fit and finish plain vs special editions

[eduard]

Hi you all

a few days ago i went to our local knife shop and handled 2 sebenzas .
one plain large 21 and a regular mammoth ivory . i noticed a more smoother action on the regular ..

so.. do they use the "Lower Quality" sebenzas for the plain versions and the high end ones for the plain editions
..also the titanium was polished on the regular

!?

 

[lisantica]

You can contact customer service at crkinfo@chrisreeve.com and they may know the answer to your question.

 

[ZippoThisKnifeThat]

There could be a few factors as to why the Regular was smoother..

Have owned both the 21 and Regular models I've found the regulars to be a bit easier to open.
As far as smoothness, one may have been opened/closed more than the other.
The 21 also could have had the newer perforated washers, which affect the smoothness slightly.

I would not say that this is an indicator of "lower quality".

I'm under the impressions that all Sebenzas are created equal among the production line and the difference between the more expensive ones are simply the details and extra, added features.

 

[DBH]

I have owned literally twenty sebenzas and I can say that the BG-42 Sebenzas and the LE's were the smoothest for me, until this year. I have a large insingo with S35VN, and it is possibly smoother out of the box than a 1999 LE that I own. I think the S30V sebenzas, again for me, were not as smooth. I have not encountered a difference between a basic and upgraded version, personally. I agree with Zippo, there is no low quality when it comes to CRK.

 

[Haze]

As far as the mechanics of the knife go all the materials used are the same. It's not a case of lower quality parts Vs higher quality parts. As already mentioned there are other reasons that one knife was smoother than the other.

Hi you all

a few days ago i went to our local knife shop and handled 2 sebenzas .
one plain large 21 and a regular mammoth ivory . i noticed a more smoother action on the regular ..

so.. do they use the "Lower Quality" sebenzas for the plain versions and the high end ones for the plain editions
..also the titanium was polished on the regular

!?

 

[eduard]

so youre paying at least 130 more just to get the same knife except the inlays

 

[lisantica]

Yes, inlays = more $ although that is NOT isolated to just Chris Reeve knives, any embellishment will cost more from any maker.

 

[GunSmoke16610]

so youre paying at least 130 more just to get the same knife except the inlays

Yes that's right. The inlays are milled in for fit and secured with adheashive it's typical CRK quality.

 

[Steven65]

so youre paying at least 130 more just to get the same knife except the inlays

You do pay more for the various options that the knife might have. Inlays are one of those options
BUT.........There is NO difference in the underlying manufacture, materials, heat treating or steel used in the making of a "regular" Sebenza and a up-spec'ed one. As knives they are identical. (remember that CRK are in the process of moving from S30V to S35VN steel in the Sebenza so bear that in mind)

One of several factors could account for the difference in feel between the two knives you handled but quality is not one of them.

 

[Haze]

Yes, that is the thick of it. CRK tend to use luxurious woods and ivories that are often hard to obtain and tricky to work with and therefore expensive. You mentioned Mamoth ivory in your original post. Good quality mamoth is hard to find and it's not a particularly great material to work with IMO. Things like mamoth ivory give the maker a real chance of having to scrap the piece as there can be cracks and voides in it that open up as the material is worked. This is true for some woods as well.

so youre paying at least 130 more just to get the same knife except the inlays

 

[jwolf90]

I have never heard of a lower quality Sebenza, I believe what Zippo said is likely the case, one was opened more than the other, maybe one is in need of a cleaning and some CRK flourinated grease.

 

[jwolf90]

By the way very good quality mammoth ivory like the kind CRK uses is very hard to get, as mentioned before not easy at all to work with and yes it is one of most expensive to obtain. I think $130 is a very reasonable price considering all of the above.