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Sebenza Insingo quality

Kalsu

Kalsu

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2010
Messages
1,829
Let me start this off by saying I am no metallurgist by any stretch of the imagination. I would consider myself a novice at sharpening knives also.

With that being said I just got up the nerve to sharpen my large Sebenza Insingo. It scared me to death for a while for fear of messing up my holy grail of knives, but I decided to give it a try.

I have a Wicked Edge sharpener that I used for the task. I have to say that my Insingo is by far the easiest and most precision formed blade that I have ever sharpened. I have sharpened a lot of Benchmades and Spyderco knives on the same set up, but none were as well made and took an incredibly sharp edge as the Insingo. Don't get me wrong there is absolutely nothing wrong with Benchmade and Spyderco AT All. I own quite a few of each and love my BM710, but there is a certain quality that the Sebenza has that I have not found anywhere else. When I was done with the Insingo it is absolutely the sharpest knife that I have ever personally seen. The evenness of the grind on the blade and the awesome S30V steel made it a dream to sharpen and the results are incredible.


I think I am in love.........
 
I kind of like the S30V. It is easy to sharpen and holds a great edge.

I have heard good things about S90v and M390 but don't personally own a knive with either one of those steels. Are they that much better that S30V?
 
I am just impressed at how well the S30V took an edge. I didn't think I was capable of getting such a fine edge on a blade. My 710 is sharp, but not Insingo sharp. I know they are different steels, but the difference is amazing to me.
 
I think S30V will take an edge, I just cannot do it effectively. That is my problem with all S30V blades, CRK not excluded. However, I do think CRK is good to get an edge back up an running with little effort on a sharpmaker. I will eventually invest in a Wiched Sharp or an Edge Pro.
 
Actually I think that the blade shape makes it easy to sharpen. I love my large insingo and I did the sharpie trick and used my edge pro followed by stropping and my god it's one sharp knife!
 
My tanto sebenza if one of the easiest to sharpen and get back a screaming edge. I find using my croc stix at a 20 degree angle works just perfect.
Only takes a few passes on the stix and some stropping.
 
Scott Dog said:
Actually I think that the blade shape makes it easy to sharpen. I love my large insingo and I did the sharpie trick and used my edge pro followed by stropping and my god it's one sharp knife!
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I did to. I was thinking the same thing about the blade shape. Either way you cant argue with the results.
 
Hi. I'm saving up for an Insingo. I really love the blade shape.
Is it easier to get screaming sharp than the standart Sebenza? When I got my large regular in 2002, I had to reprofile the entire edge, which came way too thick, moreso towards the tip. It was the only issue I had with it, but it did teach me that yes, I CAN reprofile an edge in S30V.

I realize that CRK grinds the bevels convex for more durability, but I kind of wish the bevels were ground flat at 20 degrees per side. Out of the box, my Seb's edge was considerably steeper than 20 per side.
Jim
 
James Y said:
Hi. I'm saving up for an Insingo. I really love the blade shape.
Is it easier to get screaming sharp than the standart Sebenza? When I got my large regular in 2002, I had to reprofile the entire edge, which came way too thick, moreso towards the tip. It was the only issue I had with it, but it did teach me that yes, I CAN reprofile an edge in S30V.

I realize that CRK grinds the bevels convex for more durability, but I kind of wish the bevels were ground flat at 20 degrees per side. Out of the box, my Seb's edge was considerably steeper than 20 per side.
Jim
Click to expand...

I am not sure since I dont own a regular Sebenza. I did the sharpie trick and matched the bevels and they turned out to be around 17 degrees. I think that part of the reason the Insingo is so easy to sharpen may be the blade style. Nothing scientific to back that up just my opinion. It really is a great blade style and very versatile.
 
wade11a said:
I kind of like the S30V. It is easy to sharpen and holds a great edge.

I have heard good things about S90v and M390 but don't personally own a knive with either one of those steels. Are they that much better that S30V?
Click to expand...

In a word, yes. I gave my S90V para2 a workout the other day. After cutting up over 10 boxes, makes literally hundreds of cuts, the s90 still sliced phone book paper like nothing. I literally could not tell any difference in sharpness. That same test leaves my s30 knives in bad need of a touch up. As in they won't shave hair, much less slice phone book paper.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
In a word, yes. I gave my S90V para2 a workout the other day. After cutting up over 10 boxes, makes literally hundreds of cuts, the s90 still sliced phone book paper like nothing. I literally could not tell any difference in sharpness. That same test leaves my s30 knives in bad need of a touch up. As in they won't shave hair, much less slice phone book paper.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that real knives in the real world are meant to do real work, not razoring carefully calibrated test materials. Of course, high-tech steels heat-treated to a high RC will hold a great edge a long time. Now take them out into the dirt and hack away in the woods or on a factory workfloor.

That's why Chris designed the Sebenza with a convex secondary bevel and a softer heat treat.
This thread shows why: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/873823-Sebenza-Blade-testing
 
That's very true. Also I haven't used CRK's s30 at all. I just got my first, a small sebenza with s35. I have no doubts that in real world use it will cut for a very long time.

ETA: that thing took a beating! :eek:


Esav Benyamin said:
Keep in mind that real knives in the real world are meant to do real work, not razoring carefully calibrated test materials. Of course, high-tech steels heat-treated to a high RC will hold a great edge a long time. Now take them out into the dirt and hack away in the woods or on a factory workfloor.

That's why Chris designed the Sebenza with a convex secondary bevel and a softer heat treat.
This thread shows why: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/873823-Sebenza-Blade-testing
Click to expand...
 
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