- Small Sebenza
- Vapor
This review consists of :
A shot of the Vapor alongside a small Sebenza : g
Knives :
This review consists of : |
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The Vapor is :
A few stock tests :
In the kitchen the Vapor works well as a paring knife :
Now of course an actual paring knife will be slimmer in all aspects but the Vapor does well for a general pocket knife, similar but not as well as the large blade on a Swiss Army knife. The only real issue is that the angle on paring knives is usually less than 15 dps so more resistance is felt on the starting cut.
The biggest issue is simply the steel. Even after repeated sharpening to ensure that it was not simply an issue with the steel having been over heated in the initial grinding the edge retention was very low to the point that it was a functional problem.
As just one example, when used alongside a small Sebenza on a few trout, the edge on the Vapor completely smoothed over while a small Sebenza was still aggressive and could still keep cutting fish after fish. Now of course there is a large difference in the types of steels in those two knives but the Vapor does not compared well to other knives of similar class steels such as 420HC, 12C27M, etc. .
For general work, the Vapor is too small to work well on deep cuts of meat or thick slices of bread, just a limitation on blade length mainly. Again it is mainly a paring type knife.
On wood and brush work the Vapor has little chopping ability due to the small size and very light weight. It also can't be readily used by grips around the end of the handle directly as the security is too low. A laynard looped around the wrist can be used but the knife is simply too light. However if the wood can be bent and put under tension then decent sized sticks can be cut by just slicing into the wood as the tension will cause it to crack open naturally.
As a small whittling class knife. it works well making shavings and scrapings for both tinder and general shaping of wood. Again the steel is the real issue as the edge will degrade fairly rapidly even more so if the edge is sharpened at an angle more suitable for wood work (9-11 dps) at which point it rolls readily.
On some miscellaneous work, the Vapor was on hand during a renovation project fixing up an old barn as an example of general purpose use. It readily cut TYVEK paper, and trimmed clapboard, as well as cut shims for windows. However it didn't have the prying strenth necessary for removal of some of the older woods however and a Fulcrum IID was more functional for the heavier work. Again it is obviously a small gentleman's class knife, a small whittler and paring knife.
The AUS-6A steel in the Vapor grinds very easy and can even be filed. Initially it didn't take a clean edge and tended to fracture during honing which prevented obtaining a really high sharpness which also lowered edge retention significantly.
After awhile this chipping went showing that the initial as-boxed edge had likely been over heated in the initial grinding by Kershaw. However issues still remained and even using wide stones to reduce contact pressure the edge would easily form a prominent burr which was difficult to remove and of course the edge was then very easily to roll in use.
In general when it was used for comparison work it consistently fell to the bottom of a Class I steel.
The Vapor has an integral lock, essentially a Walker liner lock which uses one of the handle slabs for the liner.
The lockup was stable under light to moderate spine whacks (produced visible dents in clear pine. White knuckling was not a problem outside of grips which ran the handle straight across the second joint of the index finger which would allow the lock to be released readily in a tight grip. Torquing would cause the lock to release but it required significant force, specifically a piece of birch hardwood was split by hammering the blade into one end and then twisting on the handle until the flooring cracked. The blade held up fine however the lock would release consistently.
However as the knife was carried and used for a few months the lock bar quickly traveled across the tang and was soon up to full engagement. With heavy such as light impact splitting the lock face compressed resulting in vertical play, the common way integrals and liners fail when over stressed.
The grip is fairly slim and narrow and thus works well in a variety of holds, it doesn't really stand out as problematic in any, but seems best suited to a sabre :
and hammer grip :
Mainly due to the lack of a guard making reverse and icepick grips not overly functional due to lack of security, though the thumb can be hooked over the end to enhance security in both a reverse :
and icepick grip :
There are also various squarish contact points on the grip, the inside of the handle slabs and the clip which limit ergonomics especially in long term use.
In short this is a small, light gentleman's type folder which works well as a small whittling knives, paring knife in the kitchen and as a light utility knife in general. Now of course the steel "speed hole" filled handle is an influence of the modern tactical labeling but aesthetics aside it works well.
There were however significant issues with the steel. Initially it had problems from the edge being overheated by Kershaw but that issues was resolved with subsequent sharpening. However even after years of use the ease of sharpening and edge retention were always consistently very low, below what would be expected for properly hardened AUS-6A steel.
Eight years later the knife had been carried and used extensively. As there were consistent issues with edge retention it tended to be used for heavier work and kept with a very coarse edge which of course tended to accelerate wear. As a result it was eventually reground :
These modifications were done to increase the ability of the tip to do precise work and the full curve was done to attempt to compensate for the low edge retention by increasing the slicing ability and power of a draw and slicing cut.
Comments can be emailed to cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or by posting in the following thread :
Most of the pictures in the above are in the PhotoBucket
album.
| Last updated : | 12/05/2013 |
| Originally written: | 05 : 05 : 2005 |