CRK Golden Age

I have a Classic, a Regular, a few 21s, and an Umnumzaan.

I plan on getting a 25. I'm sad to see the pivot bushing go, I was skeptical about the Umnum...but I am quite used to it and cannot fault it in any way.
 
kreole said:
It's not correct that the pivot bushing had to be dropped to make that change. If tightness is/was a problem, they could simply manufacture the bushing to a different width. The tightness was a choice, not a necessity of having the bushing.
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Agreed. Chose my words not carefully enough. Of course it's not just the tightness but the whole combination.

I have to admit though that I'm not fully convinced that the "25-as-is" is the right way to go. Is Loc-Tite recommended with the 25 as with the Umnumzaan? That in itself counts against simplicity. The addition of a pivot bushing to the 25 would surely make Loc-Tite obsolete.
 
DanG said:
Agreed. Chose my words not carefully enough. Of course it's not just the tightness but the whole combination.

I have to admit though that I'm not fully convinced that the "25-as-is" is the right way to go. Is Loc-Tite recommended with the 25 as with the Umnumzaan? That in itself counts against simplicity. The addition of a pivot bushing to the 25 would surely make Loc-Tite obsolete.
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Sorry for the misunderstanding :)

I also am wondering if loctite will be recommended on the 25 like with the Um.
 
I first came across Chris Reeve knives in the early 90s when I read about a review of one of the one piece knives. I was amazed that someone would take the trouble to make a knife by machining a single piece of steel. I could see from the pictures that it was extremely well made and very tough.

I have also had a lot of sebenzas and they are always consistently very well made based on sound engineering principles.

For me, the one piece line and the simplicity of the sebenzas demonstrated the design and engineering excellence that made CRK both distinctive and desirable.

Now the one piece line has been replaced and the sebenza is changing to such an extent that any distinctiveness is being rapidly eroded. If there is no bushing and it relies on glue to keep the pivot in place, how is that different from a Spyderco or Benchmade?
 
I was one of the lucky ones who attended the Blade Show this year, I spoke to Ann about the 25 and they seem excited about it, and for good reason.

It feels great in hand, I didn't think that I would like it from its appearance alone but it just feels right. I really like the arched thumb ramp and new jimping, along with the choirs they make for a great purchase on the knife. The new larger pivot and different stop pin set up looked out of place on the knife but I can't wait to get a production model in hand to see how it holds up.

The downside to me, if there is one in a new knife, is that the bushing is gone. I really like that on the Sebenza you can just slap it together and torque it down without any guess work as to wether or not you'll have any blade play or if it'll be too tight. That combined with the fact that no thread locker is needed is the real achievement of a Sebenza to me and I'll miss it.

On the other hand, I've carried a Tanto Umnum daily for over a year and shown it no quarter, it does all of the gent work as well as chopping my kids chicken nuggets. The pivot has remained perfect through all of this time after I set it how I liked it and let the thread lock dry; I wish it used th bushing system but this works fine, as I assume it will on the 25.
My main beef with the Umnum is that it uses the ball bearing as the lock face which allows the lock bar to slightly flex under pressure, I've Beverly had that problem with the 8 or 10 Sebenza's that I've owned, I believe that it's due to the entire lock bar pushing on the tang instead of that very tiny edge of the ball- along with a talker bar of course. I really hope that the 25 doesn't have this even though I KNOW THAT IT DOESN'T CAUSE ANY PROBLEM from over a year and a half of hard use.

Is it cheaper/easier to produce, is it to avoid warranty claims, or is it that this knife truly is a next generation design by one of the best companies in the business and it'll turn out to be just fine?
I think that it's a bit of both! I can also tell you that I'll be purchasing a production model when they become available to answer these things for myself.

Are the best years behind them or are they just starting? Again I say both. He'll lose some people to various reasons but he'll gain many many more as the CRK brand name grows and the reputation of the knives and status of owning one will always mean more to the masses than any design change could ever affect.

Just my two bits, I said bits you perverts and there are no pictures do stop looking ;D
 
The bushing system isn't perfect. No one seems to point out the instances where someone proclaimed, " I have slight blade play in my sebenza". I've seen more comments in this forum than I can remember stating this. That phrase is usually followed by, "just send it in, they'll take care of it." I really think the umnum style pivot(using locktite) is a fool proof system, and from crk's viewpoint, will dramatically lessen the load on "fixing the blade play". Go back and re read "1abominAble1's" post above mine, and he mentions how his umnum's pivot has remained perfect.

Just to support my opinion, I once sent in a sebenza for "blade play", and I demanded, out of curiosity what was wrong, and they told me that the bushing was slightly off. It came back ROCK SOLID. I have a few sebenzas in my collection right now that have slight blade play...real slight, but it's there. I can fix the blade play in my umnum...I don't have to "send it in"
 
I don't recall anyone starting threads about their umnumzaans, so as far as the bushing system going, once the 25 rolls out, i don't think it'll be much of a problem. And as far as the locktite goes, while it's recommended, the amount that needs to be put on is so minute that you could almost do without. I queried about the locktite with some, and i've tried using without, and it's not an issue.

It'll be fun to see this new iteration join the family. Can't wait.
 
I think this discussion is quite funny. Mostly because there is no real point.
Let's get the facts.
There is a new sebenza and it has closed up to the umnumzaan.
The bushing made the seb unique, singular, matchless and we (yes me too) are just crying because of nostalgia. Not for a real reason.
If there was a real reason no seb owner would have a zaan. I have one like many of you and I love it.
Could it be, that there is crying every time a new sebenza replaces an old one?

I will purchase a 25 but it will never replace one I own. It's an addition.

The only thing I would call a step backwards is the need of two tools. And perhaps locktite if needed.
If I would have to choose one, and only one, of my CRK from now, I would always grab my sebenza. One standard tool and no locktite. Well the zaan works also well without.

Just my 0,02$.

Best
 
I here all the complaints and am sure that Chris has too. That being said what makes any of us better engineers than Chris when it comes to the Sebenza?

As previously stated numerous times it is 25 years of production in which Chris has been the center of, I would tend to think that he has the knifes best interest at heart as it is his baby. Does anyone really think that Chris would jeopardize the Sebenza or his name in the industry by producing a far inferrior knife than previous?

I dont know, maybe because I was able to meet Chris at his shop in Boise and see the passion I am blinded but this is my opinion.
 
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