- Joined
- Dec 5, 2018
- Messages
- 1,437
Might sound strange to you, but I definitely get caught up in the mystique of something like the Sebenza. It's a good enough knife that's been around long enough, I think it deserves at least some of the mystical glow.
I liked the locating hole on the 21 and was disappointed to see it go on the 31. For me, it was like this little artifact left over from the magical process of constructing a Sebenza!!...
I always think of belly button rings when I see the custom graphics with some kind of rare Earth insert in the locating hole.
I absolutely agree with your take on bedazzled locating hole. My comment was more about what you said on how there's always something about knife designs that's "driven by price point." The hole just seemed to be something that could've been done differently for minimal additional cost but, at least for some folks, a much better aesthetic result. CRK's explanation (taken from a decade-old BF post, and gone from CRK's site at least since the release of the 31) concedes that it doesn't have any benefit beyond simplifying their manufacturing process:
This is a tooling or locating hole and, in the finished knife, has no real function. The process goes something like this: we buy titanium in sheet form and cut it into rectangles approximately the size of the handle. We drill all the holes into this rectangle which is then placed onto a fixture, held secure by locating pins through these holes. The profile of the handle is then machined and the rectangle begins to look like the handle of a folding knife. It is at this stage that we select left or right-handed knives. One hole becomes part of the pivot assembly while the other is left vacant. Sometimes, however, we use the hole as part of the graphic on the decorated models and, on occasion, enlarge the hole and inlay a cabochon or coin into it.
The hole on the lock side ends up being the lockbar relief, but has no real function on the show scale. It just allows them to begin with symmetrical sets of rough scales before cutting them for right- or left-handed use. Ultimately, if the hole is the only concession to cost-cutting on the 21 (although I think they should have an option for a factory deep-carry clip), that's still pretty amazing.
