Honestly, I figured the Sebenza 21 was going to be the last knife I was going to buy. I loved it that much.
Yeah... I wasn't convinced either.
So I was perusing one blog or another and came across mention of the TAD Dauntless. I'd seen this knife on the TAD Gear site (and in the stores) before. It's not cheap, so I'd never really given it more than passing notice.
After reading a glowing review, I grew more curious. I liked the look of it and the design.
The knife is almost always out-of-stock, so I got on a mailing list and moved on.
Then one morning I got a notification that the Dauntless MK 3 was going on sale.
I did some creative things with my schedule (it went on sale at a singularly-inconvenient time). It wasn't the best time to make a purchase like that, but I've never been one for good judgment with shiny things.
It arrived a few days later. And I found myself struggling with my undying singular loyalty to the Sebenza 21.
I've now given both time and attention by carrying them and have thoughts I will share unsolicited with the world. And pictures:
So here's the two knives folded together, side-by-side, on my indifferently-clean carpet. Yeah, you probably didn't need that last detail, did you?
Anyway, the Dauntless is a bit bigger in dimensions. Feels beefier and has a nice, solid weight. I've been undecided if I want to keep the fob on the Sebenza, but have left it in place because I'm loathe to mess with the knife in any way. It's so pretty...
And now they're opened. Note the different blade designs. The Dauntless has a cool spear-head blade. The rounded indentation towards the bottom of the blade's edge is nice for a better-controlled grip on finer use. I have to honestly say, the Sebenza came much sharper. Like ridiculously-sharp. The Dauntless has a nice edge on it, but the Sebenza is "take-a-finger-off sharp".
The Dauntless on its own. So the knife's grip is really nice. I found the opening action to be a bit sticky, though. I loosened the main screw to give it better opening action and found the screw then had a tendency to loosen too much. I disassembled the knife to grease it and tinker with it a bit. It's still a tad (hah!) fussy and there's certainly a trick to opening it one-handed, but it's improved a bit.
The Sebenza getting some solo-action now. I have to admit there's a trick to getting this one to open one-handed as well, but it's smooth going and hasn't required any tinkering on my part.
So do I have a preference? Jeez... it's hard to say. I find the Sebenza to be "prettier". It's more of a "gentleman's knife" in many ways. It's also much sharper. Its smaller size makes it less of an issue to carry in public (as much as any knife is a great idea to flourish in public). The Dauntless has a better feel to it. The size is better for my hands and I really like the grip and blade design. I wish it were a bit smoother for opening, but it seems to have found its happy place.
I'm almost-convinced I'm done now. I have the perfect pocket knives.
Almost convinced...
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