Latest Raindrop is Showing Up

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Wavicle

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I see Knivesshipfree has new Sebenza's posted today with the new woods and Damascus. The new Raindrop is cleaned-up from the past few years, but has a different pattern that includes squarish edges.

Raindrop has certainly been an ever-evolving Damascus from DT's forge.
 
Damascus is gorgeous stuff, for sure; I drool every time I see one of those Sebbies. But how does Damascus compare to S35Vn in the regular CRK knives? Not dissing Damascus -- I'd love to own one. I do appreciate my standard 21, though, for design, fit, finish, and awesome cutting properties.
 
Alberta Ed said:
Damascus is gorgeous stuff, for sure; I drool every time I see one of those Sebbies. But how does Damascus compare to S35Vn in the regular CRK knives? Not dissing Damascus -- I'd love to own one. I do appreciate my standard 21, though, for design, fit, finish, and awesome cutting properties.
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The Damascus is stainless and is hardened to a RC similar to S35VN. So you can use it the same as a non-Damascus CRK. On some patterns like Basket Weave, you can feel the lock bar rolling on the pattern so it's not as smooth as the S35VN. However, I have not used any of the Damascus models long enough for break-in, when that ridge-rolling effect may be eliminated. In addition, the contrast of the Damascus will fade with use and it can be refurnished, but only one time AFAIK.
 
Wavicle said:
In addition, the contrast of the Damascus will fade with use and it can be refurnished, but only one time AFAIK.
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I have a plain 21 with damascus and it has faded some with use, but it still looks awesome. I sent it in to have the slabs refurb'ed and inquired about having the blade re-etched.

CRK called me and said that while it had faded it was normal wear and not ready to be refurbished. They confirmed it can only be done once and that the price starts at $75 and can go up depending on how much work they need to do to bring it back.
 
Raindrop on my addition.
Camera focus did not work on the whole blade,but raindrop is perfect all around :).
 

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Alberta Ed said:
Damascus is gorgeous stuff, for sure; I drool every time I see one of those Sebbies. But how does Damascus compare to S35Vn in the regular CRK knives? Not dissing Damascus -- I'd love to own one. I do appreciate my standard 21, though, for design, fit, finish, and awesome cutting properties.
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When I use my ladder Damascus I don't note any difference in cutting from when I use the plain blade.

Mine is ladder Damascus and is broken in. I think little scratches show up more on the Damascus, but since it is a knife, I'll keep cutting with it. Also, I carry mine one or two days a week.
9e8feb09aa048a8d7a8a08dd43f5aea4.jpg
486b1f70e236dcf4d089db2eaec34fea.jpg
 
The older Raindrop patterns are still the best imho..

(L to R) 2006 - 1999 - 2015

pm0AxIFl.jpg
 
Wavicle said:
I see Knivesshipfree has new Sebenza's posted today with the new woods and Damascus. The new Raindrop is cleaned-up from the past few years, but has a different pattern that includes squarish edges.

Raindrop has certainly been an ever-evolving Damascus from DT's forge.
Click to expand...

I have, however, seen some at other dealers that don't look that great.
 
I'm sorry but IMO these new "Raindrop" blades look absolutely horrible. It doesn't even look like what Raindrop has been thru the years. It looks like a totally different design.

There's so many nice damascus patterns on the market today and I just can't see how some of those would not be chosen!?
 
lemmuhj said:
I'm sorry but IMO these new "Raindrop" blades look absolutely horrible. It doesn't even look like what Raindrop has been thru the years. It looks like a totally different design.

There's so many nice damascus patterns on the market today and I just can't see how some of those would not be chosen!?
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Yeah I agree. It's beyond me why they use this raindrop with all the stuff out. The old raindrop is exquisite
 
I agree as well. I don't get why they use this raindrop pattern. I have passed on some otherwise spectacular CRK's because of the sloppy raindrop. This new look isn't any better.

The original, tight, raindrop? Gorgeous!
 
Wrobelan said:
Yes, those are far superior to the one I just saw but not as nice as many others I've seen. It's a mnandi bog with raindrop, but it does not have that beautiful finish.
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The post that this link it to has one much like the first one in this thread. I agree, not real wild about it. I like the old pattern, the stretched variant of the old pattern, and even the really loose 'pebble beach' style, but not this so much.
 
lemmuhj said:
I'm sorry but IMO these new "Raindrop" blades look absolutely horrible. It doesn't even look like what Raindrop has been thru the years. It looks like a totally different design.
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I'll pile on that. The family recipe must have been lost, which is very unfortunate.
 
My feeling is, that there is kind of a "transition period" between the tight old style and the very latest style. This Cocobolo is from March 2014 and although it does not have the tight pattern, I like it:

21, Cocobolo, Raindrop, 03

21, Cocobolo, Raindrop, 13

This mammoth bark is from September 2014 and it is also nice:

21, Mammoth Bark Ivory, Raindrop, 07

21, Mammoth Bark Ivory, Raindrop, 13


Sep. 2012:

21, Black Canvas Micarta, Raindrop, 02

May 2012:

21, Mammoth Ivory, Raindrop, 09

March 2012:

21, UG Morning Sun, Raindrop, 05

Unfortunately I have no raindrop samples from 2013. My guess is that somewhere on the road between 2013 and 2014 the changes took place.
 
In stark contrast to James' crisp and geometrically proportioned raindrop examples, I have this 11-January 2015 Sebenza 25 with almost embarrassing raindrop :barf:

25217546103_281ce3db38_b.jpg
 
I'm sorry but that one looks like CRK have outsourced their Damascus to Bangladesh....:barf:
 
Iron City said:
I have a plain 21 with damascus and it has faded some with use, but it still looks awesome. I sent it in to have the slabs refurb'ed and inquired about having the blade re-etched.

CRK called me and said that while it had faded it was normal wear and not ready to be refurbished. They confirmed it can only be done once and that the price starts at $75 and can go up depending on how much work they need to do to bring it back.
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A lot of ABS makers won't re-etch period. Matter of fact, spa service is one of the reasons I came back into the CRK fold from custom made knives.
 
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