Custom EDC or CRK small Sebenza

One of my favorite quotes is: "Go broker-er, you can't take it with you."

Yes, that has been a way of life for me for a long time. Instead of buying cheap Seiko watch I buy one made by the swiss. Although with knives I have been jinxed. A few years ago I spend nearly $1000 on three Microtech knives only to have all three of them malfunction in less than a year. I had owned Almar, SOG, Puma and various others before this. My dealer stopped carrying Microtech because of the lack of quality control. That is what led me to the simplicity and engineering of the Sebenza. Now after owning two of them I realize why he gets "Blade of the Year" awards and why people like them. They are simple, but engineeringly elegant. Without glamour they represent many hours of engineering and progress. Buying a knife or even a fine time piece is very subjective. Some prefer never to have to deal with battery changes, some prefer the time proven swiss movement of Rolex, Omega, etc. I find buying a knife is somewhat the same type of purchase. I want both durability with finesse sometimes. I am a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. acronym, but I am willing to take a chance on a custom cutting tool that is both durable, yet beautiful to behold. I suppose I was wrong in asking anyone to make up my mind for me. That was not my intent. My intent was to find out as much about custom folders from you that I could. I did the same two years ago when I got sick of Microtech crap and started researching what blades yeild the most respect in the community. I did this statistically. Custom knives cannot be factored into a statistical survey because they are too few out there. That is one of the reasons why they are so expensive from what I understand. This also the reason I asked in a forum.
 
LaBella said:
buy em all....
get a loan!

nuff said!?

:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Not quite, then I have to pay it back and explain to my wife why I need ANOTHER KNIFE! The last time she had a cow because I spend 450 on a CRK when I already had other blades in the question. So it actually costs more than the price of the loan. I have to add marriage councelling to the picture!
 
Xeno.
Yeah you don't want to go upsetiing the wife.
Mate if you really want a Prinsloo with a plain blade have a look at Artknives.com Fred had some custom made with plain blades in giraffe bone & some with etched bolsters
Mitch
 
Those knives are absolutely gorgeous, but I would never, ever use them. It would seem wrong. Not that I could afford them. I can't afford a Sebbie, either. But they seem to be much more in the way of practical and useful knives.
 
Kelly was nice enough to respond to all my questions regarding "art knife" versus every day usage knife. I found what he has to say very interesting and I think he might of sold me on his EDC dagger with a clip.

Mike,

Where did you find a review of the ironwood EDC?

As a collector of handmade folders for over 30 years, I do agree that the vast majority of art type knives do go into collections with no intention of ever being used. In fact, most of those that appear on the secondary market with any signs of use are usually sold for a fraction of their original cost - that's driven by collectors who want new, unused additions, and dealers who are responding to the collector market.

My EDC was developed for one of my clients who is quite large, and wanted a "presentation grade" knife which would hold up to the demands of everyday use. he purchased the first all Damasteel scaled EDC, and subsequently ordered an ironwood version. These two knives have been rotated in daily use for close to four years, and neither has required any service beyond the owner's occasional touch-up of the edges with a crock stick.

Damasteel, D2, and S30V, my preferred blade steels, are the best available for knives intended for use. Damasteel bolsters, particularly when heat treated to Rc 62/64, are the hardest and toughest material available for that application, and ironwood scales are hard, tough and require little to no maintenance.

I use titanium liners and backspacers on all of my knives for its excellent combination of lightness (relative to steel), imperviousness to any corrosion, and also to anodize and add touches of color. The anodized areas of titanium are subject to eventual wear of the anodized colors, much like gun bluing, which is why that treatment is usually limited to low wear areas, such as the liners and backspacer.

The titanium liners which I use for the EDC are 0.065" thick, which is about as thick and strong as possible for smooth operation of a linerlock, but not quite up to the strength of certain framelock designs using 0.090 titanium - framelocks have thick, exposed titanium handles, and the frame serves as the handle - a nice, strong design with a utilitarian or tactical look.

Is a $ 1,000 knife going to provide better in-use service than a higher end manufactured knife ( $ 200 +/-) from a firm such as Benchmark or Spyderco?
I would have to say no to that question. The steels used in my knives are harder and tougher than the vast majority of manufactured knives, and also more expensive and much harder to grind. They will hold an edge longer than mfg'd knives, but sharpening isn't that difficult, particularly with some of the newer designed sharpeners like Lansky's.

The usual reason for a handmade knife purchase is usually because someone wants something unique, and a step above factory offerings, albeit at more than a step up in price; or, is a collector who just admires custom knives as an art form. Most of the art knives available today are superb examples of the best available cutlery - the question isn't whether or not they will hold up under use, but will they lose a lot of value with use. They will lose value with use, and will also hold up exceptionally well.

I carried two of Joe Kious's folders for 30 years in my former career - both the same, with D2 blades, one with white pearl and the other in black pearl. Now that I'm making knives and also raising horse on our NH farm, I've put those back in a case and use "disposable" knives in the $ 100 - $ 200 range for daily farm chores as they do get a lot of wear, get lost occasionally, and are used for all sorts of the wrong purposes - like as a screwdriver, cutting wire, and everything else wrong for a knife.

Hope some of this helps.

Kelly
 
It is nice to see someome who factors performance into presentation knives, I personally like Clements attitude which is "Make it work well first, then make it look pretty." (paraphrase).

-Cliff
 
I have never seen his stuff, what is his full name Cliff so that I can look him and his work up?

Thanks,

Mike
 
Chas Clements, he does leather work like :

http://www.cueaddicts.com/cases.htm

What is interesting is the marriage of functionality and presentation. His standards in both are really high. He posts a lot on usenet where you can find a description of his materials and methods.

-Cliff
 
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