Hoodoo, nobody criticizes the Sebenza for being a production knife. The criticism tends to regard their pricing as a production knife, and their owners' misperception of them as a custom knife. You very rarely will hear custom knife collectors denegrate the quality of the Sebenza, more often, you'll hear Sebenza owners talking about how many custom knives aren't as precise as their Sebenzas.
First, regarding their pricing, if they're worth that much to you, and you have the money, mazel tov. Buy yourself a knife. It's worth whatever you want to pay for it.
The truth is that the Sebenza is a mass produced knife that employs both automated operations and manual hand operations, in a small shop environment. That's not a judgement, that's not a criticism, that's a definition.
As regards the "Well, I've seen custom knives that aren't as well made...yadda yadda", it's a matter of terminology, not quality.
No one (no one with a discriminating eye for precision, anyway) will ever deny the Sebenza's quality, but they will, rightfully, deny the Sebenza's place in custom knife forums and discussions.
