what did you use your umnumzaan for today?

Well, I used my Umnumzaan ( My CRK Workhorse ) as a wood scraper today !!! I admit, I did have to break down and sharpen it yesterday on my sharpmaker. We have been doing a near full kitchen remodel, I sharpened it up when we started and again yesterday ( aprox. 1 month inbetween ). I made an oak bullnose for our step going up into the kitchen. To help smooth the wood, I held the handle with my right hand and the tip of the knife with my left and drew ( pulled ) it with the grain. It left beautiful wispy shavings. Now its smooth as glass. It also did a Beautiful Job of removing the burn marks left behind by the router. I routered and cleaned almost everything up, then scraped it down with my umnumzaan. You can see the Many wispy shavings when I was done. I have a vintage stanley scraper plane, it needs badly sharpened and I did not have time to find everything needed to do so, SO I once again turned to my Umnumzaan for help. It has yet to let me down. In the aproximate 1 month time, I used my zaan daily. It has trimmed formica, scraped hard dried glue, trimmed miters, spackled with it a little, you name it, it was involved.

For those that say S30V will not hold an edge, obviously have not tried CRK S30V. For all the heavy use it has taken during this remodel and to only have to sharpen it once is amazing. Amazing Amazing Quality and Excellent Steel to boot.

It Just Does NOT Get Any Better Than CRK Quality !!!

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nyefmaker said:
It Just Does NOT Get Any Better Than CRK Quality !!!
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So Nyefmaker, when did you say you started working for CRK again? :)

I used my umnumzaan to take a photo for size reference on my strop on a post in tinkering and maintenance (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724540)
and it looks like this (oh and the cut you see on my arm... yup, that s30v is scary sharp
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also cut a new sheath yesterday for my strider sng and it looks like this
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zyhano said:
So Nyefmaker, when did you say you started working for CRK again? :)

I used my umnumzaan to take a photo for size reference on my strop on a post in tinkering and maintenance (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724540)
and it looks like this (oh and the cut you see on my arm... yup, that s30v is scary sharp
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also cut a new sheath yesterday for my strider sng and it looks like this
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I Wish, Now THAT Would Be A Dream Job !!! I am just a loyal fan is all :) It would probably be like when I worked at Lowes, I would get paid and then basically hand them back my paycheck because I was always buying stuff. At the time, we would get like 90% off of the price everyone else pays in the store. They did away with that, but it was great while it lasted.
 
Big_Red said:
I'm in the same boat... why so damn tight out of the box???
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I opened mine a few times today :D but Ive had problems opening mine aswell, 2months later its a little easier but the actions awkward, having the lugs right next to the slabs takes getting used to. I asked about the opening and was told that they hadnt had any complainants and that I was probably opening it wrong, hehe. Then I said I wanted to return it and was told to try to sell it...but it opens potato chip bags very well, carrys easy,
 
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Beyond You said:
I opened mine a few times today :D but Ive had problems opening mine aswell, 2months later its a little easier but the actions awkward, having the lugs right next to the slabs takes getting used to. I asked about the opening and was told that they hadnt had any complainants and that I was probably opening it wrong, hehe. Then I said I wanted to return it and was told to try to sell it...but it opens potato chip bags very well, carrys easy,
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When I forst got my umnumzaan ( got it used in a trade ), I was not immediately thrilled. I constantly compared it to my large sebenza because that is what I had EDC'ed at the time. After giving it a chance though, my large sebenza has been regulated to safe queen duty because my zaan has be my "go to" " do everything" knife. I know many, including myself at one point compared it to the sebenza. The zaan is a completely different animal, so any comparrisons are pretty much just a matter of peference.

Since I got mine used, I do not know what they are like NIB. I took mine apart when I got it and went over it. Thoroughly cleaned it and went over all the TI with "0000" steel wool to remove any scratches. When I was done, it looked like new. By doing all of that, I made it Mine.

Darn Chris Reeve for making such a great knife that replaced my beloved sebenza.....:D
 
I broke mine down for a clean and lube. Much smoother now, I would definitely recommend that you take it apart and adjust the pivot. My opening technique for now is using the joint of my thumb as oppossed to the tip. Less wear on my thumb and more positive hold on the thumb stud.
 
Not that Nyef isn't all cool and everything for using his Umnum to "work" and stuff, but beat this....


Here I am demonstrating an "alternate" finger technique for really bearing down on the work at hand
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The Umnum won...
UmnumvsPizza002.jpg


But be careful. It can bite...

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I was elected designated 'present opener' at my nephew's birthday party. The little twisty ties with wire inside laid my perfect edge over on the less than a week old Umnumzaan. Buzz Lightyear +1, Umnumzaan 0. I was so pissed.... I've spent hours smoothing that edge back out.
 
Big_Red said:
I was elected designated 'present opener' at my nephew's birthday party. The little twisty ties with wire inside laid my perfect edge over on the less than a week old Umnumzaan. Buzz Lightyear +1, Umnumzaan 0. I was so pissed.... I've spent hours smoothing that edge back out.
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hehe, you should have brought the leatherman ;)
wire = bad
it sucks, but on the bright side: YOU HAVE A NEW UMMIE!
 
Wire very bad... I had a few beers, my judgement wasn't the best, and I figured S30V was far superior to a cheap little twisty tie holding Buzz Lightyear to his box.
 
come on, admit that you just liked opening those birthday presents Big boy ;)
 
I gave my umnum a little stretch after it had some couch time recently. Me and a buddy are doing some walking training in the woods cause we will be doing the scottish west highland trail soon. Cut some birch bark and made a little fire in the sunshine. We saw 4 small deer nearby, very nice to see those in the Netherlands. Did one strike on my firesteel and decided I'd like the normal striker better. no need to damage the spine when not necessary.


Also picked up some predator bird poop with it :). Yeah, the bird enjoyed it's meal, hair and all hehe.

also gave it a little phototime having a supporting role in my thread here about using a triplet for checking your edge when sharpening

hint: it's not the hinderer
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So, yesterday I used the umnum on some cowhide leather, making 3 more strops. I've ordered different stropping compounds and was cutting up the leather and working on some wood to create the strops.
The belly of the umnumzaan works really well when pushing forward through the leather to cleanly slice it (the leather was flat on a table). Very clean and sharp cuts.

I prepared dinner with it too, sliced up some onions and paprika and chicken.

I haven't carried the umnumzaan for a while and while it initially felt big, I was really feeling it after carrying it again for 5 minutes.

Came home today from work, carried the mnandi there and immediately put the umnumzaan in my pocket for the around the house carry.

Still love the knife. Gave it a good stropping on a mdf board loaded with Cr2O3 and did another session on a normal leather strop, that's definitely easier for me.

Right now, I'm just playing around with it :D
 
As you guys know, I use my umnumzaan heavily. Last week, I built another shed, this time an 8x8 so hold some of my woodworking tools until my shop is built ( in this lifetime I hope...lol ). I used my zaan to cut all the tar paper for the roof. I then used it to cut the shingles ( from the backside only ). It was pretty dull when I was done and had lots of tar and such on the blade. When, I rubbed some "Goo Gone" which easily removed all the tar from the blade. Then about 20 minutes on the sharpmaker and my zaan was hair popping sharp once again. Good as new once again. Sorry Guys, I forgot to take pics of before and after. It looks Just like my large regular sebenza though that I posted in the " what did you use your sebenza for today" thread....The only thing I dont like about the umnumzaan is that since I got it, it has banashed my beloved sebenza to the safe. I cant help it, I cant put the zaan down. When I do give it a day off, I have been carrying a ZT301 I got from fellow member Kershawguy. As much as I like it, the Umnumzaan always wins, Hands Down !!!
 
My Zaan is pretty new and I find it easier to flick than Benchmades. Something about Benchmades (no slander here, it's just my challenge) don't seem to work for me.
For the Zaan I just come in with my thumb 90 degrees to the blade/stud, get the nail under the stub and then flick up so the thumb ends up parallel to the blade upon completion of the flick.
Works pretty good for me, think I saw it on a Seb flicking video posted somewhere here on the forum.
Didn't do much with my Zaan today.
Cut up a hot dog for my dog.
Worked on my cutting technique by taking fine shaves off of a piece of leather.
Cut the wrapper off of a candy bar like a surgeon might.
Opened/closed it a couple hundred times.
 
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Guys, this morning I killed a toy that has been irritating me for about 2 years. It's a 'teletubbies' quiz laptop for children with irritating, nervous and erratic sounds and - especially nasty - 'oh ohhhs' by the teletubbies.

I have 3 awesome little kids, but they have the nasty habit to use both this toy and another - similar - toy (more of a winnie the pooh thing, I like it a lot better) at the same time.

Suffice to say that I was not in a good mood since I was awake 2 hours early and was a little irritated. The "oh ohhhh" by the irritating red teletubie, or the yellow one, was enough to drive me to the point where it was either the tubbie or me. You parents out there probably now what I mean :D

After announcing it for about 5 months (that I was going to totally and utterly destroy the damn thing) I took the step this morning.

My umnumzaan was carefully chosen to execute the thing. A mercy killing was chosen as the method. But once I was going at it, the plastic turned out to be hard and stabbing through it did not go well. The zaan was razorsharp, but did not go through when stabbing the thing. Of course, it was no match for the brutality inflicted upon it :).

But after proudly examining the kill, I saw that the tip of the zaan was bent:eek::confused::grumpy:
I did not go through to the ground, I did not push it through a polish refrigerator, it was just the plastic thing and it's contents (motherboard or something).

Dang... now that's a dissapointment... The plastic was hard, but that the tip would bend because of this...??

a quick pic with the iphone, took some other shots with the cam, will show them later, but had to go to work..

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