Boker Plus Exsk2 version of the Burger Exk1 Review

[Bolt]

Well, it came today. I received my Exsk2. After fondling it for awhile, I can honestly say I want to order the real deal from Trevor Burger. I am very fond of the design, and it is light as a feather. You barely feel it in your pocket. I am glad that I made the purchase, and I have ordered the larger one to give me a good size comparison before I place an order for the real thing. There are a few issues that I have with the Boker version however. It feels as if they ground the area on the back of the blade short of where it was designed to be. The area where your thumb makes traction with the jimping to allow one hand opening is protruding from the top area of the handle from what I can tell on the Burger, but it is flush on the Boker. This makes it very tricky to open with your thumb. It can be done, but from the pics I have seen of the Burger, this area is a little pronounced to give traction for opening. The grinds are a little rough on this area as well. The word CHINA is stamped on the under side of the blade where it makes contact with the liner lock. I will be removing that with my dremel. The nail nick is just plain awful looking, and servers no purpose for me, not to mention that it seems too small. The tip of the liner lock where it makes contact with the blade is all chewed up, and the back corner of the handle has some off angles to the finished sanding.
It has the fit and finish of something from China, and the price was cheap, so I am not holding it to very high standards. It has done its job in that it convinced me to buy the real deal and get the Burger. I felt it better to risk 40 bucks and not like it, then rather spend 200 and not like it. The tolerances of the Burger are that of a custom, and will truly make this little knife shine. I can not wait to get one. Let the saving begin.
I will post some pics as soon as I can this weekend.
Thanks for reading.

 

[jprice76]

Where do I get one?

 

[Bolt]

Here are the pics of the problem areas. Compare them to the pics that have been posted of the Burger and you will see the issues.

 

[Bolt]

And some more:

 

[G. Scott H.]

I'm not familiar with the original versions of these knives, but I was under the impression that the larger one had the one-hand opening feature, while the smaller one used the nail nick exclusively; however, since the jimping appears to wrap a short way around the back of the tang, perhaps I'm mistaken. As to your other observations, I agree that there are some definite rough spots that Boker should get on top of before the next run. In particular, the nail nick looks poorly executed and too small, and the lock spring and tang could use some smoothing out/cleaning up. The choice of phillips screws on the pocket clip is odd, though that's more aesthetic than functional, and they could probably be replaced. How's the lockup and overall "action" of the knife?

Btw, there's a vid on youtube of the bigger version and it seems much nicer all around.

 

[gull wing]

Oh heck, I planed getting one of those. There are a lot of gigs in that one. What a turn off! It's the not quite ready for prime time player.

 

[J D Wijbenga]

The small version does not have the opening lip on the blade to be legal to cary in Germany. The big one and the custom do have it.

JD

 

[Bolt]

Cool, thanks for clearing that up for me. Now I do not think that they forgot about it, or made a boo-boo.

 

[TJT]

That one looks a little rough, and not up to the ones I checked out when they came in.
If you want to, send it back, and I'll get you a better one.
And J D is correct, small one, no lip, big one, lip.
Terry

 

[Lycosa]

Upgrade this folder and it will be a hit.