Sebenza value?

mitchfried

mitchfried

Joined
Jul 13, 2003
Messages
64
I recently purchased the small Sebenza, and all the hype is true. Flawless construction, great ergonomics, and built like a tank.

I sold it two weeks later.

The reason? I could not justify the $300.00 price tag.

Most of the knives I've purchased are available at steep discounts, making the MSRP irrelevant. Looking at my collection, I found that for about $300.00 I had purchased three fine knives, well-respected on this board: Benchmade 690 BC1 for $140.00 ($210.00 msrp); Spyderco Chinook for $100.00 ($168.00 msrp) and Becker BK-9 for $57.00($96.50 msrp).

So, for the same price as the small Sebenza, I had a classy gentlemen's folder, a gorilla folder, and a great chopper.

I also collect watches, and own many that cost as much as a Rolex. But I don't own a Rolex for the same reason I don't own the Sebenza. The price is wrong, and the value doesn't equal the cost.
 
Clearly you're nuts! :p

I'm just teasing, for some people they are worth it, for some people they are not. You are probably better off not thinking they're worth it, if you did you'd want even more of them.

I bought a couple used in the $220 price range, would they be worth that? If so you can keep an eye out in the forsale forum.
 
I've never owned a Sebbie, mainly because I also can't justify the price, but I have handled a couple at gun shows. The construction is flawless, IMO, as close to custom as a production folder can get, but the price has always cut me short of getting one.

One of these days, I will get around to getting one(probably used), but for now my Spyderco S30V Military PE serves me just fine. :D
 
it's all a mater of taste and personnal preference... like with cars, some say a 1000$ car serve them just fine to drive them at work, other prefer to invest more money in a more expensive car.
You can't say to a guy:"your ferrari is way overpriced, look, my pick up can serve me as good as your car!".
I personnaly own a small regular sebenza, and many other folders. they can all the same, they all cut very good, but when looking at the quality and design of the Sebenza I don't think it's over priced. The craftmanship is excellent, the design perfect, the materials top quality. A near custom folder at 300$ doesn't seem "overprice" to me. But again, it's all a matter of personnal preference. If I buy an Omega watch I won't say after: "look! for this price I could buy 20 Seiko, the Omega is way overpriced!!!". :rolleyes:
 
mitchfried said:
I recently purchased the small Sebenza, and all the hype is true. Flawless construction, great ergonomics, and built like a tank.

I sold it two weeks later.

The reason? I could not justify the $300.00 price tag.

Most of the knives I've purchased are available at steep discounts, making the MSRP irrelevant. Looking at my collection, I found that for about $300.00 I had purchased three fine knives, well-respected on this board: Benchmade 690 BC1 for $140.00 ($210.00 msrp); Spyderco Chinook for $100.00 ($168.00 msrp) and Becker BK-9 for $57.00($96.50 msrp).

So, for the same price as the small Sebenza, I had a classy gentlemen's folder, a gorilla folder, and a great chopper.

I also collect watches, and own many that cost as much as a Rolex. But I don't own a Rolex for the same reason I don't own the Sebenza. The price is wrong, and the value doesn't equal the cost.
Click to expand...
THAT'S what I've been saying all-along...The 'Benza is overpriced. For the price of one Sebenza, I can have 3 excellent Benchmade folders!
 
I think it's clearly a personal preference, if I had 3 benchmades I could trade for one sebenza I'd do it in a heart beat.For me, benchmades aren't worth their price. :p
 
I wasn't trying to make the argument that 20 Yugos are as good as one Ferrari. I know that the Sebbie's a great knife. It would just be "greater" at a lower price, as would almost anything you buy. I owned it, liked it, and sold it. A Dalton Tank auto with Burl handles and a mini-Buck Strider took its place, and I'm happy.
 
There is more difference between a $20 knife and a $100 than there is between a $100 knife and a $300. I would rather have the three quality knives than a sebenza. Or I would rather have a custom.

However, the market is justifying the Sebenzas price. If people weren't buying them at the prices they are currently sold at, then the prices would be lower or the Sebenza wouldn't be produced. Obviously there is a market for them at the current price.

Personally, I would rather spend the money on a custom, but understand why the market is there.
 
Dennis hit the nail on the head. Where there is market there is a product.
 
Value is always a personal judgement. Nobody can make that judgement for someone else. Perhaps more to the point is what that price covers. At least with that information, a judgement about value can be made more easily.

I have two Chris Reeve folders and one fixed blade in my personal collection. here's why. Few people would argue that the integral lock is about as strong as a lock can be. But few people understand that most frame locks wear out over time. Not so the integral lock on the Sebenza. It is made made to go the distance. There is a lot of hand work involved in making the sebenza (that's one of reasons the integral lock lasts so long.) That doesn't necessarily indicate a level of quality but it sure does affect the price. As it turns out with all Chris Reeve products, the quality is flawless despite the great amount of hand work involved and that flawless quality involves tossing or reworking some percentage of the production. Yes, the Sebenza is an excellent design and is made from the best materials, but what really adds cost is the hand work which makes the Sebenza a unique product among production knives.

I'll let other decide for themselves whether the product is a good value or not but I don't think there is any question that it is priced at a level consistent with what it takes to produce it. Take care.
 
I'm something of a minimalist/perfectionist when it comes to knives (which is a really fun combination :rolleyes: ). Because of that mindset I usually carry one knife at a time and I want that "one" to be capable of handling anything I may encounter. I've collected knives on and off for 25 years or so and when I found the small Sebbie I knew I had found that "one" knife. I'll put it up against any production knives, and 99% of the custom, out there. If you take a truly objective look at the Sebbie (or any other CRK product) it is darn near perfect when it comes to fit/finish, materials, ergonomics and durability. Is it worth it to me? You better your (deleted) it is. Of course this is all just my humble and unbiased opinion. :D :D ;)
 
It's a personal issue between you and your internal blade demons. Some have to have what they consider the best and they buy it. I think $200.00 is the max I'll spend on a knife from here on out. There are a lot of quality blades in that price range. Many more than I'll ever have. Your comparison with Rolex is also valid, however, I have to do some fast backtracking. My wife bought me a Rolex approx. 18 years ago and I'll tell you that I'll never have to buy another watch, ever. The thing is a tank, solid gold and stainless steel and is beautiful. I have had a boatload of compliments about it also. My thinking is the same though. I would not have bought it myself because it's not worth the money, but I'm damn glad I have it. Very strange paradox I find myself in.
 
I had one,but traded it for a Busse BA-E.
It was a very nice folder but I couldn't see the price differance between it and my Military.I found myself carrying my Military much more often.
For myself the G10 and the hole just worked better at 1/3 the cost.
 
I've handled a few Sebenza's over the years and they are very nice. But I don't know that I'll really notice the difference between it and high-end Spyderco's and such. I really try to tailor the knife to the job, so the variety in Spyderco's that I have does that more than just a Sebenza. I believe that it's worth the asking price, but just not to me in my usage right now.

If money were no object, I would have one of the wood inlayed models to carry in my suit on Sundays. It wouldn't be used too often, but would really make a statement of refined quality.
 
This is a first for me. I don't think I've ever heard of a Rolex value watch collector calling a Sebenza overpriced. Rolexes and Sebenzas have a great deal in common in terms of philosophy. They both take engineering and craftsmanship to an extreme, beyond what 99.99% of their owners would ever truly understand. The extra work is usually only noticed by people who have enough understanding of the topic to appreciate the attention to detail.

Think of it this way. The "Average Joe" on the street might call a cheap G-Shock superior to a Rolex. The G-Shock will survive a 50 foot drop better than a Rolex and is a far more superb timekeeper. And you can buy MANY G-Shocks with your Rolex money. The same goes with a comparison of my Spyderco Military and Sebenza. I personally find the Military to be light years ahead of the Sebenza in true functionality. But an examination of craftsmanship reveals the Sebenza to be an engineering masterpiece, where the Military is merely an amazing workhorse.

Let’s face it. The extra money spent on a Sebenza is not to achieve a higher level of cutting performance. Neither are the big bucks spent on a Rolex used to attain a superior method of timekeeping. The big money is spent to have a finely crafted tool that will last for generations.
 
I think the Sebenza is a great value. I was at the Badger show over the weekend and got to handle a bunch of nice, high end folders (customs from a number of big makers and some high end production stuff also) and while a lot of it was very nice and many were great looking knives, nothing was as solid as my Sebenza. I think some people either arn't perceptive enough to notice all the difference between a Seb and a BM, or they just don't care that much I guess. I've handled plenty of $100-200 folders and while some are nice, none compare to the Sebenza and most don't even come close.

I guess it's just like Buzz said. The extra cash doesn't make the Seb cut any better, but it has a feel of quality and craftsmanship that can't be matched by any other folder I have used thus far (I'm sure there are some out there, I just havn't had the pleasure to see them yet) For me, that money is very well spent. After owning a Sebenza, I can't see myselft spending $150 on a production peice when I know that for just another $150 I could have a Seb.

I'm also not into owning tons of cheap knives, but rather a few nicer peices. I'd rather have my one Seb then any 3 production knives of equal value. If I only had $300 to spend on knives and that was all then knives I would ever own, then ok, maybe I would pick a few lower end peices to have the variety. But, I can afford a little more then that so I can afford to have my Seb and a few other knives to cover all the bases still. I don't need 3 or 4 of each style, one nice one is plenty for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top