I remember being a knife newbie

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Rocknroll66

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I remember being a knife newbie and hearing about sebenzas on the internet. I thought they were some sort of high end Italian knife. Sebenza sounded Italian to me. That's also when I learned about grail knives. Thinking about this made me laugh so I thought I would share it with you all. Someday I will join your ranks and own a CRK.
 
I remember the first time I saw/heard of a Sebenza and thinking why would anyone pay THAT much money for a knife. I've now owned 6 and love my model 21.
 
We were all there at one time or another. I have been into knives my whole life, but I recently got into "high end" knives in the last 5-7 years; I haven't kept track. I remember seeing a sebenza for the first time too, and then finding the price out:eek:. At that time I carried cheap "assisted folders" and bought knives at the flea market.

Eventually I got into flipping balisongs, which led to me buying a benchmade 51. Which eventually led to buying a griptilian, and eventually led to a sebenza. And now it's an obsession! Now I look back at all the cheap knives I thought were so cool and laugh to myself. But hey, those are what started it all.
 
I first heard about CRK back in the 1990's as I saw pics of them in magazines and such and that being the One Piece Knives. I was into the hollow handle survival knives like many of us were at the time. I had saved up and got a discontinued Buck Buckmaster. That held me over for awhile. Then in the early 2000's, I got a better job and revisited CRK looking to see if I get a hollow handle CRK knife. After much going back and forth, I settled on the Shadow III. It was $175 at the time. ALOT for a knife back then ( its still alot today even ). Well, needless to say I was hooked. Shortly a Tanto I followed and that was it......!!! I bought several OPK until I even thought about a sebenza. In fact, I had not even heard of the sebenza at that time.......I figured since I liked the OPK so much, I should like the sebenza as well upon reading about it..............I ended up getting my first sebenza ( a mint large regular in BG-42 ) off of ebay for like $275. Little did I know that the BG-42 was considered special, even then. I then went and bought a large regular in S30V for a whopping $310 and sent it to CRK for the NCIS Engraving.
Oh, Those were the days. I can thankfully say that I was around when the large regular sebenza reigned supreme and was readily available :)
 
My first "high end" knife was a Benchmade CQC7 back in about 1995. It was a crazy ~$100 and I was lambasted by my friends for "wasting" that much on a knife. I still own it. My first Seb was in about 2007. I bought it here on BF when I stumbled in here looking for info on some tacticool knife I can't even remember now. I carried that used Large Classic until 2013 when I stupidly sold it (to Lone Wolfe I think) to fund an AR build that I rarely shoot. Good times.
 
I have been into knives most of my life. I was in heaven when my dad got me a Case pocket knife. I have had many different ones over the years. In the late 80's I got a Cold steel tanto pocket knife. I paid $60.00 and was sure I was crazy but I liked it. I beat the crap out of that knife for many years before it finally failed. I tried to get Cold Steel to fix it but they said "that is to old we can't do it". So I started looking. Found a Bench Made and liked it. Had it for a while and then looking on the internet one night I found Bladeforum. My first thought was "these people have to be nuts" no knife is worth that. But I keep reading and looking and reading and I have always known that Quality is Free. After looking at lots of brands CRK's spoke to me. You mean they will keep it looking like new and fix it if it breaks (not because of doing dumb stuff) but if it fails. Well then which one....The Umnumzaan was the one for me. Still have it and always will. I have had several high end knives and still do but CRK's are the ones that always find their way into my pocket. Even my dog (Zoee) loves her CRK.


 
I had a similar introduction to high end knives. I grew up with traditional knives that rarely exceeded $30. I seen some Benchmade knives in various gun shops but, at this point in life I was working for my own money and thought more than $100 was ridiculous for a knife. My father ended up getting me a Sog Flash II through some sort of group order from a guy he worked with. I thought it was the coolest knife ever and used/abused that knife for the longest time. Then my cousin started buying ZT and Kershaw knives. I got a Kershaw OD-1 in a Christmas gift exchange that he had brought and I thought for a while it was the greatest knife ever (still carry it on occasion). Then a few years later I graduated college and got a ZT 0350 for a gift from the same cousin. I was blew away by the gift and that's what really jump started my knife addiction into what it is today.

Shortly after getting the ZT 0350 I started to poke around on Blade forums, mainly just reading up on blade steels. Not too much longer after that I found myself browsing around here more and more. One knife kept popping up in topics. I'm sure you can guess that it was the Sebenza. Eventually curiosity got the best of me and I found myself with serious sticker shock. Yikes $300+ for a pocket knife!? So, I started seeing references to the Bradley Alias, AKA the poor mans Sebenza. I ended up getting a large and small Alias. Of course as many of you know the addiction grows and before I knew it I had my first Sebenza. I took me a while to fully appreciate the subtle differences but, once I did it was a whole new level of knife addiction. I now have owned 8 different CRK knives and 14 ZT knives.

Lately I have distilled my collection down to only a few knives and picked up one of my grails (Todd Begg Bodega Field Grade). The only CRK I currently own is a Umnumzaan but, I'm slowly gathering funds for a Mnandi and a damascuss blade Sebenza with nice bone or wood inlays. I also have some other none CRK grails like a Scott Cook Lochsa , Microtech Anax, a full ti Bodega and I'm sure there are others I'm just not thinking of.
 
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I had been a one-knife guy for 35 years until I ran into a buddy with an Emerson. I had to have one, and then went on to buy another 50 or so knives from Cold Steels in the beginning to SOGs then Benchmades, more Emersons and a bunch of Spydercos.

I thought $400 was way too much for a knife. Then the 25 came out, and everyone wanted one. I started looking myself, was almost impossible to find but stayed up literally all night and found one about 7:30 a.m. Bought it 30 minutes later, and that started me off to getting 6 more CRKs in the next four months.

Ran pretty much broke those months, and sure am glad a transmission, furnace or something like that didn't go out, I'd have screwed myself!

Now I need to sell off all those other dust-collectors.
 
The absolute greatest thing about sebenzas to me are what they're missing, or what it doesn't have! They are so plain, so utilitarian, so focused on being just an ergonomic, pocket folder with no gimmicks that is crafted incredibly well. I spent almost two years looking for an alternative. The only thing that has come close was a Kershaw blur in Elmax.

When I first started reading about sebbies I thought they were literarally larger than life and that the large 21 was Rambo fixed blade sized in my mind. Turned out it isn't much bigger than a traditional trapper slipjoint and disappears in the pocket!
 
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cchu518 said:
The absolute greatest thing about sebenzas to me are what they're missing, or what it doesn't have! They are so plain, so utilitarian, so focused on being just an ergonomic, pocket folder with no gimmicks that is crafted incredibly well. I spent almost two years looking for an alternative. The only thing that has come close was a Kershaw blur in Elmax.
Click to expand...

You summed it up really well. To me the simplicity and competence of the platform is the attraction. It's sort of like a really quality 1911 without all the fiber optic sights, front cocking serrations, and extended doo-dads they seem to tack on these days. Because of the simple lines and great function, something as simple as a small swedge on the blade or a change in the bevel on the sides of the scale really stands out.
 
Its close to a 1911, except I don't really know anyone who actually carries their's vs an xd or glock or insert_____ smaller platform than a 1911. 😊
 
Love the 1911 comment. I carry a colt commander everyday. It's either in my bag or on my person. I went out of my way to get a classic one when I purchased it last summer. I didn't want any tacticool stuff on it.
 
I spent less time buying my house then I did researching my 1st Sebenza purchase. I believe I read every thread out there including all the CRK BF threads.

Birdhunter-your dog has good taste in knives(pun intended)-nice looking dog
 
Wilson CQB compact and Large Seb….. well equipt for the day, every day!
 
Got distracted, and forgot the point of the thread… 15 years ago, Got a lefty Reg CGG ( a spear and some grass, forgot the name) because I had to carry my .45 strong side, and my knife weak side, so that lasted a few years…. Bart
 
I've been looking for an opportunity to share my "intro to sebenzas" story. It started with a Bradley Alias. The first one i received, the lock stuck so bad i needed two hands to disengage it. I sent that one back and it's replacement... I could close the knife with one hand without disengaging the lock. Total lock failure. This one i sent back to benchmade. Got it back and same thing, lock failure. One more time back to benchmade and still lock failure, could push on the spine of the blade and close it without touching the lock. Contacted the dealer and, despite now having the knife for about 3 months and a 20 day return policy, they took mercy on me and took the knife back!!! (Awesome customer service) I used the credit to purchase a large 21, and nine sebenzas later... I think i've found my favorite knife maker!!
On a side note... Benchmade has redeemed themselves for me with their attention to a custom grip that arrived screwed up (ridiculously off centered blade and lots of blade play). They fixed it up and it is perfect now... Centered and no play. Don't want to bad mouth BM.
 
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