What am I missing? First CRK. Maybe

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jceckrosh

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Mar 2, 2016
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So I bought a Small Sebenza Drop Point for my wife. It arrived today, and while it is a very nice knife, I guess I don't immediately get what the hubbub is. It's hard to open (I have big hands, so it is tiny for me - likely part of the problem, but the detent seems extreme for the thumb stud). It's not exceptionally sharp.

I think she will like it. She needs a knife to open the roughly 5,000 boxes we get each year, and this keeps her from asking for mine.

I am not here to pooh-pooh CRK. I want someone to explain to me what I'm missing.
 
Let the flood gates open. Being a lg Inkosi owner, I can just say for me, it's the build quality, thought & design that got me hooked. For the average person who cuts stuff all day, this may not appeal to them, but a good box cutter or OTF might though.
 
I have one small 21 Insingo ... it is a bit small for my hand but I got the micarta version it helps ... it is only carried for good like holidays it opened many a gift and its small somewhat ornate.

I have several Large CRKs ... a few came smooth and easy to open ... some took a break in period but all became smooth and easy to open ... and there is just something about the simple design but the extremely tight tolerances and the fact it's easy to disassemle and maintain ... that is a big draw ... plus the customer service and spa treatments ...

you may even want to disassemble clean and use a very small bit of the CRK lube ... that may make it easier to open ... but it will break in and get smoother and better with age IMHO.
 
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If I was going to be opening (and probably also slicing up and breaking down) 5,000 boxes a year, I’d get a Stanley 99E and one of those 100-packs of disposable Stanley blades (a total cost of ~$15 at Home Depot or Lowes). Just a personal view, but IMO going through that many boxes with any small folder is like moving a 4-bedroom household of furniture with a BMW Z4.

I have a small Sebenza and XXXL hands. My small Seb is perfect for discreet concealed carry, but it’s not designed to be a heavy-duty, commercial grade workhorse. Just thinking about the ergos of using any small folder like that to process that many boxes all the time makes my right hand ache.

If I was you, I’d get my wife a Stanley 99E and a 100-pack of blades to do the boxes with and tell her to keep the Seb in her purse. My guess is she’d love you more for doing so.
 
Simplicity rather than bells and whistles is what the Sebenza is about. Very utilitarian knife that is easy to maintain.
as to your problem- It could be your technique-either use of thumb stud(if thumb stud hurts/pocking you are doing it wrong) or pressing on the lockbar as you are trying to open. It also may just need breaking in-Sebenza does fly open. It is more of a controlled opening. Cleaning and lubing could also help.
All said -many love the Sebenza but it is not necessarily the end all knife for everyone. Also some get it right away and others take a bit of time to get it.
Hope it works out for you or more importantly your wife, but if not there are plenty of other great knives out there to try.
 
jceckrosh said:
So I bought a Small Sebenza Drop Point for my wife. It arrived today, and while it is a very nice knife, I guess I don't immediately get what the hubbub is. It's hard to open (I have big hands, so it is tiny for me - likely part of the problem, but the detent seems extreme for the thumb stud). It's not exceptionally sharp.

I think she will like it. She needs a knife to open the roughly 5,000 boxes we get each year, and this keeps her from asking for mine.

I am not here to pooh-pooh CRK. I want someone to explain to me what I'm missing.
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I have to laugh- that was my impression back in 2014. Now, five years and about 75 CRKs later it all makes perfect sense: Simply the best.
 
I sold my first two the week I got them nearly a decade ago. Now it's a favorite.

Try a large Inkosi or 21 sometime.

The smalls don't do much for me. Too tiny.
 
You’re not missing anything. The heavens don’t open up, you’re not going to hear angelic singing. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced that getting a new CRK.
Yes, some have a tight detent that takes your thumb getting sore to the touch before it gets easier. If you open it with the tip of the thumb stud instead of getting your thumbnail behind it, your thumb will be sore until it toughens up. Also an arcing motion will help with the break in.
What all the hubbub is about is that the more it’s used the better it gets and the more it’s liked. There are some ways to make it better with it being new. Already mentioned is to put fresh grease and you can put a little on the detent ball track. I’ve gotten some that have the grease dried up before. The left handed CRK’s don’t fly off the shelf, so it doesn’t bother me to tear one apart, clean it and add fresh grease.
I’ve always found that the smalls are more difficult to open.
 
You’re likely missing what others miss with a Rockstead, Shiro, Strider, Benchmade, Spyderco, custom xyz, take your pick. At the start and end of each day they’re just folding knives. Some knives appeal more than others to folks.

But...you can’t deny the solid construction and tolerances of a CRK. Excalibur, all of them.
 
Stumpy72 said:
If I was going to be opening (and probably also slicing up and breaking down) 5,000 boxes a year, I’d get a Stanley 99E and one of those 100-packs of disposable Stanley blades (a total cost of ~$15 at Home Depot or Lowes). Just a personal view, but IMO going through that many boxes with any small folder is like moving a 4-bedroom household of furniture with a BMW Z4.

I have a small Sebenza and XXXL hands. My small Seb is perfect for discreet concealed carry, but it’s not designed to be a heavy-duty, commercial grade workhorse. Just thinking about the ergos of using any small folder like that to process that many boxes all the time makes my right hand ache.

If I was you, I’d get my wife a Stanley 99E and a 100-pack of blades to do the boxes with and tell her to keep the Seb in her purse. My guess is she’d love you more for doing so.
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It's a bit of an exaggeration, but she does get a lot of boxes. This Small Sebenza has a leopard machined in the handle, and gold thumb stud and gold lanyard stud. She'll love that part. If I give her a box cutter and razor blades as a gift, not only will that go over terribly, but I will likely find razor blades everywhere. This way I only have to be on the lookout for a single open knife somewhere in the house.

I know my hands are too big for this knife. And I generally don't use flippers so I am used to manual opening so it's not that. It's just a little stiff and the detent tension is high. I will take y'alls word for it that it will break in. And I'll take your word for it that it may grow on me/her.
 
The small works best with a double lug thumbstud and tends to work better with smaller hands.

As for missing something? You either do or don’t like the Sebenza. It can grow on you and for most people who don’t fall in love immediately, over time it does.

The true test to me is when I don’t have a Sebenza in my pocket. The missing feeling I get when it’s not in my pocket is how I know I’m always gonna have more than one.

If I had to tell you what the “it” is with Sebenzas I’d tell you it’s an individual thing. For me having grown up in the trades, been a machinist, millwright, mechanic and fabricator I can appreciate the quality that goes into each knife, the precision evident in each knife that makes it to the end user’s hands.

It’s a knife that’ll be with me, barring losing it, for the rest of my life.

Carry it, use it and then after a month or so put it in the drawer and see if you don’t miss it? Miss it in your pocket, miss flickin’ it open ever so easily?

Better yet, you said you got it for your wife, let her decide if it’s for her. She’ll let you know what it is about Sebenzas if she does in fact ever see it. I fear the longer you try to figure out what it is about Sebenzas the less her chance of getting it from you is. ;).

If you have to sell yourself or your wife has to sell herself on a Sebenza than it’s probably not for either of you anyways.

On the plus side, in the event neither of you actually like it, you’ll easily get the majority of your money back if you sell it in the exchange.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Better yet, you said you got it for your wife, let her decide if it’s for her. She’ll let you know what it is about Sebenzas if she does in fact ever see it. I fear the longer you try to figure out what it is about Sebenzas the less her chance of getting it from you is. ;).
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Oh, she is absolutely getting it. It's a shiny thing, and she likes shiny things. She might decide she doesn't want it, but I won't keep it fro her.

If I decide to be matchy matchy with her I'll get a Large. Minus the leopard.
 
jceckrosh said:
It's a bit of an exaggeration, but she does get a lot of boxes.....
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I hear you and I understand your position. What can be said? Oh, wait--I know--“Women!” Anyhow--if I was putting major time/effort into processing boxes, I’d want the knife I did it with to be long on super-ergo handle, short on blade and easy to sharpen--like the knives I use for woodcarving/wood sculpture. They’re all small fixed blades with oversized, ergo-handles from heaven. They're comfortable to use and they help me keep the repetitive stress injury and carpal tunnel demons away while still spending a lot of time on my hobby.

About your Seb being stiff... One of my large Sebs was stiff when I got it. I watched the vid on the CRK website, disassembled it, cleaned it, re-greased it and reassembled it. It was a lot less stiff and much more comfortable to open after I did that.
 
Grows on ya.... opening boxes is mostly cutting tape... beware of the copper staples!!! To actually cut boxes I use a large serrated.... done deal!
 
Hey folks, new here but not to knives or the Sabenza.

In my humble opinion her hand will get used to the motion. Her thumb will also toughen up after a week or two of steady use. I would not recommend continuously opening it, as it will make her thumb very sore.

The Small is better left with one lug. The lock side isn't machined to allow room for a finger to get behind a second lug making it kind of useless. I've gotten to where I can open and close my right hand Sabenza 21 fluidly with either hand. I originally had a right hand Small Insingo 21 and had CRK install a double thumb lug and sold it one day after receiving it. It kind of ruined a perfectly usable EDC knife.

Everyone is correct about the lack of fireworks when picking up a Sabenza for the first time. Being a machinist by trade I can understand what goes into executing the process of making these knives. Excellent machining, excellent finishing before the final finishes are applied, adequate ergonomics for a workhorse, excellent lock bar tension, great profile to the blades, and I enjoy it every time I open it to cut something. I use mine for skinning, work, house chores, and camping. A large 21 is my main carry after years of carrying Rexford ZT's, Sinkevich, Benchmade, Buck, and Spyderco.

I hope i didnt break any rules making this my first post. Most of my online forum talk is with BushcraftUSA.

Cheers folks, and that's pretty awesome you got your wife a Sebbie. If you want to partake in the madness, check out a used Large 21. They are easy to sale if you don't like it after a month of carrying it.
 
I appreciated the fluid opening and closing the first time I picked it up. (large PJ 21) But I didn't really "get it" until I took it apart and put it back together. My first time and it took less than 10 minutes. Perfect action, perfectly centered just by tightening screws.
 
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