Your F&F experiences with CRK

Artfully Martial

Artfully Martial

Joined
Jun 8, 2005
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I know CRK has a great reputation for F&F, but if there are any other highly detail oriented BF members that have bought them, can you tell me--are they as perfect as people claim? Do they have even the tiniest detail wrong?

I've never really liked CRK's designs, from my subjective point of view, but law school has had the negative effect of making me a perfectionist now. So maybe I'll pony up for an Umnumzaan.

I'm not asking for BAD examples--just, if you consider yourself one who pays attention to the fine details in a knife, what has been your experience?
 
I have handled and I own quite a few CRKs, fixed and folding. They are solid, functional, and of literally extraordinary fit and finish.

If you're going to be a bigshot lawyer and want a knife to match your exalted status, Chris Reeve makes it. :D If the Sebenza doesn't do it for you, the Umnumzaan might not either. Look at the Mnandi for a gentleman's knife.

William Henry is another possibility in that F&F range for a gentleman's knife, and Darrel Ralph is also for a more flamboyant design.
 
I've had 2 Sebenzas that needed to be sent back to CRK when I bought them new. They fixed it and apologized of course. The other 7 I bought were perfect from the factory.
 
If you like to own knives that are made with precision and care it's hard to beat a CR.
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I have found small flaws with every framelock I have ever fondled, aside from my Mnandi and small Sebenza. Other framelock is include Strider, Emerson, Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw, etc. Granted the only other one that was the same price as the CRK is the Strider SnG, which is a very common EDC for me. It has lately developed some very slight vertical play though. I have a temp fix on it right now, but it will probably, eventually be sent in for service.

So initially, yes, my experience has been that CRK knives do live up to the hype. I have not put one through the ringer the way I have the Strider and the Emerson though, so I can't say anything as to thier performance over time .
Like you, their designs just don't really appeal to me, so at present I don't own one, ones that I have owned have been traded away, but not for any mechanical deficiency, just because other similar priced knives have more appeal to me.
I think I might someday buy a small sebenza though, unless CRK comes out with a folder that I like better.
 
The four Sebenzas that I've had in my hands were all perfect. I thoroughly examined all of them and couldn't find any faults at all. I didn't like them until that day, I was trying to find faults but there were none. I still didn't buy one though, I was in Italy and didn't have an extra 400 Euros to blow on a plain small Seb 21.
 
When it comes to tools I'm about as picky as they come.
CRK's are top notch and worth every penny.
'Bravo' seems to be an appropriate praise for CR.
 
All the ones I have had in my hands have been very good.
 
I've had a couple of CRKs pass through my hands, and on both the F&F was flawless.

(One was a Sm Sebenza w/ black micarta, which I traded away because it was a bit too small for my hands. The other was an Umnumzaan, which I still have.)
 
I've bought 11 CRK knives in the last 3 months or so and every one of them has outstanding F&F.
If I had one complaint about any of them it's that my Umnumzaan had less than the pointiest tip possible. And that will be resolved after it's first sharpening I'm sure. (That's how small the issue is)

I can be pretty picky. Especially when the price calls for it.
 
I tried my best and the only f&f flaw I could find was some small machine marks on two screws. Its ridiculous.
 
They're pretty darn perfect.
I could think of a couple things I might like changed slightly, but manufacturing quality is not one of them.:thumbup:

My Umnumzaan is the ONLY knife which non-knife people can understand the cost of.
They might not pay that much themselves for a knife, but they can see why I did.:)
 
CRK probably have the best F&F on any production knife i've ever handled. Super tight tolerances, great lock up, buttery smooth action. A lot of work goes into them. My only gripe is I'd like to see their blades run a little harder, as my spydercos in S30v tend to hold a better edge.
 
My small Insingo is nearing a year old with not one issue. Without busting out measuring devices, I believe it is flawless.

I bought another small Seb that had some trouble within a few weeks of owning it without using it to cut much http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=790605. It still worked/works fine, so I didn't send it in and don't know if it was a F&F problem or something I was doing. I have trouble believing it was me when my older, much more used Insingo doesn't look anything like that, though.

edit: I want to add with the second one, it only took one email and less than a day for CRK to respond and ask me to call Mr. Reeve directly and speak to him about it. So, regardless of F&F, that type of customer service is at least worth the price of their knives.
 
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I have two Sebenza's, my first is a small plain 21, the second and bought in that order was a large 21 with Micarta which I bought directly from CRK, the large came with a blemish in the finish under the CR symbol, so I would say not perfect like my first one.

I did not send it back as I bought it for a user in my EDC rotation, but for the $$, I was disappointed.
 
My Umnumzaan is one of my all time favorite designs and the fit and finish is about as good as I could have hoped for. I also have a large Insingo Sebenza that I bought on the Exchange, it was carried and slightly used but it too was excellent.
 
so overall it appears that detail-oriented people support the common belief of CRK's superior fit and finish. That's promising, at least. I'll have to search deep within myself (lol) and see if the umnum can grow on me.
 
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