The 21 split inlays are a legendary design.

Locutus D'Borg said:
I guess I'm a contrarian. I prefer the one-piece inserts. The split ones never looked right to me. I wonder why Chris went with splits versus the one piece in the first place.
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I actually like the symmetry with the lock-side idea that kidcongo kidcongo pointed out. I’d never thought about it but it wouldn’t surprise me if that is why Chris did it that way.
 
I’m a newb and much prefer the 31’s inlays aesthetically but could see there being some functionality in the split inlays providing some grip but don’t really care for them aesthetically. Also, what was the tooling hole on the 21 for?
 
mitchnola said:
I’m a newb and much prefer the 31’s inlays aesthetically but could see there being some functionality in the split inlays providing some grip but don’t really care for them aesthetically. Also, what was the tooling hole on the 21 for?
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Before the excellent accuracy of modern CNC machines, to get the high tolerance of the slabs that Chris Reeve wanted, it was important that the slabs be perfectly located in the jig used to cut them out. His solution to holding them in place was to have locating holes, which allowed the entire outer edge be exposed for machining. A lot of products at the time used the same concept, but often these locating holes are not so prominently featured, or are hidden under a sticker, etc. Mr. Reeve seemed to put his obsession with tolerance fully on display. Like he thought to himself “I could hide this hole, but people can just deal”.

FWIW I like it, but it bothered me in the early days.

By having the hole serve no other purpose than that of a locating hole, it also allows you to perfectly drill the other holes you want to use for fasteners.
 
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kidcongo said:
Before the excellent accuracy of modern CNC machines, to get the high tolerance of the slabs that Chris Reeve wanted, it was important that the slabs be perfectly located in the jig used to cut them out. His solution to holding them in place was to have locating holes, which allowed the entire outer edge be exposed for machining. A lot of products at the time used the same concept, but often these locating holes are not so prominently featured, or are hidden under a sticker, etc. Mr. Reeve seemed to put his obsession with tolerance fully on display. Like he thought to himself “I could hide this hole, but people can just deal”.

FWIW I like it, but it bothered me in the early days.

By having the hole serve no other purpose than that of a locating hole, it also allows you to perfectly drill the other holes you want to use for fasteners.
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Interesting, thanks for the info
 
I never was a huge fan of the 21 inlays aesthetics. Still owned plenty of them tho. Prefer the looks of the Inkosi and 31 inlays
 
Always liked how my palm felt with split inlays almost like a better grip but not really.

I will say I do prefer the looks of a single inlay though as it just looks better in my opinion.
 
Fan of both inlay styles. My first inlay CRK was a 21 and I do like the side to side symmetry. My current users with inlays are 31s though, and I really don't have any real complaint about them in use.
 
I found the split inlays odd at first, but they grew on me. No issue with the one-piece, except no spalted woods, which I really love.

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kidcongo said:
Just a little tribute to the ol’ split inlays on the Sebenza 21 and Classic. As time goes on, this aesthetic feature, from the brain of Mr. Reeve himself, remains a high point in knife design to my eyes.

There are understandably a lot of fans of the larger solid inlays on the regular and 31, but take a moment to consider how unique the split design truly was. Never really duplicated or improved upon to any success, and not like anything else. The split inlays were perfect from the start.


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yes, the SEBENZA 21 is my most favorite CRK:)
 
My first crk was a small 21 black micarta. Might be my favorite knife aesthetically. Gets no carry time being a small.
 
So I did just try a 31 micarta and really kinda liked it. That said Ive now sold all my Micarta other than a Micarta 21 Insingo that Im pretty sure isn’t going anywhere. What an iconic knife.
 
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