Ikbs?

S

smitty1505

Joined
Oct 24, 2009
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243
Hey I have been looking into ikbs for a little while now and it seems like it's amazing. But I don't see it in that many knives. Any reason for this? Pros. Cons. And can it be added to a knife I already own and how would I get it done?
 
a lot of makers don't like it because it's proprietary--they take pride in knowing they made everything in the knife, that way they can stand by it with complete confidence. with that said, it's an incredible system. if done by the right maker, it yields zero blade play, but it feels like the pivot is extremely loose. on a flipper, it feels almost as if it's spring loaded when you fire it.

one con could be that it's not as simple to open and clean as say a knife with a pivot bushing, but I've heard it can handle harsh conditions very well (I believe there's some test videos of this on youtube, I'll try to find them later for you). a spray of compressed air and a drop of oil on the assembled knife should keep it relatively clean. some people are worried about losing all of the bearings when the knife is taken apart, but you can get replacement ones easily enough.

as far as I know you can add it to a knife you already own, but IDK of anyone who'd do it. I can't see any reason why you couldn't add it.

overall, I'd say IKBS is definitely great to have, but it has its place. I wouldn't want to see a Sebenza or Lochsa with IKBS. knives with pivot bushings or just very good tolerances in general, are just as desirable to me, but I love my GPS small Lahar.
 
I just got my first IKBS knife

TNK Pro Series Sm JYD



I love it, its so insanely smooth right out of the box...i havent tried to take the knife down yet, but i am curious as to how easy it would be to get back together...

Overall ive been really impressed with it so far:)
 
IKBS is going to be found in more custom flippers than anything. It's a PITA to take apart so I'm assuming it's a PITA to put together as the original makers. Les Voorhies, Tim Galyean, Kirby Lambert, and Brad Southard are a few of the makers that use IKBS in some of their folders. Korth was obviously the originator of IKBS as it stands for Ikoma Korth Bearing System. AFAIK it is possible to modify an existing folder using washers to one that uses IKBS. I know that Brad Southard has done this modification to a few Kershaw Ti/SG2 Junkyard Dawgs. It may be a good idea to start their if you're looking for same kind of work.
 
Todd Begg uses IKBS on his Glimpse folders, very smooth. I want to say that David Mosier might, but not 100% sure.
 
corwise said:
Todd Begg uses IKBS on his Glimpse folders, very smooth. I want to say that David Mosier might, but not 100% sure.
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Oh wow, I can believe I forgot about Todd Begg. He's also a top notch player when it comes to IKBS.

Just to let you know, I was literally just talking with Brad Southard and I'll be sending a Kershaw Ti/SG2 JYD in the mail to him tomorrow for the addition of IKBS. Very cool to talk to and extremely reasonable prices.
 
Tony8179 said:
Oh wow, I can believe I forgot about Todd Begg. He's also a top notch player when it comes to IKBS.

Just to let you know, I was literally just talking with Brad Southard and I'll be sending a Kershaw Ti/SG2 JYD in the mail to him tomorrow for the addition of IKBS. Very cool to talk to and extremely reasonable prices.
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I agree, I have had two different Ti/SG2 JYD's that Brad Southard has put IKBS on, very nice guy, and reasonable prices.
 
I also have a JYD IKBS'd by Brad Southard and can vouch for his excellent work. He turned my pretty quick with a little play JYD into a super slick resistance free with NO play JYD. And, as mentioned above, his prices for such a thing are phenomenal.
 
it seems there's a lot of IKBS'd JYDs from Brad Southard. is there a particular reason why he does this knife over others?
 
It probably has to do with a few different things. First, is that these Ti/SG2 JYDs are out there and not real hard to come by. The second is that the design of the knife lends itself very well to IKBS. A flipper, large blade, and all Ti body just screams IKBS. I mean Tim himself decided to use it on the Pro Series line because he saw how well the design and IKBS go hand in hand. Like I said, the construction of the knife is relatively simple, so to make a channel in the Ti frame without having to deal with liners or synthetics like G-10 or Micarta is probably pretty easy with the right tools.

When I was talking to Brad, he said that he was really impressed with the overall quality of the stock Kershaw Ti/SG2 JYD and that, while impressive, the addition of the IKBS makes it that much more impressive and almost gives it the feel of a custom. I think after I get it back from Brad I may send the knife to Dobsy for a full CF overlay scale on the front and a partial on the back. Then I'll have the blade hand satined. Oh just you wait and see. It's going to be a killer.
 
Tony8179 said:
It probably has to do with a few different things. First, is that these Ti/SG2 JYDs are out there and not real hard to come by. The second is that the design of the knife lends itself very well to IKBS. A flipper, large blade, and all Ti body just screams IKBS. I mean Tim himself decided to use it on the Pro Series line because he saw how well the design and IKBS go hand in hand. Like I said, the construction of the knife is relatively simple, so to make a channel in the Ti frame without having to deal with liners or synthetics like G-10 or Micarta is probably pretty easy with the right tools.

When I was talking to Brad, he said that he was really impressed with the overall quality of the stock Kershaw Ti/SG2 JYD and that, while impressive, the addition of the IKBS makes it that much more impressive and almost gives it the feel of a custom. I think after I get it back from Brad I may send the knife to Dobsy for a full CF overlay scale on the front and a partial on the back. Then I'll have the blade hand satined. Oh just you wait and see. It's going to be a killer.
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yeah I guess that makes sense. I can't really think of any other production ti framelock flippers in that price range. I remember reading somewhere that a certain thickness is necessary for the pivot area of the scale/liner, so that probably also helps.

this reminds me, someone recently IKBS'd a Hinderer, I'll have to track the thread down sometime. it was either on here or the greener place.

here are the IKBS torture test videos that I promised
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBMju7zKogI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ptNsbpBnig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZPhUxjB3xs
 
Crazy. An IKBS Flipper XM-18 sounds pretty cool, but for some reason, unneseccary. If it's a Hinderer I would bet that it's in the greener place. I'll have to try and find that.

EDIT: WOW! Yeah I can't post pics of the knife because they're not mine, but that's not just an ordinary XM-18. It look like a Gen 2. 3.5" Spanto grind w/ a custom Damscus bolster, black and red Scrimshawed ivory portraying a charging bull, and anodized lockside/ liner/ hardware. And yes, you can plainly see the ball bearings on both sides around the pivot. Beautifully done.
 
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Charles Marlowe, Terry Guinn, Michael Burch, Les Voorhies, Les George, and there are more... too early in the morning.
 
Tony8179 said:
Crazy. An IKBS Flipper XM-18 sounds pretty cool, but for some reason, unneseccary. If it's a Hinderer I would bet that it's in the greener place. I'll have to try and find that.

EDIT: WOW! Yeah I can't post pics of the knife because they're not mine, but that's not just an ordinary XM-18. It look like a Gen 2. 3.5" Spanto grind w/ a custom Damscus bolster, black and red Scrimshawed ivory portraying a charging bull, and anodized lockside/ liner/ hardware. And yes, you can plainly see the ball bearings on both sides around the pivot. Beautifully done.
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yeah it was a pretty crazy knife
 
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