The Chris Reeve Knives Small Inkosi Pocketknife: The Full Nick Shabazz Review

The Chris Reeve Knives Small Inkosi is a very small little folding EDC knife, with some brand new features from the Sebenza 25 and the build quality you'd expect from Chris Reeve.

Unfortunately, although it's well made and well engineered, the ergonomics leave a lot to be desired, and ultimately, although it's a great little knife for the eye and the mind, it's just never quite comfortable in the hand, and given the price, it's just not a gem.

[suttonmatthew]

Fast forward to 2020: This knife has replaced my Delica, Caly 3, and Dragonfly. Mine has the Natural Linen Micarta inserts which are functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. I do love my Spyderco's, but this CRK fits squarely in the small and light, yet high quality and value category.

[Zlyon]

Just got this knife in s45vn in oct 2021 (knife born sept 2021) and seriously impressed, every grind and edge is perfect. The sand/rock texture on the titanium smooths out very quickly. The edge is very polished right out of box, very well done, i do believe its convex so first sharpening will take awhile but no complaints on edge otherwise. It fits my hand perfectly, id imagine longer fingers/bigger hands wouldn’t fit well. For me what works good opening, is thumbnail flick it out halfway, then slow roll the rest of the way. I can slow roll the blade out the entire way, but other way is faster, and easier on the thumb. Anyway, highly recommended in 2021.

Ps love your reviews nick

[joelh]

Gotta love Nick's OG voice in these early reviews!! :)

[mantanna]

Nick, really diggin your vids and just subscibed .. wanted to say I've had my Inkosi now for just over a month. It is my user and been re-sharpened and has some snail trails on it. I also took of the blue..everywhere. Opened and cleaned now many many times. This is one of my favorite knives by a long shot. I do have all CRK's and then some and in many combinations ..in all I have a very decent collection. The 25 micarta I have I think is one of his best, I know this is viewed as a small 25, but it really isn't in the way a small 21 is to the large 21. It is a stand alone knife, and the only high quality small folder around ..I have an Unfaan as well and that is the penultimate high quality smaller folder, alas no longer made. I have large hands size 10 and I find the ergo's superb, a comfy four fingers all the time and all hand positions seem to work for me. It thumbs out like a boss, blade drops free ..always centered. I thumb out left handed just as easy. The Inkosi is the bomb..seriously I feel it's a classic in the making. IMHO worth every penny and I do highly recommend this to anyone.

Great review and really enjoyed your view on this and other blades you do.

[stoutdog]

Nick, good and very thorough review as usual. I started with a small Sebenza and after getting a small Inkosi, I wished I would have started with it. I might never have bothered with a Sebenza. The Inkosi is so much smoother and the unlock is effortlessly smooth. I also found out that The Inkosi can be opened like a front flipper, a method I have grown fond of. Having both now, at least I have a way to compare the two. Hands down, the Inkosi is the better knife. Time will tell if I keep the Sebenza. I agree with you about the cost. Since they continue to sell after all these decades with no change and few updates to the design, the price probably won't change. Good quality American workmanship comes at a price that those of who own one or more, have agreed to.

[jetsteele]

I actually love how it feels in my hand. I'm fortunate to have an excellent knife shop in town that always has Chris Reeve knives in stock. It's my favorite EDC.

[TheWeaversofEternity]

Are you a voice actor? Your voice has so much character. I think you would play characters from the 1950's really well and I don't mean that as a negative! Great review by the way, you've got a new subscriber!

[Maggieroniandcheese]

You're doing a great job with your reviews. Keep up the good work

[MTNM]

Regarding the card they include with every knife that warns the owner about how sharp the blade is: Back in the mid 90's, Chris Reeve himself was sharpening every blade by hand, on a slack belt grinder. That creates a "Moran edge", which is convex and cuts unbelievably well when it's done right, while lasting a very long time too. Those knives were so sharp that it was almost shocking. That card was a smart idea then, to warn the owner that this was sharper than any knife they had ever seen and to be careful. Now, of course, the edges are flat ground like any other blade and the card seems dumb. But it would have looked bad to suddenly stop including the card when the edges became average, so they had to keep including it and probably always will.

[American-dyjk]

Nick, I have to agree with you, the finger protrusions have always looked uncomfortable to me, which is why I haven’t bought this knife. Thank you, for saving me some money.

[knifeaddict]

Mine came razor sharp just got it today and love the texture love the blade thickness!! Just an amazing knife

[Crusty_Otter]

Thanks for another great review. The ergonomic issues seem to be a universal agreement with most users: most guys seem to prefer the small Sebenza 21 over the small Inkosi but the large Inkosi over the large Sebenza 21. I'm curious about the Mnandi's ergos as a gentlemen's folder but can't really justify the price atm since I edc a plain small Sebenza 21. Also, I just took delivery of a grey lightweight Chaparral yesterday so that role may be filled (I would like some nicer dark wooden scales for it though).

[sputumtube]

Excellent and honest review - thanks for posting.

[MrTIPPY]

thanks your review. ve y good as always. here is something that i have yet to hear any one talk about with Chris
reeve knives. and that is they are not cheap and there is noway to test one without buying one getting one in ones hands and being able to say yea i want it you have to take a leap of faith. i cant help but wonder if a lot of postive reviews are not a result of people justifying there purchase.

[FearNoSteel]

did the heavy weight nano oil make the deployment faster over the grease?

[anthonyb]

Nick, you should totally do a disassembly of the inkosi small or large, that would be awesome because no one has any vids of that up.

[birdlaw]

The texture is not rough on your pockets at all. Literally every g10/FRN handled knife I've ever owned, is substantially worse.

[wrjames]

I ask this...if CRK just started and they brought to todays market (filled with ZT, WE, Kizer, Spyderco, etc ) the Sebenza for $400 bucks...would they sell even 5% of what they do today ?? Just saying. ..

[aidankrautner]

I'm curious about the tanto version. Do you have any insights (if you've used one)?

[slICEcuba]

Drinking game.... Drink everytime Nick Shabazz says "thats a wonderful F**KING HAMMERED!