Boker ANSO 67 : Short Review And First Impressions

[Corpus]

The Boker ANSO 67 I ordered Monday arrived today. I'll go through it's positives and negatives, then show some photos.

Positives:
Looks cool

Positive lockup

nice weight - balances well in hand

edge has perfect angle for Sharpmaker touch-ups :thumbup:

Coffin-style handle is very comfortable. However, the Ti frame could do with some chamfering.

Ball detent looks to be made of ceramic.

Bronze washer on one side (looks to be kevlar on the other)

Aggressive cutter with the wood I tried it on.

Negatives
Bluntly speaking, the ball detent sucks. It looks like they carved a groove in the tang to allow for smoother opening/closing. However, that seems to have enabled the blade to gravity drop very easily. Not a big deal as I tightened the pivot enough that it doesn't gravity drop or flick out via centrifugal force.

I discovered outside I was able to push the lockbar all the way to the G-10 side of the liner. That disturbed me a little bit. Altho, it will only do that if I force it to, so probably not a big deal. Not to mention, I just tried to do that with my Spyderco Sage Ti and it moved a bit also, so there you go.

I lost a noticeable hair of centering when I tightened the pivot. Not a big whoop. Looks centered in photo do to my framing being slightly below the knife.

Photos

Also got my new Armageddon firesteel from firesteel.com

Processed with the Anso 67

Started to burn, but the rain coming in rushed me and I smothered it

Not the best day for an outdoor review

My bad, I forgot to do side-by-side comparison photos. I'll do some later and post em here.

Here we go:

 

[dark impaler]

Nice pics. Just got my 67 as well, this week. I'm in-line with a majority of your review and did the same touch up with the pivot screw- now centered and stronger blade detent. Overall, happy with it and it's a keeper. However, I do find the lock-bar sticking and I've had to use my other hand to release it more often than not. Did you encounter the same issues?

Lock-up is at about 40%. Haven't tried to push the lock-bar all the way to the G-10.

 

[Corpus]

Yep, sticks quite a bit. But have had experience with other titanium locks sticking, so it should be fine once it's worn in a bit. Sharpie on the knife tang helped a little too.

 

[Dagon]

Good overview about an interesting knife. I just posted a look at the Cox (thread "Two interesting EDC knives") which is also designed by Anso.
I think that his designs are nicely off the beaten track, and it is good to see him being picked up by manufacturers.
It would love see a design of his in the affordable Boker Plus series.

 

[mucklechumps]

Thanks for the great review. I just received my Boker Anso 67 today from the nice folks at GP Knives. I noticed some of the same things already noted;

1. I had to tighten the pivot to center the blade. When I got it the blade was up against the G10 scale in the closed position. Now its centered and still opens relatively easily.
2. The thumb stud, while large, is making my thumb sore. I've been carrying a Spyderco Caly 3.5 and I like the hole. The 67 from Jens has a hole which I think I'd like better on this knife. Because Anso licenses the hole from Spyderco that explains why its not on this knife!
3. The lock bar sticks when I open the blade quickly. It sometimes takes 2 hands to push it over enough to close the blade.
4. The Ti frame could be rounded off a bit to be softer on the hand and fingers. I'm a lefty though and the G10 scale feels really great against my palm when operating the knife.

My overall impression is that this is a well made, very sharp, interesting looking knife. I'll carry it as an EDC for a week or 2 and see if I like it as much as the Caly 3.5 as an EDC. Mine is #121 btw.
James