boker kwaiken disappointment

Got my first Kwaiken today.. love the looks of the knife. The opening issue is a flaw, but I planned on turning mine into a flipper. One thing I'm not happy about is the my thumb stud wiggles. Even if I crank the screw down, there seems to be two issues. 1. the area of the knife where the thumb disk sits has a hump where they tapped it, so if I put the disc on and look from the side, I can see light on either side of where it screws down. 2. The screw must be too long b/c even if I crank it down it still wobbles, meaning the screw isn't tight to the disc. I'll have to decide if I want to try and file/sand this area down flat, try shortening the screw, both or send it back. My box came opened from the online shop I got it from so I was worried from jump. When I noticed the wobble in the thumb disc, I know it was a return probably put back in stock.

On the plus side, the blade is centered and is smooth once past the detent.
 
Lycosa, I'm with ya. So after work I headed down to the shop (that is being generous) in the basement. I filed and sanded the notch in the blade flat where the thumb disc site. I also took a bit off of the screw (testing as I went) and got a nice tight fit.

After that I decided to move on and do a modification. I wasn't sure I wanted to make this a flipper... yet, but I wasn't happy with the thumb deployment area being so compact and steep. So I got out the dremel and opened up the area on the right side (non-liner lock side). As I was grinding it down I was wondering why the chambered/beveled the inside of that side instead of the outside which would make more sense. Anyway, after a bit of grinding, testing and then polishing I was happy. Next was to do the same to the scale. Scale didn't turn out 100% as nice as I'd like it, but I plan on making a few different variations of scales for this one in G10, micarta and maybe carbon fiber (that stuff is scary, even with a good respirator). Oh, an that backspacer has to go too. Maybe a nice bright piece of G10 (blue/orange/green or even some moonglow acrylic).

Here is how it turned out and it flicks out nice and easy, but I prefer a nice smooth manual deployment over a flick.
dsc0384rw.jpg
 
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One more thing.. anyone else notice how close the blade is to the back of the handle when closed. I have a few thin cuts in the top layer of skin on my fingers from taking this thing apart and putting it back together. If you press hard on the back of the handle when closed unknowingly, be careful you may get nicked. Especially the closer you get to the pivot end.
 
Hawk- Nice job!
Yep, that edge is close to the back of the handle.
The second run will have all the bugs out. I still love this design.
rolf
 
I like this mod^
It still looks good and it looks like you fixed the thumb clearance issues nicely.
I think this looks much better than the flipper mod.
two thumbs up man.
 
I still really dig the design. I like when there is availability for those of us w/o expensive machinery to do some of our own pimping. This is an ideal candidate.
 
It really is a clean looking design. It feels nice in hand also. I'm gonna wait for these extended thumb discs and if they don't work out i'll probably go your route.
 
I love to get Luc Burnley's take on this first production run on his folder design.
 
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Interesting thread... The Kwaiken looks like a nice folder. I may get one in the future, particularly if Boker makes a version that is similar to some of these mods. I like the idea of a larger access to the thumbstud, maybe a flipper, and lowering the tip a bit to bury it a bit farther in the handle. Exposed tips on closed folders are a pet peeve of mine.

Regardless, kudos to Boker for this collab. :thumbup:
 
If we're making a wish list..drill out the non-locking side liner. Taking a little weight off this thing would be nice as well.
 
One more DIY fix.. Setting your lockup.
I've noticed if you have the pivot out and scale off so you can get to the back spacer screws. If you loosen those screws, put the pivot screw back in w/o the scale back on, and depending on if you push up or down on one liner side on the pivot end (toward the butt/clip end) will affect your lockup (early/late). So if you want to set your lock to a certain place, or if yours came from the factory way off, this is a way to fix it.

Does that make sense? I've had mine from half way across to where it won't even engage (WAY TOO EARLY). So play around with it.
 
Hawk45 said:
One more DIY fix.. Setting your lockup.
I've noticed if you have the pivot out and scale off so you can get to the back spacer screws. If you loosen those screws, put the pivot screw back in w/o the scale back on, and depending on if you push up or down on one liner side on the pivot end (toward the butt/clip end) will affect your lockup (early/late). So if you want to set your lock to a certain place, or if yours came from the factory way off, this is a way to fix it.

Does that make sense? I've had mine from half way across to where it won't even engage (WAY TOO EARLY). So play around with it.
Click to expand...

I did something like what you to fix the detente. For my application, I only needed to take the lock-side scale off to expose the lock bar. Once I put the pivot back in, I can push against the lock bar to lessen the detente. l check detente by opening and closing the blade after each push against the lock bar. Once the detente is perfect, the lock bar should lock up nicely without going too far. Mine is at my ideal 50%.

I have tried to do what you did to fix blade centering, but after lessening the lock bar tension, I blade sits perfectly center now. I think that the two biggest issue with this knife is the strong detente and the exposed tip of the knife. The under-sized thumb disk didn't help either.

I was planning on drilling holes into the liner to reduce weight, but I like the solid feel of it when it's closed. I feel like I can use it as a Kubaton if I have to.
 
I use liner lint to start impromptu fires as a trick. Think of it as emergency storage. :-)
 
Well... there's an idea.^ :D
I had a custom folder in where one of the handle screws would catch lint and when the lint got damp it would rust the blade at that spot. I would see that little rust spot on the blade and could not figure out what was causing it. This was a carbon steel blade though.
 
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