- Joined
- Aug 30, 2007
- Messages
- 5,483
So not too long ago, I was in here asking everyone what they thought of the Boker Mil Tanto as well as a couple other knives as work and camp tools. Many people pointed out some very harsh opinions of the Boker. As far as the tanto shape, I too have never been a fan, especially for woods work. Some of the things pointed out in various threads that the Boker lacked in were:
Original design- obviously Boker yanked the blade design from CRKT and the handle design from the Striders. (what's funny is that people were mad when all Boker really did was took the best part of each and put them together. I actually liked the Striders' handle but not their blade and I liked CRKT blade but not their handle. So basically Boker built the best of both worlds. lol)
Materials and origin- A lot of people were concerned by the fact that they are producing their Plus line in China. The fact is though that 440C is what they are using for the blade, which is more than acceptable for a folder in it's price range of really good quality.
There are more, but these seemed to be the main two.
Here are the facts. I am actually pretty impressed with this knife. I bought it with really low expectations and got it pretty much just to destroy and see what it could put up with. I haven't done too much with it that you wouldn't use a regular knife for over the span of about 6 months, but I've packed it all into a couple of weeks.
As far as initial fit and finish, which is usually the reason people are nervous about country of origin, it was great! No blade play and everything was lined up nicely. If you hadn't told me it wasn't made in Germany, I would have thought it was. Blade was pretty damn sharp right out of the box. It wasn't hair-popping, but really close. Handle material and finish were perfect, no rough spots or visible nics.
This knife was used to open boxes and uncrate motorcycles since the day I got it. Uncrating motorcycles involves cutting ratchet straps and those really crazy thick plastic fabric reinforced straps as well as other parts of the crates. It's tought duty on any knife. The 440C blade held up great. It hasn't developed any blade play yet due to those chores. The blade is still in great shape visually as well. You can tell it has been used well, but it's certainly not all marred up or anything.
I also took this knife out on a few occasions to see what it would stand up to as far as elements. It has been through sand, mud, water, salt water, saw dust, etc. and when I say "been through" I mean soaked and moved around in to make sure it gets in there real good. The action of the knife has loosened up just a little bit, but not much at all. It's still a very tight knife and you have to put some force behind it to flick it open.
That wasn't enought testing. It became time to get crazy on it. I took 5 small logs that were approx. 4 inches in diameter and a steel bar that was 2"x1/2"x1' and went to work. I batonned the first log in half through the middle about halfway up against the grain. Chips flew and it smoked through it like any other blade. I took one of those pieces and chopped a "V" in it about 3 inches deep. It wasn't very comfortable for chopping, you'd definitely get blisters from doing it a lot, but it got it done. Then I used my hunk of steel and the knife to baton split the remainder of the logs into 6-8 sticks each. Worked like a champ. After all of that, it was still shapr enough to cut well and there was only about a 1/2 mm of blade play that has developed. The knife sustained an incredible amount less damage than I thought it would.
Now please understand, I'm not saying that this knife is ideal for any of these woods chores and better than any REAL woods knife. I tested it this way simply to see what it would put up with and this is some pretty nasty work for ANY knife.
As far as the tanto style goes. I'm still not the biggest fan of it for a woods knife, but for a work knife, its actually not too shabby. I've found several ways to make that tip shape useful (the pointy part on the belly right before the real tip) and it is kind of handy.
Also, the serrations worked great for all of the straps and ropes. Makes quick work of all of that stuff.
The double guard flippers worked exactly as I had hoped. They kept my hand stuck where it should stay no matter what was on it. Those things do a great job, and also make it easy to open in several different ways.
All in all, I must say that this is A GREAT KNIFE for the 33 bucks you'll spend on it. For everything I used it for at work, it is really nice and has held up very well. The knife is still kicking strong and still takes a satanic edge. It's a damn good work horse for all crate killing, unstrapping, and general mechanic, oil soaked applications. Once you get past the design rippoff aspect and the country of origin (which doesn't matter with this knife) for the money, it's pretty impressive. I dig it.
Here are pictures of it after everything it has been through. Sorry for the crappiness of the pics. My camera is down so I had to take these with the phone, but they show how good of condition the knife is still in.
Original design- obviously Boker yanked the blade design from CRKT and the handle design from the Striders. (what's funny is that people were mad when all Boker really did was took the best part of each and put them together. I actually liked the Striders' handle but not their blade and I liked CRKT blade but not their handle. So basically Boker built the best of both worlds. lol)
Materials and origin- A lot of people were concerned by the fact that they are producing their Plus line in China. The fact is though that 440C is what they are using for the blade, which is more than acceptable for a folder in it's price range of really good quality.
There are more, but these seemed to be the main two.
Here are the facts. I am actually pretty impressed with this knife. I bought it with really low expectations and got it pretty much just to destroy and see what it could put up with. I haven't done too much with it that you wouldn't use a regular knife for over the span of about 6 months, but I've packed it all into a couple of weeks.
As far as initial fit and finish, which is usually the reason people are nervous about country of origin, it was great! No blade play and everything was lined up nicely. If you hadn't told me it wasn't made in Germany, I would have thought it was. Blade was pretty damn sharp right out of the box. It wasn't hair-popping, but really close. Handle material and finish were perfect, no rough spots or visible nics.
This knife was used to open boxes and uncrate motorcycles since the day I got it. Uncrating motorcycles involves cutting ratchet straps and those really crazy thick plastic fabric reinforced straps as well as other parts of the crates. It's tought duty on any knife. The 440C blade held up great. It hasn't developed any blade play yet due to those chores. The blade is still in great shape visually as well. You can tell it has been used well, but it's certainly not all marred up or anything.
I also took this knife out on a few occasions to see what it would stand up to as far as elements. It has been through sand, mud, water, salt water, saw dust, etc. and when I say "been through" I mean soaked and moved around in to make sure it gets in there real good. The action of the knife has loosened up just a little bit, but not much at all. It's still a very tight knife and you have to put some force behind it to flick it open.
That wasn't enought testing. It became time to get crazy on it. I took 5 small logs that were approx. 4 inches in diameter and a steel bar that was 2"x1/2"x1' and went to work. I batonned the first log in half through the middle about halfway up against the grain. Chips flew and it smoked through it like any other blade. I took one of those pieces and chopped a "V" in it about 3 inches deep. It wasn't very comfortable for chopping, you'd definitely get blisters from doing it a lot, but it got it done. Then I used my hunk of steel and the knife to baton split the remainder of the logs into 6-8 sticks each. Worked like a champ. After all of that, it was still shapr enough to cut well and there was only about a 1/2 mm of blade play that has developed. The knife sustained an incredible amount less damage than I thought it would.
Now please understand, I'm not saying that this knife is ideal for any of these woods chores and better than any REAL woods knife. I tested it this way simply to see what it would put up with and this is some pretty nasty work for ANY knife.
As far as the tanto style goes. I'm still not the biggest fan of it for a woods knife, but for a work knife, its actually not too shabby. I've found several ways to make that tip shape useful (the pointy part on the belly right before the real tip) and it is kind of handy.
Also, the serrations worked great for all of the straps and ropes. Makes quick work of all of that stuff.
The double guard flippers worked exactly as I had hoped. They kept my hand stuck where it should stay no matter what was on it. Those things do a great job, and also make it easy to open in several different ways.
All in all, I must say that this is A GREAT KNIFE for the 33 bucks you'll spend on it. For everything I used it for at work, it is really nice and has held up very well. The knife is still kicking strong and still takes a satanic edge. It's a damn good work horse for all crate killing, unstrapping, and general mechanic, oil soaked applications. Once you get past the design rippoff aspect and the country of origin (which doesn't matter with this knife) for the money, it's pretty impressive. I dig it.
Here are pictures of it after everything it has been through. Sorry for the crappiness of the pics. My camera is down so I had to take these with the phone, but they show how good of condition the knife is still in.
