The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

Forgive me if it's out of place to ask on this thread, but how does say a F3R/F95 compare to a Grimsmo Norseman?
I will have both in my collection one day but just got a work bonus which basically translates to 1 free knife.
People who have handled/EDC'd both, how do they compare?
 
WKFClark said:
Forgive me if it's out of place to ask on this thread, but how does say a F3R/F95 compare to a Grimsmo Norseman?
I will have both in my collection one day but just got a work bonus which basically translates to 1 free knife.
People who have handled/EDC'd both, how do they compare?
Click to expand...

I've owned 2 Norseman. Own a 95 and the new F3 NS.

I didn't own the Norseman long enough to note any significant negatives. it is a quality knife. But I much prefer the balance of the 95 & F3 to the top heavy Norseman. I also prefer the blade shapes of the Shiros.

The new F3NS is a dynamite knife.
 
Ron Sabbagh said:
I've owned 2 Norseman. Own a 95 and the new F3 NS.

I didn't own the Norseman long enough to note any significant negatives. it is a quality knife. But I much prefer the balance of the 95 & F3 to the top heavy Norseman. I also prefer the blade shapes of the Shiros.

The new F3NS is a dynamite knife.
Click to expand...

I narrowed down my Shiro choices to the F3NS after considering the HatiOn Zero and F95NL as well. And as you say, the Shiro blade shape definitely looks more practical and useful.
But I'm drawn to the finger guillotine action of the Norseman.

Does the F3NS blade fall shut like the Norseman or does it take a gentle shake?
 
Thanks, that's good to know.
Seems like Shiros out weigh Norseman on several qualities, the F3NS is a shade cheaper, with better steel and blade shape.
Now I just have to watch every youtube video on them 50 times and change my mind 200 times before my bonus arrives in my bank and I order the F3NS.
 
:)
WKFClark said:
Thanks, that's good to know.
Seems like Shiros out weigh Norseman on several qualities, the F3NS is a shade cheaper, with better steel and blade shape.
Now I just have to watch every youtube video on them 50 times and change my mind 200 times before my bonus arrives in my bank and I order the F3NS.
Click to expand...

. In the watch world, we call that "WIS". Watch Idiot Savant

most of us here all have the same sickness. Knife Idiot Savants :D

seriously....unless you are dead set on a frame lock, the F3NS is the one I'd get first out of those.
 
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Ron Sabbagh said:
:)

. In the watch world, we call that "WIS". Watch Idiot Savant

most of us here all have the same sickness. Knife Idiot Savants :D

seriously....unless you are dead set on a frame lock, the F3NS is the one I'd get first out of those.
Click to expand...

Haha, thats brilliant, yes I definitely suffer from that.
My last several purchases were frame locks, so I think its time to mix things up.
 
WKFClark said:
Forgive me if it's out of place to ask on this thread, but how does say a F3R/F95 compare to a Grimsmo Norseman?
I will have both in my collection one day but just got a work bonus which basically translates to 1 free knife.
People who have handled/EDC'd both, how do they compare?
Click to expand...
WKFClark said:
I narrowed down my Shiro choices to the F3NS after considering the HatiOn Zero and F95NL as well. And as you say, the Shiro blade shape definitely looks more practical and useful.
But I'm drawn to the finger guillotine action of the Norseman.

Does the F3NS blade fall shut like the Norseman or does it take a gentle shake?
Click to expand...

I've never handled a Norseman and likely never will as I don't find the blade shape at all appealing. I went over to Youtube and watched Dr Frunkey's vids on the Norseman and Rask and there's no question that they're high quality knives and the action looks stupidly smooth, free, and drop shutty.

I also watched our own and USN's @ursa08 's vid on the F3NS and that knife looks to drop shut with little or no encouragement. I like this latest iteration of the F3 a lot and am sorely tempted to pick one up, though I need another (9th) Shiro like I need (another) hole in my head, especially since my older F3 in Python Micarta is never going anywhere but into and out of my Russian knife drawer and pocket.

My experience with Shiros is that all of mine--save my Hati on washers, the aforementioned older F3 which has fairly strong lockbar drag for a liner lock, and my RDD--can be easily tuned to free drop if they didn't come to me that way. I've bought some new and others used. Both my F95T and F95R free dropped on receipt. My NeOn UL and 111CF took disassembling, interior polishing, and re-lubing but those two drop the freest of them all. The 111 is a veritable finger guillotine. Of great import is getting any factory or other grease out of the pivot and replacing with a lighter lube--W10 NanoOil for me.

It's also worth mentioning that Shiros run on SS BBs while I believe Grimsmo's use ceramic bearings. The Shiro Rep has written that the Workshop does not feel that the tolerance from ceramic bearing to bearing is close enough to satisfy their criteria.

Getting out all my Shiros to examine to write here has reminded me that my Turtle needs maintenance as it's a work user and maybe most carried, so I think I'll go take it down now and follow with a stropping if not a light resharpening.
 
Thank you for that very informative and in-depth post. It’s definitely put my mind at ease over the finger guillotine action.

Whilst I actually do like the blade shape of the Norseman a lot I feel that given the choice between that and the F3NS to do a specific task, I’d go for the Shiro over the Norseman due to the practicality of the blade shape.
One day I will have a Norseman more for flipping novelty purposes but I plan on my next knife being a daily work user. So I think that makes the Shiro better choice.
 
I’d get a Grimsmo Rask before a Norseman. It looks like a normal knife. A very good one at that.
 
there
mikomonday said:

45 minute walkthrough of the workshop and some talk with Sergey. For now you can use the settings to do russian autogenerated subtitles -> translate to english. The workshop is looking to add english subtitles at some point.
Click to expand...

There's some brilliant translation errors. My wife came in to say goodnight just as it translated something into "boobs"
 
Bath day for Mr Turtle. Pretty yucky inside, but he goes to work regularly...

JP72akH.jpg


Much better now...

kYHzoNW.jpg


Ready to reassemble with all 34 of those tiny bearings sitting in a alcohol bath...

XMWagYe.jpg


Half done with the blade in place after crawling around on my hands and knees finding the bearing that shot out of the tweezer, bounced off the wall, hit the hardwood floor, and came to rest at the edge of the rug under the bench under the table and next to the cat food. Can't believe I actually found it.

PJhWOsB.jpg
 
ChazzyP said:
Bath day for Mr Turtle. Pretty yucky inside, but he goes to work regularly...

JP72akH.jpg


Much better now...

kYHzoNW.jpg


Ready to reassemble with all 34 of those tiny bearings sitting in a alcohol bath...

XMWagYe.jpg


Half done with the blade in place after crawling around on my hands and knees finding the bearing that shot out of the tweezer, bounced off the wall, hit the hardwood floor, and came to rest at the edge of the rug under the bench under the table and next to the cat food. Can't believe I actually found it.

PJhWOsB.jpg
Click to expand...
ChazzyP ChazzyP what do you use to handle the bearings? I tried plastic tweezers which resulted in flying bearings. A small magnetized screwdriver worked best for me
 
CPP said:
ChazzyP ChazzyP what do you use to handle the bearings? I tried plastic tweezers which resulted in flying bearings. A small magnetized screwdriver worked best for me
Click to expand...
CPP CPP , in another post (edit) I mentioned that it seemed my bearings were magnetized, hence they were attracted and sticking to a single prong of my metal tweezer. I thought that through after reading your post and that made less sense to me as I've noted that phenomenon on other of my BB Shiros as well as the roller bearings in the RDD I got from you. I grabbed the tweezer just now and picked up a paperclip with a single prong, so it's the tweezer and not the bearings that's magnetic. Oddly, though, the bearings stick to the pivot when misplaced so I wonder if they pick up a little charge from the tweezer.

You're quite right about pinching the bearings with both sides of the tweezer as that resulted in my flying bearing that bounced off the wall that I was incredibly lucky to find. The issue with the magnetic pickup is leaving the bearing in its cutout as it has a tendency to follow the magnet back out. I've been holding the bearing down in place with a wooden swab shaft in my other hand so it releases from the magnet. It's certainly not any easy process, but there's also something sorta Zen about letting everything else go and concentrating on such a small task. :cool:
 
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ChazzyP said:
CPP CPP

The issue with the magnetic pickup is leaving the bearing in its cutout as it has a tendency to follow the magnet back out. I've been holding the bearing down in place with a wooden swab shaft in my other hand so it releases from the magnet. It's certainly not any easy process, but there's also something sorta Zen about letting everything else go and concentrating on such a small task. :cool:
Click to expand...

Totally... I just picked up some ceramic tweezers and it greatly helped with this problem. Was much easier.
 
Another method I've used is to make a small puddle of W85 NanoOil, dip the end of a wooden swab shaft in it, and pick up the bearing with that. I'd get maybe two bearings then have to re-dip. Not highly efficient, but it worked.
 
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