Custom Tacticals » Boker

Boker Brend Folding Knife

corwin99 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:46:00 +0000

Walter Brend is a legend in knifemaking, with his signature sweeping grinds and shallow contoured plunge grinds. This is Boker’s collaborations with Mr. Brend, and while it looks very nice, the knife has some glaring defects.

Before I received this knife for the first time, I had always drooled over photos of it, and hoped for the day that I would finally get one. Of all the versions I had seen, the Cocobolo handled version was my favourite and is also the one that I acquired, as you can see from the photos.

Having drooled over the knife for a good few years before actually getting one, my expectations were obviously a bit high. When the knife came, I could not believe how poor the build quality was. There were gaps between the liners and the handles and bolsters, the grinds were not crisp, the blade would wiggle no matter how I tried to adjust the pivot screw, and the overall finish was mediocre.

Admittedly, the knife is not that expensive at $100 or so, however, I have had many $50 knives with much better fit and finish. The blade steel on this specimen is 440C, and is a very serviceable steel. The knife came fairly sharp, however would not shave hair like a Spyderco out of the box.

The inlaid medallion was a cool touch, and one of the things that I really liked about the knife. The design of the knife does have a very recognizable and charming Walter Brend styling, however, this is about the extent of merits of this knife from Boker. The rest of the knife is fairly disappointing to me.

I have had fairly disappointing experiences with many Boker knives in the past, and have found their quality control to be shoddy and fit and finish to be sub-par. This knife was one of the knives that has helped form my opinion of Boker. However, I have had one or two knives from Boker that have been decent, and do not want to paint the entire brand with such a wide brush. This is after all a discontinued knife.

Specs:
Blade Length: 3 3/4″
Overall Length: 8 7/8″
Blade Steel: 440C
Handle Material: Cocobolo Wood
Bolsters: Titanium

Boker Plus Kalashnikov AK-74 Automatic Knife

corwin99 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:46:47 +0000

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I bought this knife off ebay, but it was only $30, and I had an auto spring kicking around so I could convert it from a button lock to an automatic quite easily. The blade is already milled out for a spring as it was originally designed as an automatic.

When I first opened up the AK-74 knife to put the spring into it, I noticed the recess for the spring was not very deep compared with the thickness of the spring. This meant that I had to cut the spring shorter, and use some pliers to bend the edge up to make the spring catch for the blade. It actually worked!

Overall, the quality of the knife is so-so. The knife is made in Taiwan as many Boker Plus knives are, and the finish on the blade and handle feel almost painted on as opposed to annodized in the case of the handle. The knife is built decent as far as fit, there is little blade play when the knife is in use. It is really the finish that is lacking.

Blade steel is AUS8, which is a very serviceable steel, and holds an edge decent enough. The partial serrations are not my favourite but for what I paid, I’m not complaining. Its a fun little knife to have, and I enjoy the action, which is pretty decent considering the homemade spring.

The grip of the knife is actually quite comfortable with the finger notches, but the texture does feel a lot like it was painted on, and has a cheapness to it that I would not expect even in a knife of this price range. The finish on the blade is much better, though still not a top notch finish.

Overall its a fun little blade that I would play with but button locks have been known to fail, and this is not one of the more reliable button locks I’ve seen. It fires good and hard, which is all I really want it for. For me, this is just a novelty knife.

Specs:
Blade Length: 3 1/2″
Overall Length: 8″
Blade Steel: AUS8
Handle Material: Aluminum
Weight: 4.9oz

Boker RJ Martin Rampage Fixed Blade

corwin99 — Sat, 16 May 2009 19:10:22 +0000

Boker is a Brand of knife that I had long given up on when I had several very disappointing experiences with them 5-10 years ago. It seemed like every Boker that I had purchased was not even close to the quality that the price would have dictated. This RJ Martin Rampage is possibly the first Boker I have that actually pleases me.

This is one of Boker’s more affordable peices, being made in Asia, and costing approximately $70 online these days. This knife looks very much like the custom RJ Martin peices, which are very impressive in person. Of course at this price point, one would not expect the knife to be identical to the Original, and it isn’t.

The grinds are nowhere near as crisp and sharp as the ones on Martin’s original peices, but they are quite close and definately look fantastic and feel great in the hand. Blade steel is a respectable 440C, and the handle is made of Micarta. The somewhat cheap sheath is inject molded ABS, and comes with a nice Teklok as well as paracord.

Knife was okay-sharp out of the box, nothing like a Spyderco, but still quite respectable. The blade measures 4 3/4″ in length, and has that nightmare style RJ Martin grind on it, which is great for draw cuts, but also has a big tip that is great for penetration. The excessive hawk billed main edge makes the knife a mediocre performer for standard cutting chores such as slicing food, though you might be able to get by using the tip or a combination of the main edge and tip to do your slicing.

The style of the handle as well as the blade lends itself to self-defence application as the large choil and guard provide good retention as well as purchase in a potention situation.

Overall, given the modest price of the knife and the materials used it is a decent value. For a knife of this size to be in 440C and have micarta handles for around $70 is quite a good price. The finishing is not outstanding and is definately a notch below Benchmade and Spyderco, et al. I would put the finishing in the neighbourhood of CRKT. It is on the rougher side, but all in all an enjoyable knife.

Specs:
Blade Length: 4 3/4″
Overall Length: 9 1/2″
Weight: 5.8oz
Blade Steel: 440C
Handle Material: Micarta