Small Sebenza first impressions from a newbie

[mikesae]

...and I mean newbie.

This is my first knife since I bought a Victorinox about 15 years ago.

New out of the box, it feels great in the hand. I love the beadblasted titanium and it truly is built like a bank vault; so solid.
Just amazing.

Other than that I'm underwhelmed.

-It's hard to open with one hand, impossible to do in a single fluid motion (although it is smooth in it's range of movement).
I actually tore the tip of my thumbnail from my thumb while trying!

I read old posts saying it will wear in and that it's supposed to be quite tight and I appreciate that. However, it's much tighter compared to the sebbie in the online cleaning video.

-The stonewashed blade, let's just say I don't get it. It looks tatty and cheap. I understand this knife is supposed to have a matte finished blade, but when I first opened the blade I felt disappointment. Am I missing something here?

-It's not very sharp!
Again, I don't know a thing about knives, but through a kleenex box and even paper, it doesn't slice so much; it tears. No way does it cut armhair

Any comments?

I don't think my expectations were too high?

 

[MORIMOTOM]

was it bought used? if you send it to crk they will sharpen it for you.

and as you get better at manipulating the thumbstud and as the action smooths it will open like butter. the tolerances are very high and require use to break it in. just like a quality 1911 pistol.

blades dont look cheap to me. a bead blast is my favorite finish.

i mentioned this before in another thread, but what i love about sebenzas is its simplicity in design. elegant and practical. easiest folder to clean and maintain that i own.

i think it will grown on you. or hope it will. imho you have the cadillac of folders.

 

[mikesae]

was it bought used?

I bought it brand new. It's about 6 hours old.

but what i love about sebenzas is its simplicity in design. elegant and practical.

Absolutely, me too. That's why I chose it

blades dont look cheap to me. a bead blast is my favorite finish.

The beadblasting on the handle is gorgeous, but the stonewash finish on the blade look really haphazard IMVHO. It makes the blade look 40 years old. Again, I must be missing something...

Cheers,

Mike

 

[MORIMOTOM]

i misunderstood a little, and yeah, the stonewash blade probably isnt for everybody. of course mine is a few years old and i have polished out some scratches so it may look a little different.
im surprised your sebenza arrived dull, both mine came very sharp. my experiences with their cs has been very positive.

i would send it in, tell them your concerns, and im sure they will fix whatever is wrong with the edge.

btw, nice watch!

 

[mikesae]

Thanks for your thoughts Morimotom,

Here's what I mean by dull; this is off a kleenex box and the blade tears rather than slices

Is this par for the course?

 

[KeithAM]

You were right to have high expectations.

I bought my first Sebenza after owning numerous Spydercos, Benchmades, etc. Those were fine knives, but I found the quality and design of the Sebenza is on a whole other level. Since this is your first knife in 15 years, you don't have that basis for comparison.

As you've read, the stiffness works out as you break in the knife. Some on the forum say you can speed up the process by polishing the washers with steel wool. I've never tried it. I also find Miltec makes opening and closing easier, although you have to reapply it regularly to keep it that way.

I don't know what to say about the sharpness. Mine glided through newsprint when new. You could send it back or sharpen it yourself.

The stonewashed blade is utilitarian to some degree -- it does actually help hide scratches. Other than that it's a matter of taste.

To really appreciate its simplicity, take it apart, lube it with Miltec, and put it back together using the excellent directions on the sticky.

Give it some time. After that, if you decide it's not for you (doubtful) at least you can sell it or trade it and get most of what you paid out of it.

 

[DaveH]

In regards to the sharpness, I have been disapointed some too so I understand.

 

[rugbymatt]

The one complaint I have about the Sebenza is sharpness out of the box. I have 8 or 9 sebenzas and about half will shave hair right out of the box the others are like yours. Because I own more then one I just send them back to be sharpened, they have always come back shaving sharp. That being said I still think they are a great knife and I carry one of mine everyday. And at least with mine once they are very sharp they stay that way for a very long time.

 

[FoldersForever]

I received one once that had an uneven grind on the blade and was quite dull. I sent it back and they replaced the blade. All my others have been very sharp.

 

[MORIMOTOM]

Thanks for your thoughts Morimotom,

Here's what I mean by dull; this is off a kleenex box and the blade tears rather than slices

Is this par for the course?

well, i would say 'yes', caveat being cardboard is notoriously hard on fine edges because of composition (often having things other than paper mixed in) and the cardboard on kleenex boxes is extra dense.

try cutting notebook paper or newspaper. if it slices well, your knife is sharp, if it grabs and rips, not so sharp. the thinner the paper, the harder to make a clean slice.

bring the knife in at an angle and pull towards you when slicing.

also it seems from reading this thread that others have had similar issues out of the box. perhaps the number of sebenzas produced and available means some sneak out improplerly finished and sharpened.

 

[pbubsy]

Yeah, the test you want to do to see how sharp the knife is would be on something fine like news paper or magazine paper (even better). Just hold the paper up and hold the knife at an angle on the edge of the paper and give a very light pull through the paper. There shouldn't be any drag on your sebenza as it goes through. Morimotom is right, the material you tested was too dense for your purposes those boxes never seem to cut clean, even with a RAZOR. As to your knife not being easy to open, lubricate it with some Millitec or Tuf-glide. I think that after a couple drops of either of those lubricants you won't have any problems with opening the knife one handed. Or even the notorious "flick".

 

[mikesae]

Thanks all,

I did the notepaper test; it slices, but it does take effort not to tear the paper.

I'm seeing my friend today who has a Kershaw and CRKT and will compare. Will also go to a knife store and compare to get a better perspective on everything.

With regards to sharpening- the Sharpmaker is recommended, but I've read posts that say the angle is all wrong and you need to reprofile the blade? Could someone please clarify?

Thanks!

 

[flipe8]

I was less than pleased with the out of box sharpness of mine. Even more so when I compared it to my Spydies, but I did start to come around when I used it on some pretty hard cuts(sheet rock) and the blade was hardly scathed. I took me a couple of passes and it was back to good as new. I also really like the blade finish as it is most certainly harder to scuff up, IMO.

 

[MORIMOTOM]

Thanks all,

I did the notepaper test; it slices, but it does take effort not to tear the paper.

I'm seeing my friend today who has a Kershaw and CRKT and will compare. Will also go to a knife store and compare to get a better perspective on everything.

With regards to sharpening- the Sharpmaker is recommended, but I've read posts that say the angle is all wrong and you need to reprofile the blade? Could someone please clarify?

Thanks!

i use a sharpmaker, or the stones, for everything. on mine the 40 degree setting works fine on my sebenza. if the angle isnt quite right, mark the edge with a magic marker, when the ink is taken off by the stone, you have the right angle. most knives are between 17-21 (34-42 total) degrees, per side, i believe. the angle on the spyderco is designed to compliment the majority of blade edges.
you probably cannot change the angle of your knife by one or two degrees freehand accurately, at least i lack this fine motor skill. within a couple degrees for sharpening is perfectly fine. unless you are using some sort of clamp with predetermined settings, expect at least a small margin of error.

try touching up the edge and try the paper test again, you may have slightly dulled it while cutting the box.

hope this helps.

 

[KCkc]

...

-It's hard to open with one hand, impossible to do in a single fluid motion (although it is smooth in it's range of movement).
I actually tore the tip of my thumbnail from my thumb while trying!

Had the same issue with tear and blisters. But it has to do with the way you open the knife as I learned later. The tendency is for people to push the thumb down on the stud and then use the pressure to open the knife which explains the injury. I later learned from Plaza Cutlery friendly people that you need to :
1. position the nail of the thumb under the stud
2. lift the knife out of the frame using the nail surface
3. no part of the thumb flesh should be primarily involved in this action.

I read old posts saying it will wear in and that it's supposed to be quite tight and I appreciate that. However, it's much tighter compared to the sebbie in the online cleaning video.

1. it is tight in the beginning.
2. you can slightly loosen the [screw that goes through the blade] and it will open easier
3. a drop of mineral oil or the lubricant from tuf-cloth will make slide better in the beginning until the mechanism is broken in.

-The stonewashed blade, let's just say I don't get it. It looks tatty and cheap. I understand this knife is supposed to have a matte finished blade, but when I first opened the blade I felt disappointment. Am I missing something here?

I love the stonewash blade. That is after I notice that my shiny WHK all got scratches from open letters and cardboard boxes. If you plan on using it for envelopes, and thin paper, shiny blades are fine. But for roughing it, stonewashed blade is the way IMHO.

Hope this helps.

 

[MORIMOTOM]

good advice kc, except there shouldnt be loc tite anywhere on there, should there? i thought i read on the crk site not to loc tite as the screws may have to be drilled out if sent in for service.

 

[KCkc]

good advice kc, except there shouldnt be loc tite anywhere on there, should there? i thought i read on the crk site not to loc tite as the screws may have to be drilled out if sent in for service.

I think it is loc-tite (the least strong one) since the screws seems like they are unlocking from some glue (a slight crack sound) when I disengage them for cleaning. But then I could be wrong. Definitely not a strong loc-tite if it is indeed used.

Sebbie gurus please correct if I am wrong.
Thanks.

 

[MORIMOTOM]

my screws click as well (that sounds wrong ), but i think it is just the high tolerance and the metal on metal tightness.

 

[rugbymatt]

There is no loctite on Sebenza screws nor should you use any. That sound or feeling when you unscrewing is probably the fit of the screw against the titanium.

 

[KCkc]

There is no loctite on Sebenza screws nor should you use any. That sound or feeling when you unscrewing is probably the fit of the screw against the titanium.

OK, thanks for the info. Always learning and growing here.