I do agree on the disassembly. I had to pry the scales apart because they were almost press fit into place. I did find that it made it MUCH easier if I completely took the pivot screw out and slid the blade out, then tried to pull the scales apart.
Very thoughtful review. "There is no perfect knife." Truer words were never spoken. In science we would say we asymptote toward perfection. But never reach it. Teenage keyboard metallurgists endlessly debate which steels are better, but I think we should rely on the knife-maker to choose and treat a steel to meet his objectives. Chris has been doing it pretty well, I'd say.
Thanks for the informative up date. Expecting mine from Chris today. When they called to ship, I asked them about your broken screw, they knew about it. They said if I had a problem to call Chris. She said something about a super screw?
HRC is a linear scale in relation to physical properties, if you are seeing significant changes in the performance it has to be due to differences in micro-structure. These can be large even at the same hardness.
I have to beg to differ on the idea that 1 point of hardness doesn't make a big difference on edge retention. 1 point of hardness doesn't mean that it's a few % harder. The HRC scale is logarithmic, so 1 point of hardness can be a huge % gap in terms of edge strength, and wear resistance.
@Cliff Stamp so it's entirely possible that my seb 25 blade isn't actually any harder, but it performs better due to the differences you cited? Thanks for educating me, by the way. I'm trying to figure out how to quantify the differences I'm seeing in 25 vs 21 if the blades actually do end up being the same hardness.
I like the old Sebenza, I just like the idea of a solid interface between metal. I realize ceramics are strong, but I just can't get over that tiny ball, just me I guess! And yes I have an Umnum, and it is trouble free...
Haha that intro was Nutnfancy, almost. I still like the design of the 21 better. The 25 has improvements that I thought CRK would never do, but it doesn't carry as well as the 21 (weight, thickness, proud screw heads) and the lack of pivot bushing irks me. I opened my pivot and found a strange white substance that I assume is thread locker, but it took no effort to break the torque setting so I dunno. Now I don't know if mine will stay screwed where I set it. The lock bar and extra sharp jimping still bother my thumb, and the front half of the blade is too thick at the edge and not sharp enough, even though I like the new flatter grind. That said, I'll still be buying the new micarta inlay 25, right after a micarta inlay 21 Insingo. Have you tried an Insingo? You'd probably really like it.
I love my 25. It's SMOOTH, solid and I prefer the looks of the 25 over my 21's. Now, that isn't to say that the 21 is a slouch in the looks department. i will say this though, I think the 25 out shines the zaan. It's equally as tough but slices lightyears better than the Zaan.
I noticed that on the spine of the blade it has a cut out on it instead of being totally rounded off like previous models. Would that affect the overall strength of the blade? Could that be a weak point?
