One eeeensey weeensey tiny complaint about my Sebenza's...

Professor

Professor

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Apr 6, 1999
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My small plain with dual lugs has been by edc for a little over two years now, and I absolutely love it. I started off babying it the first few months or so, and after some sweet character marks found their way on the blasted handles, I threw caution out the window and learned quickly what makes the Sebenza one of the finest user-oriented pocket knives on the market. I think the complaints of bad ergos are unfounded, but that's another post...

Here's my beef: the convex primary edge grind. The Seb in general is set up to have a sweeeet edge geometry with its relatively thin hollow grind, but then it trails all the way down to that thick, chunky-funky primary edge. It's taken two years of occasional re-profiling with diamond-coated sharpeners, followed by polishing on ceramics to get the primary edge where I like it.

While I realize that somebody's gonna provide a good rationale as to why that joker is the way it is, I can guarantee some user perspectives out there are probably on my side of the fence on the issue.

Opinions?

Thanks for the opportunity to vent. If this is the only thing I can come up with to gripe about at 2:41am ET, then life can't be too bad, right? :)

Professor.
 
I have to agree with you Professor. The edge that the shop puts on the sebenza (at least on the few sebenzas that I have) is too thick IMO. The edges were > 20 degrees and so required reprofiling before my sharpmaker could sharpen it. In contrast some other manufacturers put their edges at 15 degrees and because of this, are very easy to sharpen at 20 degrees since you need to remove less metal. It took me hours to thin the edge of my sebenza. I wish they would come with more acute edges so they'd cut better and be easier to sharpen. However, I'm sure there are people out there that may complain of edge chippage which may be the reason CRK keeps their edges more obtuse.
 
I had the same experience with my small regular Sebbie. The blade, while being fairly thinly ground, had an edge a little too thick for my tastes. And, being S30V, meant that any serious stock removal was going to be pretty tough using hand stones. It took me several serious sharpening sessions, but I finally got it where I like it.
 
Perhaps even ground non-convex at the primary edge would help. That's essentially what I've done to mine is to grind the "convexness" to flat over the past two years.

Maybe I'm setting myself up for some edge chippage like you're suggesting and am not realizing it.

Other thoughts? Thanks again!

Professor.
 
When you refer to the thickness of the blade, are you referring to the edge of the blade or the angle where it meets the point? For example, is a 20 degree (40 inclusive) blade thicker than a 15 degree (30 inclusive) blade?:confused: If this is the case, I would think that the thickness of the Sebenza is >20 is to resist impact deformations.
 
When I got my large regular in Oct. 2002 I also had to reprofile my edge, but moreso on the front half of the edge up to the blade tip. I did not have a diamond sharpener, but it took a few hours at least, spread out over several sessions, on my 204 Spyderco Sharpmaker, mostly on the coarser rods, until I felt the edge was up to my preference. It's hard to explain, but out of the box the edge was not only a bit too thick for my taste, but did not "grab" and would sometimes slip on what I was trying to cut. After the reprofiling, it now has "grab" and "bite".

Admittedly, I was a bit scared before I undertook the reprofiling that I might end up messing up my highest-end knife, but once the project began I felt okay doing it. After all, I wanted to carry it, use and enjoy it which is why I bought it. My having to reprofile did convince me that S30V is an excellent steel that resharpens well. If I was able to reprofile a thick edge of this steel, then just touching up a slightly dull blade ought to be easy, yet it holds its edge very well.
Jim
 
Has there been any change in edge-thickness between the different steels over the years?

More specifically, BG-42 and S30V?
 
I don't believe there was any thickness difference, having carried one of each steel type, but I can't be sure. Anyone?

Professor.
 
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