OP: I'm going to give you my opinion for what it is worth. Let me preface that by stating that I'm a fairly late comer to the knife community but by the grace of having some proverbial spare coins in my pocket, the majority of sound information available on this BF Community, my ability to be both curious and fast learner, I have managed to get my hands on quite a few knives from some great and reputable knife makers to include CRK.
The first CRK which was offered to me by a trusted forumite was a safe queen plain Large Sebenza 25. The forum buddy knew that I had a very strong penchant and high expectations for extremely sharp knives out of the box, specially if I was paying north of $350 or so for them. He did caution me that was going to be the case with most CRKs he had personally experiences and that CRKs were sort of an "acquired taste". He assured me that if I did not like it immediately, he would take it back but even if I decided that it was not for me down the road with some use and wear, I would not be losing too much $ as there were always high demands for used CRKs which were priced correctly / competitively. At the time, i was your typical Spidie flickers and could not wrap my head around that Large 25, but I knew immediately that the feel, fit and finish were all exemplary as compared to anything else I had owned up to that point, but the dull(ish) blade edge was disappointing to tell the truth! Since I was not too adept with sharpening the edge myself at that time, I let it go on here for about the same which I had into it.
Thereafter, I horse traded and bought / sold some more folders of other brands, but I missed that Large Sebbie. So a couple of month later I acquired a used Large 21 which was not as nice and minty fresh as my past Large 25. I held onto that one for a month or so but let that one go, again for very little loss of $ and well worth the experience. Since then, I have further horse traded some more in the CRK realm and lately I just bit the bullet and bought a brand new Wilson Combat Umnanzaan which always had me intrigued. To cut a long story short, I will hang onto my Zaan because I like many aspects of this knife from its tough ruggedness to its aesthetics and the way which it feels in my hands. Again, I was disappointed with the dullish edge but I have come to understand as to why they do it the way they do it and that if I wanted to make it hair whittling sharp instead of the more rounded convex edge it comes with from the factory, I have several alternative options...
Are they "glamour" knives? In my book, a 300 / 400 / 500 or even a 1000 $ knife is not a "glamour" knife, if the definition is to mean for "show" only. It is a very well put together folder which is capable of performing many tasks that both a $50 folder and then a $5000 folder are both most likely capable of. But I know this: unless I lose the darn thing, it will most likely last me a life time because there seems to be a great Company standing behind this product. I honestly can not say the same about those other two knives which I have made inferences to! In closing, I am not a fanboy and I may not buy many other CRKs to keep and to use but as an aspiring connoisseur of finer yet reasonably affordable folders, I would not hesitate to recommend CRKs / Sebbies, as I would not stop myself from seeking them out for my own purposes and desires.
