- Joined
- Jun 5, 2002
- Messages
- 2,761
OK, I am going to try to explain this one more time, to certain elements in this thread, and then, I am done!!! 
It is no secret CR is a perfectionist, you see it in his knives, and his overall philosophy, no maker is as consistant as he is, nobody.
It is also widely known, and I'd love to see anybody argue this point, that he utilizes extremely close and tight tolerances at his small factory in the production of his knives.
Because of this, and because he is proud, and rightly so, of his uniquely close and tight specs, what constitutes "damage" and "wear" to him, is probably a heck of a lot less than what a company like Emerson, or even a custom maker like Ralph consider unacceptable wear.
I have no clue what the specs actually are, but, to give an example, I'll just pick some numbers.
Let's say, that the tolerences of the lock mechanisms on Sebenzas are held to .0001 of an inch, and that excessive flicking, over time, will cause the lock to move 10% out of spec. Well, maybe CR feels 10%, on a knife touted and built to be and remain in very tight spec, is too much for his perfectionist personality to accept, so, he prohibits excessive, hard flicking, because he feels a 10% reduction in the tolerances of his knives is too much. He is sensitive to even this small degredation of his lock mechanism, not because the knife can't handle it, not that it won't continue to work properly, but, he simply doesnt want this to happen, he is a perfectionist and prides himself and his knives on being very near perfect with regard to fit/tolerances.
Now, a company like Emerson, who's tolerences are literally orders of magnitude less than CR, let's pick a number, instead of CRK .0001, Emerson is happy to stay within .001, and frankly, that's probably being too kind to them given what i've seen of their production knives. But, OK, they aren't as concerned with ultra-tight tolerences as CR is, so, when the knife falls a little out of spec from flicking, well, who gives a crap, their knives were never nearly as tight as CR to begin with, and even after flicking has caused a Sebenza to fall 10% out of its original spec, it is STILL tighter than a new, unflicked Emerson, what this boils down to, is the philosophy of the companies, and what they care about. CRK cares very much about their knives starting out with very tight tolerences, and staying tight over time, Emerson, and I'm sure other companies who might say flicking is OK, aren't nearly as concerned about a slight loss of precision and therefore, they say: sure flick all you want, we don't care, which is true, they don't.
CR cares about his tolerances, the small amount of variance flicking introduces into his design, is unacceptable to him, even though, the knife would in all liklihood still function just fine, in fact, certainly better than even a brand new, unflicked Emerson, he is a perfectionist, and cares about his knives, and doesn't allow excessive, wanton flicking, because it will degrade the mechanism, even slightly. Whereas Emerson, their tolerances are so inferior to begin with, a slight loss of precision won't even be noticed on one of their knives, nor would anybody at Emerson even care, long as the knife still worked reasonably well. I would argue, many Emersons don't even work reasonably well right out of the box anyway, before they have been flicked even once...
The reason CR prohibits flicking is not because it will damage his knife more than other knives who's makers claim flicking is OK, it is because he is very sensitive to this issue, has worked very hard to use and maintain ultra-tight tolerences, and it bothers him that some people would flick his knives so much, that those tolerences will eventually be degraded, that doesn't mean knives from other makers do not also lose precision eventually, with repeated, hard flicking, it just means, they don't care quite as much when it happens and have lower standards for their knives and themselves.
If you can't understand this, well, there's no sense continuing.
I'm still waiting though for BS to give me that looooong list of other production knives that exhibit superior fit to, and more consistant quality than the Sebenza....
Emerson? Uh-huh. :footinmou
I don't know, I must be insane, since I have owned and examined hundreds, maybe thousands of the world's finest production and custom knives, from ALL of the top custom makers, and I still believe CRK offers the most consistantly well made folder in existance, I must be crazy, but, apparently, I have lots of company, so, it must be that we have all been mass hypnotized by the hype... Yeah right. Most custom makers I have spoken to also agree that the Sebenza is without doubt, the finest production knife made, many of them further agree, it is better made than many customs, but, they must have also fallen for the hype...
Since hype describes a belief about something that is not based on reality, the only hype here, is negative hype, from those who continue to attempt to bash CRK. Hype is not hype, when the praise comes from owners of a product who have had legitimate, positive experiences with said product, as is clearly the case with CRK. So, BS, who is hyping here, CR fans, or, you? I guess I too don't like hype, yours.
It is no secret CR is a perfectionist, you see it in his knives, and his overall philosophy, no maker is as consistant as he is, nobody.
It is also widely known, and I'd love to see anybody argue this point, that he utilizes extremely close and tight tolerances at his small factory in the production of his knives.
Because of this, and because he is proud, and rightly so, of his uniquely close and tight specs, what constitutes "damage" and "wear" to him, is probably a heck of a lot less than what a company like Emerson, or even a custom maker like Ralph consider unacceptable wear.
I have no clue what the specs actually are, but, to give an example, I'll just pick some numbers.
Let's say, that the tolerences of the lock mechanisms on Sebenzas are held to .0001 of an inch, and that excessive flicking, over time, will cause the lock to move 10% out of spec. Well, maybe CR feels 10%, on a knife touted and built to be and remain in very tight spec, is too much for his perfectionist personality to accept, so, he prohibits excessive, hard flicking, because he feels a 10% reduction in the tolerances of his knives is too much. He is sensitive to even this small degredation of his lock mechanism, not because the knife can't handle it, not that it won't continue to work properly, but, he simply doesnt want this to happen, he is a perfectionist and prides himself and his knives on being very near perfect with regard to fit/tolerances.
Now, a company like Emerson, who's tolerences are literally orders of magnitude less than CR, let's pick a number, instead of CRK .0001, Emerson is happy to stay within .001, and frankly, that's probably being too kind to them given what i've seen of their production knives. But, OK, they aren't as concerned with ultra-tight tolerences as CR is, so, when the knife falls a little out of spec from flicking, well, who gives a crap, their knives were never nearly as tight as CR to begin with, and even after flicking has caused a Sebenza to fall 10% out of its original spec, it is STILL tighter than a new, unflicked Emerson, what this boils down to, is the philosophy of the companies, and what they care about. CRK cares very much about their knives starting out with very tight tolerences, and staying tight over time, Emerson, and I'm sure other companies who might say flicking is OK, aren't nearly as concerned about a slight loss of precision and therefore, they say: sure flick all you want, we don't care, which is true, they don't.
CR cares about his tolerances, the small amount of variance flicking introduces into his design, is unacceptable to him, even though, the knife would in all liklihood still function just fine, in fact, certainly better than even a brand new, unflicked Emerson, he is a perfectionist, and cares about his knives, and doesn't allow excessive, wanton flicking, because it will degrade the mechanism, even slightly. Whereas Emerson, their tolerances are so inferior to begin with, a slight loss of precision won't even be noticed on one of their knives, nor would anybody at Emerson even care, long as the knife still worked reasonably well. I would argue, many Emersons don't even work reasonably well right out of the box anyway, before they have been flicked even once...
The reason CR prohibits flicking is not because it will damage his knife more than other knives who's makers claim flicking is OK, it is because he is very sensitive to this issue, has worked very hard to use and maintain ultra-tight tolerences, and it bothers him that some people would flick his knives so much, that those tolerences will eventually be degraded, that doesn't mean knives from other makers do not also lose precision eventually, with repeated, hard flicking, it just means, they don't care quite as much when it happens and have lower standards for their knives and themselves.
If you can't understand this, well, there's no sense continuing.
I'm still waiting though for BS to give me that looooong list of other production knives that exhibit superior fit to, and more consistant quality than the Sebenza....
Emerson? Uh-huh. :footinmouI don't know, I must be insane, since I have owned and examined hundreds, maybe thousands of the world's finest production and custom knives, from ALL of the top custom makers, and I still believe CRK offers the most consistantly well made folder in existance, I must be crazy, but, apparently, I have lots of company, so, it must be that we have all been mass hypnotized by the hype... Yeah right. Most custom makers I have spoken to also agree that the Sebenza is without doubt, the finest production knife made, many of them further agree, it is better made than many customs, but, they must have also fallen for the hype...
Since hype describes a belief about something that is not based on reality, the only hype here, is negative hype, from those who continue to attempt to bash CRK. Hype is not hype, when the praise comes from owners of a product who have had legitimate, positive experiences with said product, as is clearly the case with CRK. So, BS, who is hyping here, CR fans, or, you? I guess I too don't like hype, yours.
The colder the climate, the longer and more boring one's responses within threads seem to be. Time issue? Besides, -40f is silly-cold. Just because Canada is cleaner, there's less crime, and there's more gourmet vegetarian shoppes doesn't mean it's necessarily a better place to live, you know?
