open somewhat smoothly!
I also have a small 21 that has a bit of side to side play but that can only be noticed when i'm not pressing the lockbar when the blade's open. Is that normal?

Thats obviously not normal, and it seems the bushing might be too big on the small 21. That can be sanded by CRK customer service to fix the issue but you could probably be careful and do it your self and save time and and money.

 

[TheModernNeanderthal]

Yes, CRK has been in business for a long time. And Yes, their knives are of the highest quality. I'm not questioning Chris Reeve as a knife maker. I'm questioning him as a Manager. He is in 100% control over these issues. It's his decision to send us our knives back with the same issue they left with.

 

[TheModernNeanderthal]

Titanium is soft, we all know that. CRK hardens the face to try and prevent wear, what's to say that on a few knives, the hardening doesn't quite take. Now we have a manufacturing defect. And how would that defect manifest itself?... Lock face deformation, something CRK will attribute to you "abusing" (read opening) their knife...

 

[mantzao]

Thats obviously not normal, and it seems the bushing might be too big on the small 21. That can be sanded by CRK customer service to fix the issue but you could probably be careful and do it your self and save time and and money.

Thanks.
This thread's really got me thinking! I mean, if i can't trust a Sebenza to be "perfect" (without the play factor) what can i trust?
I have also a small Insingo that's pretty much perfect but the other two are worrying me a bit
The problem is that i'm not from the US so taking the risk of sending the knives in and then being accused that i was to be blamed on the knife's issue may very well not be worth it, to say the least!
Getting worriiiiied...