Sabenza. Is it worth it?

It's really very simple, for those who can afford one it's worth the money. ;)


For others who can't they buy something else cheaper and say it's just as good as.....

The same goes for any other of the expensive brands.
 
I don't really get the whole concept of being able to afford a $150 knife, but not a $400 knife. We're talking about one knife, right? Maybe two or three?

It's not as though you were buying these things like groceries... you don't have to keep forking out the same sum every week or two.

This would make a little more sense if we were talking about a $150 knife vs. a $5000 knife. I know perfectly well there are people on here who own 100 or more $150 knives, many of which have likely seen little or no use, and yet still maintain that $400 is too much to spend on a single pocket knife.

How is it that $400 is too much for one more knife, but not too much for 2.67 more - when you already have 70 or 80 knives you don't even use?
 
Ankerson said:
It's really very simple, for those who can afford one it's worth the money. ;)


For others who can't they buy something else cheaper and say it's just as good as.....

The same goes for any other of the expensive brands.
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I would never say that the cheaper products are 'just as good as' the dearer ones (unless I knew that to be true). But I would often suggest that the cheaper one will do the job well enough for what I need and for a fraction of the price. Sure the underlying quality may not be quite the same and the little features that the expensive product has may not be present in the cheaper one, but sometimes near enough is good enough.

Would a Sebenza really do a job as a knife that a S30V Spyderco or Benchmade just couldn't? Would it be any sharper or cut any better?

I would never suggest that a Toyota was 'just as good as' a Bugatti Veyron, but I would suggest that the Toyota is a reliable vehicle that will get you from home to work & back again, is more than adequate for the task of transporting a person and is much more affordable to the majority of people.
 
tsiloics said:
I don't really get the whole concept of being able to afford a $150 knife, but not a $400 knife. We're talking about one knife, right? Maybe two or three?

It's not as though you were buying these things like groceries... you don't have to keep forking out the same sum every week or two.

This would make a little more sense if we were talking about a $150 knife vs. a $5000 knife. I know perfectly well there are people on here who own 100 or more $150 knives, many of which have likely seen little or no use, and yet still maintain that $400 is too much to spend on a single pocket knife.

How is it that $400 is too much for one more knife, but not too much for 2.67 more - when you already have 70 or 80 knives you don't even use?
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I never understood that one either. One buys 5 knives that they might use one of..... When they could buy one knife they would use all the time.

There are people on this board with $15k or more in knives who would say that $400 is too much money to spend.

Gadgetaholic said:
I would never say that the cheaper products are 'just as good as' the dearer ones (unless I knew that to be true). But I would often suggest that the cheaper one will do the job well enough for what I need and for a fraction of the price. Sure the underlying quality may not be quite the same and the little features that the expensive product has may not be present in the cheaper one, but sometimes near enough is good enough.

Would a Sebenza really do a job as a knife that a S30V Spyderco or Benchmade just couldn't? Would it be any sharper or cut any better?

I would never suggest that a Toyota was 'just as good as' a Bugatti Veyron, but I would suggest that the Toyota is a reliable vehicle that will get you from home to work & back again, is more than adequate for the task of transporting a person and is much more affordable to the majority of people.
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Sounds like a just as good as statement to me.......

That's kinda like when someones says ..... Well they always......

Part of what you stated is just common since though.
 
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Ankerson said:
It's really very simple, for those who can afford one it's worth the money. ;)


For others who can't they buy something else cheaper and say it's just as good as.....

The same goes for any other of the expensive brands.
Click to expand...

That's not always the case, Like I said, I considered buying a sebenza, and didn't feel it was worth the money. I spent a fortune on a strider, didn't feel it was worth the same price as my Busse FFBM, sold it and bought a couple ZT blades which performed just as well. It's not always not being able to afford it.
 
Gadgetaholic said:
I would never suggest that a Toyota was 'just as good as' a Bugatti Veyron, but I would suggest that the Toyota is a reliable vehicle that will get you from home to work & back again, is more than adequate for the task of transporting a person and is much more affordable to the majority of people.
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My 25 year old Honda is just as much fun to drive as my "race" car that's worth 10X as much. In some ways it's more fun. It is very compliant, and very easy to keep at the limit.

The Sebenza is only just nice enough to be nice. We are talking about $400 here... 2K rounds of range ammo, one race tire, 3 nights out on the town... It is only $400. The fact that you can open letters with a 50 cent knife is not really that much of an issue. We are still only talking about 4 bills.
 
I did not own a Chris Reeve til very recently. I had been holding out because I had spent some money on some Striders and had been disappointed with them. I recently found an Umnumzaan in a local shop for a ridiculously low price and purchased it. It has been in my pocket since and I am currently trading away other knives for a large and small sebenza. After using and carrying one I have no doubt they are worth the asking price.
 
I had a Sebenza, one of the first, for about 15 years. Carried it a lot, used it a lot. Sent it back to CR a couple of times and for $25 or so they would do a complete tune up including refinishing the blade and handle. It would come back looking new. I decided that I was done carrying a large folder and sold it on ebay for about 3x what I paid for it. That was a year ago, and now I find myself really missing it. I think I'm going to spring for an Umnanzaan. CR knives are a great investment. Unless it's really totalled you can usually get what you paid for it if not more.
 
Just wondering...
You go by "CQC15".
I assume that's Emerson.
My first run 15 has been my EDC for over a year. Great knife.
Why don't you relax, get a Persian Tactical and a CQC7B (with the wave feature) and use the change from $400 for shipping?
You won't regret that expenditure either!
 
Check out the Benchmade Skirmish BM630. It's a little bigger but made with the same materials. Plus it is a little cheaper (200$). It might be hard to find I am pretty sure they don't make it any more. Check around you might find one. They also had a smaller model, the 635.
 
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I have never owned one. I looked at a couple of them at a local shop, and they are nice knives.
It just didn't really grab me though. Are they worth 400 bucks ? There are many people every year that seem to think so.

I have heard people rationalize the price, saying that it is because of the close tolerances. Its a folder, there aren't that many tolerance to be concerned with.

No doubt they are a quality product, but I have to wonder how many people buy them just because a lot of people say they are the best there is ?

Maybe if I owned one and used it for awhile, I may be more excited about them. But somehow I doubt it.... I stick with my slip joints :D

YMMV
 
338375 said:
I have heard people rationalize the price, saying that it is because of the close tolerances.
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and just as many rationalize that its not worth it because they cant afford it.

in the end, its personal. because even if you could quantify quality and the sebenza had the highest return to price there would be people who couldnt appreciate it and to them it still wouldnt justify the price.
 
Rat 1 said:
Or, use those $400.00 to buy a bunch of knives.
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Yeah, always a great plan. That way someone can have a drawer chock full of junk knives. Kind of like having a front yard full of rusted out junk cars cause why spend all that money on just one......

On a more realistic note for someone actually interested in a Sebenza, with a little patience you can find a small one 2nd hand under $300 to try out.
 
338375 said:
Its a folder, there aren't that many tolerance to be concerned with.


But somehow I doubt it.... I stick with my slip joints :D

YMMV
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Not many tolerances to deal with eh ? Try making one to that level of fit , slipjoints are the same way , very high tolerances. Compare a standard Case to a Case/Bose. Standard Case knife $65 , Case/Bose $300+ , worth it ? You bet.

Same applies to the Seb. It's one production knife you can take apart , clean , put back together and NOT have to spend time messing with the pivot screw and other screws to make it all fit again.

Quality costs , high tolerances cost. Don't matter if it is a fixed blade , slip or or other folder.

I am not a Seb owner ( though I have owned many in the past ), the ergo's don't do it for me , however I have always admired the fit , finish and close tolerances that CRK holds their work to.
Guess I gotta check out one of those new Unum folders at SHOT show.
 
redisburning said:
and just as many rationalize that its not worth it because they cant afford it.

in the end, its personal. because even if you could quantify quality and the sebenza had the highest return to price there would be people who couldnt appreciate it and to them it still wouldnt justify the price.
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That could be true. There are some people that because they can't afford something, it is obviously over priced, or of questional quality and not worth it..

when I looked at them, I had the cash in pocket for 2 different versions.
So for me it wasn't that I couldn't afford them, I just wasn't sold on them.
I could find absolutely nothing to be critical about on the knives, so it wasn't because the quality wasn't there...
Giving credit to CRK, they do seem very intent on producing a knife that is the best they can do.

Maybe some day down the road I will give in and buy one. Then after a few months of carrying and using it, it may just change the way I feel about them. Then again, maybe it won't.
 
230grains said:
That's not always the case, Like I said, I considered buying a sebenza, and didn't feel it was worth the money. I spent a fortune on a strider, didn't feel it was worth the same price as my Busse FFBM, sold it and bought a couple ZT blades which performed just as well. It's not always not being able to afford it.
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Busses are a whole different issue as nothing really compares to them. ;)
 
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