Anyone mod a Sebenza 25 grip?

M

Muaddib1116

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Dec 26, 2010
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Has anyone made modifications to a Sebenza 25's handles? more specifically the finger grooves?

I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this knife. There's a lot to like. It's big, strong, and solid, but carries very well. The ceramic ball makes the action super smooth. The huge washers make it crazy rigid. Having never held a Strider or Hinderer, the Sebenza 25 would be the CRK folder that I would select to go into some sort of abusive competition with them.
 
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The few points that I might hold against it are the lack of a pivot bushing, no stop pin sleeve, and the grip-restricting finger grooves. The pivot bushing is one of the best thing about the Sebenza, but the 25's pivot has been surprisingly stable. I haven't had to adjust it since I did my last cleaning and it hasn't moved at all, with no loctite. So that issue has turned out to be less of a problem than I anticipated. The hardened steel stop pin seems to compensate for not being able to simply rotate the stop pin sleeve to a fresh face, so that issue is also sort of moot.

But I'm still waffling on the finger grooves. In a standard full-fingered grip, the grooves are quite comfortable (even though I prefer the Sebenza 21's fuller handle shape near the butt). But, as most of you are probably aware, the grooves really restrict choking up on the grip or gripping it closer to the butt. This is the biggest hurdle in the path of me loving this knife as much as the Sebenza 21 or Umnumzaan. I wish that the handles had been shaped a little more closely to the 21's, maybe something like this (I didn't have a good profile pic, so I stole one from the internet to modify):



What I'm thinking is that maybe rounding down the bumps on the grip might make it more comfortable for alternate grip positions. Maybe something like this (same stolen picture and crappy ms paint):

 
I know Chris always puts a Lot of thought into the design of his knives before they go into production.

I have big hands, the finger 'grooves' fit my hand perfectly. I'm pretty sure that Chris didn't intend for the 25 handle to be choked up on.

We have had some comments/complains on the forum that the grooves aren't a good fit for some hand sizes.

As far as modding the grooves, you or whoever does the mod is going to need some special equipment, but I'm sure you alrealy know that.
 
I'm a little surprised that people with big hands find this handle comfortable, not because of the finger groove spacing but because of how "thin" the handle is below the grooves. My hands are on the small side of medium, and I find the spacing just fine in a "normal" grip, but I find that the Sebenza 21 is much more comfortable for the pinky-finger-side of my hand, because the scales are wider. In the first picture I posted, the long red line is approximately where the scales of the Seb 21 end.

My problem is more with the raised knobs separating the grooves. When I choke up or down, a finger ends up resting on top of one of those knobs. I have no current desire to mod my 25, I was more curious if someone else had done so already.

My current quandry is that I like the knife, but I don't love it. If it was a cheaper knife, I would just keep it, but given the price, I'm trying to decide if I want to put it's value towards a large starbenza or a mnandi or one of the many other CRK's that I want. Luckily, I'm not in a rush, so I'll just hang on to it for a while to see if it grows on me more.
 
I had a 25. Didn't like the bumps so I traded it for a StarTac Zaan. I also have a Starbenza (large) that's a keeper.
 
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