Biggest disappointment!

Boker Plus Kwaiken with full CF scales. Purchased three at different times from different vendors. All three exhibited the same issues:

- Closed position, cutting edge rests dangerously close to handle opening. I can press the handle lightly against a peach and slit the skin open. Imagine what it can do to your hand.
- Poorly designed flipper. Flipper tab is convexed so your finger can slid off too easily.
- Poor execution of jimping. (It's bad enough when the flipper tab is convexed.) Received one with jimping only halfway on the tab; another with full jimping but so shallow it hardly be felt.
- Flimsy pocket clip.
- Too heavy for it's size. Weighs more than my Manix 2 and nearly as much as my Hinderer XM-18 3.5" Skinny, both larger knives. Very handle heavy. This is due to the un-skeletonized slab steel liners and unnecessarily heavy steel back spacer.
- Inefficient construction as it requires four different sized torx bits to disassemble.
- IKBS Ball Bearing system makes servicing the knife a pain. Should have used a captive bearing system.

There was a lot of hype when the Kwaiken was introduced and it created a lot of fanboys, but turns out all that hype was really just hype. The Kwaiken is yet another train wreck in both design and execution from Boker. Now days no one talks about the Kwaiken anymore. Too bad, because IMO it really is a beautiful looking knife. I wish Boker would improve upon the flaws of this model and release a Kwaiken 2.
 
My lefty Sebenza 21 without a doubt. I have given this 10 times the opportunity of any other knife I’ve owned.

It came disappointingly dull with an absurdly stiff action. I have opened and closed this knife 1000’s of times. It has had a modest improvement, but it is still disappointing.

I picked up a Pro Tech TR-3 Integrity and it actually performs the way everyone claims the Sebenza does. It is the smoothest opening knife I’m handled. Sucks that Pro Tech went out of their way to make it lefty unfriendly.
 
I don't really regret my purchases, save for one.. The bugout. And believe me, I gave it a chance. In theory I should've loved it but it never clicked with me. Bought the ranger green one, tried to use it. Tweaked it till I could get action satisfactory to my liking, put a wicked edge on it, but I still didn't enjoy carrying it. I eventually gifted it to a friend.

Fast forward till a month or so ago, I kept thinking about the thing, seeing all those posts on reddit how they love the bugout and decided to give it a second chance. Blue and satin this time around.
Instantly didn't like what I was holding haha. So I did the smart thing. Flytanium had just dropped their scales, ordered some titanium ones, tweaked action accordingly and it's zero play full smooth operation and I'll be frank; I think it looks fancy dancy.
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Only problem?
I don't like it. I much rather carry the pardue if I want lightweight, thin stock and snappy deployment.
So here I am, out 160 euro for the ranger green bugout, 130 for the blue one and another 100 for the scales approximately. 390 euros on bugouts I don't like. I could have gotten the small insingo I've been ogling for a year but here I am and there sits my €390 bugout in my bag probably not to be used again. And the stupid thing is that I feel I'm missing out on something everybody is enjoying still.
 
For me it's the small Sebenza. I like the knife, I just don't love it. It's a nice knife, but way overpriced. I prefer my mini Grip or Bugout over the Sebenza.
 
Has to be the Gerber Paraframe. Never, ever, in 55+ years of carrying pocket knives have I ever had one literally fall apart in my pocket. The steel was bad the construction was poor, and the customer service at "the new" Gerber was even worse. I paid something like $18 for that knife using a Christmas gift card purchased at Academy and gifted to me.

Gerber told me I could send it in to them for consideration/evaluation to be repaired if I sent it to them insured and would pay to have it sent back as well. Insured postage at that time was about $10 each way (on me) and the wouldn't guarantee that they would fix it. Parts might be extra they explained, as well as repairs if at their discretion the knife had been used for purposes other than they intended. I literally tossed that knife in the trash I was so pissed off. No more Gerbers.

Robert
 
I got this knife as a present from a great guy. Really nice fixie in S35VN.

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Problem was, my hands were just too large for it. The handle forces your fingers within the gap underneath and it cramped up my hand badly with just a few minutes of cutting. I simply couldn't use it. I'd been used to a big broomhandle type fixie like this one below.

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But then another friend offered to make me a custom handle and cut out the sharp dip at the base to give my hand more room as shown by the red line in this pic below.

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This was the result in Spalted Maple Burl and cool pins. The handle is far more hand filling also, nice and thick. He did an incredible job and the knife is very comfortable in hand and joy to use.

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Busse Skinny ASH. I read the forums, bought into the hype and got my own real piece of magical Infi. biggest heaviest knife I ever owned. Horrible ergos. Too big and heavy to use for slicing. Horrible grip for chopping. I loaded trucks for a living, heavily calloused hands, and still got blisters trying to justify the expense. ended up throwing it in a bug out bag for a couple years, and then finally was honest enough to admit to myself that it wasn't some magical excaliber-esque blade, but an overpriced, overbuilt, and useless to me knife. sold it for a loss and committed myself to avoiding heavily hyped blades/brands. I've got several Spydercos but never a para 2 or 3.

Grizz
 
I do not wish to say the name of the brand because they make EXCELLENT quality products and do not deserve any bad press. But the knife was not what I was expecting based on the pictures and conflicting dimensions. I had suspected the way the knife would look but still made a leap of faith, paid over 250 dollars only to be disappointed and to hear my own gut feeling yell at me "Yet again, I told you so". I had the knife with me for... 2 years possibly. Just inside the box, never used it. I got lucky last year and I was able to sell it at the price I paid plus shipping with no loss for me.
 
Real disappointment was Bear and Son slip joint. There was almost no springiness and no edge.
I was also disappointed a bit with Boker Exskelibur I. It could be a perfect knife if the scales are bit more sturdy with better hardware.
I am also somewhat disappointed with the current market filled with thick blades with thick edge.
 
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