New S35VN Small Sebenza Insingo: Now with a longer and wider blade!

[Bucky]

For me, the Small Sebenza Insingo is the best EDC folder ever made. It combines all the attributes of the Small Sebenza with a more useful EDC blade shape.

So when CRK recently started to take direct orders for the Insingo, I couldn't help but order one with S35VN and double silver lugs as a "backup" to my EDC Small Insingo in S30V that I ordered directly from Knife Art and sent back to CRK for double silver lugs.

Much to my surprise when I received the new S35VN version (top one in both photos) is that the blade is now slighter longer and wider:

It's not a huge difference, but it is noticeable. After making the Insingo for a while I think they figured out that they could fit a slightly longer and wider blade into the handle. Nothing like getting a longer and wider blade in the same size handle!

Kudos to CRK for continually improving and upgrading every last detail of their knives.

Also, and maybe this has been mentioned before, but my new Insingo also has slightly less bright "machined" screws and pins that are a touch more matte and have less of a polished look. Anyone else notice this difference in new Sebs? I have a set of blasted screws and these are definitely not blasted, they are just not as shiny. At the right angle on the older Insingo I can see my reflection, but not at all with the new version.

Lastly, the "CR" logo on the front and the "Idaho Made" wording on the back seem to be a bit more subtle and not engraved quite as deep as on other Sebs I have. I am not sure if mine is an aberration or if this is an intentional change CRK has made.

 

[Bluesummers]

I don't have an Insingo Sebenza but I have a *s35vn* large Sebenza and *s35vn* small Sebenza. The screws on the large Sebenza are less shiny as you've mentioned. I prefer the polished screws look tbh. The dull screws look a bit cheaper imo. On my Umnumzaan it also has a dull screw on the end.

My small Sebenza's Idaho Made is noticeably deeper than the one on my large Sebenza. I think it is a change for the better. I just wish they would put "Idaho Made" right after the stop pin in a position parallel to the back of the handel so that it would be horizontal instead of how it is currently positioned.

 

[Slider817]

Very Nice, Thanks pointing that out, this only reinforces my desire for an Insingo, I think it's a minor but nice improvement.

 

[TUF]

I have one of the original 50 small Insingos and my blade looks identical to yours with the shorter blade. I have a new large one coming (S35VN) that should be here in a few days. I'll be interested to see if it has similar changes to it as well.

 

[Bucky]

Here is another pic I took where you can see the extra blade width through the alignment hole at the end of the knife.

Notice also the difference in the depth of the engraving of the "CR" on the S30V Insingo on the bottom vs. the new S35VN Insingo on top.

 

[ceg]

Cool - thanks for sharing.

 

[The Logical One]

I like the look of the new one a lot more. As you said the difference is slight but IMO it makes a huge difference in terms of aesthetics. By making the front pointier it now looks more like a knife blade instead of a shaving razor.

 

[kreole]

Thanks for the pictures! I love my Small Insingo but may have to get one of the new ones. I like the pointier tip and higher grind. The blade now looks more like the Large Insingo does, I think.

Is the jimping different also? The picture in post five looks that way, but it could just be how they're angled on the table.

I noticed the finish on the screws in the For Sale section on one listed as recently refurbished and wondered to myself someone was trying to pull something , then thought about doing it to mine; the mirror finish doesn't fit the dull handles as well as that new finish, IMO of course.

 

[Bucky]

Thanks for the pictures! I love my Small Insingo but may have to get one of the new ones. I like the pointier tip and higher grind. The blade now looks more like the Large Insingo does, I think.

Is the jimping different also? The picture in post five looks that way, but it could just be how they're angled on the table.

I noticed the finish on the screws in the For Sale section on one listed as recently refurbished and wondered to myself someone was trying to pull something , then thought about doing it to mine; the mirror finish doesn't fit the dull handles as well as that new finish, IMO of course.

The jimping is pretty much the same on both Insingos.

Personally, I like the newer matte screw finish as well. As you said, it's less of a contrast from the handle.

 

[bradtown]

Kewl - looks like the smart move at his point is to sell or trade me the old 'singo.

 

[peppercorn]

Really interesting find and comparison. At first I thought it was just a difference in the two blades after the final sharpening but the pics seem to indicate it is speced this way.

 

[Medic1210]

I can't tell if my Small Insingo blade is like your newer one or your older one. It was made in January of this year, but is S30V. When I look at the indexing hole in the handle, my blade takes up just over half of the hole like your newer one, yet looking at the plunge line on the blade, it looks like your older one. Looking at how close the tip of the blade is to the back of the handle when closed, I can't see how they can make it much longer. Can you post a photo of the closed blade in the handle, looking down on it to show how close it is to the tip? For reference, mine is 3 to 3.5mm from the edge of the pointed rear handle when closed. As for the CR logo, I actually prefer the deeper stamp or engraving over the lighter one. It's already subtle, but I am proud to show the CR brand, and I think the shallower stamp takes away from the aesthetics, IMHO. Anyway, I hope I have the longer blade... I don't want to have to buy another Insingo.

Edit: Looking at the original two photos again, it almost looks like the actual cutting edge is the same length. If you look at the edge closest to the handle, you'll see that the original, shorter blade edge is closer to the handle, while the longer blade starts further away. Of course, while the cutting edge itself may be the same length, the rear most part of the blade isn't exactly used for much, so I guess the newer blade still gives you more "useable" cutting edge, even if they are still the same actual length. Hopefully Heather or someone else from CRK (like the member here that grinds the blades) will see this thread and give the real scoop.

 

[kreole]

I can't tell if my Small Insingo blade is like your newer one or your older one. It was made in January of this year, but is S30V. When I look at the indexing hole in the handle, my blade takes up just over half of the hole like your newer one, yet looking at the plunge line on the blade, it looks like your older one. Looking at how close the tip of the blade is to the back of the handle when closed, I can't see how they can make it much longer. Can you post a photo of the closed blade in the handle, looking down on it to show how close it is to the tip? For reference, mine is 3 to 3.5mm from the edge of the pointed rear handle when closed. As for the CR logo, I actually prefer the deeper stamp or engraving over the lighter one. It's already subtle, but I am proud to show the CR brand, and I think the shallower stamp takes away from the aesthetics, IMHO. Anyway, I hope I have the longer blade... I don't want to have to buy another Insingo.

Edit: Looking at the original two photos again, it almost looks like the actual cutting edge is the same length. If you look at the edge closest to the handle, you'll see that the original, shorter blade edge is closer to the handle, while the longer blade starts further away. Of course, while the cutting edge itself may be the same length, the rear most part of the blade isn't exactly used for much, so I guess the newer blade still gives you more "useable" cutting edge, even if they are still the same actual length. Hopefully Heather or someone else from CRK (like the member here that grinds the blades) will see this thread and give the real scoop.

To figure out which you have, the most blatant difference is how far into the handle the plunge line is when it's open. The newer Small Insingo--and the Large Insingo, which is part of why I find the new design more similar to it--has the plunge line well inside the handle, while the old Small Insingo has its plunge line very close to where the handle starts.

I don't know how clear I made that, so here's the picture above with arrows pointing to the part of the knife in question; notice how much the handle "overlaps" the hollow ground part of the blade on the new one compared to the old one

Also, I think you are wrong that they are different in how far from the handle the edge starts. Where the plunge line is makes them seem different, but they really aren't. They both actually have their edge start right at the edge of the handle. If you take a credit card or something with a straight edge and put it at the tip of the point of the handles of each (in the picture I edited), you can see they both have the same length between handle and edge. The new position of the plunge line is responsible for making it appear otherwise; there is more distance between plunge line and the start of the edge with the new one and not the old one, so the new one's edge appears to start further out, but since the plunge line is buried further into the handle, that's not the case.

Edit: Nope, you're right. I zoomed far in and put a line starting at the edge of the handle of each, and the old one starts a bit closer to the handle. They're pretty close, but the difference is definitely there.

 

[Bucky]

Okay, I had a chance to remove the lanyard on the new one and snap a pic showing the extra length:

You can see that the newer S35VN version (on the right) definitely has a slightly longer blade.

 

[kawr]

I'm not sure if CRK hand grinds the blades or if its cnc cut but it could just be a slight difference due to hand grinding/sharpening. I've seen slight differences in blade shapes among Sebenzas made in the same year. That does seems like a pretty big difference though so maybe its one of the small changes CRK secretly does to improve their product constantly.

 

[atony]

I talked with Heather about this (via email). I was told that there were no changes made to the shape of the blades, maybe just an odd ball?

 

[DallasSTB]

Well, I do know that the early Insingo's were hand ground by Matt Otto (nifegrinder), the lead grinder at CRK. He hasn't checked in a while, but he could probably let us know if they are still grinding them by hand or if they've moved on to CNC grinding. Hand-grinding would account for some variations in the shape of the blade.

 

[Medic1210]

Okay, I had a chance to remove the lanyard on the new one and snap a pic showing the extra length:

You can see that the newer S35VN version (on the right) definitely has a slightly longer blade.

Definitely different. Another thing I noticed, and find interesting is that the longer blade's swedge actually starts before the shorter one on the left, thus making the swedge itself that much longer.

 

[NevadaExplorer]

This post is cruel. I had a really good night playing poker so I was going to treat myself, then the shifter on my car went out so the sebenza is out this week...

 

[lemmuhj]

I talked with Heather about this (via email). I was told that there were no changes made to the shape of the blades, maybe just an odd ball?

If this is true, i can't believe the differences in blades???