Chris Reeve Inkosi - Large/Micarta/S35vn

just received this in the mail today, on my birthday, so fortuitous timing.

i wont pump up a pile of pictures. there are plenty of those around. but i have posted some that i found interesting.

This is brand new from an authorized dealer, but note it is a jul-2019 model knife so sitting around nearly 3 years

what surprised me is the first 2 images. there was a lot of lock-tite, and in the wrong location for a good factory install. someone got lazy, with it
overflowing onto the handle. very hard to open. i would expect the factory to put a tiny drop on the tip of the screw.

there was also an overflow of locktite in the stop pin as though they glued the pin into the handle as well as screwing it down. this seems weird to me. im going to email and ask them about these things.

the main thing i hate about CRK is the sandblasting. market it all they like. its a cheap nasty shortcut that makes a knife look clean. they admit it chews up jeans pants like sandpaper, because it is sandpaper created by sandblasting. and its no more comfortable to use.

my first sebenza was a CCG model which is polished. wonderful. every sandblasted knife leaves my fingers feeling nasty.

the 3rd image shows on the left one side cleaned with scotch brite vs the other side as is.. after cleaning up, everything is more defined including the logos. its much more comfortable and you dont get snail trails by rubbing off sandblasting. i certainly hope they stop charging for glass bead blasting and make it a permanent option on all their knives without the $30 fee they charge. it seems a little insane.adding 30 to blast it. not every cost should be scaled because the knife is high priced.

All in all. very happy with the knife. the tolerances are insane. no bushing like the sebenza, this one is a typical pivot. i am able to tighten the pivot fully, and then just ease off a fraction and get a smooth movement. the edge is around 0.020" like always. the edge angle is around 18-19dps. it actually cuts reasonably well, so not sure if i will reprofile it or just leave as is and see how it goes. its definately not as good as a thiner knife.. but its mass and solidity adds to its cutting power in cardboards etc.








Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2022 03:49PM by cKc (Kyley Harris).

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cKc (Kyley Harris)
the edge is around 0.020" like always. the edge angle is around 18-19dps. it actually cuts reasonably well, so not sure if i will reprofile it or just leave as is and see how it goes. its definately not as good as a thiner knife.. but its mass and solidity adds to its cutting power in cardboards etc.

That’s kinda how I look at most decent factory knives with similar geometry. It’s not what it could be, but it’s still not bad. And realistically 0.020” is pretty thin for a folder/utility knife. Usually only kitchen knives get much below that in production knives.

it does seem to be the gold standard, except for Buck Knives who market their knives as Edge2x (tm) which is literally just them making the angle
range change from 35-50 inclusive to 26-32 inclusive.

they did the tests, they realized that lowering the angle "is sharper out of the box, holds its edge longer, and is easier to sharpen"

the small sebenza cut much worse even though the edge was effectively similar.. so the overall package is making it feel a bit better.

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cKc (Kyley Harris)
the small sebenza cut much worse even though the edge was effectively similar.. so the overall package is making it feel a bit better.

Now I see what you’re saying, that makes sense. A fuller and more secure grip will make the same amount of force used feel like less.

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Ryan Nafe

the small sebenza cut much worse even though the edge was effectively similar.. so the overall package is making it feel a bit better.

Now I see what you’re saying, that makes sense. A fuller and more secure grip will make the same amount of force used feel like less.

yes, exactly. so when cutting cardboard. this bigger knife packs more punch.. it feels like a thinner knife thats in a smaller package..

however the moment i tested cutting a coke plastic bottle, you start feeling that resistance immediately because its fine cutting on a firm material. so you start noticing the night and day between a thinner geometry.

i guess it just depends on what you are really going to use the knife for.

another interesting example is trying to cut open a packet of onions.. it is in that thin net like packaging they use that is like fishing net. this factory blade is hair popping sharp but buffed. the thick edge just slides over that stuff harmlessly unless you push and force pop the material. this is definitely an effect of the buffing + the thickness.

the reprofiled small sebenza on that same material just cuts through it barely touching it.

to me, i would say that 15dps from a factory would be the ideal placement where they get the durabilty they need for mass production and people using knives for who knows what, but still leaves a decent edge for others easily thinned

One thing I always remember is the series of observations that Cliff made when comparing a Mora at 10 DPS to other knives with a primary grind. The edge angle plays the greatest role in cutting ability when forces are relatively low, the primary grind only comes into play when high forces are used, whether by choice of the user or by necessity because of the material being cut. For a lot of work, the Mora would beat most other production knives handily just because of the low angle.

This means that even a knife with a fairly thick edge can be dramatically improved in performance simply by lowering the edge angle a few degrees to, say 12 to 15 DPS instead of 20 DPS. Even if it ends up at 12 DPS at 0.030” thick, which doesn’t sound that great just looking at the numbers, that’s still going to be only very slightly behind a Mora with light forces and will easily beat it when you lean on it a bit.

Yes, I agree. most of my knives tended to be knives that had very low apex angles but thickened up considerably to gain that fine cut, but with a lot of backing and durability because most of my knives early on were focused on being all purpose out door knives.

i was kind of following a story arc of exploration + fulfilling fantasies of what people buying my knives wanted to see. (or at least my interpretations of them) so my knives all started out in the 2mm thick range with short grinds that looked like moras, except instead of being a 12dps bevel theyd be convex bevels that went from 13 down to 7.

as the knives progressively got thicker and thicker to suit american wanting knives for batonning and extra mass and going all the way to 1/2" thick the main constant was how thin the edge apexes were. even knives likes Cliffs Voyager at over 1KG in weight was still only <15 dps.. it just got very thick very fast behind that to support the power and mass.

I have almost never taken a factory knife and reground then entire knife thin. in almost every case, just thinning the knife in the first 1/4" of the blade from the apex would increase cutting 10fold.

its why you could experiment almost forever, and have so many people get such different results in their experimentation from what they'd perceive to be negligible differences in geometry

So far i am enjoying the inkosi, even with the thick edge.

the factory edge was pretty sharp, and as this has been sitting around for 2 - 3 years on a shelf this is a good indicator of S35vn holding an edge well over long term if there is no overt attempts to corrode the edge.

however, the edge definately shows signs of over buffing. its original sharpness is gone immediately in that it cannot bite into any form of light plastics, plastic bags, wrappers. without force it just slides off.. but a little pressure will cut fine.

this is the same on arm hair. no cutting, but a little force and it will start popping.

will touch it up on the 400grit diamond venev and see how the improved aggression will work on a lasting edge at this edge angle