The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

Interesting question, B Bacchus , and right up Mr Old School's alley, being a serial production guy. As a preface, I'll mention that the only Shiro (or any knife) I've paid 4 figures for is also my only collab or any out of the SP range--the RDD CF, which is too sweet to keep in a box and gets carried and used. That one came from a generous friend here that let me have it for the amount mentioned in your query above. Even those Shiro's bought brand new were under 4 figures, some coming from private Russian re-sellers that paid much lower retail over there and were able to offer significant discounts over here.

Anyway, two serial production models that would tickle my fancy are the F3NS in plain black CF and an Alutex Hati somewhere in the Orange, Cherry, Purple, Violet range. The latter's newer gen 3 models with lockside inlays are OK by me, but I really kinda prefer the plain Ti reverse side. After all, the knives are Half-Ti's, not 5/8-Ti's.

Being mindful of staying to the Old School--not Grouchy Old Guy--side of things, here's couple spare tight shots of my work user Gen1 Hati on washers that I carried and sharpened on Sunday, later carelessly dropping it while open and giving myself a bit of a leg wound.

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Bacchus said:
Congratulations! On my side of the pond I've seen only 1 person to score this folder so far.



I am not privy to Shiro marketing strategy, but it seems to me, they are still rather limited in production capacity and they have to take it step by step.

10 years ago there were 2 ways to obtain a new Shiro knife in Russia: either to visit the local knife show (preferably on the 1st day in the morning) or to place a request (or a bid, I am not quite sure about the proper term) using online Configurator on the domestic website. It was not an actual order -- no price fixing, no guarantee to meet your specs except the knife model. And the lead time was well above 12 month.

About 9 years ago the Configurator was disabled and remains disabled ever since. It took them a couple of years to fulfill the accumulated requests.

About 8 years ago the domestic website was updated, a new section "Shop" was implemented, but the supply remained extremely limited. Keep in mind that at the end of 2014 the Rouble lost half of its value and the expansion to US market became even more vital than before.

I guess the first overseas deals took place during the BladeShows.

I do not know when exactly partnership with R1 started, probably as early as in 2015.

As for the current situation on the US market -- R1 remains the major dealer, but there is limited co-operation with other knife sellers (I refrain from direct links to avoid incurring mod's wrath), just a few recent projects easily findable online:
-- ME (F95, NeON, Quantum with frag pattern);
-- KC (F95NL with exclusive orange-white pattern);
-- EK (Quantum with "e" hex pattern).

My point is, Shiro would expand co-operation with US retailers if they could provide sufficient volume.

And by the way, there is only 1 dealer in Russia, the partnership started in 2018 or in 2019. It was going pretty well, but in 2023 for some reason only basic Quantum Ursus and Quantium models are channelled through them. Probably the ongoing Rouble devaluation made US market preferable again.
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Yea I completely understand the production limitations. I just wish another dealer was the main port and received the lions share of Shiros in the US
 
I was bummed Monday while I sat around the phone waiting to see if I could add a brother to my Soft Overkill, darn! I’m looking forward to seeing some pics! Still in the pocket today…

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Bacchus said:
A very nice and crisp photo of the excellent folder. What's your impression of M398?
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Thank you sir, I really haven‘t cut abrasive material with it yet but the edge has held up great for my normal use around the house. Plus I’ve carried it camping and hunting so it’s been used for food items on cutting boards and plates, and to cut branches too. It’s been relatively easy to maintain just by stropping it or using the white Sharpmaker rods.
 
Still waiting on the delivery of my Molten Overkill… It went out for delivery on the truck yesterday morning only to spend the day wandering around my city until it arrived back at the local sorting facility last night. Back out on the truck again today, so fingers crossed.
 
I finally had an opportunity to take both my Hati and cousin’s F95T to Mr. Akopyan for customization -- scales stonewash + bronze ano.

We're both more than satisfied with the result, it's hard to capture the details on the photo though.

BTW the inlay on the lock-side scale is glued, but removable with proper care and a few drops of aceton.












My cousin sent a couple of pictures and a short video:





 
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Congrats to those who scored the Molten Overkill.
Didn’t get selected; but that isn’t surprising. Usually have to score one from a flipper, at a premium of course.

Question: I saw there was a preview of the Molten Overkill before the lottery was announced.
Was there any announcements for the F3 special editions (Aquatic, Terrus & Ignis) prior to going up for sale?

Just trying to prepare myself 😊

ChazzyP ChazzyP That Hati on washers looks pristine. I know you use but don’t abuse your Shiro’s, but that one looks BNIB 😉
 
Bacchus said:
Wow, looks way more colorful, then the Red TechnoCarbo version. The texture reminds me Aquatic (which is tri-color and more rich).
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The video is the best representation of the color, or the second or third picture.

The blue got darker in the shadowy part of the first pic, where I was trying to hide the sparkly reflections of the light by keeping direct light off. I then had to brighten the picture post processing because it was too dark.
 
Andre21 said:
Question: I saw there was a preview of the Molten Overkill before the lottery was announced.
Was there any announcements for the F3 special editions (Aquatic, Terrus & Ignis) prior to going up for sale?
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Instagram has announcements with the time and date they are available, and I think Recon1 sends an email as well.
 
Andre21 said:
Question: I saw there was a preview of the Molten Overkill before the lottery was announced.
Was there any announcements for the F3 special editions (Aquatic, Terrus & Ignis) prior to going up for sale?

Just trying to prepare myself 😊
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Andre21 Andre21 , as far as I remember there were a couple of teasers ("Soon" and "Very soon") in the Telegram, Instagram, etc. a few days before the actual sale. It is true for other new products except very minor tweaks like F95T Blue Ano.

There is also a 10 hours difference between Moscow Time (UTC+3) and PTD (UTC-7), hence you may expect a heads-up from the future 🙃 sent by fellow Denizens located on the east side of the pond 😉
 
Bacchus said:
Andre21 Andre21 , as far as I remember there were a couple of teasers ("Soon" and "Very soon") in the Telegram, Instagram, etc. a few days before the actual sale. It is true for other new products except very minor tweaks like F95T Blue Ano.

There is also a 10 hours difference between Moscow Time (UTC+3) and PTD (UTC-7), hence you may expect a heads-up from the future 🙃 sent by fellow Denizens located on the east side of the pond 😉
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I still missed the Ignis drop by using that method though. Had to pay a $350 premium to get later...
 
DocJekl said:
I still missed the Ignis drop by using that method though. Had to pay a $350 premium to get later...
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Can't always win. But kidding aside, DocJekl DocJekl , I definitely feel your pain, it is a considerable premium to MSRP. At least you've seen the video of the actual knife before making your payment, right? 🙃

The direct purchase from the maker or R1 is a kind of lottery, my Ignis had flaws, luckily Terrus is perfect (except for next to not existing choil, but I am not going to sharpen it anyway).
 
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Andre21 said:
ChazzyP ChazzyP That Hati on washers looks pristine. I know you use but don’t abuse your Shiro’s, but that one looks BNIB 😉
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Appearances can be deceiving, Andre. Actually the handle parts are pretty clean, but the blade is far from it. I got that one off the Exchange, later tracing its provenance back through 4 or 5 owners, and the primary grind came with not-insubstantial scuffs on both sides. The M390 blade finish is somewhat interesting as it appears to be a polished fine bead blast and it's kinda hard not to get an overly reflective pic of it, so the scuffs don't generally show up in my postings due to the angle I need to snap at. Here's an older pic taken under the harsh lighting in the wood shop that shows the true condition of the blade.

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I spent a lot of time getting this knife right when it came to me, cleaning up buggered screws, tweaking the action, and re-centering as best I could. This knife and my Turtle are the two primary work users from my sleuth of Bears and have plenty of wear to show for it. I would mention, as somewhat of an aside, that even my knives that work and get used hard are not abused, per se, as I've always tried to employ the right tool for any job and don't stick my knives in dirt, pry, or cut abrasive materials with them, grabbing something more appropriate for such tasks.
 
I can agree ChazzyP ChazzyP , a few of mine simply don’t look used in pics, the blades and frames are pretty good at hiding marks, the pocket clips usually show the scratches better.

DocJekl DocJekl that Hati has a lot of color to it and looks great!
 
Bacchus said:
Can't always win. But kidding aside, DocJekl DocJekl , I definitely feel your pain, it is a considerable premium to MSRP. At least you've seen the video of the actual knife before making your payment, right? 🙃

The direct purchase from the maker or R1 is a kind of lottery, my Ignis had flaws, luckily Terrus is perfect (except for next to not existing choil, but I am not going to sharpen it anyway).
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Yes, if you'll recall I posted a video and pics from the seller here while I was still waiting for it to be delivered.
Jsega51 said:
DocJekl DocJekl that Hati has a lot of color to it and looks great!
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It really is great. I'm wondering how many of them there were, because the blue Technocarbo is sold out, while the red ones that came out first are still available (although red might be on the second batch).
 
DocJekl said:
Yes, if you'll recall I posted a video and pics from the seller here while I was still waiting for it to be delivered.

It really is great. I'm wondering how many of them there were, because the blue Technocarbo is sold out, while the red ones that came out first are still available (although red might be on the second batch).
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Yes, I do recall your post with seller’s pictures and a video, that was actually my point, trying to justify the premium you had to pay 🙃

I wonder, what would be the fair price for the whole set.

~1300 x 4 seems a hell of a lot to pay at once, and I doubt someone would be eager to break the set up to sell’em separately.

AFAIK there were at least 5 Red batches on the maker’s website, it might be true for R1 as well. If the next batch arrives before the stock’s been depleted it looks like a single large batch from the outside.

I’m pretty confident we’ll see more of Blue CF in August, but not so sure about the Red CF.

Maybe we'll see green or gold or bronze/brown TechoCarbo Hati this year? I would actually prefer a blade/spacer design update (to the same as F95T Gen3).
 
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