I have just received my Boker Gnome in the mail today, and thought I should share my first impressions.
I opted for the more expensive version with the stag scales and the leather sheath.
The ergonomics of the blade are not quite right, the stag scales are blocky and could have been angled further down where the scales meet the blade.
The Boker website describe it thus - This neck knife from Jesper Voxnaes will captivate you with its ultra compact design and carry comfort.
I can agree with the ultra compact part of that statement , however, the carry comfort is an entirely different matter. The leather sheath has absolutely no retention at all. The knife is supplied with a steel bead lanyard for carrying as a neck knife. The second you hang this around your neck, the knife will swing upside down, or even worse tilt down at a dangerous angle inviting an accident to happen. The one redeeming factor here is that within a few paces the knife would drop out of the sheath and not actually be hanging around your neck anymore as I said previously the sheath has no retention.
Now for the most important part the blade itself. Straight out of the box the blade was not what I would call sharp and screamed for a touch up. Given that the business end of the blade is only 2 and 1/8 I broke out my Sharpmaker and started with the grey medium stones. Well according to my trusty permanent marker and jewellers glass, one side was 20 degrees and the other approximately 23 degrees. No biggy, but after a few minutes I realised that the 12C27 steel seems as hard as S30V, I think it is going to take a fair amount of patience to set matters to rights even with the small amount of blade length.
This is my first experience with 12C27 and I will post an update after I have set the angles up correctly and had a chance to assess the edge holding capabilities of the annoying little beast.
As far as the annoyance factor, this stems from the ergonomics or rather lack of, and most annoying of all How can I carry the thing? Obviously it wont cut it as a neck knife, it would either travel south and cut me in some really inconvenient place or end up lost the first time I carried it. On the other hand if I just pop it into my pocket, it will come out of the sheath and wait for my unwary fingers to dive into range. The only solution that seems to present itself at the moment is to carry it in a dedicated jacket pocket with a ranger band around it, or leave it in the front pocket of a fanny pack.
I truly wish I had saved the extra $20, and opted for the Micarta Handles that are more tapered and the Kydex sheath that I could tighten up and actually carry the knife with a bit of confidence.
I opted for the more expensive version with the stag scales and the leather sheath.
The ergonomics of the blade are not quite right, the stag scales are blocky and could have been angled further down where the scales meet the blade.
The Boker website describe it thus - This neck knife from Jesper Voxnaes will captivate you with its ultra compact design and carry comfort.
I can agree with the ultra compact part of that statement , however, the carry comfort is an entirely different matter. The leather sheath has absolutely no retention at all. The knife is supplied with a steel bead lanyard for carrying as a neck knife. The second you hang this around your neck, the knife will swing upside down, or even worse tilt down at a dangerous angle inviting an accident to happen. The one redeeming factor here is that within a few paces the knife would drop out of the sheath and not actually be hanging around your neck anymore as I said previously the sheath has no retention.
Now for the most important part the blade itself. Straight out of the box the blade was not what I would call sharp and screamed for a touch up. Given that the business end of the blade is only 2 and 1/8 I broke out my Sharpmaker and started with the grey medium stones. Well according to my trusty permanent marker and jewellers glass, one side was 20 degrees and the other approximately 23 degrees. No biggy, but after a few minutes I realised that the 12C27 steel seems as hard as S30V, I think it is going to take a fair amount of patience to set matters to rights even with the small amount of blade length.
This is my first experience with 12C27 and I will post an update after I have set the angles up correctly and had a chance to assess the edge holding capabilities of the annoying little beast.
As far as the annoyance factor, this stems from the ergonomics or rather lack of, and most annoying of all How can I carry the thing? Obviously it wont cut it as a neck knife, it would either travel south and cut me in some really inconvenient place or end up lost the first time I carried it. On the other hand if I just pop it into my pocket, it will come out of the sheath and wait for my unwary fingers to dive into range. The only solution that seems to present itself at the moment is to carry it in a dedicated jacket pocket with a ranger band around it, or leave it in the front pocket of a fanny pack.
I truly wish I had saved the extra $20, and opted for the Micarta Handles that are more tapered and the Kydex sheath that I could tighten up and actually carry the knife with a bit of confidence.
