Custom Knife Factory - Anton Malyshev Elf

Lost Cosmonaut said:
I have two uncoated Daboias on the way to me that should be here in the next week or so (they are coming from Russia since they had them on sale the other day), if you'd like one to borrow to review.

I know it's Kevin John and all, but it is a unique design that isn't a knockoff and I'm all for supporting Chinese brands attempting to "straighten up" (even if that doesn't seem to be totally the case with Kevin John). Oh well. The problem is, the design is 100% my kind of thing, with a tritium icing on the cake, that's why I couldn't resist.
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That would be awesome!
 
The Duboia flippers are all gone and/or discontinued at KnifeCenter!
 
Scrim said:
Here is the reality according to the buyer at Knifecenter.com -- They will warranty (exchange) a knife by CKF for 60 days...after that, if the knife breaks in anyway, a detent ball pops out, whatever, they, Knifecenter, CAN NOT WARRANTY CKF product...and THEY HAVE NO IDEA if they can get CKF to do anything. CKF offers nothing as far as warranty or repair services thus far. Laughable and totally amateur level, in my opinion. Knifecenter.com says they will "do their best" but can promise nothing. Buyer beware. They also say that if Custom Knife Factory is still around in a year, they will likely have some sort of warranty situation worked out, hopefully. No help to anyone buying CKF product now, other than the 60 day exchange period Knifecenter will honor. If CKF is gone in a year, oh well, what can Knifecenter do for the customer? In reality, "nothing". So...potential buyers should know the truth and not simply assume that because you bought CKF product from Knifecenter.com (in the US) as opposed to ordering directly from CKF...that you're really any better off beyond 60 days. From my experience with CKF, (I own 3 different CKF knives! Konygin Maxi, Sukhoi & Deception-1, and now they've lost me as a customer) I will not buy from them again due to detailed info given in an earlier post I placed in this thread (on pg. 2)...and because I am not willing to buy from a company that will not back, warranty, offer any customer care...among other reasons given in earlier post. In my opinion, they've already blown it too many times (CKF). How U.S. dealers/distributors can do business with CKF without getting warranty coverage from the "manufacturer" (CKF...and I use the term "manufacturer" loosely here) for the US customers of Knifecenter.com, etc. is amazing to me...and I think premature. I think Knifecenter is totally legit and doing what they can with this "manufacturer"...but CKF...no way. They need to learn how to do business like professionals, not Joe-shady selling on ebay, no where to be found if there is a problem. You should't have to hope & rely on Paypal protection in order to trust a "manufacturer". They shouldn't operate like a slimy, individual rip off artist. I do commend the Chinese for making better & better knives at great prices. THEY are beginning to do it right.:)
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I knew this about the CKF Elf that I purchased from KnifeCenter but was willing to take a chance.
 
evilgreg said:
But we do know that lots of Chinese knives with elaborate CNC milling are sold for well under $100. You can apparently even buy some high quality CNC milled Chinese knives through reputable dealers in the US for reasonable prices, like say, the one RamZar linked (clearly also a well-made, CNC milled knife from the same factory).

I don't have a problem with buying a Chinese knife (I have a bunch of them, after all); my problem with buying a Decepticon would be that paying ~$1100 for a Chinese knife just because it was shipped to Russia first is ludicrous. It's like the people paying $750+ for Hinderers not long ago, before the secondary market prices collapsed--they were still great knives, if you like that sort of thing, but the going rate was just silly.

Chinese made knives are usually much cheaper, because it's much, much cheaper to make them there. Kizer, ReaTe, the high quality clones, and the knife RamZar linked provide all the proof you could need that you can get plenty of high quality CNC milled titanium pocket knives for $50 - $250 depending on size and fit and finish level.
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I havent seen any other chinese knife as intricate as the decepticon. And i have no idea how much os do e in russia. That duboia is a totally chinese produced knife. Who knows the decepticon might be too. But the decepticon was designed by ckf. And you know the guy who designed it probably wants a piece of every unit sold. I personally wouldnt pay that much. But it has more to do with me not really caring for the design. Hose who own them feel they are woth it. I cant judge without owning it.
 
RamZar said:
The listings & links for the Duboia flippers are there but not searchable. They're now marked as "Discontinued: This product is no longer available".

http://www2.knifecenter.com/item/MI...-plain-blade-carbon-fiber-and-titanium-handle
http://www2.knifecenter.com/item/MI...-plain-blade-carbon-fiber-and-titanium-handle
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Well looks like i got the last one and for some reason they will not be getting more. Maybe there was some bruhaha over this thread and warranty business? Glad i got in when i did. Btw this info was given to me by someone on the phones at KC. They couldnt give any more info.
 
PURPLEDC said:
Well looks like i got the last one and for some reason they will not be getting more. Maybe there was some bruhaha over this thread and warranty business? Glad i got in when i did. Btw this info was given to me by someone on the phones at KC. They couldnt give any more info.
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CKF said on their Instagram that they only had a few of them. I'm guessing Knifecenter only got a handful and CKF won't be getting any more. They're also sold out on CKF's shop in Russia:

http://fromrussiawithknives.com/category/other-knives/

I love the design, though. It ticks all my boxes and then some, and that's why I just had to get one even though it's a "ooohhh Kevin John ohooohhhhh". I would die if CKF made it their own and put MRBS in it and a couple other touches and removed all association from Kevin John from it. I'd probably buy another one in the $300 range if they did.
 
Lost Cosmonaut said:
CKF said on their Instagram that they only had a few of them. I'm guessing Knifecenter only got a handful and CKF won't be getting any more. They're also sold out on CKF's shop in Russia:

http://fromrussiawithknives.com/category/other-knives/

I love the design, though. It ticks all my boxes and then some, and that's why I just had to get one even though it's a "ooohhh Kevin John ohooohhhhh". I would die if CKF made it their own and put MRBS in it and a couple other touches and removed all association from Kevin John from it. I'd probably buy another one in the $300 range if they did.
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Well honestly if they had exclusive rights to that design and are that tight with the people responsible for kevin john knives I would have to assume they are more than likely the factory that is doing the machining for Custom Knife Factory designs as well. Its no secret that custom knife factory has its parts machined in China. And to my knowledge there are only two producers in china that are capable of producing at that level of quality and that are confirmed to be using the high end steels. And they simply dont look like A Dai's work. So the only way I would think you will remove all association with Kevin John is if they start machining the knives in Russia. And isnt MRBS a shirogorov thing?
 
i have 3 CKF knives and the Daboia. CKF confirmed on Instagram that Kevin John does machine parts for them. i see no wrong in that Klecker makes his knives wholly in China and they are excellent knives; Kizer produces outstanding knives. So while i totally oppose replicas (and do not understand why they even do it instead of selling more original models like Kizer does), there is no need to bash chinese quality wholesale. just remember Apple. all their stuff is made in china. best quality in the world. to the point of CKF knives, they are all great. I prefer Sukhoi over elf though. Deception is superb and i am waiting for Morrf. Daboia is also superb. finally, i bought all of them, except for such, from knife center but my only dealing directly with CKF (Mike) while getting such, went smoothy, friendly and relatively quickly. the knife came in perfect with beautiful pouch and a free multi-tool (took, sold separately for $25!).
 
PURPLEDC said:
Well honestly if they had exclusive rights to that design and are that tight with the people responsible for kevin john knives I would have to assume they are more than likely the factory that is doing the machining for Custom Knife Factory designs as well. Its no secret that custom knife factory has its parts machined in China. And to my knowledge there are only two producers in china that are capable of producing at that level of quality and that are confirmed to be using the high end steels. And they simply dont look like A Dai's work. So the only way I would think you will remove all association with Kevin John is if they start machining the knives in Russia. And isnt MRBS a shirogorov thing?
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MRBS is a Shirogorov thing indeed but apparently CKF has approval to use it (most of their models have it) as does Reate for the new Horizon-C.
 
btw Reate is pretty anal about patent infringing as they disabled lion steel rotoblocks on their D9 knives (whereas their D9 storm counterparts did not)
 
citovsky said:
btw Reate is pretty anal about patent infringing as they disabled lion steel rotoblocks on their D9 knives (whereas their D9 storm counterparts did not)
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I look at that as more self preservation if they have an interest in selling in the USA. Whatever the motivation is I respect it. Is the disabled feature able to be easily reversed by the end user? As in can anyone remove or add a part or did they actually machine them different so it would no longer work as a rotoblock?
 
PURPLEDC said:
Apparently how? Is this an assumption or has shirogorov actually confirmed it?
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Reate said on their Instagram that they had approval from Shirogorov, and CKF has some sort of relationship with Shirogorov already. Does anyone actually have a contact with Shirogorov themselves? From what I've seen they have virtually 0 internet presence.

PURPLEDC said:
I look at that as more self preservation if they have an interest in selling in the USA. Whatever the motivation is I respect it. Is the disabled feature able to be easily reversed by the end user? As in can anyone remove or add a part or did they actually machine them different so it would no longer work as a rotoblock?
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The disk has the tab machined off. I believe it would work if you swapped the disks between the two models, but I haven't tried it.

District 9 Storm disk:

DSCN0317-L.jpg


Reate D9 disk:

DSCN0307-L.jpg


The District 9 Storm is sold in the USA as well. I'm guessing that the change was because the D9 is "regular production" and sold through a wider base (BladeHQ, for instance) whereas the District 9 Storm is numbered and limited production and hard to find here in the USA (Arizona Custom Knives got a handful is all I've seen).
 
citovsky said:
btw Reate is pretty anal about patent infringing as they disabled lion steel rotoblocks on their D9 knives (whereas their D9 storm counterparts did not)
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That's a good thing because initially Gianni of LionSteel wasn't too happy until I got a D-9A and told him it's just LBS and not a secondary lock.
 
PURPLEDC said:
I look at that as more self preservation if they have an interest in selling in the USA. Whatever the motivation is I respect it. Is the disabled feature able to be easily reversed by the end user? As in can anyone remove or add a part or did they actually machine them different so it would no longer work as a rotoblock?
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It's just LBS and the gears decorative.
 
Lost Cosmonaut said:
Reate said on their Instagram that they had approval from Shirogorov, and CKF has some sort of relationship with Shirogorov already. Does anyone actually have a contact with Shirogorov themselves? From what I've seen they have virtually 0 internet presence.



The disk has the tab machined off. I believe it would work if you swapped the disks between the two models, but I haven't tried it.



The District 9 Storm is sold in the USA as well. I'm guessing that the change was because the D9 is "regular production" and sold through a wider base (BladeHQ, for instance) whereas the District 9 Storm is numbered and limited production and hard to find here in the USA (Arizona Custom Knives got a handful is all I've seen).
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Shirogorov has a website. But it needs google translator to make any sense of it. And you are right, I have never seen them have a presence on any forum and given the prices in Russia are so much lower than in the states due to dealer mark up I sometimes wonder if they arent made the same way at least in part as CKF. Thats cool that Reate did that. Though, I hope future knives have new LBS made. Even without the rotoblock its still a hinderer LBS is it not?
 
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