Boker Tree Brand Stockman: Good Value?

AFAustin

AFAustin

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Jun 8, 2004
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I have noticed that a Boker Tree Brand Stockman (jigged bone) with a carbon blade can be had for around $40 shipped. I thought that was pretty reasonable for a Solingen made knife. Now I see that Boker Tree Brand has a new Stockman with a stainless blade that, likewise in jigged bone, can be had for around $28 shipped. That seems so inexpensive as to fit in the "if it sounds too good to be true..." category.

Just wondering what opinions there are on Boker Tree in general, and on the new stainless models if anyone has knowledge of them.

Thanks.

Andrew
 
I'm not familiar with the new Boker knives (though the vintage knives were quite nice) but those prices seem to be comparable to the price of stock knives from Case and the economy line from Queen.
 
I Have A Boker Tree Knife. I Love It, I'm Not Exactly Sure What Style It Is, But This Knife Is Excellent. Fit And Finish Are Amazing, No Gaps, No Wobble, Built To Last, And Beautiful. Also Mine Is Made In The U.S. So I Think It May Be An Older Model.
 
There si quite a range of prices, degrees of finish, materials and sources covered by tree brand
 
Thanks for the replies. I may've found the answer here, where it is stated they are assembled in Germany from Chinese parts: link to active ebay auction removed by mods per guidelines
Andrew
 
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The carbon German made ones represent excellent value. I've got Congress, Stockman, Whittler, Pen,Copperhead, Canoe and a very good lockback. No gaps or wobble, scales radiused well, some rough ends to the springs but this is cosmetic and does not affect the in hand feel. Their carbon sharpens up really keenly too. no complaints on any of these, so yes, get one!
 
Like many other old knife brands,Boker has several different lines of knives. For the most part,Boker Tree Brand slip joints are made in Solingen,Germany from German parts. Boker Tree Brand fixed blades and Boker Arbolito are either assembled in Spain from German Parts or made in South America,Argentina I think. The Boker Magnum and Boker Bonsai lines are the "International" knives. These are made mostly in China. I believe AFAustin may have gotten it backwards. The knife he refers to was probably "assembled" in China,from "German" parts.
The Solingen, Gemany Boker Tree Brand slip joints ARE a bargain. They still carry the old time,old world quality at a very affordable price. The others,well,I refer to the old quote,"Caveat Emptor" or Buyer Beware!
 
Remember too, that Boker has many knives outsourced to be made all over the world.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but look closely at the patterns for some of their traditional folders in particular and you will almost certainly recognize the exact blade style, exact dimensions and choice of materials as being the same on many other knives such as Rough Rider, Remington (Chinese), etc. I have found this to be true on the least expensive of Boker's traditional knife models. Stainless blades (*hint*hint*) might be a good indicator of this as well as most inexpensive folders massed produced, them badged in the Pacific Rim are made from stainless.

A couple of gun shows past I saw a table of these stainless, very affordable Bokers, and except for the markings I couldn't distinguish them from the other knives in their price class that were "badged" items.

That being said, I am getting ready to purchase another EYE brand carbon stockman this afternoon. I will be asking where it is made/assembled/finished, but the answer probably won't deter me from the purchase. I like their knives and their overall quality.

Robert
 
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Thank you, gentlemen, for the helpful replies.

Also, apologies for what I guess was an improper link to an ebay auction. I thought it was OK for my purposes under the rules, but I guess not. E-mail sent to Blues to help me understand the parameters on this.

Andrew
 
No apologies necessary whatsoever, Andrew. Your email has been replied to. Let's please keep any further discussion of the matter to email so as not to sidetrack the thread. :thumbup:
 
I have about five Boker Tree and also Heckel knives.
They are all lovely knives
They are workers that will hold up to fair use.

They are nicely put together, and the bone is very well done

The Congress is one of my favorites in all my collection
The stockman is a working and elegent knife
The Whittler is a split spring and a coke bottle shape
The Canoe has this wide spear blade almost like a paddle
A nice set of knives

And the all have a lazer? ingraving

And the patina.
Do not forget the patina



Also I have a split spring whitter from Heckell (sp) in bone in stainless, takes a razor sharp edge and gives a good working edge.



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If I wanted a decent stockman for the price you are looking, I agree with many of the above. The Bokers from Solingen, Arbolito, & the USA Bokers area all decent quality. I would not pay $40 for a Boker Magnum Plus or thier Bonsai lines due to different levels of over-seas quality or you get what you pay for. IMHO
 
Thanks, and thanks for the great pics, neeman---that's some pretty red bone!

Andrew
 
Note - the Solingen-made 7588 stockmen tend to run ~ $40 or so at on-line dealers; they are 3-3/8 in long closed and are almost invariably carbon steel. I've noticed some dealers offering a similar knife of late for about $10 less; however, they are stainless, and, digging some, I've learned that they're 'manufactured in China and assembled in Solingen'. Doesn't mean they're not good, they're just different.

Regards -
 
I have 2 Boker Plus, stockman and congress with 440C blades and less than 20 buks each. they are very good knives.
 
I had a chance to communicate with a Boker rep today about another matter, and I went ahead and also asked about the subject of my original post.

The answer I received as to the two Stockmen is that Model #110728 (the lower priced stainless model) is assembled in China, and then sent to their plant in Solingen, Germany, where it is completed…the fit & finish is done there. Model #7474JRB is completely made in Germany.

Andrew
 
Those interested in the Böker Stockman, might like to look at the Pay it Forward thread that's currently running.
 
I have 2 nice Tree Brand Stockmans with carbon blades. I was unhappy with a med. stockman and a whittler that I purchased from a vendor. One of the blades on the whittler wouldn't even close. I had to go through Bokers service department to get a knife with no gaps or bent liners. Even then, I had to send one of them back and ended up with 2 large stockman. Although the service dept. was accommodating, t was difficult to get a knife with good fit and finish and I've personally avoided the brand after my experience.
 
ironically i think you might find the boker asian made slipjoint to have higher consistency than the lower end german made models. relative to the model and price, of course.

i've got lots of bokers, but three boker tree brands, 2 fellows in carbon steel and bone and one copperhead in washboard green bone. none say "made in.....?" anywhere all three say soligen germany at the base of the blade, so i'll assume made in germany, but i don't know that for sure.

all three had issues. the two fellows had cracked bones and one had a largish chip missing near the edge. the other one also wasn't sharp at all. sent them back to Terry, who sent them to germany to get repaired, back in mid september of this year. still haven't seen them show up yet.

the copperhead had one of the pins driven deep into the scales, both sides, or is too short so it's recessed on both sides quite a bit. sorry no pics on hand as i type this, but i could take some. the other pins are okay looking and the only other issue with it was it was labeled as green bone, but one side is grey and the other more of a blue gray. the grey side tends to look a little green in the correct lighting, but they are different colors without a doubt. everything else was good with it.

point being is in three examples all three had issues, that a collector would not be happy with i assume. i'm more of a user, and so deep long cracked seperated bone and missing chunks i couldn't deal with, but the short pin doesn't bug me. so for a user they are a good value, depending on the model. although one could argue easily a case is a better value. for a collector who likes tight fit and finish, i think chances are sooner or later they'll disappoint. mind you these weren't the high dollar models. more of a low to mid range for what i assume is german made stuff.

that said i still like boker and their entire line has allot of nice knives for lots of tastes. so i will keep buying models i like.
 
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