Boker Walter Brend

[Chang]

Are the Boker Brend Tactical Folders worth buying? Retail price is about $100, can get for about $70. Is it worth the money? I have heard horror stories about it having poorly ground G-10 scales, and that the liners are sharp enough on the edges to cut your fingers. Don't sound like fun to me. Who has experience with these?

-Chang the Asian Janitorial Apparatus

 

[edrozen]

I have all 3, and I love them. (Cocobolo, G-10 and damascus). I haven't had any problems with the knife, and I have heard from other people they like this knife also. It locks up very solidly and has a good construction overall. Someone said they didn't like the rough thumbstud, but I love it. You can always sand it down a little, if you want, I guess.

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EdRozen-On the cutting edge of finding out what the cutting edge is....

 

[Senator]

Here's my review from last year. Hopefully things have improves since then.

The first thing you notice is the heft. Nice solid feel to it. The G-10 scales have a good grippy finish to them. The Ti bolsters are angled - a nice touch. There is a noticable difference in the thickness of the scales and bolsters. There is a pretty good "step" where the bolsters and scales meet. This, combined with an extremely tight clip and the grippy G-10, can make unclipping the knife from your pocket a chore. The Boker shield is glued/epoxied into the non-clip side of the knife. The shield on my knife does not sit evenly into the scale.

The clip is a fairly standard Benchmade/Spyderco job with one major exception - there are only two screws. There appears to be room for a third screw, so I don't know why they didn't add one. The clip screws are Phillips head instead of the usual Torx. The clip is mounted high for deep pocket carry.

The dual thumb studs are very nicely done. They are big and have that William Henry Spirograph-type texture on them. These are some of the best studs on the market IMO.

The blade is centered when closed and has no side-to-side play. The back is an open design, whick IMHO is very nice. The edges where the scales and liners meet are even all the way around. However, the seams where the bolsters and liners meet are not finished well. It appears that there may be several places where these areas have been soldered, then ground down to create a seamless joint. This *may* simply be areas where they ground them without soldering, but whatever they did here created very uneven finish work. These outside seams show gaps in places and seamless appearances in others. My biggest problem is on the inside edge of the liners. All the way around the knife this edge is very sharp. I feel sure that if I slide my finger down this edge that I would get cut. I *will* be taking the dremel to these edges.

Opening the knife is a pleasure. The detent is decent. The opening/closing action is one of the smoothest I've ever felt out of a production knife. When open, there is no side-to-side blade play. There is, however, some up-and-down play. Using my fingernail, I can pull the locking liner over to the right just a little more which, when held in place, results in a good lockup. However, once I release the liner it goes back to the left leaving the vertical blade play. I suppose that taking the knife apart and bending the liner more to the right would fix this, but I would rather not do that.

The blade itself is very nicely done. I like the design. The grind lines are all even. The satin finish is very nice. I also like the Brend logo. There is a slight recurve to the cutting edge. The edge bevels are even, but it didn't come as sharp as I would expect out of the box.

I like the new low-priced custom collaborations that the manufacturers are now producing. The CRKT Carson M-16's are extremely nice. I'm also eagerly awaiting the Outdoor Edge Magnas - Kit's Model 4 designs. A few months ago, I might have resigned myself to the fact that for the price (I paid $68 for the Boker), these shortcomings in the finishing touches were acceptable. However, having had the CRKT M16-03 for a few months has changed my thinking. The fit, finish, and execution of these Carson models are exceptional. I paid only $45 for my M16, and with the exception of the bead blasted blade finish, it far surpasses the Boker Brend in every single way. I may be disappointed in the future, but every one of these custom collaberations are going to have to at least come close to the CRKT/Carson models in the price/finish/performance categories to satisfy me. If Kit and CRKT can do it, others can too. Boker and Brend did not do it with this knife.

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Kelly

SenatorsPlace.com
AKTI Member #A000289

Deo Vindice

 

[moorerwc]

I started lurking here to find out more about this knife and after ordering one I have to agree with Senator's review.
(please, forgive the lengthy, newbie reply as a relate my experiences and ask questions)
I bought my g10 and bolsters model to replace a Boker tactical liner that I lost at Mardi Gras. I've also had the problems that many others have described. I sent back a knife that had been very poorly fitted, blade grind was slightly uneven, and the blade rubbed against the liner--got back a replacement from Boker (they do have nice lifetime guarantee service) after about two weeks. This one is much better--very smooth, nice seams between the liner and bolster, good blade bevel. It took a few minutes to bend the tight clip out a bit.
But I do have two small complaints and one kinda big one--
-Boker removed the Brend maker's mark--it is now a simple rectangle "banner" instead of the full confederate battle flag.
-On my replacement knife there is no filed thumb bevel on the left side for better ambidextrous opening (my first knife had this left bevel).
-The allen screws (I don't think they are torx) are stripped. I can't disassemble the knife for cleaning, but I have found two pins-one under the boker medallion and one under the clip-so I don't think this knife is quite as easy to strip down as my super liner.
Can anyone tell me how to take this knife down? Or if not, can anyone suggest a good penetrative lube?

All that being said I truly am in love with the design of the knife. Considering the all G10 version (Anyone know which blade coating they use on the black one--Black-T or TiNi?)and the Cocobolo version _if_ I can find an early one with the Confederate flag etching and good fit and finish.

Also think this design would be good in a sub-3" blade with a range of scale materials--good for airport carry etc. because of its semi-PC looks.

-Chad

 

[MPower]

I also was offered these for about $65. Did not buy one as the serrations were cut VERY poorly, so much so that the teeth points were clearly flat, the cuts were too far apart. The knife seems of so-so quality. Do what I did and buy a Combat Talon 2 if you want a Brend blade

 

[Sergiusz Mitin]

Mine (bolstered G-10 model) is nicely performed, the only reservation I had on fairly tight pocket clip. But it took a moment only to bend it looser. Unusual opening stud is pretty comfortable. The checkered head provides reliable purchase and makes it easy to operate.
In my opinion this is very solid and well-made tactical folder, true thruster.
Yes, I agree with Moorerwc, the slight cutout in locking liner and back scale could make left-hand opening a bit more comfortable. It also could improve grip security due to more comfortable and reliable forefinger placing.
Moorerwc, you really do not need to take your knife apart for cleaning. Rinse it in running water, if it will not be enough use hot water or/and sharp stream. You can use also non-aggressive detergent, something for dish washing for example. After it get your knife dry (the best would be to blow it with compressed air) and lubricate it.
MILITEC Weapons Grade Synthetic Based Metal Conditioner does this job nicely.


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Sergiusz Mitin
gunwriter
Lodz, Poland

 

[Chubbs]

First of all, shop around if you're not in a hurry. I ordered my new one in cocobolo last month from a dealer who advertises here on the forum and it cost less than $55 shipped. Great value for the money, and you really do get the bangs for the bucks!

Everyone will have their own experiences and opinions, so here's mine...I have a set of large hands and the knife fits my hands okay. A little more heft would have been preferred, but would probably be too thick and heavy to be clipped inside your jeans front pocket. The knife feels quite solid and well balanced. The blade opens smoothly.

I've always preferred my one-handed folders to have thumbstuds, because it pivots and rotates the blade out more easily for me. The diamond textured thumbstuds are a nice touch and non-slipping. But after awhile, the textured thumbstuds will start chaffing the edge of your jean pockets. The clip does hold the knife nice and tight in your pocket, but as someone has mentioned before, it's only held by two phillips screws and there's a bit of play. These two phillips screws are quite soft and will easily strip.

The titanium liner lock is quite solid and has little or no play. The tension can easily be adjusted to your own personal taste via a small allen wrench. Unfortunately, Boker didn't take the time to finish the titanium bolsters a little better. The bolsters on my knife seem to have been just quickly done with a semi-rough finish. A smooth and polished finish would have been much preferred.

The cocobolo scales and the 440C blade is definitely the best attribute on my knife. The scales were nicely finished and oiled. The 3-3/4" 440C stainless steel blade is nice and solid. The blade came razor sharp out of the box and I was slicing newspapers from the get-go! The spine of the blade is nicely smoothed out. My knife must have been from the earlier version, so I have Walter Brend's flag trademark on the blade.

I did have one problem though...the blade tend to favor the clip side liner when the blade is in the close position. This began to rub after awhile. So I was about to disassemble the whole knife to see whether I had a warped blade. The first thing I did was remove the clip. Then I flicked the blade out and noticed that the rubbing went away. So, I immediately closed the blade and noticed the blade was back centered again. Even though there is very little pressure, the two phillip screws used to secure the clip (when screwed in tightly) will force the blade off center. This really shouldn't be happening, especially when you have strong titanium bolsters that the screws are threaded into.

As well, I also noticed that the slight gap between the (clip side) bolster and scale went away when I took the clip off. Everything was nice and flush (almost seamless). So, what the heck, I took the clip off (and kept it off) and just started carrying the knife in my jeans back pocket instead.

So hey, for under $55, this is quite a deal of a knife. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Chubbs (edited 05-01-2000).]