Front Flippers - pictures and discussion

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share my recent buying experience.Ive been wanting to try a front flipper to see if it was for me but I didnt want to drop the big coinage on a 4 or 500 dollar knife just to try it out.Ive seen the boker exskelibur 1 talked about alot so I figured I would give that one a go.I should say, I bought a Boker Oberland Arms a couple years ago and the blade was shaped like a boomerang.I cant even believe they would send it out like that.With that in mind,I expected it to be horrible.
I'm extremely happy to report that the knife I received was perfect in all regards.I bought the liner lock version with a vg10 blade. It has a solid lockup at 30-40 percent and no lock stick or lock rock.The blade sits perfectly centered.It is already smooth out of the box and the edge bevels are excellent.The g10 is very smooth and all edges around the handle are perfectly contoured and meet each other great.Im super surprised that I received a boker in this condition.It may wear in like a piece of crap but right out of the box it is amazing.It also whittled hair extremely easy.I would definitely recommend for anyone wanting to try out a front flipper.Sorry for the long post but I wanted my fellow blade forum brothers to be informed. :)
 
Lapedog said:
It’s made by Maxace. It definitely is nothing like a chris reeve knife when you see it in person. My Shamwari is far closer to a Chris Reeve in design than the Mosquito Tactical is.
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Then I'll be sure to avoid if maxace is making it. Thanks.
 
Lapedog said:
The favourites that are more affordable are the Kizer Feist which is small at 2.75 inches. The Boker Exskelibur 1 Titanium framelock which is a super slim very slicey 3.5 inch knife.

Just make sure you get the Exskelibur ONE full ti framelock, the exskelibur 2 isn’t a front flipper and the other versions of the 1 tend to have issues, even the ti framelock with the carbon fibre front scale. There is the Boos blade smoke which is sort of mid range priced.

At the higher end most of the custom expensive front flippers are made by South African makers. The most desirable probably being the Gareth Bulls (shamwari, miura etc..) the A2 front flippers and the Trevor Burger front flippers. There are many others like the JD Van Deventers, the Bester Ratels and many more. If you search South African front flipper or lip opener knife there are really alot.

Just read this thread and you will see alot of these knives discussed and represented.

I love front flippers because they allow for a great minimalist design with no thumbstuds in the cutting path or flippers sticking out.

Here are some I own.

Top to bottom: Kizer Feist (blue anodizing on feist is not stock), Gareth Bull Shamwari, Boker Exskelibur 1 framelock (note the details I mention about this knife above) and the Katsu Titanium Framelock. (Purple clip anodizing on katsu not stock)
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I also got this one recently. It is not a knife I would recommend because it is very finnicky to get set up working well. I managed to get mine working good, even still the knife comes with no clip, (bogus)
It is the knife on the right; the Mosquito Tactical Puppy.
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So how are you liking your Real Steel g5 metamorph? They are supposed to release a higher end ti framelock version called the s5 I would love to try.
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I think i may get one of those fox puppy knives. It looks great and ill send it to someone to add a clip
 
Lapedog said:
I wouldn’t recommend it. It has a few design flaws.
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Besides the pocket clip what else is there?

I’m looking for a larger front flipper on washers.

The boker seems like the way to go but if the flaws on this do t strike me as so bad then I may still try it out.
 
ericlosh said:
Besides the pocket clip what else is there?

I’m looking for a larger front flipper on washers.

The boker seems like the way to go but if the flaws on this do t strike me as so bad then I may still try it out.
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The stop pin also has no shoulder so as you tighten its screws the scales pinch the washers ruining the action. Also the front flipper tab isn’t very well designed. Imho its not a bad knife, its just got some flaws.

You can get it to front flip you just better be ready to polish the sides of tang of the blade and the washers and spend some time fiddling with the pivot and stop pin. Since you need to get both screws adjusted EXACTLY right within like a hair of a turn to get it to front flip then you better use some blue or purple loctite. Shame because mine actually locks up real good but the knife is a headache.

The full titanium Boker Exskelibur 1 is just a WAY more user friendly knife. Just don’t buy the boker exskelibur two.
 
Lapedog said:
The stop pin also has no shoulder so as you tighten its screws the scales pinch the washers ruining the action. Also the front flipper tab isn’t very well designed. Imho its not a bad knife, its just got some flaws.

You can get it to front flip you just better be ready to polish the sides of tang of the blade and the washers and spend some time fiddling with the pivot and stop pin. Since you need to get both screws adjusted EXACTLY right within like a hair of a turn to get it to front flip then you better use some blue or purple loctite. Shame because mine actually locks up real good but the knife is a headache.

The full titanium Boker Exskelibur 1 is just a WAY more user friendly knife. Just don’t buy the boker exskelibur two.
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maybe ill snag one down the road, ill just go for the boker and see if i can get some pb washers. Got a couple expensive knives i want to get

its such a handsome knife
 
ericlosh said:
maybe ill snag one down the road, ill just go for the boker and see if i can get some pb washers. Got a couple expensive knives i want to get

its such a handsome knife
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The boker actually doesn’t need pb washers. It has the best action of any knife on teflon washers I have ever seen.

Just be sure to get the full titanium framelock boker exskelibur 1. It is the best version of this boker knife. Also note that it is an extremely thin knife with a very thin ground slicey blade. Great for edc and cutting but a”hard use” knife it is not. Also boker has sort of soft screws so not a knife you want to be disassembling often. Maybe just move the clip to tip up if you like and leave the screws other than maybe adjusting the pivot.

The mosquito puppy is a much thicker heavier knife.
 
its a picky preference on the washers and far from a deal breaker as the action is consistently described as being great despite my preference. The fullt ti was the version id go with.

Id like it to be a bit more sturdy as my weekend woods knife, and thats where the puppy really appeals to me. its a large front flipper to offset my small shamwari. Id like to get myhands on the spyderco drunken and a unique large sebenza with some sort of damascus and i just cant afford another shamwari for a little while.
 
im really liking the exskelibur, love the thin blade. I wish there was a thumb cutout to access the lock bar like every knife that lacks it but its not the end of the world.

Theres not a lot of options for large front flippers in the more budget range so its really nice that this one is done so well.

I may try putting PB washers in one day but the action is really good. if no one told you it was teflon and you never took it apart then you would assume it was PB. So while im interested in making the change, why fix what isnt broke?
 
I just checked out Nick's channel and learned that Boker Exskelibur II (the small version) G10 version works as front flipper.
 
marchone marchone
He keracoted it graphite black and did filework afterwards. All the hardware is in graphite black, the handles were sculpted and done in a bronze. Turned out sweet and flips like a dream.
Thanks to Josh @razor-edge-knives
 
I emailed with him recently. Very honest guy. I asked him to mod a RealSteel S571 and he said it would be expensive and not worth it. He could have just quoted me and taken the money.
 
Ya...Josh is very straight up, marchone marchone . He is always super busy and does great work! If he says its not worth it, i take his word for it. :) Super talented guy, so if you ever have any mods to get done, i highly recommend him. He has lots of great ideas, and i feel blessed to be able to call him my friend. @razor-edge-knives
Also, if you really want your Realsteel done, he will do it, im sure. Im guessing he doesnt want you to spend too much $ on a mod thats worth more than the knife. Not alot of modders will be honest like that!! :)
 
Didn't your Feist mod cost more than the purchase price of the knife? I would expect it did.
 
ericlosh said:
im really liking the exskelibur, love the thin blade. I wish there was a thumb cutout to access the lock bar like every knife that lacks it but its not the end of the world.

Theres not a lot of options for large front flippers in the more budget range so its really nice that this one is done so well.

I may try putting PB washers in one day but the action is really good. if no one told you it was teflon and you never took it apart then you would assume it was PB. So while im interested in making the l, why fix what isnt broke?
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