- Joined
- Jul 9, 1999
- Messages
- 3,316
Aesthetically speaking, this knife is a real beauty. The Titanium bolstered handle with G-10 behind it give it a classy "dress up folder" kinda look. The recurved 440C blade is fairly well ground and has a bit of a thick but serviceable edge that is razor sharp. The pocket clip is a smallish affair held on by two phillips head screws and is set high enough on the handle to provide low in the pocket, low key carry. The good looking knurled double thumb stud is set back on the blade far enough so as not to interfere with cutting.
Now for what I don't like about the Boker Brend:
When I got the knife home and started to play with and familiarize myself with it, the pin that connects the G-10 with the Ti liner was located right under the curve of the pocket clip. You know, the space where the clip touches the handle. Well, that pin became unseated after just a few deployments from the pocket and ripped the pocket on a fairly new pair of pants I was wearing at the time.
It would not re-seat with finger or plier pressure so I had to disassemble the knife within an hour after getting it home to repair the thing. After re-seating the badly located pin, I re-assembled the knife and began again with the drills. Once again it popped loose after I had re-seated the bloody thing myself. Pretty pissed by now, I dis-assembled the knife again and took the pin out and put a spot of glue there to keep the liner and scale together and clamped them together until dry. After drying, I re-assembled the knife again and started doing some more deployment drills. After cycling the knife about 40-50 times, I started noticing that due to the overall thinness of the liners and scales it was not overly difficult to squeeze this knife's handle together using just thumb and index finger pressure.
Plus the locking liner moved under regular gripping pressure often giving me the impression it was going to dis-engage.
Time to see if this thing with it's now questionable grip could pass a spine whack, or should I say tap. I was afraid to try a medium strength whack at first. Well, it passed the tap and then passed the whack, very much to my surprise. The lock did hold fast and never once gave up it's grip on the blade tang.
Another thing that worries me though is the relative ease with which the liner dis-engages upon closing the blade. I'm used to a little resistance when moving the liner to close the blade and there is not even a hint of that on this knife. On nearly all of my linerlocks there is a point where I can feel the liner let go of it's grip on the blade tang. It is almost imperceptible on most knives, but is there nonetheless. On the Boker Brend, however, it is absent. Completely. Yet, still, it passes a spine whack test. I find this a little odd and disconcerting.
After deploying the knife 50+ times, the knife developed vertical play in the open position.
Now I'm starting to give this knife the detailed look I should have given it before plunking down my money for it, and the more I look, the more I find wrong with it.
The area where the bolster and liner meet there is a gap, there is a gap between the thumb studs so you can see the screw underneath, the area where the G-10 and Titanium bolster meet seperates under regular grip pressure, etc.
Boker has a reputation for knowing how to do 440C right, so for now, I'm holding off on the edge retention test.
Even with all this, I've decided not to send the knife back to Boker.
Instead, it's going into my project box and next time I'm out to Sheffield's, I will pick up some Titanium liner material and other things I feel the knife needs and re-work it to suit my needs.
I do like the overall shape of the Brend and feel that the overall design has potential. It just needs some re-working, misque style!
I am not even going to write my conclusions as I feel at this point the reader can draw his/her own conclusions.
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The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.
Sun Tzu
[This message has been edited by misque (edited 06-02-2000).]
Now for what I don't like about the Boker Brend:
When I got the knife home and started to play with and familiarize myself with it, the pin that connects the G-10 with the Ti liner was located right under the curve of the pocket clip. You know, the space where the clip touches the handle. Well, that pin became unseated after just a few deployments from the pocket and ripped the pocket on a fairly new pair of pants I was wearing at the time.
It would not re-seat with finger or plier pressure so I had to disassemble the knife within an hour after getting it home to repair the thing. After re-seating the badly located pin, I re-assembled the knife and began again with the drills. Once again it popped loose after I had re-seated the bloody thing myself. Pretty pissed by now, I dis-assembled the knife again and took the pin out and put a spot of glue there to keep the liner and scale together and clamped them together until dry. After drying, I re-assembled the knife again and started doing some more deployment drills. After cycling the knife about 40-50 times, I started noticing that due to the overall thinness of the liners and scales it was not overly difficult to squeeze this knife's handle together using just thumb and index finger pressure.
Plus the locking liner moved under regular gripping pressure often giving me the impression it was going to dis-engage.
Time to see if this thing with it's now questionable grip could pass a spine whack, or should I say tap. I was afraid to try a medium strength whack at first. Well, it passed the tap and then passed the whack, very much to my surprise. The lock did hold fast and never once gave up it's grip on the blade tang.
Another thing that worries me though is the relative ease with which the liner dis-engages upon closing the blade. I'm used to a little resistance when moving the liner to close the blade and there is not even a hint of that on this knife. On nearly all of my linerlocks there is a point where I can feel the liner let go of it's grip on the blade tang. It is almost imperceptible on most knives, but is there nonetheless. On the Boker Brend, however, it is absent. Completely. Yet, still, it passes a spine whack test. I find this a little odd and disconcerting.
After deploying the knife 50+ times, the knife developed vertical play in the open position.
Now I'm starting to give this knife the detailed look I should have given it before plunking down my money for it, and the more I look, the more I find wrong with it.
The area where the bolster and liner meet there is a gap, there is a gap between the thumb studs so you can see the screw underneath, the area where the G-10 and Titanium bolster meet seperates under regular grip pressure, etc.
Boker has a reputation for knowing how to do 440C right, so for now, I'm holding off on the edge retention test.
Even with all this, I've decided not to send the knife back to Boker.
I do like the overall shape of the Brend and feel that the overall design has potential. It just needs some re-working, misque style!
I am not even going to write my conclusions as I feel at this point the reader can draw his/her own conclusions.
------------------
The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.
Sun Tzu
[This message has been edited by misque (edited 06-02-2000).]