The previous postings as to complexity of the 21 design actually still managed to skip several aspects of the perfection Chris Reeve was originally shooting for in his knife.

Getting back to the perfectly parallel side flats of the handle, perfectly gapped by precision spacer bushings. He wanted those for a reason. If you take two parallel lines, a certain space apart, you can insert a slightly smaller rectangle between them, with almost zero clearance.

When you bend the lines together at one end, as a clamping pivot screw will do, you introduce slop and uneven wear, loose behind the screw, and tightest up front, and add binding at the very front. Most folk have seen this on knives able to be disassembled, the heavier arc of wear over only half the blade. Which will cause looseness to develop twice as fast over half the area. Mr. Reeve was doing everything he could, to make the perfect folding knife. With the Sebenza, the screw runs down freely until it bottoms in hole whereupon almost as hitting a brick wall, there is so little play in system taken up by any flexing. The pivot screw has only two positions, snug or snugger, otherwise the screw is loose, threads not being stretched for locking, and vibrates free of own accord.

Another aspect are his spoked/slotted/perforated thrust bearing washers (think wagon wheel). They have reduced surface contact with handle slabs and with knife blade. As mentioned prior, free to rotate between blade and slabs. There is some talk, but sounds plausible, that since these are free to slowly work their way around, that they act as surface scrapers, piling up lube ahead of leading edge of spokes, and applying to the blade.

The Inkosi even larger diameter but even more radically spoked washers, simply sit there. Same reduced surface contact area, perhaps even less area, but not even going there. There is also some talk about them, completely implausible, that they still act as "lube pockets", implausible because any lube down in the spoke recesses of the stamped/lased washers, once scraped flush, is just going to sit there.

With both types, they would certainly act as trash dumps, allowing fine particulate matter to be scraped from blade/washer surface, and collect in those little hollows between the spokes.

There is a luxurious amount of precision in the 21, issues dealt with via over the top precision, where everyone else solves same unequal wear problems by simply changing washers more often. They are, after all, a consumable item, and why you will not hear me weigh in on interminable teflon vs phosphor bronze washer arguments, them being both disposable and interchangeable. Reeve, unlike Hinderer, will not sell you a pack, simply because they require fitting, the tolerances are so close. Same with the pivot bushing on the 21 blade. But, anyone can trot out and buy standard washers of proper ID/OD and near thickness, and give them a rub until they fit, in a pinch.

It is a precision machine, and why the premium, at least, until late new knives and strange price games with older. But, you still get what you pay for, even if now paying more. Same as with older internal combustion engines, far more (theoretically, at least) replaceable/rebuildable parts/surfaces subject to wear. A luxury item, where one pays for meticulous excess, and receives it. Which is altogether different than the common modern trend of paying more for nothing aside from conspicuous consumption bragging rights.

It is still a grand big tough folder. If I had to currently nail down "EDC", somewhat over the top would be the big Hinderer, the Spyderco PacSalt pocket chain saw for when things need to be ripped and NOW, the G43, and the carbon fiber 21, along with the ever present SAK or Pathfinder with a screwdriver blade. Normally would be approaching weight/bulk overload IWB, but the carbon fiber is so light and flat, it dodges being the straw that broke this aging man's back, and lets me have a REALLY sharp large knife with me. Will be honest and say the REALLY sharp knife not needed near as much as the other two on a daily basis, but, nice to have. When looser warm weather clothing hits, as in now, a larger fixed blade over the Hinderer, and things open up a bit as for choices in room and access, given fixed blade goes to left side, often under belt rather than IWB (makes a difference, that), and all sorts of room for the relatively dinky PacSalt and 21. Of all, the PacSalt chainsaw, and the SAK with screwdriver blade and plain blade are ALWAYS there. Never leave home without it, right, Karl?