Never Held nor Seen a Sebenza in person;

B

BRO

Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
118
But I now have a Sebenza 21 Large and a Sebenza 21 Small coming my way. For a very long time I would say no to the Sebenza, mostly because of cost. But I have always wanted one and now I guess I going to find out what all you gals and guys already know about owning Sebenza's. Looking forward to receiving them, I ordered the small Sebenza from the factory last Friday and the large from an authorized dealer on Monday. The dealer already sent me a tracking number.

I feel a little like when I was waiting for my TRS to come in. I just knew it was going to be a special 45 and it was/ is. Have not hung around the Blade forum in a long while and I come back and in one week my piggy bank is shattered. Oh well, I will share my thoughts on these knives when I get them. The new old guy/ FNG BRO
 
I was like you, wanted one but was going to buy one more knife for my collection can't afford much knives now, i was going to buy a spyderco sage 2 as my last knife purchase for a while, i then saw a small 21 with chris reeve pouch for £225 on the british blades forum and decided to buy this, i then bought a new one from the only dealer in the united kingdom framar knives, this cost £290 but i am happy to pay this for the quality, it took exactly 8 days from framar ordering, shipped from chris reeve to framar, framar to me at my door, great service.
Now i am buying some accessories from plaza cutlery, some cool dog paw lanyards, pouches, the grease is quite hard to get so i bought some finish line flouro grease in the syringe instead, seems like similar stuff,
I was a bit underwelmed when my first seb arrived maybe due to researching too much on here,
the fit and finish is perfect on the sebenzas, i like the contrast between the sandblasted grey titanium, stonewashed blade, and the blue thumbstund, lanyard pin and backspacer, looks very plain but very classy as well, the blue cloth is a nice touch to wrap the knife in,
The sebenzas are very solid with no blade play whatsoever due to the tight tolerances between the parts, you don't need locktite on the screws, not even on the pivot because it has a bushing in the blade, the bushing goes into a hole in the blade with the washers either side and the handle slabs clamp onto this bushing so the blade pivots around the bushing not the pivot screw so no need for locktite unlike spyderco knives,
a lot of people complain that the seb is difficult to open but you have to push the thumbstud from the side not on the pointed top of it.
The warranty is lifetime which is excellent and you can send it in to chris reeves to have it refurbished, handle re-sandblasted, blade re-stonewashed, new or double thumblugs, new blade, sharpening is free i think but you have to pay return shipping as well.
I will buy another small sebenza and have a user and a couple of spares, i will have to sell some of my spydercos to fund this one,
Look on youtube for videos of sebenzas and download youtube downloader, this is how i know a lot of things about them and also the chris reeve dvd The Exqusite Blade is a must have if you are into chris reeve knives, the first dvd covers the one piece fixed blade knives, the second dvd is better showing different stages of production to quality control and packaging,
Machining and anodising lisas unique sebenzas is also very interesting.
My new sebenza made this year around march 15th 2011 has the idaho stamp, i did not notice this at first after a quick look at the knife but it does not really bother me at all, a lot of people dont like it, so the new ones with the new steel will have this, my newer one also has some slight differences in the jimping, it is much coarser than the old one and also the blade stop collar has a groove machined either side, just maybe slight change in the design.
Anyway hope you like your sebs, have a look at the FAQ on the sebenza at the start of the chris reeve forum and search this forum for info.
I also like the mnandi very classy knife.
 
It took me awhile to buy a sebenza in the beginning as well. I purchased about a dozen of CRK One Piece Knives. After seeing the fine quality in them, I decided to try a folder. A few days before Christmas several years ago on ebay, I happened onto a Large Regular Sebenza ( the regulars were still being made at the time ) for $280 including shipping. The guy said it was like new and upon its arrival, it certainly was, I would even go as far to say in new condition. I was in awe of the quality, the pure hydraulic opening, the fit and finish was perfect. After doing some research ( was a crk newbie at the time ), I realized I had a basically mint Large Regular Sebenza with a BG-42 blade. Realizing this, I quickly bought another Large Regular Sebenza ( $325...lol ) in S30V so I could get it engraved. This sebenza has my NCIS Gibbs Rule #9 " Always Carry A Knife". I have and have had several several sebenzas since, but those first two will probably always be my favorites !!!
 
I own two Chris Reeves knives, a Large Decorated Sebenza and an Umnumzaan.
To be perfectly honest, I was disappointed when I got each of them. I've had the Sebenza for a long time, (6-7 years or more), and just got the Umnumzaan recently.

I'd pick up the Sebenza every now and then and open it and close it and just didn't like the feel... stiff - sticky - just not what I was expecting. Then I'd pack it back in it's resting spot for awhile until I'd read some other poster raving about how smooooth it was and I'd grab it again and still mine wasn't like that.

Well, finally, I said "the heck with it", I'm just gonna carry it for a few days, and by golly, by using it, it finally "came in to it".

Smooth, buttery, and all of the adjectives you can throw around about this knife. As far I can see these CRK's really do need a break-in period, and I regret not doing that years ago when I first got it.

Gotta go now, so I can start breakin' in the Umnam. :D

Phrede
 
BRO said:
But I now have a Sebenza 21 Large and a Sebenza 21 Small coming my way. For a very long time I would say no to the Sebenza, mostly because of cost. But I have always wanted one and now I guess I going to find out what all you gals and guys already know about owning Sebenza's. Looking forward to receiving them, I ordered the small Sebenza from the factory last Friday and the large from an authorized dealer on Monday. The dealer already sent me a tracking number.

I feel a little like when I was waiting for my TRS to come in. I just knew it was going to be a special 45 and it was/ is. Have not hung around the Blade forum in a long while and I come back and in one week my piggy bank is shattered. Oh well, I will share my thoughts on these knives when I get them. The new old guy/ FNG BRO
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The only draw back you will find to owning a Chris Reeve knife is this, after owning one, everything else is kinda disappointing!
 
vwb563 said:
The only draw back you will find to owning a Chris Reeve knife is this, after owning one, everything else is kinda disappointing!
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This is great news, because i have been spending waaaay too much money on knives! I have a sebenza 21 on order!
 
I thought locking folding knives were illegal in the UK? Or is that just for concealed carry in the city?
 
Locking knives are illegal to carry without a good reason, you can carry a slipjoint with a blade length 3" or less without a good reason.
 
lemmuhj said:
This is great news, because i have been spending waaaay too much money on knives! I have a sebenza 21 on order!
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Don't be too sure about this being a good news. Instead of getting other knives, you'll start getting more CRKs. :D It took only 2 weeks for me to give in and get a small Sebenza 21 after purchasing my first CRK, Mnandi. I am thinking of a large Seb or 'Zaan now...
 
The wait is just part of the excitement. I got two of my CR knives on the same day and its true about all the raving regarding quality. I had a Spyderco for a few weeks before the CR folders came in and you can then see and feel the difference.
 
Davor said:
The wait is just part of the excitement. I got two of my CR knives on the same day and its true about all the raving regarding quality. I had a Spyderco for a few weeks before the CR folders came in and you can then see and feel the difference.
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I know exactly what you mean, I've had three different Paramilitary 2s, and the smoothness of the locks have been very different on all three. My first quality knife was a sage one and that got me hooked on Spyderco. I do not regret that I sold off most of my Spyderco knives. I kept the Sage one, for sentimental value as it was my first quality knife. I kept the Sage two, because I like playing with frame lock knives. But since I've gotten my first Chris Reeve knife, Spyderco's have seen very little pocket time.

The size of the knife in my pocket is a big reason for this. The small Sebenza, and the Sage series, have nearly identical blade lengths. Yet the Sebenza, is much smaller when both knives are sitting on a table with the blades closed. That just feels so much better in my pocket, it's very noticeable.

Something else that I really like about the Sebenza, is how easy it is to take it apart. I don't mind using the Sebenza in food preparation. Not afraid if he gets a little bit dirty. I can just take it apart and cleaned it up I need to.
 
I never really liked spyderco knives, never liked the look of them until i bought one, i have since bought many, ukpk, terzuola, persistence, delica, s models, my most recent was the sage 1, a very nice knife with the carbon fibre scales, even though the sage 1 weighs a slight bit more the sebenza feels a lot heavier and more solid, i have went off the spydercos a bit as well due to buying the sebenza, i still like them and will keep a few, the spydercos feel too bulky in the pocket now due to most of them having a leaf shaped blade and the spyderhole, ergonomics are superb though.
 
I received my Sebenza 21 large today and it became apparent rather quickly the quality you all talk about. What a nice knife! I have been opening and closing it for the last 2 or so hours and I think I am getting it down fairly well. Mine does have the new steel and is labeled "Idaho Made", does not look to bad. If I had an option I would not have the Idaho Made on it, but since I don't, it is not hard to get used to. I think it might be more appealing to me if it said, "USA Made", that would be cool. But it is not really a big deal either way. The fit and finish is amazing form and function melting together. Very happy I bought a large, which by the way does not really feel that large.

I purchased the small originally for my first Chris Reeve product plus to EDC, but I received my large first. My EDC might be the large, but I will wait till I receive my small one to make up my mind. Wow, what a nice knife.... Do I Sebenza, Yes I do :)!
 
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