Where did you first learn of CRK?

L

LonnyRS

Joined
Jan 21, 2013
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I apologize if this has been asked before, but I just had to ask. For me, had it not been for this AWESOME forum, I never would have known the joy of owning any. These are BY FAR the best knives in the solar system! All I ever knew before joining BladeForums was that Benchmade were the best knives around. And they are excellent knives, but I always wanted something more. Somehow I stumbled upon this place, and now I live here. Probably like a good many of you. Everyone here is so very nice, and VERY well informed. All of my questions have been answered politely and accuratley, and I'm not treated like a n00b like on many other forums, ya'll know what I mean..Anyway, thanks for letting me speak..
 
I learned exactly the same way you did. I was already into knives, Kershaw, benchmade, spyderco.....then I came here and my horizons were quickly expanded.
 
For me...I found Bladeforums first. After reading about various mass-produced knives brands that were easily recognizable, I starting noticing references to "Sebenzas" and to "Chris Reeve". Being curious, I started wondering what is this "Sebenza" thingy was all about........then I was lost.
 
I have sold off and traded most all my other knives to obtain my 25 and Umnumzaan. The others are at Benchmade and Spyderco getting spruced up to sell as well. I really want a CF Sebenza. I'd rather have 3 knives that are awesome, than 10 I really won't use.
 
Lucky for me I met my good friend Blackend at a knife show while searching for a knife from a different manufacturer, we hit it off and a few years later he was best man at my wedding.
While at his house checking out his knife collection and drinking some beer's I noticed 13 knives on one of his tables that I'd never seen before, kinda checked them out but they weren't my thing. Next time I was over I spent a little more time at the CRK table, then on the third time I admitted to myself how awesome the Sebenza is; I went home and ordered one, the first of MANY !

It's good to have friends, thanks Bro- oh, and my bank account wanted me to tell you that it still hates you :D
 
I was at the NYC knife show in the early 1990s and stumbled on the CRK table. CR was there himself and talked to me about the knives. I ordered my first Sebenza then and there. Wish I still had it.
 
I started readin' about 'em in the knife magazines back in the 80s, before the Sebenza while he was makin' the one piece knives before he moved to the USA.

Took me till three weeks ago before I got my first one.
 
I began my cutlery hobby with fixed-blade knives . . . Swamp Rat and Busse Combat in particular. It didn't take long hanging around those forums before the name "Sebenza" popped up.
 
Researching knives on Youtube. I think one of Archie Blue's videos was the first time I heard of a Sebenza. It was a couple years later I found the forum, and a while before I even knew there was an exchange. My pocket really appreciates a good Sebenza. My bank account, not so much.
 
I read an article in a magazine about a spyderco Gayle Bradley and I wanted it bad. So I found this place got my knife and stuck around reading and dreaming about all the knives out there. I kept hearing about how great the sebenza's were. I was not fond of them at first. Now I wish I would have found out about them years ago. Bought my first two sebenzas in a week. Love em!
 
I blame Bladeforums for introducing me to CRK. I thought I would never spend the money to get one. But, it happened anyway:)

LonnyRS said:
I'd rather have 3 knives that are awesome, than 10 I really won't use.
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I am with you 100% with this statement. I sold 3 spydercos to raise funds for a Sebenza. Not because I couldn't have bought one without selling those others, but because I don't like having a bunch of knives that sit around. I think 3 is the sweet spot for me. I have a Large sebenza 21 insingo with Micarta for my during the week and some one weekends and a 3.5" XM-18 for all the other times. Those are the two modern folders I have, everything else is gone. I did say that I have room for 3 though:) Maybe another CRK???
 
Shortly after Chris and Anne moved to the U.S., a friend of mine brought me to a knife-sharpening seminar that Chris was hosting at a local eatery. I was the lucky winner of the door prize, a knife sharpening kit. After meeting the man, I asking what must have seemed to him very stupid and offensive questions. Chris just smiled and politely answered every one of them. It wasn't too much later that I purchased my first CRK -- Mountaineer II #52. I've acquired a few more since then . . .
 
I have no idea, but I had a couple before I was a member here.
I think I first saw them in knife magazines, or maybe at Blade.
 
On here, I thought people were talking about Columbia River Knife and Tool. I think I saw a few Sebenzas at the long gone White Marsh mall Chesapeake Knife and Tool though.
 
I was at a gun show in the late eighties(?) looking for a Cold Steel tanto. I spoke with a dealer who said " Let me show you something else." It was a Chris Reeve 7" tanto. Sebenzas were the old "H" marked, and were too expensive for my budget, so I ended up with a pretty good collection of one piece knives, and a couple of slab handled flat ground knives.
 
I asked my coworker who is a knife nut, what's equivalent to Rolex and he said Chris Reeve. That's all I needed to hear.
 
The first one I ever saw was a photo posted on the Vespa Forum when the subject of pocket knives came up. That was two years ago, but it prompted me to do some research which eventually led me here where I learned a lot more about knives than I ever thought possible. I am now waiting, patiently, for a Mnandi to join my Sebenza.
 
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When I got into Law enforcement 15+ years ago I saved for a good "work" knife which meant a Benchmade AFCK. at a gun show I saw these titanium frame locks in white boxes from some company in Idaho. "Chris" something knives...No way I could afford one!

Fast forward a decade I guess and as a SWAT Sniper / Operator I went to some training with several former Special Forces soldiers and Seals. There I learned about the Yarborough, and decided I needed one. I saved up and gifted myself one. A few years of using it to help dig hides and various camp chores has left it with some character.

I found myself with a love for Wilson Combat 1911's and was reintroduced to Chris Reeves Knives when I saw theis Star Benza. I eyed them for about a year, and researched these great folders for about a year. While on Vacation this last Christmas I found one at a stocking dealer in San Francisco. After three trips to the store my wife decided to buy me a large 21 as a Christmas Gift! This knife became my EDC, and I acquired a Star Tac as a work knife a couple of months later. My wife is very understanding of my gun / knife habbits. I guess she is happy I don't have any other vices!
 
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