I used a shot of a pair of my Sabenzas when Rick T. set up the header for this new forum. I will get some additional photos this week, including a new Reeves' "Sable" I picked up at the show today.
In the meantime,,,how about some of you folks showing off your Chris Reeves' knives. My first couple of encounters were "mixed" with Chris Reeves. He from South Africa and we didn't have the same sense, business-wise. I have always been fond of his ideas and designs and that has never changed. Let's see some of them!!!
Best, Capt. Chris

How about an old Mountaineer - 4" blade. Slightly used.
I think the newer Mountaineer II is a little larger.

For those who own a Chris Reeves knife/knives whats your opinion of them? Have always thought they look very good quality for the money but not got round to buying one. Any thoughts would be appreciated

Cheers Rich.K
5640

They are extremely good quality for the money. What they are "not" is something to buy with the intent of making money on 'em. Pictured here is my Chris Reeve "Sable IV". It costs me $210.00 and retails for $225.00. "That's" the profie margin for a dealer. OK: Forget getting rich with 'em. Just use them. They're terrific knives! The Sable, like Tony's knife just before mine, is made from "one piece" of metal! That's right...Handle, Blade,,,Everything is one solid piece of steel! You just don't get less of a chance of breakage!
Best, Capt. Chris

I have some of his knives.

The only disappointing experience was with a Small Sebenza about 12 years ago that simply would not hold an edge--almost as if it had evaded heat treating. I sent it back to have it refurbished and re-bladed and it worked fine after that.

(Well, actually, the next disappointing experience was the loss of another Small Sebenza while hunting elk on horseback some miles south of Jackson Hole--but that was no fault of the knife or its maker! By the way, if any of you find one out there, it is in one of the now-defunct nylon belt pouches and I trust you will return it to me?!?)

Since I returned the one knife to them for a re-do, they have used two different steels and I believe they now use S30V for the Sebenza.

The Sebenza design looks to be bullet proof. I have not heard of any being tested to failure, but the inherent strength of the liner lock is appealing to me.

By the way, I talked to Mrs. Reeve at the Blade show because I heard they had discontinued production of the single piece fixed blade knives. She explained that their blanks had been made by a long time friend of Chris's in South Africa. When that friend decided to retire, Chris found himself at a crossroad--find another maker of the blanks, or concentrate on other types of knives. He decided to concentrate on other types of knives.

Therefore, if you like the one-piece fixed-blade Reeve, you better buy them now, and it will probably have to be on the secondary market. I understand that they kept enough blanks on hand to meet whatever backorders they had at the time they stopped taking orders for these knives and to be able to honor the warranty on any knives that came back to them.

Hope this is useful,
Larry

Larry,
My "Unique" pair (named because Chris does no 2 sets alike) is S30V with a rockwell (C scale) in the high 50's. Don't take my word for it...Read the labels!! I also included both my Lg. and Sm. Uniques with a Randall "Small Gambler" between them to show a size comparison.
Best, Capt. Chris

I have a couple dozen CRK knives, and my favorite among them is the Large Sebenza 21 "Insingo" that is a Knife Art exclusive through the end of the year. See: http://www.knifeart.com/insingo.html

Here is a photo of mine, which I immediately sent back to CRK for double thumb lugs, and to change the blue anodized parts (thumb lugs, spacer, and lanyard pin) to silver:

Thanks for the info chaps, very helpful. A bit disconcerting though if they plan to go away from one piece design?

I have no use nor desire for one of his well made and very capable fixed blades, Randalls are my love there, but a finer folder is hard to find, IMHO. If I have my pants on, I have my small Seb with me. Here's a safe queen small reg. Seb. I was slightly disappointed with this one, (came from eBay) as it has no thumb notches.

Here is a shot of a sebenza cousin. A Scott cook Lochsa. I believe he worked for/with CR. It is superbly crafted, too much so to be a user. they are also too hard to come by.

My EDC, needs a CR refurb. the blade is shrinking!

Here are my Chris Reeve fixed blades

The Pacific with Spec Ops sheath and the Mark 4 28th anniversary limited edition.

Peter

Here's a shot of my first Seb. Large Regular "Solar Wind".

Pat, you wrote:I own three Lochsas, and they are the epitome of folding knives. Scott opened the "flood gates" on October 1st, to accept new orders, but he closed them the following day. I managed to get an order in, for a fourth one.

I visited Scott Cook a couple years ago, and had an opportunity to take some photos in his shop. I posted them to the following BladeForums thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=577928

About a relationship with Chris Reeve Knives, he was once their shop foreman, and arguably their best. What makes the Lochsa unique is its one-piece handle, meaning that only one screw is needed, beyond the ones for the pocket clip. It also means that the Lochsa is incredibly durable.

One of my Lochsas has been my EDC for more than four years.

Yeah, I think the Lochsa is my favorite in my collection. I met Scott at the Blade show several years ago. He had, I think, four knives and I oohed and aahed over them , but snoozed. Fortunately I had given him an order and about three years later he sent me an email and said my knife was ready. I had totally forgotten about it, but was elated when I finally got it in my sweatty palms!!! It is an absolute work of functional art.

I have owned a couple of the CRK folders and, although I believe they are well made, I have been fairly disappointed with them. They just don't seem to hold an edge. I keep one in the office to open boxes, envelopes and the like and it loses its sharpness fairly quickly. I am much happier with the Spyderco Natives that I picked up to replace the CRKs. They have plastic handles, but they stay sharp much longer.

Does anyone own a Mnandi? It is CRK's gentleman's folding knife.

I own two, and my favorite has a Devin Thomas Stainless Bubblewrap Damascus blade and Desert Ironwood inlays. Here she is:



Here is a closer view of its blade:



Like the larger Sebenza, it uses a framelock and has titanium handles.

My wife's only folding knife is a Mnandi with Devin Thomas Stainless Ladder Damascus blade and Creme Mammoth Ivory inlays, which she uses frequently.

Beautiful Ken! As always...nice photos.
Best, Capt. Chris

Ken,
A very unusual and beautiful Chris Reeve!
Tony

Here's a picture of my Chris Reeve Umnumzaan with titanium handle and S30V blade. This is the first Chris Reeve that I have owned so can't say at this time if I love it or not. I decided on this model as it was just a little different than most of his other folders.

Pap

Couple of real sweet ones, there, guys. May have to get me one of them Mnandis. that one is gorgeous, Ken.

This was one of my very first "NO-RANDALL" knife...

Here are three users and a safe queen

a large and a small Regular Sebenza
a plain and a 2002 decorated Umfaan

Best, Peter

The "regulars" are my favorites of the three variations. Those little Umfaans are sweet also.
so many knives, too little money!! Such is life!

Litch, what's the story behind the Small right-handed Regular Sebenza with a left-handed thumb lug?

I really like those Umfaans. They look to be smaller Sebs. Are they discontinued? I can't find any info on them, I would like to have one.

I had a chance to fondle the Umfaan for a week or two, and found it to be too small. For a small folding knife, I prefer the Mnandi.

Here are a couple photos I took over the summer, showing a Large Sebenza 21 (with Black Canvas Micarta inlays), a Mnandi, and an Umfaan:

Does the thumb nick on the Mnandi work well for one handed use??

Ken,

this story is a rather sad one: with the new knife-laws in Germany you need to have a "legal reason" to carry a knife that you can open AND lock with one hand. Regardless the size
So I decided to push the thumb stud out of my small Sebbie and fill it with a mixture of Glow and glue...

Best, Peter

Anybody know where I could get an Umfaan?? CR must have discontinued them.

The only source for an Umfaan is the secondary market. CRK discontinued them a few years ago.

I got my decorated 2002 Umfaan new in April 2004 as one of the very last from the official German importer of CRK. List price back then was 625,- €
(Got a little discount thought) The plain version appeared used on a German forum at the begin of this year.

I read somewhere that from 1997 until 2002 CRK made around 1500 Umfaans and of those around 25 were Left Handed.

I really love my Umfaans. I think they are great little knives and their 2-3/8 blade has the same scalpel-like geometry as the Sebenzas and the frame lock makes them very robust. To me they are like small working knives. And fit perfectly into the watch pocket of my jeans.

Of course the Mnandis are very nice too. More the type of a sturdy gentleman's knife
On mine the nail nick works perfectly.

Best, Peter

A Chris R that I have enjoyed; sharp, light and handy.

My pics are not great but I keep trying

I have had the large Sebenza for a while, and just got this small one the other day. Large has blue dog paws and the small has silver. I like dogs and knives and knives with dog paws are even better. Both left handed too.

Peter

Nice knives, Peter!
I always found these dog paws very attractive - are they some kind of a special order?

Hi Peter
I have my two white German Shepherds, as I really love dogs, so any dog related knives I must get. The owner of Plaza Cutlery in California, does special runs with Chris Reeve, Strider and some others with dog paws. That is where I get them, and I think they exclusive with Plaza

Peter