Got my first CRK Sebenza yesterday. The Emperor's new knife.

Not long ago I felt pretty much the same way. Yeah, they were kind of pretty but awfully plain looking. I never got why everyone went gaga over them. Then I got my first Umnumzaan and was blown away. I am a perfectionist with a few OCD tendencies, who works in a job where tolerances are everything, and the perfection of the fit and finish on a CRK just speaks to me on a different level.

Like Scurvy said, the Southard is a nice knife, but every time I take mine apart and put it back together, I have to play with it to get it perfect again. Every time I take apart a CRK and put it back together, I don't have to do anything. it just goes back together and everything is the way it was. I don't have many others that I can say the same about.

As far as value, value is purely subjective. There are customs out there just as plain looking as the Sebenza that cost 10x as much, simply because someone will pay it. Meanwhile, there are scores of people who think it's outrageous to spend more than $25-50 for a knife. It's the nature of the hobby.
 
Criticising a CRK is like kissing a Bee Hive .
All you do is annoy the drones and workers who's job it is to protect the common interests and integrity of their collective .
In other words your wasting your time and no matter what you think , say , or do you will still end up being chased by an angry swarm . :)

CRK's are very nice knives , and it's up to the individual to decide if they are worth the money and deliver the performance that you require , everyone is different and there is no right or wrong answers .
For the record , I was very underwhelmed when I got my Seb 21 , I kept it and used it , but when it was stolen recently I didn't even contemplate for one second replacing it with another one . My days of CRK ownership are over .


Ken
 
harronek said:
Criticising a CRK is like kissing a Bee Hive .
All you do is annoy the drones and workers who's job it is to protect the common interests and integrity of their collective .
In other words your wasting your time and no matter what you think , say , or do you will still end up being chased by an angry swarm . :)
Click to expand...

The same could be said about everyone's personal pet brands around here. Have you seen how it goes when someone slights Zero Tolerance or dares speak ill about the wonders of our Lord and Savior, the Axis Lock? I don't think it's any worse with CRK than anyone else.
 
harronek said:
Criticising a CRK is like kissing a Bee Hive .
All you do is annoy the drones and workers who's job it is to protect the common interests and integrity of their collective .
In other words your wasting your time and no matter what you think , say , or do you will still end up being chased by an angry swarm . :)

CRK's are very nice knives , and it's up to the individual to decide if they are worth the money and deliver the performance that you require , everyone is different and there is no right or wrong answers .
For the record , I was very underwhelmed when I got my Seb 21 , I kept it and used it , but when it was stolen recently I didn't even contemplate for one second replacing it with another one . My days of CRK ownership are over .


Ken
Click to expand...

Seems from the threads I read, you ether love them or could care less. Drones are on both sides, even the people that are compelled to reply to a thread and stating the "meh" opinion.
 
Lost Cosmonaut said:
Like Scurvy said, the Southard is a nice knife, but every time I take mine apart and put it back together, I have to play with it to get it perfect again. Every time I take apart a CRK and put it back together, I don't have to do anything. it just goes back together and everything is the way it was. I don't have many others that I can say the same about.
Click to expand...

This bears repeating. This is really the easiest way to appreciate the tolerances and precision that goes into it. Otherwise you are having to pull out very expensive and precise measuring tools.

Is it necessary? Who knows. Is it expensive to achieve? Yes. The further you go down the decimal scale, the price jumps exponentially.

Major knife manufacturers build their knives to a price point. If they want to build a 3.5 in folder for $200, they have to look at the level of materials, the cost of labor in the country they want to use, and the amount of precision they can achieve. Hitting the price point means compromising on some or all of those (steel vs titanium, China v USA, aus8 vs XHP etc etc etc) to hit that price point.

CRK builds the knife to a specification with little regard given to the end cost.

Again, is it necessary, does it perform better etc. Those are questions you can only answer for yourself.
 
Lost Cosmonaut said:
The same could be said about everyone's personal pet brands around here. Have you seen how it goes when someone slights Zero Tolerance or dares speak ill about the wonders of our Lord and Savior, the Axis Lock? I don't think it's any worse with CRK than anyone else.
Click to expand...

Screwdriver said:
Seems from the threads I read, you ether love them or could care less. Drones are on both sides, even the people that are compelled to reply to a thread and stating the "meh" opinion.
Click to expand...

These.
 
Scurvy092 said:
This bears repeating. This is really the easiest way to appreciate the tolerances and precision that goes into it. Otherwise you are having to pull out very expensive and precise measuring tools.

Is it necessary? Who knows. Is it expensive to achieve? Yes. The further you go down the decimal scale, the price jumps exponentially.

Major knife manufacturers build their knives to a price point. If they want to build a 3.5 in folder for $200, they have to look at the level of materials, the cost of labor in the country they want to use, and the amount of precision they can achieve. Hitting the price point means compromising on some or all of those (steel vs titanium, China v USA, aus8 vs XHP etc etc etc) to hit that price point.

CRK builds the knife to a specification with little regard given to the end cost.

Again, is it necessary, does it perform better etc. Those are questions you can only answer for yourself.
Click to expand...


Cost is a lot of it from what we read on the forums, the higher priced knives seem to be targets for lack of a better term.

Start a thread bashing some inexpensive knife and see how many people swarm that thread. ;)

Yes I think most of us agree that $400 isn't exactly inexpensive for MOST people.

People tend to spend money on different things, everyone has their pet likes etc.

A CRK might be out of reach for them so to speak, but they will spend $5,000 on a watch at the drop of a hat. ;)
 
I do understand that f&f with CRK is the big deal. Its just that, after 20+ years since the Sebenza came out, I'd like to see a little more innovation. I know that retooling that abides by their strict tolerances is costly, but my hope is that in the next ten years we will see something from CRK that is more than just a Ti framelock (Ti-lock not inclusive). A flipper would be nice.

However, I probably will end up with a CF Seb this summer as a wedding gift from my wife, unless I find something else I like better (seeing Charlie Mike's custom Darrel Ralph's make me drool).
 
K.O.D. said:
I do understand that f&f with CRK is the big deal. Its just that, after 20+ years since the Sebenza came out, I'd like to see a little more innovation.
Click to expand...

I agree , changing something just for the sake of change is a foolish endeavour , but design evolution and not just cosmetic evolution is important and essential to any product .


Ken
 
K.O.D. said:
I do understand that f&f with CRK is the big deal. Its just that, after 20+ years since the Sebenza came out, I'd like to see a little more innovation. I know that retooling that abides by their strict tolerances is costly, but my hope is that in the next ten years we will see something from CRK that is more than just a Ti framelock (Ti-lock not inclusive). A flipper would be nice.

However, I probably will end up with a CF Seb this summer as a wedding gift from my wife, unless I find something else I like better (seeing Charlie Mike's custom Darrel Ralph's make me drool).
Click to expand...

Not sure if I agree....Why fix something that isn't broken. I mean, CRK invented the Ti Framelock, Stonewash and worked with Crucible to create S35V. All three things my ZT 0550 use.
 
For me... I give props to Sal! Kudos to him for sure and the Half a dozen or so knives that give me as much enjoyment as the Sebenza and another half a dozen or so which I appreciated but weren't for me. There's a bunch of the Taichung knives that do that very satisfying Ti Framelock click sound when locked.

I can say the same about the Kershaw Blur in Elmax.

And several other knives I greatly enjoy.

They still aren't Sebenzas. For me the Sebenza's pillar construction and max compactness for a one hander, great ergo's in addition passion, thoughtfulness and love that CR put into this knife puts him and the knife up there with the living legends just like Sal.

Guys like Centofante and Loveless really knew how to make a knife and I'm glad that I got one. I'm still gonna go out and buy more knives though, lol.
 
I've been on the fence for a small sebenza lately and I can't tell if this thread has knocked me off or is pushing me over.:confused: As time passes and my wallet fattens I'm sure I'll own one soon.
 
I'd have to agree that in general, the most hyped blades by nature will be overhyped. That's not saying it's not a brilliant knife, just that those who don't have them drool over them until we expect a mini folding Excalibur. I think that's the OPs point. If you want a well-made knife, it's perfect. But if you want a knife that is so sharp it'll cut its own way out of a sheath and then shave you while you sleep, you'll be disappointed. It's a very well made knife, but still "just" a knife.

I really want one and it's a nightmare trying to find them to handle in Australia (for me anyway). My Delica still impresses me, so I'm expecting similar from the Sebenza - a stable, smoothly opening knife with a very sharp edge that fits in my pocket and doesn't fail.

My relatively objective way of measuring a thing (even if I don't like a certain aspect) is to ask "does it do what they intended it to do?". I think for that, the Sebenza seems to be a very good knife. As for "does it do what I want it to do?", that's purely on me.
 
Before I really got into knives, my dad showed me his Sebenza, and I thought the same thing as you. Big deal. My dad got me into knife collecting and I've picked up quite a few knives in the past few years. I no longer think "big deal" when describing a Sebenza. The quality and consistency of the Sebenza is head and shoulders above most other knives, many of them with a bigger price tag.
 
I felt much the same way, and posted my feelings on another forum.
Among the many comments deriding my opinion was one from a forum member offering to send me his to use for a week or two.

My opinion changed.

Shortly after I was no longer in a financial position to buy one.

I got a new job, and finally found one I liked, a micarta inlaid large Sebenza.
It's in my pocket now.
I've also just bought a small micarta inlaid insiglo.
I would say I'm a convert.
That said, I bought both of mine used for less than retail.
I'm not sure I'd pay full price.
I think they were about $300 each.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top