Sebenza 31 Complaint - sacrilege!

J

Jamieburr

Joined
Oct 16, 2022
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10
I am a big Chris Reeves fan, tracked him down and met him in South Africa when he was making knives in his garage. The knife I bought then is safe in a safe, but the ex-wife has forgotten the combination, or so she says.

I bought a Sebenza 21 and lord Almighty, it was amazing. Every time I opened it I'd get chicken skin knowing it would be razor sharp... with aerospace tolerances! But alas I lost that, and blame the ex wife who was long gone at that point. So ordered another and got a Sebenza 31, with an upgrade with micarta and a double lug. But the 31 is very different to the 21, the 31 doesn't hold an edge and I can't figure out how to get a paper / arm hair cutting edge on it.

Bit more context. I am using the 31 the same as I used the 21, retiree living at a beach. The 21 would hold an excellent edge for 2 weeks or more before I needed a quick sharpen. The 31 looses it's edge in 2-3 days of the same usage. This is after 18 months of usage where I was always hoping that it was not an inferior knife, or is it an inferior steel?

Sharpening on the Spyderco Tri-angle Sharpmaker as per recommendations. I use it the same way I did with the 21, white porcelain bars 40 strokes in total. I have tried different pressures, bevel vs edge, flat edge vs edge, all possible variations. I just can't get a decent edge and have to sharpen it up every 2-3 days to get an average edge. I could be doing it wrong but I'm doing it the same way as I used on the 21, which is not working for the 31.

I haven't found any other complaint of 31's edge on line, could I have got a bad batch of steel? Does the 31 steel require a different sharpening method? Any advice or opinion would be welcome.
Jamie
 
I’ve found sebenza edges to be less than perfect from the factory. Try using something like a wicked edge (or lansky or any guided system) and bring it to something slightly less than 20 deg per side (like 18 or so, I use the 19* hole in a gatco). Once you have a known, nearly perfect edge, it should retain a lot better. At least that worked on my last two 21’s.
 
The 31 is said to have a higher HRC steel. If you dare to free-hand a bit, I would recommend DMC diamond sharpeners. For touching up an edge the Diafold HC in fine/extra fine would be a good choice I believe. For advanced sharpening there is a series of plates ranging from 6" to 12" in different grades, some double sided, some single sided, as well as a holder for the plates.
 
Interesting, I find the 31 holds a razor sharp edge much longer that the 21. I also assume your 31 is s45vn and your 21 is s35vn. I will say the s45vn steel is noticeably more difficult to sharpen so that may be part of your issue.
 
Any CRK I’ve bought recently I throw on the wicked edge and sharpen to 20 per side. My first CRK I had the same complaint as you but that was because I couldn’t hit an angle on my sharp maker to save my life. Now I can touch up on the sharp maker or the wicked edge.
 
I put a precise 20 degree edge on my Large Inkosi on a Wicked Edge. It is out of the original batch of Large Inkosi's, in S35VN. It has proven to be by a pretty good margin my best performing knife in S35VN out of dozens of examples. I went to a mirror polish on it, and have maintained it with stropping for an unbelievably long time. I think taking the material off the edge to remove the convex put mine in fresh steel that has been superb.
 
If you are not able to get the knife sharp with the sharp maker, then your abrasives are not touching the apex, at least not consistently. This means that the edge angle is more obtuse than the 20 degree per side maximum on the sharp maker. That's why people are telling you to reprofile to 20 degrees. You'll need other tools for that. Alternatively you could have that done professionally once, then maintain it on your sharp maker for a good long time.
 
SVTFreak said:
I’ve found sebenza edges to be less than perfect from the factory. Try using something like a wicked edge (or lansky or any guided system) and bring it to something slightly less than 20 deg per side (like 18 or so, I use the 19* hole in a gatco). Once you have a known, nearly perfect edge, it should retain a lot better. At least that worked on my last two 21’s.
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Thanks for that. The wicked edge appears to be the business, albeit pretty expensive. But looks like I need a better sharpening system.
 
The Shatz said:
In my the experience the new s45 takes a keen edge and holds it better than the s30 and 35 maybe you got a soft batch
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Thanks for that. Should I refer this to Chris Reeves to ask if I did get a 'soft batch'? Can't see them doing anything about it, what do you think?
 
MrStabby7 said:
Interesting, I find the 31 holds a razor sharp edge much longer that the 21. I also assume your 31 is s45vn and your 21 is s35vn. I will say the s45vn steel is noticeably more difficult to sharpen so that may be part of your issue.
Click to expand...
Ah this makes sense, your assumption re s45vn on the 31 vs the 21 with s35vn is correct. I should have made mention of this. Your experience would co-relate with mine and come back to a better sharpening system then the Tri-angle Sharpmaker, or is it the user?
 
Modernflame said:
If you are not able to get the knife sharp with the sharp maker, then your abrasives are not touching the apex, at least not consistently. This means that the edge angle is more obtuse than the 20 degree per side maximum on the sharp maker. That's why people are telling you to reprofile to 20 degrees. You'll need other tools for that. Alternatively you could have that done professionally once, then maintain it on your sharp maker for a good long time.
Click to expand...
Good reply, thanks. Disappointed that the factory profile is so poor. When I got the 21 out of the box it was so sharp I had to give it a wide berth!
In fact I don't think that the 31 was even oiled as it was really hard to open and after a few weeks grunting away, it's didn't get easier. So I dis assembled it and put on the oil that it comes with and it was a lot easier.
 
Jamieburr said:
Thanks for that. Should I refer this to Chris Reeves to ask if I did get a 'soft batch'? Can't see them doing anything about it, what do you think?
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I think this is unlikely. Most knives perform better once the factory edge is sharpened away. This is not a knock against CRK or any other manufacturer. It's just something that has been observed.
 
You must use a sharpie to determine if you are hitting the apex.
If you need to add a few degrees I recommend placing something (even one of the stones) under sharpener in the opposite side you are using to create the needed angle to hit the apex.
What you use is not important but the consistency of it. The exact degree doesn’t matter either

Ps added pic to illustrate
 
I have only one CRK, a Large Sebenza 31 Unique Graphic. It was a prize for donating money to Knife Rights. I have never sharpened it or stropped it. I have never cut anything with it other than the threads that are used to measure sharpness with an Edge-On-Up, on which it scored an average BESS of 237 grams; I consider 150 excellent, 200 good, 300 fair, 400 poor. Just now I checked the edge angle with a laser goniometer. The bevel is markedly convex, about 35 degrees on each side near the apex, which is closer to what you would expect on an axe than on a high quality folding knife. Perhaps the Unique Graphic knives are not meant to be used?

If Jamie's knife is anything like that, it definitely needs to be reprofiled. I would not want to reprofile a knife with a Sharpmaker. I imagine a Wicked Edge sharpener would be very nice (I have never used one), but a Work Sharp Ken Onion (if you want to stick with a convex bevel) or Precision Adjust (for a flatter bevel) would do the job for under $100, and they are both easy to use.

Somewhere on the Wicked Edge web site, there is a list of numerous knives from various manufacturers and the edge angles customers have used when sharpening.
 
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Another Shepherd said:
The bevel is markedly convex, about 35 degrees on each side near the apex, which is closer to what you would expect on an axe than on a high quality folding knife. Perhaps the Unique Graphic knives are not meant to be used?
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Others will likely disagree, but I don't understand the usefulness of a convex grind on a folding knife, especially on a Sebenza, where it becomes the bulbous terminus of a sleek hollow grind. It's an odd contradiction. Anyway, I don't mean to hijack the thread, but your UG Sebbie is definitely meant to be used. You just have to flatten out that edge bevel and reduce the angle to something more typical of a folding knife.
 
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