Boker Reality based knife

I thought three inches was the minimum to induce shock - and the mark is well short of the "blood grooves" on the blade.

I'm not seeing features synchronized into a well thought out design.
 
Sharp Phil said:
Your actions and conduct will matter a lot more than the kind of knife used.
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You're probably right, but why give the DA fuel when there are better knives out there that don't have all the negative advetising and crap connected to them?

This thing is right up there with the Dork Ops knives IMO. Give me a BM Grip or an Spydie Endura over that thing any day.
 
The topic of the thread was this knife specifically, and hence we discussed it. I've never understood why, when someone asks about a given knife, so many of the responses are, "Get this one instead." Sure, there are better knives. There are worse knives. There are knives that are less 'tacticool' and knives that are more.

I own one of these and like it. I bought it of my own free will. It's a decent blade with features I like, useful for self-defense and relatively useless for basic utility. That's what it is. If I used it for self-defense, the name on the knife, or the features on it, are less of a liability than my own actions and the context in which they took place.
 
No argument there with me - you point a trait shared by many forumites here that I find objectionable: "I have an opinion, so I must be right!" - but they have no qualification to back anything up except typing ability, and if you question their background, you're demonized.

My thought on blade length related to inducing shock was based on the origin of the max 3" in law. Longer than that is considered more dangerous for medical reasons I've never seen fully explained.
 
Sharp Phil said:
If I used it for self-defense, the name on the knife, or the features on it, are less of a liability than my own actions and the context in which they took place.
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Quite right. But the point I was trying to make is that, even if you did everything properly, it's still the D.A. who decides whether or not to prosecute. The young men in the Duke Rape case ended up with an overzealous D.A. who ignored the evidence (or lack thereof) and went after them anyway!

Imagine having to deal with that guy! Someone like that will grab at any straws he can find. If your conduct was proper, and you did everything else right; he will grab for the least little thing he can.... Including the name and the Marketing behind your knife.
 
"Mr. Krambit, is it true, or not true, that the knife you said you used in 'self defense', had 'blood groves'? Blood groves that are specifically designed to cause more damage to the human then a knife without them?"

"Is it also true, that this was designed to be hidden so to look like the top of a pen when clipped to the pocket?"
 
rottwang said:
You should probably stay away from the Boker Plus product line. I gave them a chance, bought one of their knives but it was a cheap Chi-Com made knife like all the other cheap Chinese Communist knives and fell apart in no time.

And CRKT is an American company. (even if the knife is outsourced to Taiwan at least some of that $ makes it back).
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According to Phil's review, the RBK is 440C made in Taiwan. So much for judging knives based on (mistaken) political factors.

The Boker Subcom and Trance are also Boker Plus, and thye are tough, well-made knives. Are you sure you didn't have a Boker Magnum fall apart on you?
 
rottwang said:
You should probably stay away from the Boker Plus product line. I gave them a chance, bought one of their knives but it was a cheap Chi-Com made knife like all the other cheap Chinese Communist knives and fell apart in no time.
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Your post is overly harsh...

I am holding a Boker Plus Subcom Fixed Blade designed by an American (Chad Los Banos) and it is very well made in in the USA.
 
the white line is so politically incorrect
what're you going to say when people ask you what it is?
"oh, that's how deep i have to go to kill you"
;)
 
Sorry for hijacking, just thought i'd share anecdotes about prc related knives to defend my earlier opinion. never handled one of these jim wagner knives so i won't waste your time by commenting further on it.

Tactical said:
Your post is overly harsh...

I am holding a Boker Plus Subcom Fixed Blade designed by an American (Chad Los Banos) and it is very well made in in the USA.
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Well, I don't think it's overly harsh. My Boker Plus knife broke. :cool: i'm glad you have a well made knife.

Esav Benyamin said:
So much for judging knives based on (mistaken) political factors.

The Boker Subcom and Trance are also Boker Plus, and thye are tough, well-made knives. Are you sure you didn't have a Boker Magnum fall apart on you?
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I still have the retail box marked "Boker Plus". Ad copy from the knife includes the sentence: "This new series will be produced with strict instructions and quality checks by our well-known business partners in the Far East. " Despite that reassurance, the knife did fall apart on me. in the past i have had a PRC made knife fold on my hand (cutting three fingers) due to a lock failure. you'll have to forgive my zealous nature when it comes to this kind of thing.

I was only considering the rather broad tendancy of mainland Chinese made knives to have inconsistent quality. (out of eight knives i've personally owned that are made in the PRC, a full half of them have either failed during use or consistently fail the spine whack test.)

Despite my attraction to the Boker designs, I wouldn't bother buying another PRC made Boker Plus from an online retailer (the only local knife stores are either super high end or sell frost and m-tech knives to thugs) and would advise a friend to avoid the lower cost Boker knives without being able to handle it first before buying.

this is not to rip on the manufacturer or my countrymen (yes i'm Chinese) just a suggestion to spend your hard earned $ better than i did. i still want one of the boker ceramic pocket knives. they look sweet.
 
The Far East includes Japan & Taiwan. Subcom & Trance are made in Taiwan, not the PRC. Kershaw, for example, is a subdivision of the Japanese manufacturer Kai Cutlery, which owns & operates a factory in mainland China. I would trust the quality of those knives implicitly.

Any company can slip up on quality control, and perhaps Boker did allow their Plus line to fail them by relying on cheap mainland Chinese manufacturing. Maybe that's why the line seems to be made in Taiwan now. I'm not disputing your knife's failure, but I don't find it typical of the line today.

By the way, save your money on the ceramic blades. They are fragile, subject to chipping or shattering, NOT especially sharp, and difficult to the point of impossible to resharpen by any but the most skillful user.

I have the Delta, which I got second-hand, and it's a fun knife, but strangely unbalanced -- a delicate ceramic blade and an all-but-indestructible titanium handle. I think of it as my Star Trek knife, the sort of thing Mr. Spock would carry. But it is not a serious tool.
 
rottwang said:
I was only considering the rather broad tendancy of mainland Chinese made knives to have inconsistent quality. (out of eight knives i've personally owned that are made in the PRC, a full half of them have either failed during use or consistently fail the spine whack test.)

Despite my attraction to the Boker designs, I wouldn't bother buying another PRC made Boker Plus from an online retailer (the only local knife stores are either super high end or sell frost and m-tech knives to thugs) and would advise a friend to avoid the lower cost Boker knives without being able to handle it first before buying.
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It's cool. I'm with you on avoiding bad product. I just didn't think you should damn an entire product line (Boker Plus). The Taiwan and US Subcoms are great. I think Sal said it best. Something to this extent: "Pay for a cheap Chinese product and that's what you will get. Pay for a well made Chinese product and you will get one"
 
Thanks Essav, Tactical, for making it clear that despite the loudness of my objections i really didn't know anything! :D

Esav Benyamin said:
By the way, save your money on the ceramic blades. They are fragile, subject to chipping or shattering, NOT especially sharp, and difficult to the point of impossible to resharpen by any but the most skillful user.

I have the Delta, which I got second-hand, and it's a fun knife, but strangely unbalanced -- a delicate ceramic blade and an all-but-indestructible titanium handle. I think of it as my Star Trek knife, the sort of thing Mr. Spock would carry. But it is not a serious tool.
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Sounds like a super-expensive obsidian knife :(

Esav Benyamin said:
The Far East includes Japan & Taiwan. Subcom & Trance are made in Taiwan, not the PRC. Kershaw, for example, is a subdivision of the Japanese manufacturer Kai Cutlery, which owns & operates a factory in mainland China. I would trust the quality of those knives implicitly.
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I agree about the Kershaw China-made knives. Had a Vapor that performed very well.
 
The funny thing about the Boker Delta handle is, they use it for other blades, of good steel. They use the same handle shape in other materials, also with good steel. It's a standard handle shape for them, probably why they tossed the ceramic blade on it, not paying much attention to the mismatch.
 
There's also the question of expected and realstic use per blade type. If your knife breaks in normal use, there's a problem. If you break the tip of the Reality Based Blade, I wouldn't be at all surprised, given its shape and thickness. That's the trade-off for a needle tip like that. It's not a utility blade and shouldn't be used for utility.
 
DEA said:
the white line is so politically incorrect
what're you going to say when people ask you what it is?
"oh, that's how deep i have to go to kill you"
;)
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That white line makes no sense to me.

If I'm forced to stab a violent attacker, my adrenalin is going to be pumping so hard, I doubt I'm going to stab him only up to the white line. Let's be realistic.

What am I supposed to do, stab him just a bit? Then say "Hold on while I check if I'm up against the line." I'm sure my attacker will be polite enough to wait for me while I take a peek at the blade.

Am I fighting for my very existence.... or checking the oil underneath the hood of my car?! :rolleyes:
 
What I usually do with my new knives is put my own white line on them.
This takes a bit of trial and error. It's important to get the correct stabbing
depth and each knife is a bit different. First I get a cute small furry animal and....

I really don't think the white line is for establishing a stabbing depth.
That's just silly. About as silly as my post was going to be.
 
i read in tacknives magazine the line is for stabbing depth FWIW.

of that i am certain, i found it odd myself ya would put a line on a knife to indicate sufficient penetration, but maybe thats just me lol.

that said i think they look ok, esp for the $$, ya could probably do better or worse in selecting a edc knife for SD.

i dont know that its any kind of radical improvement over anything else though.
 
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