Large V.S small

I use to carry my small tanto religously. Love the large 21, but to me, unless I'm at home or in the field, it always felt a bit too large. That was until I got a hold of the 25. For whatever reason, the 25 feels smaller in hand than the 21 to me. It truly is the perfect EDC knife and almost never leaves my pocket.
 
I carry a small insingo at work and a large micarta insingo around the house and to town. The reason I carry the small at work is I always have tools or mechanical parts in my pockets and I feel the small just fits better with all that crap in my pockets.
 
Practical needs verses what we like. The Umnumzaan is the most comfortable knife I have ever picked up, exact fit in my hand. It is too aggressive around my office. The Small Sebebza is the most comfortable knife I have ever carried in my pocket. For my practical side the Small S21 covers all my needs, would be lost without it.
 
My first Seb was a Sm Reg. A year or so later I bought a Lg classic wood inlay. It seemed super big... & I'm 6'5"! I never carried it. A little bit later I got a deal on a pre loved Microtech LCC (3.5" blade) and really appreciated the extra blade length... but there was one problem with it... My Sm Seb was obviously a finer knife! I revisited the Large, Reg this time, and I found MY knife!! That was late 2003. I never looked back. I visited and revisited the Mnandi for my small carry knife but it never really floated my boat.

Summer 2010 I decided to pull the trigger on a Sm 21 just before the price hike of $330 to $350. As said above, part of me feels like its a "replica" of the Lg, but it is certainly all CRK. It's like a finely cut little gem.

As far as blade size, I get a lot of use out of my Strider SnGs which have the identical cutting edge length but the Sm Seb is a fraction of the carried size and almost 1/2 the weight. Food prep is the only area where I really miss that 1/2". What it all boils down to for me is if I want to carry an unobtrusive, small, very lightweight, knife (almost never) it might as well be a Sebenza!
 
The small does everything I need and I can carry it comfortable in the front pocket of my trousers.
While in an urban environment it's the perfect knife.
Then, when the weekend comes and I go outdoors, suddenly the large is not that large at all.
red mag.
PS: I've not answered this question for myself yet.
 
smallSeb.jpg

largeSeb.jpg


You can see that the "small" sort of disappears in my hand. I have to "back up" on the knife to get my thumb behind the stud...and when I do, I just about drop the knife.
So yes, I carry the Large or my Zaan. Sized for me.
 
It appears that one's grip can influence the decision as much as hand size. Seeing how you hold the knife makes the large an easy choice. I find the small fits in my grip much better, but I hold it far differently. Rather than gripping the entire handle, I pinch it with my thumb and index finger at the top - my index finger resting across the "Idaho Made" and my thumb placed on the pivot's screw head. Holding it thusly, my pinky lines up right about where yours does on the large and feels wonderful in hand. Attempting that grip with the large was comical - there was just too much real estate.

Sonnydaze said:
smallSeb.jpg

largeSeb.jpg


You can see that the "small" sort of disappears in my hand. I have to "back up" on the knife to get my thumb behind the stud...and when I do, I just about drop the knife.
So yes, I carry the Large or my Zaan. Sized for me.
Click to expand...
 
I've had both and prefer the small for its pocketability. The small disappears in my pocket, the large felt ever-present and never disappeared into my pocket, it just dominates the pocket.

For EDC tasks, I don't miss the extra blade when using the small.
 
I am a small fan--or rather, a huge fan of the small! ;)

My small Insingo does everything that I need a knife to do, fits my medium size hand well, and rides unnoticed in my pants pocket.

And as powernoodle illustrated above, it cuts like many bigger knives.
 
I can see that many of you guys carry the small because the legal, office, or environmental situations but you switch to the large when you can? At work and even in northern CA I can carry a large in my pocket extremely comfortably. I was strongly looking at a small counterpart and then I saw the post from sonnydaze, this post is helping me with keeping a only large diet. My hands are not quite at the large stage but they are slightly larger than a comfortable medium and I still cannot be comfortable with a smaller blade. To truely make this decision I need to carry a small for a few days maybe even weeks. However my next CRK will definitely be a larger blade, a ummanzan or a 25. Thank you everyone for the input, I hope it keeps coming, I really like hearing different people's reasoning.

-Justin
 
I have settled upon a pair of small and large plain Regulars as my all time favorite knives. I carry them both pretty equally. The small is more comfortable in the pocket if I'm sitting a lot. It's lighter, and has almost as much useable edge as many significantly larger knives, like the Para 2 above. The large is a little better for heavier cutting because one can get a tighter grip on the larger handle. The extra blade length is useful for food prep, dressing big game, most anything... but I still carry my small reg a lot and find it very useful for the above tasks as well.
 
I have 10 smalls of various configurations. They fit my medium sized hand perfectly. Never tried a large and am afraid to do so as I don't need to buy 10 more knives! Small has done everything I have ever asked it to do and it has done so in a dicreet manner.
 
This is quite interesting why people carry smalls vs. large in that for some it is the environment, for others the big factor is discreetness when carrying, and still there is that underlying reality of handsize. I have medium sized hands and Sonnydaze's photos mimic exactly how a large and small would fit in my hand with my grip. For a long time I preferred the small because it is more discreet and packed a decent size blade. However after awhile and rotating other knives into the EDC circle, I began to appreciate better grips and also developed a desire for a longer blade. Was that desire based on actual daily needs? Probably not but who knows. :D So naturally, the small found a new home and the Large Starbenza made its way into the old. Although I was loving the new blade size and more real estate on the handle, all of a sudden, the Sebenza went down 10 notches for me in ergonomics. Contemplating reverting back to my old friend, the Umnumzaan, a 25 made its way across my path. Now like Blackend, I too agree the new 25 somehow feels smaller in hand but oh so right. The blade almost appears smaller than the Large 21 but is the same length and thus I can't get it out of my pocket. :confused: :)

With all things considered, if one appreciates a great collaboration, ingenious design, and uniqueness to the max, I would go with the Ti-lock. It isn't for everyone, but once you master the locking mechanism (the deployment, and one-handed closing) it is awesome. It carries like a small, hides scratches like a strider, packs a blade nearly that of the Large, and when you position your hand to take advantage of the extra choil nearest the blade, it feels more like a Large with 10 times the ergonomics.
 
My large insingo feels perfect in my hand and disappears in my pocket (figuratively speaking of course). I'll probably end up with a small eventually just for variety, but I can't imagine carrying anything other than a large.
 
UrFrndlyNebrhoodS said:
With all things considered, if one appreciates a great collaboration, ingenious design, and uniqueness to the max, I would go with the Ti-lock. It isn't for everyone, but once you master the locking mechanism (the deployment, and one-handed closing) it is awesome. It carries like a small, hides scratches like a strider, packs a blade nearly that of the Large, and when you position your hand to take advantage of the extra choil nearest the blade, it feels more like a Large with 10 times the ergonomics.
Click to expand...

The Ti-lock would seem to fall exactly between the small and the large. Very curious about one myself. For me the negatives are that as a lefty the T-L would carry "backwards" in my pocket as the clip is not movable. Would that matter? maybe not, but not I'm sure I want to take a $475 gamble on it after all, most if not all, left handed knives have the clip the opposite way. The other negative is the quote from the CRK website that it's "not an exercise in ultimate lock strength" or words to that effect. I probably would never stress the lock much, but it does concern me that the maker feels the need to mention this. Lastly, it's not supposed to be disassembled by the user, I think. I get my knives pretty greasy and yucky occasionally and one of the reasons I like my Sebs so much is that they can be taken down and cleaned. I still hope to handle one some day because I have a feeling I'd love it in spite of the above...
 
Haha, this thread is very interesting. The large is too large for some people, but the small is a little too small for me :). Just for the heck of it, I think it'd be cool to one day see an XL Sebenza...
 
My hands are too big for the small. I always carry the largest knife I won't leave at home. I guess my rational being the old adage; a large knife can perform the tasks of a smaller knife, but a small knife can't perform the tasks of a larger knife. I can hear my son saying; "that's what she said".
As a retired LEO, I always have that SD aspect in the back of my mind. Unfortunately,I have had to call my EDC tool for SD purposes. In that regards, you want the biggest knife possible.
 
DR.BOOM said:
I can see that many of you guys carry the small because the legal, office, or environmental situations but you switch to the large when you can?
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Actually, no. If I need a larger knife than my Small CF Sebenza, my go-to blade is a Spyderco Southard for several reasons. The ergos on the Southard work better for me than the ergos on the Large Sebenza, the Southard is lighter and takes up less pocket space than the Large Sebenza, I prefer the performance of the Southard's blade steel, and the Southard doesn't require a break-in period to smooth out the action when its new.
 
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