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I have had my small 31 for 8 months. Disassembled and cleaned twice. Stropped often but no sharpening on S45VN. Still super sharp and no lock rock or blade play. Action has gradually improved with time. CRK has excellent customer service. If any of your CRK's are not right, send it to them and they will make it right. Umnumzaan on order for me and it will hopefully be just as excellent.

I spoke to CRK about the “lock rock” subject. They said it is simply some movement of the lock bar flexing based on the way the ceramic ball interfaces with the blade tang. They also said it is normal, expected, and lockup is completely safe and solid lockup in every way.

I’ve had my small sebenza 31 plain for a few months now. No lock rock. It’s solid. It was pretty stiff when I got it so I polished the washers a touch and it’s smooth as glass. Now I’m having trouble deciding on my next purchase. Large sebenza, large inkosi, or small sebenza with an inlay.

I recently purchased a Knife Art CF Small Sebenza from the recent run. It only has like .25mm of blade play when pushing down on the spine. All three other directions are 100% solid. I really don’t see this as an issue, as I’m never using the back spine of my knife to cut anything. Plus it’s only a minute amount. It’s not like it’s moving a few millimeters.

My small 31 is a lefty, made on my birthday. I’ve had it just over 3 months, and my only issue is that the lanyard is a little frayed already. In comparison to my Rockstead Hizen, I still like the Hizen better, but it’s £200 more expensive, so I’m ok with that.

Just ordered my first CRK, a small Sebenza 31 and I couldn’t be more excited. Quite a long wait, but hopefully it’ll be worth it. I opted for glass-blasted finish on the handle instead of sandblasted and silver hardware. Stoked.

The "lock rock" is because ceramic is super hard, creating less friction, allowing the lock bar to move around under pressure. Also much less surface area when you have a ball contacting the blade compared to the 21 which uses the lock bar itself. Is it a problem? Idk. It's up to you, just a trade off you get with a ceramic ball.

My opinion: At that price point lock slip is unacceptable on a brand new knife. It may be safe at a basic level but you’re paying more than basic level price. I think the only correct response from CRK would be; “Here’s a shipping label. We’ll fix it for free and throw in a shirt or something.” That said, if they warranty fix those knives with the issue, I’d still like an inlay large 31 to compliment my large inlay 21.

So I have had mine for a while and the only complaint I have is actually the pocket clip, I have found it likes to flex over into the lock bar area. Now normally when you unlock the knife to close it that pops the clip back out but still a mild nuisance.

i just received my small 31 nine days ago, zero issues, perfection.

My dream knife. Be cool to win the new one as well lol. I will get me a CRK somehow 2021 regardless. Great review

Metal complex I love that color of lanyard please lmk where u got that from…

I’ve been considering getting one. The ones I’m thinking about is a large with black micarta inlays and double blue lugs or small plain handle with ladder Damascus and double blue lugs. I like the color contrasting blade with the ladder Damascus against plain handle but I’m kinda also digging the black micarta inlays on the large. So I guess what I need to know most would be should I go small or large because looks wise I won’t be able to decide between those.

Just got my first crk went with a large inkosi insingo with micarta inlays now I need one of these

I really like the Sebenzas! I think I would prefer to have this version. Just a simple but perfect design for a knife. I hope to be blessed enough to own one someday!! 😊 Forge On!!

Mine came from the vendor so stiff it was unuseable. Had it one day and sent it back to Boise. Four to six weeks they tell me. Not happy.

Bought myself one of these locally last night.. my second crk. My first was a small insingo with micarta inlays. I bought it a couple years ago and just wasn’t feeling the blade shape. It was good, but whenever I saw a standard blade, I knew that was what I really wanted. So anyway, I was in the middle of selling it, used it while I was cooking breakfast one morning and left it on the counter kinda dirty.. while I was gone that day, my girlfriend decided to do some cleaning and I’m convinced that she tossed it in the trash! She insisted that she didn’t.. but whatever happened to it, I never saw it again. I still imagine that I’ll find it under the fridge or something one of these days. Anyway, enough time had passed and I was ready to drop it on another. I’d carried a sanrenmu 710 quite a bit in the meantime and loved it but still wanted the real thing. For me, this really is my endgame knife. It’s exactly what I want in one.. size is great and the quality is superb. I look forward to many years of it in my pocket.

Anybody else find that the blade cuts into the lanyard when closed? I noticed it fraying almost immediately, and just don't want it to cut through and I don't notice and lose an expensive bead or something. Not a *huge* deal but enough to be a nuisance for sure.

I bought a large Sebenza 31 with black micarta inlays and a small Sebenza 31 with Box elder burl inlays. Both are perfect in every way. If anything was wrong with them I would be devastated and call CRK. My favorite knife of all time is the Large Inkosi with Carbon fiber scales. That knife pretty much ruined all other makers for me. No point in getting another knife that isn’t a Chris Reeve as of now.

21 owner and got to say it does "break-in" and becomes a glassy smooth fidget friendly very classy little pocket knife only outshone in my opinion by the ti Damascus Delica , but I'm very biased toward the spydy and lock backs

When does technically be the best EDC knife money can buy by? Or should I say the best EDC knife you could ever carry? Aside from custom Shiro’s and Koenig the sebenza 31 large is the Rolex Daytona of knives. The small version is lightweight. and offers the same quality. Fantastic review. Thank you so much.

Does anyone know when more of the S45vn versions will come out??

When i first started collecting, i went to a local store and they swore by the crk 21. I handled it and to my surprise, that thing had the worst blade play ive ever seen in a knife. It was so bad that you can hear it top/bottom blade play. Idk if it was a joke or if i was tripping but i still want one. Especially now that they addressed the ti to blade potential issue. Cant wait to get one!

I think "lock rock" makes it sound worse than what's actually going on. I've owned 3 31's and the ceramic ball doesn't slip or move on the tang. Based on my experience, the lock bar is flexing upward when negative pressure is applied to the blade spine. The ceramic ball acts as a pivot point to allow this to happen. There's no change in the locks engagement when this happens. This has been confirmed by Tim Reeve. He said that all knives that use the ceramic lock interface will have some lock arm flex due to the geometry of a spherical contact point meeting a flat one and that it's just much more difficult to detect on other models due to different lock bar geometries. I understand that this may still be a deal breaker for some but I want to make sure people understand exactly what's going on because I don't think this is "lock rock" in the traditional sense.

Amazing video!

So far both my large sebenza 31 damascus and small 31 tanto have lock rock. And my large 31 has a very bad coating or finish on the damascus where it looks like it constantly has wax on part of the blade not the whole blade. Also I noticed on the large 31 the bead blast finish is not the same shade as each other. The feel the same but are a shade off of that makes sense. Another thing the new glass blasted finish on the knives is horrible. Sure it hides scratches but at least to my hands it’s very slick and offer little to no grip. I have another small 31 insingo coming on a couple days and I expect lock rock. Don’t want to spread hate on the brand but I am starting to agree that the brand may be going dow the wrong path. My original sebenza 21 was almost perfect minus the action being very stiff. But was able to tweak to my liking. I could have a very minor pinched washer ( my fault ). But so far I’ve yet to handle a sebenza that is truly perfect without flaw. I used to work on watches so maybe I can catch the smallest details. But no knife not custom or production have I handled that was perfect out of the box. Crk makes a beautiful knife and the little lock rock I can live with as long as I don’t feel it when I cut stuff. Side to side would be a Major deal breaker as I want the knife to feel like a fixed blade.

Why didn't they get rid of the pointed thumb studs..love the sebenza the studs just suck

I got a brand new Hinderer Xm-18 3.5" that has up and down lock rock... So i messaged hinderer and they told me to send it in, I did, got the knife back and it is the exact same. As in they did not fix the problem. Now I am waiting to hear back and figure out if I need to send it back again, or what...

On the website you can choose between sandblasted or beadblasted. Can anyone tell me the difference between the finishes?

hi mc what is so good about the sebenza a pm3 looks way more worth it and do you also think the inkosi is better

For that price I would want better action. Like put it on bearings. But that’s just me.

Chris reeve knives haven… some of the beeeeest customer service and warranty in the Milky Way galaxy. My 31 is rock solid! IMHO if yours has a little flex and it bothers you send it to Chris Reeve knives. They have being servicing and providing warranty Supoort for the sebenza for more than 20 years and I know they will make it right. I also know that the sebenza will continue to exist when I long gone. I love CRK!

Funny, I bought the lanyard first and the 31 later

man kudos to ur honest review crk fanboys are as bad as those emerson fanboys lol. was really looking at the small sebenza 31 after watching this ive decided to hold on to my zaan for now, unless crk suddenly upgrades all their steel to s45vn

Ive almost bought one of these many times Im waiting for them to upgrade the steel I Dont feel that steel doesnt accommodate the price Such a beautiful knife tho

You and slicey dicey dropped a sebenza video at the exact same time... Oof lol

Is true that the heat treat on the blade is soft?

My opinion? - I'm sticking with old faithful - the sebenza 21! --- The "upgrades" on the 31 were not necessary and they seemed to change things that didn't pose an issue for people in the first place. I also think the straight clip on the 21 is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the crooked clip of the 31, it makes the lock side look nowhere near as clean as the 21 does. Beyond that, the ceramic ball "upgrade" wasn't necessary as for any normal human being the 21's lock interface will easily outlast a lifetime, anything more seems a little pointless. Lastly it really just doesn't make sense, when a company that has prided itself on NASA-like tolerances for 25+ years, and in every interview Chris has spoken so highly that you won't find ANY play AT ALL in his knives, all of a sudden have to defend blade play in their newest product. --- Something tells me this would have NEVER happened with Chris still in the drivers seat. --- I won't be downgrading to a 31. Also, it might be smooth right out of the box, but I've heard from a few that own the knives that lock rock settles in after opening/closing the blade (maybe 500-1000 times?) - In the past 15 years of carrying a CRK I have never once had issues like this with any of my CRK's, I've opening some of them thousands of times, without any issue at all. It would seem the crooked clip and cermic ball are terrible trade offs to have to deal with blade play and lock rock! - Also, when speaking of value, just pick up a used 21 on the secondary market for $300-$350, you get way more for your money (and way less problems) than spending $450 on a 31 (if you could find 1 in stock anywhere). I love CRK and am not a hater - my collection consists of many CRK's - However, It bothers me greatly that a company like CRK would try and say that blade play is "acceptable" - the whole reason that have a following in the first place is because they disallowed for any imperfections in the past, why are they going back wards?

The knife design is perfect. Remember humans are putting them together and control qc. You may of got one from a new employee learning the ropes.

like the 21 & 31 but a bit too much to be my cup of tea though

The blade is two point 99

metal complex and slicey dicey release sebenza 31 vids at the same time?? the universe is speaking to my wallet....

i had vertical blade play on the Benchmade mini Freek M4, and i send it back, i dont go OK with a 260€ Folder witch has vertikal blade play, and a Chris Reeve Knife 500€+ should never have vertikal play!

Nice, maybe someday. Not today 🤑

Its hard to improve something that was perfect to begin with. The new inlays are absolutely hideous. The only models I would ever consider would be Plain or CGG.I own a Zaan and an Inkosi and do enjoy the smoothness pf the ceramic ball

purpose of the “relief cut”. and that the handle screw heads are proud nullifies this and every model where present.

At $400 a pop blade slippage is not acceptable!

Blade length is UNDER three inches.

This dude sounds like Robert Downey Jr. It’s like I’m listening to Tony Stark talk about knives.

You either have too much liquidity or keep your knives in a vitrine just to watch, because this is not a 'user'-knife. Or you had to have it insured, because it is ridiculously expensive for a pocket knife! Lost another knife yesterday on my slightly large property again. Ordering a new Hultafors today for just under 15 today . Don't get me wrong, I don't like losing stuff and have it left out there, but it is less painful over a knife of over 500! And if you ask me, a pocketknife even that good, isn't worth 514 euros. Get real.

NO RECOMMENDATION? ON A Complete NON issue.

Hey I wanted to let you know that your channel always gets un subscribed for some reason. I'll notice I'm not getting new videos and look up your channel and I'll be un subscribed. Just a heads up, seeing as I don't ever do it myself.