Sebenza 31 Converts?

Blues said:
Since I own a Regular, a 21 and two 31s, the Sebenza is not a gentleman's knife.

Case closed.
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To get my meaning, just think back over the years to the discussions about lock wear, lock up percentage, witness marks on the stop pin sleeve, and the admonition about flicking them open. None of that stopped the 21 from being a good knife or a work knife, but the 31 engineered those issues away. It's a matter of degrees, really. People pick up the 31 and perceive that it is more robust.

We'll go with that. Delete the word "gentlemen" and we'll talk about degrees of robustness.
 
Modernflame said:
To get my meaning, just think back over the years to the discussions about lock wear, lock up percentage, witness marks on the stop pin sleeve, and the admonition about flicking them open. None of that stopped the 21 from being a good knife or a work knife, but the 31 engineered those issues away. It's a matter of degrees, really. People pick up the 31 and perceive that it is more robust.

We'll go with that. Delete the word "gentlemen" and we'll talk about degrees of robustness.
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I'll be honest...I remember the discussions...

...and they never kept me awake at night.

But okay.

Glad we settled the "gentleman" thing, though. That would have ruined my sleep. ☺️
 
So does the ceramic detente lock render flicking the knife open impossible or more difficult?
 
Kettleman said:
Ok here are my final thoughts after 14 days carrying the 31 mostly off work but it did go a couple shifts.

It's a great knife. I find it to be a bit more robust feeling in hand than the 21 for some unexplainable reason. Its not as smooth as a broken in 21 but smooth in its own rite. It's an even more slow and deliberate open and closing knife with a bit more lock bar pressure than the 21. It's noticeably lighter then my Inkosi and 25 and carries slimmer as well. Honestly its a forget its clipped to your pocket kinda knife and I felt for it several times during the carry period.

Now I will admit that what won me over was the Magnacut blade. With the Magnacut I avoided 2 edge rolls/chips I am certain. The steel lets me forget about blade stock thickness. Not that I ever need to worry about it but I never let that stop me! Its a light weight heavy duty knife that no one will ever feel under knifed in a non-specific requirement situation.

Ill continue to carry the Inkosi, Umnumzaan and 25 to work but the 31 will without a doubt be my go to on the weekends putzing around the house.
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I agree, mine (a small 31 left hand) was really tight at first, almost impossible for me to open. I had to back off the pivot slightly and added a tiny bit of Loctite 243 (the stick version). It took a while to remember how to open it without pain. I have to put my thumb and nail down and behind the thumbstud on the blade. I have had a time with my left thumb the last twenty years from an injury.

It's not as smooth as my last 2,1 but that thing suffered from lock stick that I never got resolved.

The lockbar is quite a bit heavier than the last 21 I owned.

There's no doubt a large would be easier to open with more real estate for the thumb placement, but it's too big for my hand size.

The inlays (natural micarta) on mine are really dark and very smooth, not at all like the ones on the my last CRK with micarta inlaysi. The new design is very attractive, IMO.


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I'm nearly three weeks into my "get to know you" period on a 31 - which is far from telling admittedly - but so far I'm quite impressed. I do like the scalloped lock bar access, the pocket clip being similar to the Inkosi is less prone to being a hot spot and my particular sample size really "thumps" when opening. I was actually shocked at how authoritative it opens. After just a few week this knife is nearly drop shut as well, that is very far down on a priority scale for me; but I mention it only to say how smooth the action has become.
 
Just got mine in from the f/s. Thing is practically brand spanking new so its not broken in yet. On the appearance i notice some differences, especially the extra cut out near the lanyard area. I liked the unaltered look of the 21 more. Well see how it goes with some handling.
 
mrknife said:
Just got mine in from the f/s. Thing is practically brand spanking new so its not broken in yet. On the appearance i notice some differences, especially the extra cut out near the lanyard area. I liked the unaltered look of the 21 more. Well see how it goes with some handling.
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Give it a fair shake. It really is a great knife.
 
Mine's still pretty hard for me to open. I'll give it a some more time before putting it up for sale. It's frustrating having issues with my thumb, I slipped climbing down from a elevated stand at an archery tournament and caught my thumb wrong. That was forty years ago, but it started giving me trouble about ten years ago.
 
JB in SC said:
Mine's still pretty hard for me to open. I'll give it a some more time before putting it up for sale. It's frustrating having issues with my thumb, I slipped climbing down from a elevated stand at an archery tournament and caught my thumb wrong. That was forty years ago, but it started giving me trouble about ten years ago.
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I have some issues with my right thumb from rock climbing and x-c skiing and it took me a good week or two of working the blade back and forth and developing my sebenza muscles / callouses to get it to the point where I'm good with it. The Insingo was more compliant than the Tanto, both born on the same day...but individual differences are to be expected.

Stick with it Jerry. Hopefully it will reach that point of compliance that you're satisfied with.

(I also did a bit of pushing out on the lock bar...not to excess, but just a bit every now and again.)
 
JB in SC said:
Mine's still pretty hard for me to open. I'll give it a some more time before putting it up for sale. It's frustrating having issues with my thumb, I slipped climbing down from an elevated stand at an archery tournament and caught my thumb wrong. That was forty years ago, but it started giving me trouble about ten years ago.
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When I cut the end of my thumb a while back I had to find alternate ways to open mine. I found kinda hooking the side of my thumb to be very effective.

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Blues said:
I have some issues with my right thumb from rock climbing and x-c skiing and it took me a good week or two of working the blade back and forth and developing my sebenza muscles / callouses to get it to the point where I'm good with it. The Insingo was more compliant than the Tanto, both born on the same day...but individual differences are to be expected.

Stick with it Jerry. Hopefully it will reach that point of compliance that you're satisfied with.

(I also did a bit of pushing out on the lock bar...not to excess, but just a bit every now and again.)
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Thanks for the encouragement Elliott, I'm working on it 💪
 
With the hardened stop pin and loctite flicking shouldn't be an issue. I flick mine some times. The soft stop pin that dented was not flicking friendly.
 
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