Front Flippers - pictures and discussion

couple of updates

i have managed to a reserve/purchase a gareth bull 3" shamwari directly from his instagram. it's m390 and runs on bearings, i'm pretty excited to finally handle one.

i came across another zieba, the MS1. this one seems pretty affordable, but a bit uncommon. anyone have any experience with a Michael Zieba MS1?

also, i'd like to share an action clip of a kizer feist from the first batch that seems like a winner. i've vetted multiple feists now, and this one is free of any of the issues the previous one's i've handled were plagued with. no blade play, centered, action is smooth without any grittiness, stop pin it tight. i am still going to purchase one from the new production as soon as it's available, and will report back with a comparison

https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/PositivePastelJunebug
 
josh yu said:
i have managed to a reserve/purchase a gareth bull 3" shamwari directly from his instagram. it's m390 and runs on bearings, i'm pretty excited to finally handle one.
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Hopefully that works out for you. He does not have a good reputation when it comes to delivering knives in a timely fashion. I bought mine secondhand.
 
Lapedog said:
Check out Bester knives for good priced front flipper customs.
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except for he copied Trevor Burgers Design language and got called out on it. then closed up his IG account. dont support this. its ugly.

im sure he makes good knives, just dont copy someones design language. heck he even bought Trevor's knives before releasing the models, he clearly took the design from them.

here's just one https://www.instagram.com/p/BWXv9tTl_K4/
of course since bester had his ig closed because of this, you dont see his replies.
 
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SpySmasher said:
Hopefully that works out for you. He does not have a good reputation when it comes to delivering knives in a timely fashion. I bought mine secondhand.
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i grabbed one of the premade sham classics he posted. he claimed it will ship next monday and be at my door thursday. i think the delays are on his custom orders, i don't see any reason for these already finished products to be delayed. let's see how it plays out.
 
josh yu said:
i grabbed one of the premade sham classics he posted. he claimed it will ship next monday and be at my door thursday. i think the delays are on his custom orders, i don't see any reason for these already finished products to be delayed. let's see how it plays out.
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Yeah, that sounds better.
 
I gotta get a Shamwari one of these days.

For now my tuned up first edition Feist is the shizznit. Besides opening it with my thumbs I can actually lay the side of my index finger between my farthest and second farthest knuckle on the side closest to my middle finger and flip it open that way.

Bester knives copied Burger designs? I noticed they looked similar but I thought maybe alot of south african front flippers looked like that. As in I thought it was kindnof a public domain pattern. My Boker Ti Exskelibur has that Trevor design too.
 
Lapedog said:
I gotta get a Shamwari one of these days.

For now my tuned up first edition Feist is the shizznit. Besides opening it with my thumbs I can actually lay the side of my index finger between my farthest and second farthest knuckle on the side closest to my middle finger and flip it open that way.

Bester knives copied Burger designs? I noticed they looked similar but I thought maybe alot of south african front flippers looked like that. As in I thought it was kindnof a public domain pattern. My Boker Ti Exskelibur has that Trevor design too.
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My exskelibur was put right back in the box and returned. I love the feist and the one i have seems perfectly good. I am still curious about the second run, which is coming up (speculating ill have one next weekish). I will report back with the new feist and the Shamwari, really curious how the bearing version will feel
 
josh yu said:
My exskelibur was put right back in the box and returned. I love the feist and the one i have seems perfectly good. I am still curious about the second run, which is coming up (speculating ill have one next weekish). I will report back with the new feist and the Shamwari, really curious how the bearing version will feel
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The first version of the Feist has bearings. The problem was in the moving but internal stop pin.

What was your problem with the Exskelibur, I quite like mine. Which version didnyou have?
 
I am curious about Exskelibur, too.
I love mine, well at least one of two. The other one is not quite right. Boker does have some QC issues.
 
Lapedog said:
The first version of the Feist has bearings. The problem was in the moving but internal stop pin.

What was your problem with the Exskelibur, I quite like mine. Which version didnyou have?
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the exskelibur i received, wouldn't flip open for the life of it, combination of weak detent and whatever was going on with the washers. i loosened the pivot, and still very hard to flip, but blade play, it could be by design or due to QC. since you guys seem, to like it, i may try another... we'll see

the stop pin in the feist i own seems to fit nicely and is not loose (which was an issue in the first two...). while mine feels great, i still want to see what the new run feels like, so i'll have one of those soon
 
Trevor Burger makes really fine knives and he is a pleasure to deal with.

I have 2 of his EXK1s (both front / lip flippers) and 2 LEXKs and whilst the front flipper is a fun novelty, I'm delighted that he offers the option of thumb studs on the LEXK now. My LEXK with studs gets used a lot more than the flipper version because opening is more intuitive ... that and it is damascus with carbon fibre scales, so much more attractive than N690 and G10 ;)

IMG_0901.jpg
 
Lapedog said:
Bester knives copied Burger designs? I noticed they looked similar but I thought maybe alot of south african front flippers looked like that. As in I thought it was kindnof a public domain pattern. My Boker Ti Exskelibur has that Trevor design too.
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that's because the boker is a burger design. And yes bester stole his design language. Bokers qc and quality are really bad. Wish they were made elsewhere.
 
......that's because the boker is a burger design....
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It's actually a Skellern and Burger design (EX SKELLErn BURger) ... last I heard, only one partner gets royalties from Boker and it isn't Trevor or his dad.
 
psquared said:
Trevor Burger makes really fine knives and he is a pleasure to deal with.

I have 2 of his EXK1s (both front / lip flippers) and 2 LEXKs and whilst the front flipper is a fun novelty, I'm delighted that he offers the option of thumb studs on the LEXK now. My LEXK with studs gets used a lot more than the flipper version because opening is more intuitive ... that and it is damascus with carbon fibre scales, so much more attractive than N690 and G10 ;)
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thanks for sharing! these all run on washers right? looking forward to see the burger table at NYCKS, hopefully he has some EXKs for sale
 
The Olamic Busker is due out next month - a small front flipper that reportedly has six(!) other methods of deployment. I can't envision seven ways to open a knife, but I'm looking forward to finding out what they are.
 
Lapedog said:
I gotta get a Shamwari one of these days.

For now my tuned up first edition Feist is the shizznit. Besides opening it with my thumbs I can actually lay the side of my index finger between my farthest and second farthest knuckle on the side closest to my middle finger and flip it open that way.

Bester knives copied Burger designs? I noticed they looked similar but I thought maybe alot of south african front flippers looked like that. As in I thought it was kindnof a public domain pattern. My Boker Ti Exskelibur has that Trevor design too.
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How is it tuned up? I have a 1st edition Feist and while thumb opening works for me, the detent doesn't seem to allow for index finger opening. Either that or my hands are a lot weaker than I thought :D
 
psquared said:
It's actually a Skellern and Burger design (EX SKELLErn BURger) ... last I heard, only one partner gets royalties from Boker and it isn't Trevor or his dad.
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yes, that is correct, still based on the design basically.
 
Otto Carpenter said:
The Olamic Busker is due out next month - a small front flipper that reportedly has six(!) other methods of deployment. I can't envision seven ways to open a knife, but I'm looking forward to finding out what they are.
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thats gonna cost alot. but its got a huge anticipation, i really am interested in it. Nick Shabazz is at fault for that lol.
 
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