- Joined
- Oct 23, 2006
- Messages
- 2,232
These look like nice knives but seem very pricy for a plastic handled/440c knife.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Anyone got an opinion on the Boker Applegate-Fairburn?
- Thread starter scotchleaf
- Start date
I have a new one here in Desert Tan, and I'm impressed.
The only changes I'd make to it would be adding additional cross grooves in the handles on the sides at the front & rear to allow for a more secure sideways hold in the hand.
Otherwise, it's a fairly solid knife, the 440C blade should resist corrosion & while it isn't built for a razor edge, it can be sharpened enough for the purpose it was designed for.
It also addresses most of the weaknesses of the original wartime ancestor.
The plastic handle is solid & weighted, and while 440C isn't an exotic steel with a miraculous ability for edge-holding, this is a fighting dagger, not a survival knife. As such, it won't be used repeatedly in building shelters, making fires, skinning critters, and so on. 440C is a known standard, and how fancy do you need to go in steel on a blade designed to kill one person at a time?
Understand the knife, and with the materials used and the quality of manufacture (very good), I believe it's worth the purchase price.
If this type appeals or meets a need, consider that prices will not go down, it's made by a company with a name and a rep, and pick it up now before you find later on that when you finally go looking for one, all the German-made blades will by then be made in China.
Denis
The only changes I'd make to it would be adding additional cross grooves in the handles on the sides at the front & rear to allow for a more secure sideways hold in the hand.
Otherwise, it's a fairly solid knife, the 440C blade should resist corrosion & while it isn't built for a razor edge, it can be sharpened enough for the purpose it was designed for.
It also addresses most of the weaknesses of the original wartime ancestor.
The plastic handle is solid & weighted, and while 440C isn't an exotic steel with a miraculous ability for edge-holding, this is a fighting dagger, not a survival knife. As such, it won't be used repeatedly in building shelters, making fires, skinning critters, and so on. 440C is a known standard, and how fancy do you need to go in steel on a blade designed to kill one person at a time?
Understand the knife, and with the materials used and the quality of manufacture (very good), I believe it's worth the purchase price.
If this type appeals or meets a need, consider that prices will not go down, it's made by a company with a name and a rep, and pick it up now before you find later on that when you finally go looking for one, all the German-made blades will by then be made in China.
Denis
It's reputed to be the best one yet made, including the hand made customs from a few years back. It's also what's available now, after about a half dozen changes in makers.
440C is a pretty good steel for a fixed blade, holds a decent edge, and is several grades better than what usually shows up in a fixed blade - 1060 carbon or 420J.
The "plastic" grips I believe are FRN, which is pretty indestructible, and probably the best choice for the complicated shape. Trying to CNC machine G10 would possibly raise the price $25 to $50 - and mess up the balance.
The diamond shaped blade ground in Germany will not last. Costs keep going up there, too. The last good German design, a Kershaw forged integral, got farmed out to China when it was reissued. There are detail differences along with the Euro quality control lost. They aren't necessarily worse, but they aren't Solingen anymore, which allowed them to come back at the same price as 20 years ago - about half what the old ones were trading for.
Buy German while you can, it is going away just like Sheffield in the '60's.
440C is a pretty good steel for a fixed blade, holds a decent edge, and is several grades better than what usually shows up in a fixed blade - 1060 carbon or 420J.
The "plastic" grips I believe are FRN, which is pretty indestructible, and probably the best choice for the complicated shape. Trying to CNC machine G10 would possibly raise the price $25 to $50 - and mess up the balance.
The diamond shaped blade ground in Germany will not last. Costs keep going up there, too. The last good German design, a Kershaw forged integral, got farmed out to China when it was reissued. There are detail differences along with the Euro quality control lost. They aren't necessarily worse, but they aren't Solingen anymore, which allowed them to come back at the same price as 20 years ago - about half what the old ones were trading for.
Buy German while you can, it is going away just like Sheffield in the '60's.
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2006
- Messages
- 1,506
A few years before Colonel Rex Applegate died, I had the good fortune of meeting him at a gun show I attended with my Scoutmaster. Even in his advanced age, he was still a fighter. I have heard the story of an attempted mugging on him in his retired years, where he severely injured his attackers with his cane, then pulled his gun.
The genius of Col. Applegate's self defense-based mind are apparent in the design of the Applegate-Fairbarne fighting knife. While Boker is not the most famed knifemaker for consistent quality, the 440C used is a good steel and they are solid knives. If you're looking for a well-designed and well-thought-out blade for the basis of a fighting education, you could do far worse than an Applegate-Fairbairne.
:thumbup:
The genius of Col. Applegate's self defense-based mind are apparent in the design of the Applegate-Fairbarne fighting knife. While Boker is not the most famed knifemaker for consistent quality, the 440C used is a good steel and they are solid knives. If you're looking for a well-designed and well-thought-out blade for the basis of a fighting education, you could do far worse than an Applegate-Fairbairne.
:thumbup:
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2005
- Messages
- 235
I have 3 of the fixed blades- desert camo, regular, and urban camo- and one of the large folders. I really like them all. I compared them to some other daggers here- http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6181012&postcount=3