Small Sebenza or Strider PT

S

subzilla

Joined
Aug 12, 2006
Messages
26
I'm in the market for a small folder, I know these two manufacturers each have their dedicated followers, but I have narrowed my choice down to these 2 models and would appreciate some (unbiased) advice.

Thanks in advance

Subzilla
 
I think both are fine folders but in this scenario I'd go with the Sebenza hands down. IT has both a stronger body and a stronger lock.

STR
 
Sebenza in micarta.

The Strider is not as easy to open and close and not as smooth to do so.
I tried it at Plaza Cutlery and bought the Seb Micarta there
 
For me the small seb is the way to go, and I have owned a PT.

PT was harder to open and close, it didn't fit my hand as well.
 
Good luck finding unbiased opinions here. Everybody has their favorites! I would go with the Seb. If you're looking for one of the nicest (production)small knives in the world, I doubt you'll find much better than a CRK. Striders are good, brutal big knives, and they have a very high "cool" factor (for now at least) but Sebenzas are timeless.
 
What do you want the folder to do? Is this for office? Just your own enjoyment? Which one speaks to YOU more? The people here (me included) will GLADLY spend your money for you, so I'm not sure you're going to find an unbiased opinion.

For myself, I've had 3 Sebenzas. I currently have none. While I happen to EDC a Strider, its not the PT but rather a GB which is significantly bigger. I find the SMF/SNG/PTs to be very visually appealing, but in the hand I found them to be too small for me. At the same time, I just didn't "get" the Sebenza. The Micarta one is probably the best one I've seen so far. In a small CRK product, I'd rather have a Mnandi.

Better yet, I'd take what I eventually ended up with in my Ti-handled S30V bladed EDC knife: the Buck/Mayo 172.

If these two were my only choices, I'd pick the PT if I could select one myself, and the Sebenza if it were a sight-unseen purchase.

Good luck and let us know how you make out with it!
 
If you're looking for a tough gents knife, with awesome fit and finish, I'd go for the Sebenza. The design and execution are awe inspiring. I'm not a big fan of Chris Reeve's heat treatment on his blades though.

The Strider, in my opinion is a much tougher knife. Grip security is very good. Fit and finish is a crap shoot, to be entirely honest. Heat treatment of the S-30V is far superior to the Sebenza's, in my opinion.

Neither knife is perfect, but both are extremely good knives. It's just a matter of where your priorities are.
 
I personally prefer the look of the PT (military stryling) but have read a number of negative reviews concerning the quality of Strider knives, finish etc!!! I normally go with the sensible purchases (safe bets) in life and sometimes end up regreting it, there are exceptions of course.

This knife is going to be a bitof a an edc at work at at home.

My heart says PT,brain says seb !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:confused:

Thanks for theinfo so far, I thought I might spark a good few (unbiased :) ) opinions with this one.

Subzilla
 
I own and carry both. I usually carry a plain small Sebenza during the week while I'm in the office (suit and tie attire). On weekends, I carry the PT (denim attire). Both perform well, but the PT "feels" better to me.
 
I own two small sebs and a PT and after carrying & using both I prefer the sebenza. My reasons being: the seb rides in your pocket in a lower profile because of how the pocket clip is attached, and the belly of the blade on the seb is not a large as the PT making it easier (in my opinion) to cut things.

garciajr
 
STR said:
I think both are fine folders but in this scenario I'd go with the Sebenza hands down. IT has both a stronger body and a stronger lock.

STR
Click to expand...


I don't think this is exactly what I would call a fair comparison. They are both frame locks, and while Strider and Emerson follow one school (less contact area) and CRK follows a different school (more contact area) I don't think it has ever been diffinatively proven which way is better. If it were, then everybody would make them the same.

As far as a stronger body, that is debatable as well. The Sebenza is all titanium and the Strider is half Titanium and half G-10. I think that the PT's Titanium half is thicker than the Sebenzas. G-10 is also not all that far behind titanium in terms of tensile strength (depending on the Ti alloy). Plus they are differnt shapes, so really which one is "stronger" is going to depend on a lot more factors that just one being all titanium and one not. And I can't imagine either one not being strong enough for anything but extremely heavy abuse. I doubt you are going to actually break the handle of either. If all that we were worried about was stregth, knife makers would make frame locks out of hardened steel or tungston carbide or something. There are a lot of materials that are stronger than titanium.

All that being said, I think which one to get really comes down to personal opinion of the asthetics of each knife. Whichever one you think looks better is the one that you should get. They are both plenty tough, and will both perform above and beyond the call of duty for an EDC. The sebenza is going to slice a little better, but the PT is a little burlier. Depends what you like / want. As far as smoothness, the Sebenza is going to be a little smoother. Much smoother when knew. The PT will take about 500 - 1000 openings for the detent to wear through the bead blast on the blade, after that they will be pretty close. A Buck Mayo TNT will still be smoother than either of them, IME at least. Heat treat is generally thought of as better on Stiders than on CRK's, but I don't think that is really anything to worry over either.

Both companies have great warrenties, so if anything goes wrong with either knife, you don't have to worry about it as either one would more than likely be fixed for free.

Personally I like the PT better, but that is based on style, as the way I see it, they are pretty much equal in all other respects.


Edit: DGG, while the Military is a great knife, based on size alone, I don't think it is a very good substitute for a Strider PT or a small Sebenza. Even the Para is significantly bigger than both.
 
depends on your aesthetic taste, if you like gritty pulp noir look of Strider, get one. if you like a more classic look get the Sebenza. either will perform for you dependably.
 
STR said:
(the sebenza) has both a stronger body and a stronger lock.

STR
Click to expand...

Based on what?

(I will try to keep this unbiased, this first point is simply a technical one before my recommendation)

I love reading how many people figure that since Ti is "stronger" than G-10, the knife will be stronger. Many people feel that for the price, half G-10 is being cheap, and it should be all Ti. And by the way, many steels are stronger than Ti for a specific part (or volume), but Ti is alwasy advertised as being stronger, because they don't tell you it's stronger PER UNIT OF MASS. But that's off topic.

Strider uses G-10 for 2 reasons. The first is obviouosly grip. The second is for stiffness. The G-10 side isn't just a scale, it's a solid milled piece that includes the backspacer. This makes the G-10 side VERY thick at certain spots, which makes the PT/SnG/SMF the stiffest folders I've ever used. Could they have done the same design out of Ti? Probably, but the cost for that one part would be huge. A simple scale would be cheap, but milling one with the backspacer as one piece wouldn't be worth the cost.

With all that said, answering your question does require a little more info. If you want a knife to slice paper and cut your food in an office environment, then the Sebbie (or a Spydie, as mentioned in another post) would be best. If you want a small folder for the office that can also pry staples or break your way into a desk drawer you lost the key for, then get the Strider.
 
Ginshun my statement about the lock strength doesn't have anything to do with anything you mentioned regarding one side titanium or one side G10 or the amount of lock contact. I am well aware of the fact that G10/FR4 is quite strong and certainly capable of substituting for titanium in this application of folder making. (the knife I made in my signiture is such a knife with one side G10)

My statements have to do with the thinness of the folders lock at the cut out or relief area where it bends. The Strider PT is much thinner here than the Sebenza. In fact its a night and day difference really which makes the lock weaker at that critical point. This thin lock relief is the sole reason Strider has to use a lock stabalizer to keep from over extending the lock when releasing it.

Contrary to some statements made here on other threads the frame locks do fold (when they are tested to failure) and they fold or defeat at the relief area cut out a very high % of the time when they are pushed to their limits. Although I'll be the first to agree that these are not critical failures allowing the blades to close on fingers in most cases, they are indeed lock defeats.

For reference: Spyderco has done testing of frame locks and Sal has stated on more than one occasion that in their tests the locks fail at the relief cut out based on their observations. This cut out or relief is the weakest link in the chain so to speak. My statement is nothing more than observation based on results of testing both my own frame locks and reading of others. Measure the lock relief cut out on your PT and compare it to a Sebbie. Its not rocket science to figure out which is the weaker of the two.

As I said both are fine folders. It doesn't mean they are bad or even faulty.

As for you saying the Sebbie will slice better. I have not seen this to always be the case. Of the two small Sebenzas I owned compared to the PT I was allowed to use for a week, I would say the PT actually sliced better. Other Sebenzas I've had here in my shop had thinner grinds making them slice better than my own small Sebenzas did/do. I think like anything hand made the grinds can vary there on both knives. Also, I think over the years you can see variations of grinds that although slight are enough to make one year a bit thicker or thinner based on steel differences and what not. (on the Sebenza I mean)

STR
 
STR said:
For reference: Spyderco has done testing of frame locks and Sal has stated on more than one occasion that in their tests the locks fail at the relief cut out based on their observations. This cut out or relief is the weakest link in the chain so to speak.
Click to expand...

Really? I don't doubt you, but do you have that link? I'd be curious to read it. By the way, there are many other factors in a frame lock that can become the weakest link in the chain, so simply measuring the 2 thicknesses at that point and declaring a winner is jumping to conclusions.

STR said:
As for you saying the Sebbie will slice better. I have not seen this to always be the case.
STR
Click to expand...

I don't think I specifically said that, I was just going to give the Sebbie the benefit of the doubt on that one since Striders are apparently prybars that don't cut. Most of us know that's not true, especially with a full flat grind and the thinness of the PT, but I wasn't going to argue that point, the Sebbie needs something going for it in this thread besides looking more classy.
 
I replied to Ginshun Talonturbo not your post. I didn't see your post yet by the time I replied.

I don't have the link but its on the main Spyderco forum in at least two frame lock threads from about a month maybe two ago (not BF Spyderco forum but there may be some statements there also). Write Sal and ask him and I'm sure he'll verify exactly my observations based on his own testing.

I'm not going to fight with you Strider fans over my statements. Test your own knives and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

I've changed the way I make my own lock relief cut outs based on my own observations on this. In fact in past posts I've said I thought G10 or Micarta needed a liner to add strength on the non lock side but have even changed my stance on this based on my own testing. I've seen no benefit to adding a liner on the non lock side in tests. Its just an added step that you don't need really.

As far as I'm concerned based on physics and observable facts though, its harder to bend and/or fold a thicker shorter piece of steel than it is a longer thinner one. The PT I had here to examine had a .033 thick lock relief on a .125 thick titanium lock. Grab you a piece of .034 titanium or a .040 titanium pocket clip and see just how easy it is to bend and fold to get an idea of what I'm saying after you compare it to a piece of .060 thick titanium.

STR
 
All this talk is handwaving of course, but that's fun too so I want to play.

I really don't think strength will matter much under most usual conditions. What's way more important is the fit of the lock. Having experienced both I would be way more concerned about that. It doesn't take much searching effort to see threads where the fit of Strider locks have come into question.

I think the matter simplifies down to a very simple issue. You either like the looks of the PT the best or you like the looks of the sebenza the best. I think that's how 99.99% of how we choose knives.
 
I think if I'm going to lay down $300 plus for a folder that a apples to apples comparison is the only way to go. Both of these knives have few flaws. Both have super warranty coverage so even if one does give you some problems its not that big of a deal. However, if you have to look for a plus or minus you have to look at everything so to me my statement just brought up what I'd make note of myself before spending the $.

You fellas are certainly entitled to disagree with me though. Have at it. My mind hasn't changed.

STR
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top