so.. the sebenza.

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I don't think many who buy one and claim it's awesomeness are trying to justify spending the scratch to others. They really are lovely, well built knives.

I just got my first CRK about 10 months ago from Spark's shop in Louisville (excellent place to buy from, btw). It's a large Inkosi. I bought it as i had always wanted a CRK and promised myself one when I finished the degree I had left hanging 17 years prior (about when I first started reading about the Sebenza on this forum).

So for me, it was worth the money because I wanted it and felt I deserved it. While I won't say its the best $450 knife you can buy, I will say that, for me, it outperforms the fit of a $350 ZT frame lock by a good margin and worth the extra 100 bucks. The Inkosi was good enough for me make it the minimum benchmark in what I want to carry as a daily user around my home and office. It cuts no better than my 13 year old $75 Spyderco, but I enjoy the construction and fit better. I found that if I just sucked it up and bought what I want, I wouldn't waste so much money on cheaper stuff I was disappointed with. Honestly, my edc rotation most every day has just bounced back an forth between a Microtech and a CRK for almost a year now. I have no desire to deviate from that, tbh.

Heres the real kicker, Reeve did not come up with the Sebenza to be a safe queen. Sure, there are ornate collectibles and variations out there, but the Plain Jane titanium Sebenza/Inkosi/Zaan are designed to be working knives. They are tough and clean up incredibly well. Its incredibly common to see a contractor post before and after pics of his Sebenza that was used for a decade to poke out holes in drywall and strip wire along side how it looked after the Spa Treatment offered by CRK. Barring what some would consider "too hard" of use, the CRK is a knife that can last 20 years use of pocket carry. By "last", I don't mean function as a rattle box that still takes an edge. I mean there are Sebbies out there that I have seen in the wild that have been an edc for 2 decades that are just as tight and perfect as they were when they came out of the box that have never been back to the factory. Used yes. Scratched of course. However, the action and the fit is still precise.

Are they worth it? Only the person writing the check can answer that.
 
I got my first Sebenza back in 2002. At the time, I hadn’t read much about it on forums. I was familiar with it because the owner of a B&M knife shop I frequented back then was a CRK dealer and EDC’d one himself. It took me a couple years to pull the trigger and buy one from him for myself. I used that large regular Sebenza a lot, often for things I wouldn’t put my less expensive knives to, and it’s aged very gracefully, “snail trails” and all. I didn’t buy my next one until 9 years later. I own five CRKs, and that’s most likely all I’m going to get.

As already mentioned, they’re worth it if they’re worth it to you. There are plenty of “poor kids” out there who are somehow walking around with expensive basketball shoes that cost as much as or more than a standard plain-jane CRK Sebenza. Obviously, those shoes are worth it to them. I seriously doubt a pair of shoes is going to hold up over time like a Sebenza will.

CRKs are no more a ‘bandwagon knife’ than any other popular knife brand. Someone could also say that Emerson, Cold Steel, Spyderco, Benchmade, Kershaw/ZT, WE, Reate, etc., are also bandwagon knives, because they all have enthusiastic, loyal followings, many of whom know them from reading online. Ultimately, either a knife appeals to you AND works for you, or it doesn’t.

Are Sebenzas the most ergonomic folders? IMO, no. Are CRKs the sharpest knives out of the box? Not in my experience. I had to completely reprofile the edge on my first one before it would even cut. My later ones were fine out of box, but still used CRK’s favored convex edge bevel grind, which makes them feel less sharp than if they were standard “V” bevels, which (IMO) would complement their high hollow grinds much better. In recent years, I actually carry and use my favorite Spyderco folders more than any of my CRKs. But I still like my CRKs and still carry and use them occasionally. Sebenzas are built like little tanks. I don’t care if they failed in some Cold Steel lock test; I’ve never had one even come close to failing on me during actual use, and they age more gracefully with use over time than many other knives.

Ultimately, it’s up to you, and you will either like them or you won’t. CRK knives are outstanding quality, but they aren’t magical.

Jim
 
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I didnt want a sebenza at first when I started because of so many people telling me to get one. didnt want to be disappointed by the hype, I figured people just liked them because of how expensive they were.

I finally got a sebenza back in may 2020.

it's a very well put together knife. fit and finish is second to none.

I really like the blade shape and hollow grind.

it's not a fidget toy like flippers and spydies, the action feels like oiled glass sliding on oiled glass.

its classy enough to not look like a douche canoe tacticool pos found at a gas station but still strong enough to do everything I've been doing with my pm2.

materials are top notch, s35vn is old and boring to a lot of people now but it still gets the job done...I still use my grandpa's navy ww2 machete in the yard and it's not made of m390 and unobtanium.

I actually like the hardness crk puts the s35vn at. I appreciate bring able to strop my knife to shaving sharp in a minute or two.

and the grand finale...made in the motherfuckin USA babyyyyy.

sorry, no matter how good the China made knives get I just wont be giving money to the chinese government. they treat their own people like slaves and terrorize Hong Kong all while shitting on the USA at every turn. none of my knife money will be going to china.

I'm at 3 sebenzas now. looking to make it 4 by the end of the month.
 
The Sebenzas are in my mid-range for knives and I'm at a point where I've already justified spending much more. They aren't some ideal "pinnacle" of knives for me, so I doubt buying into that hype has much sway over my buying decision for them. I suspect that a large part of the difficulty for rationalizing this particular purchase revolves around how we're trained to think about value in knives for folders at lower price points. When you go from a $50 liner lock to a $150 axis / compression / frame lock, you have easy things to point to that tells you how to justify the additional cost. Go up another $100 - $150 and you now have things like extra-"premium" steels, drop shut frame locks, etc. So by the time you go higher to the Sebenza, you start looking for those additional features and you start hearing people asking about why CRK hasn't kept up with the rest of the knife world. The interesting thing is that the rest of the knife world has yet to catch up to the precision manufacturing of CRK in production. But that's harder to see and point at. Of course, whether that matters to you is a personal thing. In the end, once you go above like $50, this is all extra stuff. The vast majority of these things are unnecessary for real use. Once I go over that, I'm buying for preference, and I won't delude myself into thinking that buying a CRK is somehow fundamentally different from buying a ZT. Neither of them are necessary to cut things a folder is designed to cut.

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NorthernSouthpaw said:
It's all about YOUR personal preference. I have no problem carrying and using $500+ customs. While many folks here on the forums keep their Spyderco Paramilitary 2's as safe queens.
Neither way is wrong.
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Disagree. Safe queens are wrong. It would be a shame not to use really nice knives since they're meant to be used. If I could afford a luxury sports car, I know it wouldn't just sit around in my garage. :D
 
Will it do things other knives won't ... to over simplify it ... NO. But if you appreciate a very well built solid lifetime kinda knife it fits the bill. I have to say I thought it was crazy to spend that much on a pocket knife many years ago but as I got deeper into knives I decided to try a Sebenza. When I got my it my first thought was ... "why did I spend so much for this? " But after carrying it awhile I began to see all the subtle things and the extreme tolerances and quality and now I love my CRKs.

I think they are deserving of the praise they get for quality and workmanship and have great customer service. As with any knife they won't be for everyone and that's okay.

And the question "are they worth it" ... that is up to each individual ... I have bought $50.00 knives that weren't the price.
 
hhmoore said:
Some people try a sebenza and are totally sold. Others try it and are unenthused. It's normal to have high expectations, between the hype and the price. I'd recommend finding a place to handle one before buying.
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Agree.
I recommend it for the CRK s and any knife over a comfortable price point.
 
Get one lightly used ; got a micarta large inkosi for 400 on the exchange that was well worth the price.And they disasemble and reassemble so easy; i had a We knife with those star shaped screws; not only was it hard to take apart but took 20+ minutes to get the stupid thing back together.
 
aue123 said:
I just felt like the sebenza was more of a bandwagon knife, someone talked it up and somehow it grew hype then everyone had to jump on board (you’re not in the cool club unless you take pictures of you EDC’ing your sebenza)
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I mean, I think that's entirely true.

Doesn't mean they're not nice knives though because they certainly are.

For me, well, I hate thumbstuds and I hate framelocks and I don't agree with buying (IMO) overvalued products (for whatever reason).
 
OP...the real question here is...

Is it worth $350 (the price a large PJ 21 goes for here) for you to check out a Sebenza!
$500 is the new price...but at $350 used, you will get the same customer service, tight tolerances, and beautiful lines. Don’t like the wear? Spa service. Sebenza’s age well, and look awesome with use though.
For $350 buck, its just like a brand new Sebenza...but with small scratches. ;)
 
It is not a bells and whistles knife and that is part of the appeal.
Well made utilitarian design , easy to maintain and good customer service
You don't have to pay $500 for one. It takes some patience but they can be found for $300 or less on the exchange from time to time with mostly pocket time use(.handle snail trails)
They re a fine knife, but each individual has to decide for themselves if they are worth it to them, and if that is where they choose to spend their money.
they are worth the money to me
 
I actually just bought a sebenza, my first crk, although I haven't gotten it in hand yet. Honestly the design has never really done much for me, but I want to try one out.

What attracts me is that the sebenza, perhaps more so than any other high end pocket knife, is designed to be the only knife you need for the rest of your life. It's a simple design with nothing that will wear out or break easily, it can be easily disassembled and reassembled for maintenance, the blade grind was designed to allow for a lifetime of sharpening without getting thick behind the edge, and it has some of the best factory support of any company. It looks fairly plain so it you can take it anywhere without it drawing attention or seeming out of place, it's neither super thin and slicey nor super overbuilt but strikes a good balance between the two, it is compact enough to carry well, and it while it may not excel in any specific area, there is no area where it's lacking either.
 
Quiet said:
Such comments just come off as sour grapes, candidly speaking.
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craytab said:
Yup. Just because you can't or won't spend X amount on Y product, doesn't make those who do snobs.
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Wanted to respond to that...but I didnt know how to put it elegantly. So I skipped it! Thanks for the words!
 
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