- Joined
- Nov 19, 2014
- Messages
- 2,633
I just got my first Boker knife, Boker Plus Exskelibur I.
Here are my first impressions.
Specifications:
Blade length: 3.50"
Closed length: 4.69"
Overall length: 8.12"
Handle thickness: 0.31"
Weight: 3.05 oz
Blade steel: S35VN
Blade thickness: 0.11"
I really like the Skellern/Burger design. It is very clean and concise yet functional.
And the knife is very slim and disappears in a pocket.
Mine has Ti scales. They are bead blasted and have a feel similar to that of Umnumzaan scales.
Each scale measures about 0.059 or 1.5 mm, and the knife itself is only 0.35 thick.
Very slim!
Here is a comparison with Manix2LW, GB1, and Umnumzaan (Exskelibur on the left end).
Side view with GB1 and Umnumzaan.
My blade is 0.105 (or 2.67 mm) thick. It is one of the thinnest frame-lock blades I have seen.
It is hollow-ground, but very shallowly.
The grind is very even, and the edge bevel is very even, too.
The thickness behind the edge is around 0.013" after sharpening at 15 DPS.
(Update: The S35VN steel works quite well in terms of edge retention. I have a feeling that it performs better than that on Umnumzaan)
It slices a tomato like a dream and outperformed my GEC Tiduoute #73 (not included in the video below).
[Youtube]9j86LjxDLr8[/Youtube]
The blue anodized clip looks great and works great. It comes as a tip-down carry clip.
I moved it right away to the other end.
It deploys without an effort.
This is my first front flipper, but it required no time for me to learn how to open it.
The blade rides on teflon (I think) washers not bearings.
Overall, the knife feels really good in hand. Great design, good finish, and very thin blade (finally!).
But there are some issues.
First, the screws are very tight and ridiculously soft! The knife comes with a torx screw. It cannot move the pivot screw. So I used my torx driver to unscrew the pivot. It became loose but did not come out and stuck in the middle. I also rounded the screw a bit during the process, although I put almost my entire weight on the tool. Since the lock side screw is not a torx but proprietary screw, I could not hold it. I managed to unscrew it by pushing the pivot against a rubber band. But it was ridiculously tight .. All other screws are also really soft and can be easily rounded, which I did on some (You can see my struggle on the second picture around the pivot area).
If you disassemble and clean a knife often, I would not recommend this knife.
(Update: I think now that it was due to overtightened screw. The knife was not priperly assembled, such that whoever assembled it in the factory overtightened the pivot screw to compensate for the misalignment. After aligning everything right, it is very easy to disassemble it without a special tool.)
Second, although lock-up is good on mine, the lock sticks. It is not super bad. Probably as bad as my Spyderco GB1. Sharpie on the blade tang helps, and I have to see how it breaks in. The spring is also quite strong.
(Update: The sharpie technique really helps. It is broken in a bit and easier to unlock, partly due to thickening of my thumb skin though.)
This could be my grail knife if the fit and hardware were better.
This is a great knife for the price.
I will look into the original Burger Exskelibur now and see that would be my grail or not.
Miso
Here are my first impressions.
Specifications:
Blade length: 3.50"
Closed length: 4.69"
Overall length: 8.12"
Handle thickness: 0.31"
Weight: 3.05 oz
Blade steel: S35VN
Blade thickness: 0.11"
I really like the Skellern/Burger design. It is very clean and concise yet functional.
And the knife is very slim and disappears in a pocket.
Mine has Ti scales. They are bead blasted and have a feel similar to that of Umnumzaan scales.
Each scale measures about 0.059 or 1.5 mm, and the knife itself is only 0.35 thick.
Very slim!
Here is a comparison with Manix2LW, GB1, and Umnumzaan (Exskelibur on the left end).
Side view with GB1 and Umnumzaan.
My blade is 0.105 (or 2.67 mm) thick. It is one of the thinnest frame-lock blades I have seen.
It is hollow-ground, but very shallowly.
The grind is very even, and the edge bevel is very even, too.
The thickness behind the edge is around 0.013" after sharpening at 15 DPS.
(Update: The S35VN steel works quite well in terms of edge retention. I have a feeling that it performs better than that on Umnumzaan)
It slices a tomato like a dream and outperformed my GEC Tiduoute #73 (not included in the video below).
[Youtube]9j86LjxDLr8[/Youtube]
The blue anodized clip looks great and works great. It comes as a tip-down carry clip.
I moved it right away to the other end.
It deploys without an effort.
This is my first front flipper, but it required no time for me to learn how to open it.
The blade rides on teflon (I think) washers not bearings.
Overall, the knife feels really good in hand. Great design, good finish, and very thin blade (finally!).
But there are some issues.
First, the screws are very tight and ridiculously soft! The knife comes with a torx screw. It cannot move the pivot screw. So I used my torx driver to unscrew the pivot. It became loose but did not come out and stuck in the middle. I also rounded the screw a bit during the process, although I put almost my entire weight on the tool. Since the lock side screw is not a torx but proprietary screw, I could not hold it. I managed to unscrew it by pushing the pivot against a rubber band. But it was ridiculously tight .. All other screws are also really soft and can be easily rounded, which I did on some (You can see my struggle on the second picture around the pivot area).
If you disassemble and clean a knife often, I would not recommend this knife.
(Update: I think now that it was due to overtightened screw. The knife was not priperly assembled, such that whoever assembled it in the factory overtightened the pivot screw to compensate for the misalignment. After aligning everything right, it is very easy to disassemble it without a special tool.)
Second, although lock-up is good on mine, the lock sticks. It is not super bad. Probably as bad as my Spyderco GB1. Sharpie on the blade tang helps, and I have to see how it breaks in. The spring is also quite strong.
(Update: The sharpie technique really helps. It is broken in a bit and easier to unlock, partly due to thickening of my thumb skin though.)
This could be my grail knife if the fit and hardware were better.
This is a great knife for the price.
I will look into the original Burger Exskelibur now and see that would be my grail or not.
Miso
Last edited:
score! Thanks for your short review. I was eyeing hard these new Exskeliburs versions, good upgrading with the steel and handle materials :thumbup:! I also like a lot the ones with carbon fiber handles. I am really thinking about getting a 2 (the smaller), still deciding if Ti or CF
for the price its really a deal.
