Fellas,
I'm starting this thread to update progress on the wear and tear that you might find by using your small polished blade sebenza with wood inlays as your daily EDC. Inspired by Mostmenareruthless' post following the daily wear and tear on his damascus small sebby:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1158645-My-name-is-Damascus-and-I-am-a-User?highlight=damascus+user
The subject is my small 21 box elder that I bought several months back, and has not seen any serious pocket time. I bought it as my "night out with my wife" knife, but I rarely need it in those situations, so it has kinda languished in my drawer. I'm not going to cut this knife any slack because I want to answer several questions for myself that might also benefit my pals on the forum:
1: What does a polished blade look like once you give it some scratches?
2: What happens to the wood inlays in your pocket?
3: What happens to the polished TI slabs over time?
4: As a large CRK knife guy, will I fall in love with the 'small' size as so many have?
I am going to set the calfskin pouch aside and let this knife have a full life. As you might have noticed I have reverse OCD. I am not happy with any of my knives unless they are scratched-up users!
Secretly I cannot bear to daily carry my large Tamboti Wood sebenza 21 as it is so gorgeous, so I am sending my small box elder in as point-man to see what becomes of it behind enemy lines.
Here she is on the day I received her (the test begins tomorrow):
Any other forum members who have pocket washed wood Sebenzas, feel free to post pics :thumbup:
OK fellow CRK Buffs.....I have carried this small Sebenza 21 box-elder in my pocket, without a sheath, since March 16th. It is now May 7th, and I am getting bored so I want to finish up my test session, and offer my commentary and results.
Firstly......this is the internet, and you can believe or disbelieve anything you see or read, but hopefully my track record on this site will offer some assurance that I am trying to present some accurate findings, all in an effort to help any guys out who are on the fence about one of these CRK (polished blade and slabs with wood inlay). I have recieved a lot of enjoyment out of being part of this great CRK knife community, and this is a chance to maybe add something useful to the mix and give back.
For well over a month I have used this knife as my daily EDC in my job as an electrician and around the house and garden. Like any self-respecting knife-guy I am always "looking for cutting tasks" to use my pocket knife, so this knife saw a lot of necessary, and unnecessary use.
What have i done with it?
- cut up many boxes, and opened many packages
- sliced up dozens of apples, oranges, and pears (and pepperoni and cheese when my wife wasn't looking
)
- stripped a lot of wire at work (when no better method was handy....I.E. way too often)
- did quite a bit of pruning and gardening
- some general bushcrafting (sharpening sticks, a bit of whittling etc)
- cleaned fingernails
- cut zip ties
What did I not do with it?
- I was not out to destroy this knife or test it's overall strength. I was just trying to find out how the knife surfaces, in particular the inlays, Ti scales and polished slabs, stand up to normal use.
- I did not try to damage the blade or handles by throwing the knife on the ground, skipping it down the road, cutting sandy driftwood, installing chain-link fencing, slamming it in a door, dipping it in acid, faceting a diamond, or any other tasks that are ridiculous for a nice pocket folder. The knife did not get "babied", but I didn't try to break the darn thing either....just normal use.....in the spirit of this test.
How did it live?
- this knife was in my pocket with keys and change as often as not. I made no effort to separate my key ring or change from the knife
- I did not use the sheepskin pouch.
- I did not hesitate to get the knife dirty, or gritty, or oily if required at my work.
- I did not hesitate to put the knife down on the surface I happen to be working on.
- I did not clip it to my pocket, it rode in the bottom of my pocket (which will explain why the pocket clip doesn't have that much character)
- I washed the knife in the sink, under running water, with soap when it got dirty
Here are my findings (with photos), and the answers to the four question I posed in the thread opener
For starters, at glance this knife still looks new. I have taken most of the photos here in very bright sunlight as that was the only way I could really show off the "damage" on the knife. If you saw the knife in passing you would assume it was mint. It still looks like a very nice pocket knife.
Question #1:
1: What does a polished blade look like once you give it some scratches?
The most interesting finding for me so far, is that the polished blade seems more resistant to scratching that the stone-washed blades, or at least the scratches do not show up as much. I thought a lot about this, because this suggestion is bound to be somewhat controversial. What I think is happening is that the stonewash blades have more of a surface texture, and that texture is more easily removed than putting a scratch into the relatively smooth sides of the polished blade. It might be the shiny scratch in the almost satin modern CRK stonewash catches my eye more, or they are easier to put there due to the texture. You have to remember, that although there is much discussion about CRK heat-treat and rockwell hardness, the S35VN blade is still a very hard piece of material, even at 58HRC, and thus is not that easily scratched. I really struggled to take a photo showing any scratches at all on the polished blade. I figured if I couldn't show at least some, my experiment would be labelled a fraud. Anyways....here are some pics of the scratches I could put on the blade over the last many weeks of carry.
You can see a few fine ones towards the top of the polish in this photo (remember I had to work at getting the perfect angle with the sun for these to show at all):
And some similar in this photo of the opposite side of the blade:
In conclusion on the polished blade: I grew to love the polished blade and I don't think anyone should hesitate to EDC a polished CRK. When looking at them online I never liked the lines left by the Cork Wheel they polish them with, but in person they are very nice and they also serve to disguise fingerprints. I also feel they add another level of 'hand-finishing' to the blade that is missing on the stone-wash. I might be wrong, but I have the impression a real human in Idaho made an effort to make a nice polished blade for me, and got the lines on the blade nice and vertical and perfect. I also found I liked "fondling" the polished surface of the blade watching TV etc, cause it is very nice and smooth.
Question #2:
2: What happens to the wood inlays in your pocket?
OK......this is the most unexpected finding for me! The wood is less damaged that either the polished blade, or the polished slabs.....I.E. there is no detectable damage. You have to realize that these results will be somewhat specific to box elder inlays, as all woods will have their own properties, just like steel, however; box elder, which is a maple, is not the hardest wood known. Although we think of maple as "hard-wood" it really is soft compared to ebony, lignum vitae, tamboti, and likely other woods CRK uses. I feel this Box Elder is probably a "stabilized" product, which has likely increased it's hardness. I was astounded how these inlays kept up. Not a nick, a ding, or a scratch can be seen anywhere on either side. They appear brand new. The only thing that changed was they have darkened somewhat, and the figuring and the colour of the knots has become more pronounced. I can't really explain this, but whatever surface treatment or process has been done on this wood, it does not get buffed, or look dry, or look scratched, but stay nice and smooth. It's like it is just soft enough not to get scratched, and just hard enough not to get dented. Of course I have no other wood in the test, so all I can say is that if you like box elder, don't worry about it. These inlays changed less that the Micarta does, which of course takes a dark polish and turns black. I really expected these inlays to see wear and tear from my typically large tradesman's key-ring, with lots and lots of sharp keys, but no problem. You can see in the photos for the following section the scratches all over the Ti scales, but none on the wood.....amazing.
Question #3:
3: What happens to the polished TI slabs over time?
Yes.....the TI slabs take the brunt of the damage.....but........in this case again I offer another somewhat controverial finding: Like the polished blade, there is no surface texture to remove, so the polished Ti surface only shows 'real' scratches. There are no "Snail trails", no "ancient runes", no brightening of the edges, or anything really noticable at a glance. For certain they do get scatched, but the scratches are more like a "Scotch-Brite" treatment that the obvious marks that appear immediately on the bead-blasted scales. These slabs stay "fresher longer", I would argue.
Again I took these photos at very harsh angles to the sunlight to reveal the scratches. Indoors, or at a glance, it just look like a nice polished Ti slabs.
Question #4:
4: As a large CRK knife guy, will I fall in love with the 'small' size as so many have?
This is the most subjective question. The answer is that after a month of carrying the small, my large CRK's kinda seemed kinda big, but I know I will get used to them again when I start carrying another large CRK. I suppose I agree with the folk that would like to see a Medium Sebenza. These are the things I grew to like about the small:
- I liked the fact I could have it in inside my pocket, crossways at the bottom, below my wallet or keys or what-have-you. With the large CRK folders, I find they are too large without them being clipped vertical. I sometime find the pocket clips catch on stuff at work, so I am not always looking for a speedy deployment, more not too lose my knife, or bend the clip.
- I liked the light weight.
- I liked the fact this knife never scared anyone, and I never hesitated to deploy it in public. Even at a cash register to cut open a box for inspection, or in the office at work. No one ever questioned the knife, or had that "look out for this guy" look on their face. Even flicking it watching TV with the family, I didn't feel like a "Tactical Dad" or something. I think this is one of the strongest arguments for the small Sebenza. You are not carrying a "weapon" per se. Of course if you found you needed a weapon, you'd be wishing you had your Umnum on hand.:thumbup:
- I liked that fact there was no time when the knife like it was going to fail me. These are stout little knives! If I win the lotto, i'll test a small Sebenza 21 to the point of breaking, and I am sure it will be way beyond anything any human is going to do to it in normal use.
In conclusion to this question, I missed the larger blade for some bigger jobs, and missed chopping apples right in half, and for what it's worth the "power" of having that nice big piece of CRK engineering in hand. There were times when it was nice to be closer to the work with the smaller blade. I guess I don't have a clear favourite size, but I know I will not hesitate to buy further small Sebenzas. I like the small knife for sure.
So guys....hope this helps someone lost in some decision purgatory over a wood inlayed Sebenza. "Don't worry about it" is my advice. Buy the knife, use it, enjoy it, and pass it on to the grandkids. As with anything CRK, the factory has not put something on the market that makes no sense, like a pocket knife that will not last in your pocket
. These wood inlayed knives have durable finishes, that will withstand normal conditions, while still maintaining their great appearance, so have at 'er! :thumbup:
Should definitely put the finish and edge up to the test if your not babying the knife. I used to load a lot of concrete bags in a previous job and I found that stuff in my phone, knife, key fob...everywhere!
