- Joined
- Jan 8, 2017
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- 503
Small Seb 21 vs Small Inkosi
I know I see this question come up quite a bit so I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring with my opinions on both.
To preface this, I am not the first owner of either knife. I'm the second owner of the small Inkosi and probably the third of the Small 21 Old Glory. The Small 21 is from 2012 and the Small Inkosi is from 2015 and has the ceramic ball groove.
The first thing I will address is the size of the two. If you are already feeling the 21 may be too small for you, I wouldn't recommend an Inkosi. There is only a small difference, but I would say it is a noticeable enough difference. Both the handle itself as well as the blade are both a few MM smaller on the Inkosi. Now part of that length is made up for in width. The Inkosi has both a wider blade as well as a wider handle. Again the difference is very minor, but when sitting next to each other it is noticeable. In regards to the grooves on the Inkosi, then only advice I can give you is you're just going to have to put one in your hand and see if you get hot spots. I've read of people with medium gloved hands like myself both love and hate it and people with XL hands both love it and hate it.
The meat and potatoes of this though is I want to get into the differences between the two for those considering both but unsure.
Lanyard - I mentioned above that the 21 has a slightly longer handle. This is obviously because it has a longer blade, but I feel this was done to accommodate the lanyard pin the 21 has that the Inkosi does not. If the handle on the 21 was the same size as the Inkosi and the blade the same length I don't think it would hurt or help the 21 one way or the other.
Pocket Clip - I find it very interesting that CRK went from the clip on the lock bar on the 21 to the clip off of the lock bar on the Inkosi to back to it on the lockbar on the U-Zann. I feel the clip placement of these two knives, while a very simple thing really sets them apart. Having owned the Inkosi first I notice I tend to lightly graze the tips of my fingers when closing my 21 from time to time and it is something I have to be very aware of. Essentially when I close both knives my fingers have a habit of resting themselves on the blade side of the pocket clip. I can both see why they moved the clip, but am very confused why they went back to the only placement on the U-zaan. I haven't held an U-zaan yet though, but I personally consider the clip placement on the Inkosi as an advantage.
Maintenance - This one is pretty cut and dry. While the Inkosi may need more wrenches to take apart it is by far the easier knife to maintenance. Neither is particularly difficult, but the 21 is definitely the more complex of the two with significantly more pieces.
Thumb studs - The 21 has one on the opening side while the Inkosi has a dual thumb stud. My only question here is why? As a righty, it's almost impossible to try to open either knife left handed. Even using the two handed opening method, you can't really grab the non-lockbar side thumb stud on the Inkosi, so I'm simply baffled as to why it is here. I may even look into removing the left side thumb stid in the future, but I need to do some research to see if the blade itself is even threaded. I can only assume it was cheaper to use two lugs then it was to thread the blade if it isn't threaded, because I honestly can't see justification as to why the second stud is here (Speculation don't kill me here). Points to the 21.
Action - This is what in my opinion makes these two completely different knives. Maybe somebody with more then 1 of each of these in their hand can comment here, but after fully cleaning and re-greasing both knives, the Inkosi is just smoother, both opening and closing. Is it the larger pivot, the larger washers, less lockbar pressure, the wider base for the lockbar? I don't know if it is any one or all of these things combined, but with these two knives it is a very noticeable difference.
Final Thoughts
At first glace these two knives are very similar; however, side-by-side in your hand they are very different and honestly the similarity begins and ends with the brand on the knife and everything that means. I think both knives are absolutely fantastic and while I'm knocking one or the other for various things, please keep in mind this is when directly comparing the two knives I have in my hands. The 21 does not have bad action or bad clip placement...etc. In comparison to the Inkosi though, my preferences definitely lie with the Inkosi.
For potential buys of either I would say this. If you have a 21 and are considering an Inkosi, the handle grooves are basically going to make or break the knife for you. IF and it's a big IF, the grooves in the handle do not bother your hand, I personally feel you will love the Inkosi over the 21. If you have an Inkosi and some of the things I mentioned as benefits of the Inkosi for me bother you, the 21 is definitely a good alternative.
Now if you want an oversized pivot and oversized washers, but don't like the grooves on the handle of the Inkosi, maybe CRK will fill that market as well and make a Small Umnumzaan some day. Short of the clip placement on the U-zann, and the obvious difference in blade shape and lockup a small U-zann would probably be the best compromise of both knives. Obviously I'm speaking of a unicorn which doesn't exist yet, but we can always hope right?
(Going to cross-post this on the CRK facebook group, so apologies if you see it twice.)
I know I see this question come up quite a bit so I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring with my opinions on both.
To preface this, I am not the first owner of either knife. I'm the second owner of the small Inkosi and probably the third of the Small 21 Old Glory. The Small 21 is from 2012 and the Small Inkosi is from 2015 and has the ceramic ball groove.
The first thing I will address is the size of the two. If you are already feeling the 21 may be too small for you, I wouldn't recommend an Inkosi. There is only a small difference, but I would say it is a noticeable enough difference. Both the handle itself as well as the blade are both a few MM smaller on the Inkosi. Now part of that length is made up for in width. The Inkosi has both a wider blade as well as a wider handle. Again the difference is very minor, but when sitting next to each other it is noticeable. In regards to the grooves on the Inkosi, then only advice I can give you is you're just going to have to put one in your hand and see if you get hot spots. I've read of people with medium gloved hands like myself both love and hate it and people with XL hands both love it and hate it.
The meat and potatoes of this though is I want to get into the differences between the two for those considering both but unsure.
Lanyard - I mentioned above that the 21 has a slightly longer handle. This is obviously because it has a longer blade, but I feel this was done to accommodate the lanyard pin the 21 has that the Inkosi does not. If the handle on the 21 was the same size as the Inkosi and the blade the same length I don't think it would hurt or help the 21 one way or the other.
Pocket Clip - I find it very interesting that CRK went from the clip on the lock bar on the 21 to the clip off of the lock bar on the Inkosi to back to it on the lockbar on the U-Zann. I feel the clip placement of these two knives, while a very simple thing really sets them apart. Having owned the Inkosi first I notice I tend to lightly graze the tips of my fingers when closing my 21 from time to time and it is something I have to be very aware of. Essentially when I close both knives my fingers have a habit of resting themselves on the blade side of the pocket clip. I can both see why they moved the clip, but am very confused why they went back to the only placement on the U-zaan. I haven't held an U-zaan yet though, but I personally consider the clip placement on the Inkosi as an advantage.
Maintenance - This one is pretty cut and dry. While the Inkosi may need more wrenches to take apart it is by far the easier knife to maintenance. Neither is particularly difficult, but the 21 is definitely the more complex of the two with significantly more pieces.
Thumb studs - The 21 has one on the opening side while the Inkosi has a dual thumb stud. My only question here is why? As a righty, it's almost impossible to try to open either knife left handed. Even using the two handed opening method, you can't really grab the non-lockbar side thumb stud on the Inkosi, so I'm simply baffled as to why it is here. I may even look into removing the left side thumb stid in the future, but I need to do some research to see if the blade itself is even threaded. I can only assume it was cheaper to use two lugs then it was to thread the blade if it isn't threaded, because I honestly can't see justification as to why the second stud is here (Speculation don't kill me here). Points to the 21.
Action - This is what in my opinion makes these two completely different knives. Maybe somebody with more then 1 of each of these in their hand can comment here, but after fully cleaning and re-greasing both knives, the Inkosi is just smoother, both opening and closing. Is it the larger pivot, the larger washers, less lockbar pressure, the wider base for the lockbar? I don't know if it is any one or all of these things combined, but with these two knives it is a very noticeable difference.
Final Thoughts
At first glace these two knives are very similar; however, side-by-side in your hand they are very different and honestly the similarity begins and ends with the brand on the knife and everything that means. I think both knives are absolutely fantastic and while I'm knocking one or the other for various things, please keep in mind this is when directly comparing the two knives I have in my hands. The 21 does not have bad action or bad clip placement...etc. In comparison to the Inkosi though, my preferences definitely lie with the Inkosi.
For potential buys of either I would say this. If you have a 21 and are considering an Inkosi, the handle grooves are basically going to make or break the knife for you. IF and it's a big IF, the grooves in the handle do not bother your hand, I personally feel you will love the Inkosi over the 21. If you have an Inkosi and some of the things I mentioned as benefits of the Inkosi for me bother you, the 21 is definitely a good alternative.
Now if you want an oversized pivot and oversized washers, but don't like the grooves on the handle of the Inkosi, maybe CRK will fill that market as well and make a Small Umnumzaan some day. Short of the clip placement on the U-zann, and the obvious difference in blade shape and lockup a small U-zann would probably be the best compromise of both knives. Obviously I'm speaking of a unicorn which doesn't exist yet, but we can always hope right?
(Going to cross-post this on the CRK facebook group, so apologies if you see it twice.)
