When have you ever actually needed a "hydraulic feel" knife?

Fferrell1

Fferrell1

Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
452
I'm glad it's unique and smooth, but there has never been one time, EVER, I've needed to cut something and thought, "boy, I sure am glad that knife opened with a hydraulic feel". I personally think the people who love it the most are the people who just sit and fondle it all day. I think it's cool and unique, and I'm not knocking it, I just don't know that I care about it or that it gives an advantage what-so-ever. It has no real world purpose to me. In fact, if I need it in a hurry, a properly tuned CRK folder would leave be a few extra seconds behind. But y'all think it's legendary, so whatever. And lord knows, if I flip it open that's worse than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. SO..., the next time I have a fishing hook in my teeth line tied, and I need to cut off the extra 3" of line, I'll use delicate, calculated precision to open it, marveling at its smooth hydraulic feel, and think, "what a blessing it is to have a $450 user knife that takes actual concentration and appreciation to open and close.

Bottom line: Hydraulic feel nice, but takes extra effort to open and close, PLUS shows no immediate advantage.

OPEN TO REBUKE HERE! THIS IS JUST MY OPINION.
 
I more so enjoy the smoothness in the CRK's. Every other knife I have owned had a certain level of grittyness as it opened. Not the Umnum or Sebbie.

I do prefer the THWACK of quicker knives at times though.

It's ok, you can just loan me the Sebbie and Satu and I'll decide. :D
 
Enjoyment is enjoyment. Period. For me, it's CRK elegance/simplicity, Emerson waved-thwack hand-filling-utility, and Spyderco 'lil-of-both".
 
First thing that popped into my mind is what would you prefer? Something like the Para Military 2?
 
Does anyone need a Corvette to get groceries? Take a cross country trip?? No, but it's a damn sight more enjoyable than using something that just meets the minimum specs needed to get the job done.
 
The pivot on all of my folders is tight. I do not like the feel of a blade that can move around without me manipulating it. It feels out of control.

I could understand that the blades with tighter pivots open a fraction of a second (not a few seconds) slower, but who cares?
With proper situational awareness, you can deploy the knife before the moment it is needed.

One last thing... being that you are talking about the negatives of the Senenza's pivot action, have you ever handled a Sebenza?
 
Fferrell1 said:
I'm glad it's unique and smooth, but there has never been one time, EVER, I've needed to cut something and thought, "boy, I sure am glad that knife opened with a hydraulic feel". I personally think the people who love it the most are the people who just sit and fondle it all day. I think it's cool and unique, and I'm not knocking it, I just don't know that I care about it or that it gives an advantage what-so-ever. It has no real world purpose to me. In fact, if I need it in a hurry, a properly tuned CRK folder would leave be a few extra seconds behind. But y'all think it's legendary, so whatever. And lord knows, if I flip it open that's worse than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. SO..., the next time I have a fishing hook in my teeth line tied, and I need to cut off the extra 3" of line, I'll use delicate, calculated precision to open it, marveling at its smooth hydraulic feel, and think, "what a blessing it is to have a $450 user knife that takes actual concentration and appreciation to open and close.

Bottom line: Hydraulic feel nice, but takes extra effort to open and close, PLUS shows no immediate advantage.

OPEN TO REBUKE HERE! THIS IS JUST MY OPINION.
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$450 knives aren't about needs they're about wants
 
Fferrell1 said:
I'm glad it's unique and smooth, but there has never been one time, EVER, I've needed to cut something and thought, "boy, I sure am glad that knife opened with a hydraulic feel". I personally think the people who love it the most are the people who just sit and fondle it all day. I think it's cool and unique, and I'm not knocking it, I just don't know that I care about it or that it gives an advantage what-so-ever. It has no real world purpose to me. In fact, if I need it in a hurry, a properly tuned CRK folder would leave be a few extra seconds behind. But y'all think it's legendary, so whatever. And lord knows, if I flip it open that's worse than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. SO..., the next time I have a fishing hook in my teeth line tied, and I need to cut off the extra 3" of line, I'll use delicate, calculated precision to open it, marveling at its smooth hydraulic feel, and think, "what a blessing it is to have a $450 user knife that takes actual concentration and appreciation to open and close.

Bottom line: Hydraulic feel nice, but takes extra effort to open and close, PLUS shows no immediate advantage.

OPEN TO REBUKE HERE! THIS IS JUST MY OPINION.
Click to expand...

If I where you, I would sell it and get something that works better for you. You'll always be thinking of the feel of it, the hydraulic feel. Maybe try something along the tactical lines.
 
Well, I for one like a good quality build in my tools.
I enjoy the feeling of opening a Sebenza and use it for rather heavy tasks most every day.
The two are not mutually exclusive you know..
 
I enjoy the feeling of opening a Sebenza "smoothness". I don't ever remember a time that I had to open any knife fast, I mean I choose to do that with flippers and flipping them out with thumb studs, but it was not really necessary. It only takes about a second to open one once in hand, I could see your point if someone was OCD about it. Man think back to the days of the slipjoint where it actually took two hands.:D
 
Birnando said:
Well, I for one like a good quality build in my tools.
I enjoy the feeling of opening a Sebenza and use it for rather heavy tasks most every day.
The two are not mutually exclusive you know..
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This is how I feel, as well. The Sebenza in my pocket is well used and perhaps beat by some standards, but there is little I enjoy more than disassembling, cleaning, reassembling and sharpening it. Just like brand new. The only knives I have that open anywhere near as smooth are knives with a bearing system. I'll take a smooth manual opener over an assisted any day.
 
I completely understand and agree that a higher quality pivot system feels this way. But are y'all saying that other than feel, this actually serves a purpose other than a potentially negative one? Now granted, I understand there are flippers, assisted opening, OTF autos, autos, etc., but they all have purpose. All I'm asking is why people get so geeked up about a "hydraulic feel" (like that terminology even makes sense?! Do y'all understand what hydraulics are, right?).

Look, if you enjoy the feel, LIKE I DO, then fine. But to warrant its own term - which literally makes no sense - over something that serves no function seems silly to me. It's not a sign of quality, it's a sign of the pivot system. Right?
 
Have you ever actually needed anything more than an Opinel? Do you really need a knife that flicks out easily because the cheese or string you were going to cut was going to run away? Do you realize that the fraction of a second difference between flicking open a knife and thumbing open a Sebenza is barely noticeable? Do you realize that when CRK says "flicking", they mean stupidly slapping the knife open with a snapping wrist motion, and NOT just flicking it open with your thumb?

To my knowledge, CRK has never referred to the action of their folding knives as "hydraulic". That was the knife-using internet people. Still, as nonsensical as it may seem, since the Sebenza doesn't have actual fluids in the knife, it is a rather descriptive term as they feel excessively smooth, but with the tiniest of resistance, as if there is a "hydraulic" device setting the tension. Or, maybe it just kind of makes sense to me because I have been around hydraulic things my whole life.

As for the "need" of a knife. No. I don't need a Sebenza. You don't need a Sebenza. Nobody does. Frankly, I could get along just fine without this computation machine, but I enjoy it, and I have the ability to buy nice things because I work hard to do so. I cannot afford the best of everything, but I can afford the Rolls Royce of knives. So I do.





What exactly are you looking for here?
 
Tripton said:
What exactly are you looking for here?
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Hummm?

Statement of opinion, open invitation for rebuttal.

Personally, I like what I like, and that is the end of it...except that my likes change and I try not to proclaim absolute preferences...because after 30 years of carrying and using knives daily, my preferences still change periodically.

Options are good;)
 
You folks just love getting trolled. Just ignore him.

He's not inviting discussion with that attitude.
 
I prefer allot of blade play, and periodic lock failure. Don't really care much about my fingers either, who cares about edge holding, feel in hand or blade geometry, why spend $450 on a CRK, when I can get something better and cheeper from CRKT, Benchmade, Spyderco, and a number of companies, not to mention the plethora of awesome gas station knives. :)
 
unit said:
Hummm?

Statement of opinion, open invitation for rebuttal.

Personally, I like what I like, and that is the end of it...except that my likes change and I try not to proclaim absolute preferences...because after 30 years of carrying and using knives daily, my preferences still change periodically.

Options are good;)
Click to expand...

I agree. My preferences change too.

Still, the op smells like troll when he storms into the CRK forum and asks silly questions and points out nonsensical things.

Trying to point out that a smooth precision pivot system is somehow a disadvantage in some way is wrong. There is my opinion.
 
RobertK said:
You folks just love getting trolled. Just ignore him.

He's not inviting discussion with that attitude.
Click to expand...

If you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the only ones that yelp are the ones that got hit.

I've got a Sebenza in my pocket right now. But I still don't understand why some people think it is less quality for a knife to open smoothly without that "hydraulic" feel. And for the life of me, why is it called that anyway? It makes us guys who understand mechanics look ignorant if you ask me. Call it "the Sebenza feel" or something different. If I give my knife to my buddies and say, "open this! Doesn't it feel hydraulic!" They would laugh at me. It feels smooth, tight, unique and classy, but it doesn't feel or function hydraulically.

If I wanted to stretch the meaning of words and redefine purpose, I'd work for the Obama administration.
 
Tripton said:
I agree. My preferences change too.

Still, the op smells like troll when he storms into the CRK forum and asks silly questions and points out nonsensical things.

Trying to point out that a smooth precision pivot system is somehow a disadvantage in some way is wrong. There is my opinion.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with you. Anytime someone points out an aspect of a knife that they dislike (and numerous point out the same feature as something they DO like), it only warrants discussion if the OP seeks to understand what he/she is possibly overlooking.

In this case, that does not seem to be the point;)
 
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