CRK is one of the 3 knife brands I’ve settled on; the others being Victorinox and Spyderco. Truth be told, my most consistently carried knives are Victorinox. So I am in no way a ‘knife snob’ or someone who only goes for ‘high end’. I own a total of 5 CRKs, and I got my first (a large regular Sebenza) new in 2002. All of my CRK knives are ‘plain Jane’ versions with no inlays or graphics, so in no way are they ‘fashion’ knives or ‘pocket jewelry’.
Does a CRK actually CUT any better than other knives? IME, not really. But the knives sure as hell hold up. I’ve not always been kind to that first Sebenza, and other than ‘snail trails’/scuffs all over the titanium handle slabs and some wear from sharpening, it’s good to go, and the lockup is still as solid as day one.
I don’t care for the convex edge bevels that CRK uses. IMO, it kind of negates the advantages of having such a high, thin hollow grind. Even the slightly thicker ‘flat hollow grind’ they use on the Inkosi models is quite a thin grind. IMO, CRKs would cut better out of the box if the bevels were a flat V grind instead of convex. I had to do a major edge reprofile on that first Sebenza. But the later CRKs I got came with thinner edges out of box, and they are easy to resharpen.
I don’t care much for CRK’s thumb studs, but TBH I also haven’t had much of a problem with them, either.
Some say they would never use a Sebenza or any other CRK because of the baseline $400+ prices. But how many of those who say that have several thousands of dollars worth of sub-$400 knives sitting around, many probably not used much if at all? If all one person carried was a $450 Sebenza or Inkosi, after one straight year that would amount to a little over $1 a day; and if that one knife was carried and used year after year, for a decade or more, the daily cost of its ownership would drop significantly. Of course, how many here on the forums carries only one knife to the exclusion of all others anyway.
CRKs are not for everybody. That’s not an elitist statement, it a simple fact. Just like Spydercos and Victorinox and Buck and GEC (or any other brand) are not for everybody. It’s all preferences. But to say that CRKs are fashion knives and useless as ‘real work knives’ is a fallacy. I’m a fan of CRK knives, but not a ‘fanboy’. Personally, I don’t care what others like or dislike. But to imply that CRKs are not up to ‘real work’ is ridiculous. Ironically, many of those who say that CRKs are not working knives also admit that they wouldn’t actually use one because of its price. Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Jim
