Dull New Sebenza 21 Small

Nikkogi said:
The factory edges on CRK knives really are hit or miss. I sent my Sebebza 25 for a spa treatment and the knife came back a butter knife. Literally could, with force, run my finger across the blade. No slicing ability whatsoever. But, on the flipside,8 got a 21 back from the spa and it was a moderately sharp edge. The good thing about CRK knives are that they are super easy to touch up!
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I'll say they're easy to touch up when the secondary bevel is <40* inclusive. For example, my large 21, I'd rather just touch it up on the Sharpmaker, but it's way more obtuse than 40*, thus the need for something with a little more horsepower than the Sharpmaker.
 
Peter Hartwig said:
Might as well buy the Sharpmaker and a strop now, you are going to need them . While I do prefer the WE(I can sharpen with it like I never could before), the Sharpmaker is the best system for the money and works well with the Sebenza.
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Must agree, I use the Sharpmaker for all my knives then strop them on a chromium/aluminum oxide impregnated leather strop. If the edge is totally gone or you need to restructure it then I use diamond hone to really remove steel.
 
Learning to sharpen is great.

But I think OP makes a good point, something I've noticed as well, $300-500 knives should come sharp.

My spydercos have all come with a sharper edge than any of my Chris reeves. Luckily I can sharpen and polish, but majority don't sharpen their own knives I'm guessing.
 
Get the diamond rods too, if the knife isn't exactly 30 or 40 degrees, you just can't re profile it with the standard rods in the SharpMaker kit. I think the diamond ones are much more necessary than the ultra-fine which I also have. I save a lot of time and effort by just hitting a new knife on the diamond rod to establish a bevel that I can easily maintain with the other rods. Believe me it takes way too much effort without them, especially if you're talking S35V or the like!

Amazon is one place you can find them: http://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-204D-Diamond-Triangle-Pair/dp/B000WUKFBM
 
Speaking for myself, I run a new knife over something the minute it comes out of the box. I enjoy putting an edge on my knives. It doesn't matter if they are new or re-claimed garage sale knives. All the ideas mentioned above work. Pick one out that you can afford and practice on an old user. Then sit down and get to know the steel and just plain enjoy the hobby.
 
Well, I received the Sharpmaker today and have been sharpening a Spyderco Bug, Benchmade 943, and a Gerber Multitool Knife for practice. It is very simple to use and gets the blade to a very decent sharpness. I have the ultrafine stones on order and they should be here by Wednesday. I'm now also looking into a strop as well as polishing compounds. What I now realize is that this forum will be the death of my wallet.
 
Sylafari said:
Well, I received the Sharpmaker today and have been sharpening a Spyderco Bug, Benchmade 943, and a Gerber Multitool Knife for practice. It is very simple to use and gets the blade to a very decent sharpness. I have the ultrafine stones on order and they should be here by Wednesday. I'm now also looking into a strop as well as polishing compounds. What I now realize is that this forum will be the death of my wallet.
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We are always there for you to help you spend your money :)
 
You actually solved one of my hang ups, I postpone using a new knife to preserve the factory edge. I have the Sharpmaker and paper wheels, but find myself not wanting to dull the factory edge, if it's a good edge that is. I'm more than capable of hair splitting mirrored edges but I think twice about using them. Yes, I'm odd.

Congrats and welcome to CRK.
 
I returned my 21 to CRK because it came to me new with a really poor edge. Will see how it comes back to me, but based on the comments here, I'm not holding my breath. I have an Edge Pro and strops. Just didn't figure a knife that comes with band aids and a warning would be a butter knife. Silly me!
 
... it could be the burr wasn't knocked off the edge before it was sent out...

as others have suggested, stropping it on leather could knock the burr off and it would "magically" get much sharper - or you can just run the edge of the knife into a piece of wood - using no pressure just drag the cutting edge across the edge of a piece of soft wood..see if that helps..
 
Just picked up my first Sebenza from BladeHQ in person today. Exact same as yours. Dated July 31. Didn't test the blade sharpness till I got home with it and it's extremely dull. Since I see now that this happens and its not just my knife, I'll probably just send it into CRK for sharpening or do it myself. I'm loving this thing but very disappointed that a knife I just dropped big $$ on came with a worst edge than knives you can buy at Walmart.
 
I'm strictly a beginner when it comes to sharpening. I bought a Sharp Maker, but was uncomfortable, even after practicing with cheapie blades, because I was afraid of hurting the blades of the more expensive knives I've recently purchased. I then came across and bought a DMT Aligner Pro Kit. The beauty of this is that it permits (forces?) me to sharpen at a consistent angle. I'm still a sharpening rank amateur, but I cut through paper like nobody's business. Still not ready to shave arm hair.:)

image.jpg
 
Hopefully CRK revamps their sharpening dept. It truly is a shame how dull some of my CRKs came out of the factory.. As I understand, there are two guys who now do the sharpening. Mr. Reeve used to sharpen every single knife himself
 
I complained about the same thing when I got my small Sebenza 21 very recently. I've got it pretty sharp now (been using a Sharpmaker for several years) but that isn't something I wanted to do to a brand spanking new, $350 "top tier" knife. Mine came stupendously dull just like yours. It is a fantastic product and beautifully crafted but it is also a knife, and as such, it needs to be able to cut through stuff without being sharpened the second you open the box.
 
Do you guys use the medium stones at all when sharpening the Sebenza or do you go right to the fine? I kind of figured unless I let it go really dull there's probably no need to start with the medium.

I actually bought an S35VN Paramilitary 2 to practice sharpening with before I actually sharpen one of my CRKs or Hinderers.
 
Sharpen it.

Sylafari said:
Just got my brand new Sebenza 21 small from BladeHQ and was marveling at the quality until I tried to see how sharp it was. I tried to cut a piece of receipt paper and it just wouldn't slice through, it could only tear through the paper. This is an issue to me because I have two Benchmade Knives the 943 and 940-1 and those knives easily sliced through receipt paper (in fact I just got the 940-1 a few days ago as well and it cuts through receipt paper perfectly). I feel like I paid good money for this knife and am disappointed at the factory sharpness of the knife. Here's a picture of the knife and as you can see it was made very recently.



And here is a video of a sharpness test I did. (Sure its not scientific but I think it shows the issue very well)
http://youtu.be/ohwRrcLDnbs

I'm wondering what are my options as I really don't wanna pay to have it shipped off as I feel like I just bought and received the knife and spending extra money on a knife you just received for the first day just seems like an issue that should not occur. Or maybe i'm expecting too much of the factory sharpness of a Sebenza? Just want to see what options I have and get an idea of what I can do. Thanks in advance.
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richstag said:
Sharpen it.
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I thought this, but because of my newness wanted to show respect. I understand the disappointment of spending good money on a knife and not receiving it in sharp ready to use condition. The part I sincerely have trouble understanding is specifically only toward those who possess sharpening equipment and the knowledge to sharpen, it would seem easy enough to resolve. Again, all due respect, I just don't see this as a big deal.
 
It's a big deal to folks that really can't sharpen well. Even if pride keeps them from admitting that. Been there done that. Best thing I ever did was learn to sharpen. Never will be let down again. Made buying knives so much more enjoyable. I always try to get people to learn to sharpen. Even if it means on a cheap knife first. But a quality cheap knife. Not going to learn much on pot metal. :)
 
If one is going to use their knives, one should learn to sharpen them; totally agree with Richstag, it makes owning much more enjoyable. Or so I found. As for a new Sebbie, I get the op's disappointment. I like to find hairsplitting edges on new knives... though it does not always happen. So, back to the sharpening commentary. One will have to do it sooner or later if one plans to use his blades. And I've found that the joy comes from use.
 
Heck yes!! THE BEST joy comes from use for me. But not before I got really good at sharpening. It sucked being afraid to use my knife. Know what I mean?

Aias said:
If one is going to use their knives, one should learn to sharpen them; totally agree with Richstag, it makes owning much more enjoyable. Or so I found. As for a new Sebbie, I get the op's disappointment. I like to find hairsplitting edges on new knives... though it does not always happen. So, back to the sharpening commentary. One will have to do it sooner or later if one plans to use his blades. And I've found that the joy comes from use.
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