Saving for and Purchasing my first Seb

[mlanghornes]

Ok, I've been around here long enough to know that I'm *pretty sure* I want to try a Sebenza. Unfortunately, a $300 knife isn't in the budget at the moment. What I plan on doing is picking up a stainless steel framelock relatively similar to the sebenza to see if I like the form factor, and carrying it as long as possible, while I continue to save. I'm not going to get a "knock-off" or anything that might infringe on Mr. Reeve's patent, just something similar, like a CRKT Drifter or Kershaw Vapor, to see what I think. Then comes the tough part: saving. Since my wife and I are expecting our first child, and we're going to be purchasing a house in the next year, knives really aren't showing up on the priority spending list for me at the moment. How did you guys save for your first Sebenza? How did you justify it to yourself, since there are many other great knives out there, many of which are much cheaper? Do you know of any knives similar (obviously not with the same level of F&F or materials quality, but similar form factor) to the Sebenza? I'm setting my sights on the small one. Thanks for your help.

 

[mongomondo]

Buy a used one on the exchange forum here. Sebenzas are made tough and are difficult to really damage. You can easily save $50 or more getting used. I've bought 3 myself from these forums and they were all exactly as described by the seller.

 

[calypso699]

I bought my first sebenza last October and another one in November. Very similar to you, we closed escrow on our first house in May and had our first baby in June. So, like you, I really didn't have roughly $800 bucks laying around. I did however have about two dozen other knives in my collection most of which were NIB. I decided to sell off some that I would never carry under the condition that my sebenzas would NOT replace them in the safe. The knives I sold were all from the same manufacturer, and of very good quality. However, the difference in fit and finish between them and the sebenza is obvious. Even though I try not to, I find myself holding the other knives to the same standards of the sebenza. I'm not sure if you have other knives to sell off, but maybe you can apply that to some other things you never use. Once you do get a sebenza, be careful because you will quickly find yourself wanting another.

Congratulations on the baby! Is it a boy or a girl?

 

[fespo276]

I was in the same boat. However, every time I bought another knife, I just thought about how I was yet another $100 or $125 "away" from a having enough to buy a Sebenza. You might be better off just waiting and saving. I went on a selling spree...anything that I could "ebay" or sell, I did. $10 here, $20 there. I even cashed in change. Before I knew it, I had the $385. Kind of made the whole process more fun in the end.

 

[mlanghornes]

Good advice, guys. I have a few things I can sell that would get me about halfway there, and I'm sure I could dig up more. And we don't know if its a boy or girl yet, but thanks for the congrats

 

[cmichael]

I got my new 21 Large Sebenza last week from tax return

 

[snowreaper1]

If you already have a decent knife collection get on the exchange and sell a couple off. That's what I did. I figured id rather have a couple of the best knives rather then many smaller value knives. Raise $200 in trade then spend only $100 out of pocket.

 

[eduard]

i would buy it right off you ll get one anyway

 

[TLR]

Buy a used one on the exchange forum here. Sebenzas are made tough and are difficult to really damage. You can easily save $50 or more getting used. I've bought 3 myself from these forums and they were all exactly as described by the seller.

I would agree. I have two sebenzas and an umnumzaan that I bought from the exchange. All were used and I saved at least $100 on every one of them. I don't keep safe queens so buying a lightly used one was a no brainer for me. It was well worth the savings. Two of the three were so close to mint you wouldn't have known they weren't NIB unless you knew what you were looking for. It does require some patience though

I'm not even close to wealthy. How do I justify these knives to myself. Well #1 there is nothing that I own that I carry and use as often and that will last as long as the CRK in my pocket. I plan to literally get a lifetime out of each of these knives. #2 I scraped, sold off other knives and even some plasma to put together the money for them. I took no food off the table nor didn't pay bills to get them.

Honestly I am to the point that I have sold off just about every other folding knife that I owned and have settled into CRK as my edc and a couple spydercos for certain situations. My sebenzas and umnum are just so good I'm happy with them. The only other folding knife that has been a temptation is a will zermeno azrael that I'm on a waiting list for. We'll see how it stands up to my CRK's but I've come to the point that they are the standard. YMMV

 

[xtestifyx]

What I plan on doing is picking up a stainless steel framelock relatively similar to the sebenza to see if I like the form factor, and carrying it as long as possible, while I continue to save. I'm not going to get a "knock-off" or anything that might infringe on Mr. Reeve's patent, just something similar, like a CRKT Drifter or Kershaw Vapor, to see what I think.

That's not even a slightly good idea, nothing comes close to the Sebenza without being at least it's price range or more. Form Factor means nothing unless it's the exact same, how are you going to get the feel of a F1 car from a Prius?

Good luck

 

[Toyz]

I spent quite some time convincing myself I didn't need one - and ended up spending a lot of time and money fooling around with knives that I thought would be a good but cheaper substitute.

There really isn't a good substitute.

Sell your other knives, skip buying the soda at work for a while and get the Sebenza.

I agree with the advice of others here - lurk in the Exchange and pick up a user.

Once you get one - give it an honest chance - it's gonna be tough because buyers remorse will set in, especially in your situation with other things requiring money. I think you'll find in the long run you will actually save money, as it might scratch your knife itch for some time to come.

 

[TUF]

Get yourself an old mayonnaise jar. Get one large enough to hold at least 400 dollars.

 

[snowreaper1]

When you think of a Sebenza as a life long investment in something youll
be able to use your entire life it makes the price easier to swallow. Youll be
able to hand it down to your kids one day and know the knife will be in just
as good working order when you first purchased it. And dont forget what you
get from CRK as a company. Customer service is arguably the best in the
business.

 

[freq18hz]

I bought my first sebenza last October and another one in November. Very similar to you, we closed escrow on our first house in May and had our first baby in June. So, like you, I really didn't have roughly $800 bucks laying around. I did however have about two dozen other knives in my collection most of which were NIB. I decided to sell off some that I would never carry under the condition that my sebenzas would NOT replace them in the safe. The knives I sold were all from the same manufacturer, and of very good quality. However, the difference in fit and finish between them and the sebenza is obvious. Even though I try not to, I find myself holding the other knives to the same standards of the sebenza. I'm not sure if you have other knives to sell off, but maybe you can apply that to some other things you never use. Once you do get a sebenza, be careful because you will quickly find yourself wanting another.

Congratulations on the baby! Is it a boy or a girl?

I disagree about finding yourself wanting another.

I haven't purchased a knife since I got my small sebenza.

 

[ForestRoamer]

I disagree about finding yourself wanting another.

I haven't purchased a knife since I got my small sebenza.

It was the same for me I didn't buy a new knife for nearly two years after I bought my small sebenza, but then I bought a large insingo and just recently picked up an umnumzaan.