Shirogorov ..Good,Bad & the ugly. Need to know

evilgreg said:
I agree completely, so much so that I unloaded my Shiros but kept my Milk. I actually prefer my knives not to be so free swinging that they fall closed, but the Milk's action is so good that even with the pivot cranked down insanely tight it still falls closed half the time.
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If CKF made a "miniMILK" of about 3.5" blade, I'd probably carry it A LOT.
 
OK - what strikes me the most is the post claiming shiro to CRK is as CRK to Kershaw. If that is true, shiro is significantly underpriced maybe it should be priced at least $2k.

Any honest owners of shiro and CRK mind chiming in?
 
sharp_edge said:
OK - what strikes me the most is the post claiming shiro to CRK is as CRK to Kershaw. If that is true, shiro is significantly underpriced maybe it should be priced at least $2k.

Any honest owners of shiro and CRK mind chiming in?
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The Shiros have gone off to other owners since, but I personally didn't see any noticeable quality difference between them and my CRKs, FWIW. They're different types of knives, obviously, but just on quality of construction and all the little details if anything I'd give the CR knives maybe a tiny edge.
 
Overpriced and overrated; plain and simple.

The same amount of coin can score much better knives. The F3 I owned was nice, but it didn't live up to all the hype.
 
evilgreg said:
After owning a few I'm over them, to be honest. They're mechanically excellent (though I did have to stiffen up the detent on one of mine), to be sure, but IMO they're just way overpriced even second-hand. They're not as bad as Hinderers were a couple of years ago (that was a full-on beanie baby level of nuttiness), but the prices are just way out of whack with what you get for the money.
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I have several Mod 95 and they are excellent knives, while I do enjoy them - I would have to agree with Greg, they should not cost $1K. The only reason they cost so much is because there is only one dealer in the entire US. Shiros are not unlike Hinderers of yesteryear in this regard (everyone wants one and not enough to go around). Production Shiros are essentially a CNC knife that should not cost more than $500 period. Due to the silly profits they are reaping now ( just imagine how much kielbasa you can buy for $1K when you convert it to rubles) their production capacity will increase and their knives will be more readily available (who knows they might even open a shop on US soil) then they will experience a tumble in price just like Hinderer did.
 
on a side note , mailman just handed me a package - must be the Kizer T1 ..... pretty far from the Shiro price range lol
I have to check it out .....later
 
Seen them and handled some at the gathering last year. Super nice knife however, the one thing that I can’t get comfortable with.... how comfortable are you with putting a $700 - $2,000 knife in a shipping box and sending to Russia and hope you get it back if you ever need to return it to the factory for any warranty work? I can’t even guess how long it takes for a knife to get to the shirt shop. I don’t even know if there is a tracking system avaliable to see the location once it enters Russia of that very expensive knife.

I never had to send any knife back to the maker but what if the shiro ever needs to?
 
Officer's Match said:
I had the fever for a Shiro a year or so back. Was able to snag a CKF MILK for well less than half the price, and it completely scratched the itch for me. Not saying it is the same, but I am totally saying is has blown away every single person that has flipped it. Forgive the crappy iPhone4 video quality, but this is mine right out of the box. I've dialed it in to be just slightly less free-falling since then, but it practically feels like it is mind controlled. Detent is not nearly as strong as XT's and recent XM18's, yet it is really impossible to break detent and fail to fully deploy - there is essentially no perceptible friction in the pivot.

In the end, I have been around higher end knives enough to know you are getting something for your higher price in a Shiro as compared to my CKF MILK. I'm just not sure the differential is, for me, perceptible. I cannot imagine objectively better flipping action, and with a nearly sterile (only a small "M390" on the tiny flipper tab) hand rubbed blade of M390 (with 4.21" cutting length) in a 4.3 ounce titanium framelock that is .433" wide, my Russian desire is satiated.

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If you think the action is good on the Milk, you’d be blown away by the Sablya.
 
Megawatt308 said:
Seen them and handled some at the gathering last year. Super nice knife however, the one thing that I can’t get comfortable with.... how comfortable are you with putting a $700 - $2,000 knife in a shipping box and sending to Russia and hope you get it back if you ever need to return it to the factory for any warranty work? I can’t even guess how long it takes for a knife to get to the shirt shop. I don’t even know if there is a tracking system avaliable to see the location once it enters Russia of that very expensive knife.

I never had to send any knife back to the maker but what if the shiro ever needs to?
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I was really pleased to find "back up" hardware included in my newest CKF purchase, the Veksha (see mini review https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/ckf-veksha-squirrel-knife.1538935/ ). Everything but the blade, frame/scales and backspacer. Note the 2-row ceramic bearings, and even the lockbar insert w' detent bearing.

wnTZyTg.jpg
 
that's an impressive package form CFK , Nice to have some spare parts . I have to check your review
 
sharp_edge said:
OK - what strikes me the most is the post claiming shiro to CRK is as CRK to Kershaw. If that is true, shiro is significantly underpriced maybe it should be priced at least $2k.

Any honest owners of shiro and CRK mind chiming in?
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$650 for a NeOn Lite, $350 for a small Sebenza 21.

Small 21. Crap HT on S35VN. Solid slabs, washers, no lockbar insert. Broomstick ergos. Basically a 25+ year old design and technology.

NeOn. M390/S90V, more machining in weight reduction alone on one slab than goes into making a complete 21. Awesome ergos, lockbar interface, Multi row bearing system.

No one being objective can claim a 21 comes anywhere close to being the level of knife is a NeOn. That has no bearing in which you prefer however.

I have a sprint run PM2 that is better than 90% of my 30+ CRKs and was half the cost. But it’s not as good as my one really good Sebenza which is why I kept both. Neither of them are as good as my Shiros.

I have a Custom division F3 that was hand tuned by Sergey to perfection, I’d pay $2k for it again any day. I’m sure if I listed it for sale it would fetch $2k damn near instantly. You aren’t talking about a serial model there though.

So, a CRK is not as good, but much cheaper than Shiro. Kershaw is not as good (unless you care about cutting performance, then you could argue some Kershaw is better than CRK) and much cheaper.

Shiro is to CRK as CRK is to Kershaw.
 
After using and owning Shiros,Rocksteas,Thorburn,CRK ,in my opinion Shiros are overpriced and not better than CRK,Rockstead or Thorburn.Action on Thorburn is way smoother than any other knife out there.Shirogorov are great knives but I would always put CRK and Rockstead as better edc solution.
Аnd for last, $400 gets you probably the best knife money can buy and comparable and better than most more expensive ones.That is why I kept most of mine CRK.Simplicity,ease of cleaning,fit and finish,tolerances,customer service and pure user not some show case object are the reasons CRK is the still my favourite knife brand.Cheers.
 
mfm22 mfm22

We can talk Shiro all day and all night but if you want one, you want one get it used off the exchange and if you don't like just resell it and all you'll end up paying is shipping.

I admire them like I admire Rockstead I look at them on all the big sites, I occasionally watch youtube videos about them and read about them here but like many I won't spend the money simply because warranty service is in Russia and Japan. The Higo and the F3 CF are just beautiful though.
 
I posted this in another similar thread.

Shiro's are expensive (obviously) for what you are actually getting and I would say overpriced. However, the smoothness of a Shiro is something every knife enthusiast should at least feel. My Hati is probably the only Shiro I will buy, like many I had that itch to see what the hype was about, and boy did the Hati scratch that itch that no ZT, Hinderer or even Olamic could. I'm glad I got this knife and I carry it frequently with no plans to ever sell it.

And to add, I can't tell someone else that a Shiro is a better knife than a CRK because they are just too different and "better" can be subjective. To me, I get far and away more enjoyment out of my Shiro just because it's a flipper. Practically speaking they are both expensive cutting tools but both have top notch fit and finish. Blade wise, my Vanax 37 Shiro outperforms the S35VN on my CRKs, but not by so much that it would be a deciding factor on which knife. So, if the price were the same, Shirogorov would take my money every time over CRK, but given the price difference it may not be worth it. Like I said above, this will most likely be the only Shiro I own.
Untitled by Danny Nystrom, on Flickr
Untitled by Danny Nystrom, on Flickr
 
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The Hati is IMHO too overlooked, and perhaps my favorite. One of those with the MRBS would be the choice for me.
 
JustinFournier said:
So, a CRK is not as good, but much cheaper than Shiro. Kershaw is not as good (unless you care about cutting performance, then you could argue some Kershaw is better than CRK) and much cheaper.

Shiro is to CRK as CRK is to Kershaw.
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I completely disagree with this assessment. IMHO, a CRK Sebenza or Inkosi is absolutely worth it's asking price. IMHO, at current market prices, Shiro's objectively are not.
 
Josh K said:
Why all the hate? Get one of everything. Each has the good and bad.

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The 111 is way overpriced for the money and materials; but I love that model;maybe one day ill crack and get one....
 
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