Pinnacle vs. Sebenza, jump in

I gave ya a reply and support Mitch!

------------------
-Humpty

Proverbs 23:2
 
Sorry for the late reply - just haven’t been into the Forums for a few days!! - Anne

Here is Chris’ response:

"Almost every "new" thing in life has "probably been done before". There have been claims that knives with an integral type of lock were made before the Sebenza but to date, I have not seen any of them. I made the first Sebenza in 1987 and all I know about prior knives with a similar lock is hearsay. At the 1987 show of the Knifemaker’s Guild of Southern Africa, the Sebenza won the award for best folding knife.

At Chris Reeve Knives, we have popularized and perfected the Sebenza Integral Lock© and it is this for which our company is best known. Chris Reeve Knives owns a copyright on the name "Sebenza Integral Lock©". In the same vein, the Liner Lock© was not invented by Michael Walker but he did perfect it. Schrade have used that mechanism on their Electricians Knife for many years.

As Travis at Benchmade says it is a difficult knife to make. We have had 12 years to iron out those difficulties and therein lies some of the cost of the Sebenza. Precision comes at a cost - take Porsche and Rolex as examples. So does the backup service that keeps the product in tiptop condition. We designed the Sebenza as a knife that you would keep for life. The support we offer on our knives is that if it needs fixing in 10 years, then we will fix it. So far this philosophy has worked.

To address the comments on the different type of cut out on the small and large wood inlay Sebenzas. This is something that we tried in order to see if there was any advantage. I did not feel that there was any so we reverted to what we were doing before. Only 60 pieces in each size have been made like that.

Has the introduction of the Pinnacle and other similar style knives made any difference to us? None at all. We are still consistently back ordered, and we continue to work on improving an already tried and tested product.

Chris"
 
I have to say that I HAVE seen a difference in sales of Sebenzas since the BM came out. My Sebenza sales have actually increased.

When customers look at the Pinnacle (now Monolock), I simply wait 'till they're done looking at it and then ask if they would like to see a "real one". Invariablly they are drawn to the Sebenza and in the end, if they are seriously buying, the decision almost always goes to quality.

The price of the Sebenza is three times that of the BM's street price. Even so, in my establishment, Sebenzas outsell the BM knockoffs by a factor of five to one.

As onerous as it is, the way I see it, Benchmade has done me a favor. I use their knife to sell the Sebenza and, when I do sell one of theirs, I am simply making money off of a sales aid.
smile.gif


Merry Christmas everyone.

P.S. Chris, keep making those Sebenzas, I'm running out.


------------------
Dennis Wright
Wright Knife & Sporting Goods
(Buy a knife...confuse a liberal)
La Mesa, CA
1-800-400-1980
wrightknife@ixpres.com

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top