The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

I picked a fine time to get back into knife fondling. Didn't take long to start plummeting down the Shiro hole either.

Just got a gen 5 F95.. I've handled multiple iterations of F95 (not entirely sure which gens they'd all fall in to), both regular production and CD.
I think this Gen 5 is fantastic. Detailing is superb and to my hand, it feels more akin to CDs I've had in the past.
The technocarb is much grippier than I anticipated. The heavily brushed titanium on the flats of the scales gives it a unique and dynamic appearance, even from a distance. Not many knife makers are doing that.

The only minor issue I've encountered is the flip tab. Initially, I had some finger slippage- though I've gotten accustomed to it now.

What's everyone's opinion on the Gen 5 compared to past iterations?

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In the next logical step from my last post - I was able to secure a CDX for quite a reasonable price compared to where the market has been for the past 3-6 months.

I've been enamored by the F7 design for approaching 5 years now since I was way too new to Shirogorov to know how special it was - so to finally own something that is close to an F7 is a pretty special moment. If I'm honest with myself, the CDX presents a BETTER solution for me, personally - I would have forced myself to carry/use the knife but I think some part of me would have always been cringing a little or holding myself back because of the value and difficulty to replace/repair a real F7 if anything happened.

You'll be seeing a lot of this one, to be sure! I am working on getting a CrystalTi clip made by a 3rd party modder - with the hope being to keep the design as close to the original clip as possible(windows, milling, contour, etc) - we'll see how that goes!

Rambling aside, here she is! CDX #65

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badmatt said:
Scalpers gon scalp.
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TheManInBlack said:
It’s somehow worse than that. Seems more like someone got ripped off and is now trying to pass the ripping off down the line.
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'Twould be a wonderful thing to see the scalpers all caught in an unending whirlpool of scalpage--an ever increasing circle-jerk of price increases just going around, around, and around.....leaving most of the rest of the knives for us true-hearts. 😏
 
badmatt said:
Scalpers gon scalp.
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It goes higher up than just scalpers, I bought a Custom Division NeOn for twice the initial price from a reputable dealer. It was a truly beautiful knife, arguably worth it but I couldn’t justify (to myself) using as a day-to-day knife. That said, I was part of the problem by willingly-enthusiasticly, even-paying such a mark up and all it takes is a very small number of people to keep the prices that high. But then again, if a knife is this expensive it is unlikely to be used as a knife and enters into a new category more akin to art
 
CPP said:
It goes higher up than just scalpers, I bought a Custom Division NeOn for twice the initial price from a reputable dealer. It was a truly beautiful knife, arguably worth it but I couldn’t justify (to myself) using as a day-to-day knife. That said, I was part of the problem by willingly-enthusiasticly, even-paying such a mark up and all it takes is a very small number of people to keep the prices that high. But then again, if a knife is this expensive it is unlikely to be used as a knife and enters into a new category more akin to art
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I’m sure plenty of us are guilty of that to an extent. I got into this hobby during the COVID shortages and paid 30%-50% over retail for more than a few knives. That’s a far cry from 300%, though… There’s also a big difference between a one-off CD and a limited production run knife that will still end up 1 of 100+. I also have what I would consider ‘art knives’—mainly unique or limited run design Sebenzas—that never get used or carried and while the Lochsa is certainly pretty and quite the technical achievement, I would hardly classify it as an ‘art’ knife or feat of engineering to justify what we’ve just seen the secondary market get away with.

But, I clearly don’t have a clue about either the market or the brand because I’ve seen Sergey Shirogorov customs at Recon 1 in the $10K to $15K price range—to me, stupefyingly and unjustifiably high prices—and they don’t stay in stock long. I don’t think I’ll ever wrap my brain around that. But again, the Lochsa isn’t in the same league as those. And I’m sure that there are likewise plenty of people around here—not Shirogorov owners, of course 😁—who can’t understand why I spent as much as I have on a Shiro. 😅
 
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TheManInBlack said:
I’m sure plenty of us are guilty of that to an extent. I got into this hobby during the COVID shortages and paid 30%-50% over retail for more than a few knives. That’s a far cry from 300%, though… There’s also a big difference between a one-off CD and a limited production run knife that will still end up 1 of 100+. I also have what I would consider ‘art knives’—mainly unique or limited run design Sebenzas—that never get used or carried and while the Lochsa is certainly pretty and quite the technical achievement, I would hardly classify it as an ‘art’ knife or feat of engineering to justify what we’ve just seen the secondary market get away with.

But, I clearly don’t have a clue about either the market or the brand because I’ve seen Sergey Shirogorov customs at Recon 1 in the $10K to $15K price range—to me, stupefyingly and unjustifiably high prices—and they don’t stay in stock long. I don’t think I’ll ever wrap my brain around that. But again, the Lochsa isn’t in the same league as those. And I’m sure that there are likewise plenty of people around here—not Shirogorov owners, of course 😁—who can’t understand why I spent as much as I have on a Shiro. 😅
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Just a small note on your earlier point - Custom Divisions are small runs(30, 50, or 100 pcs), not one-offs.

Bacchus said:
I've finally got Urban Camo and Purple Camo paracord (AtWood Rope product became a scarce resource in Moscow) to make proper lanyards for my recently acquired folders.
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Really like how the lanyard on the Quantium came out - works perfectly with the Alutex.
 
Pompous said:
Just a small note on your earlier point - Custom Divisions are small runs(30, 50, or 100 pcs), not one-offs.
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By the way, if we consider the collaboration projects to be more or less in the same league as CDs, it's worth to mention that some of them were produced in larger quantities (200 pcs) — Russian Hokkaido, Russian Flipping Tanto, RDD Carbon, Sigma and Pero (Feather).

Pompous said:
Really like how the lanyard on the Quantium came out - works perfectly with the Alutex.
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Thanks! So do I. 🙃

Pompous said:
You'll be seeing a lot of this one, to be sure!
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Congratulations! Looking forward to upcoming pictures.

BluegrassBrian said:
What's everyone's opinion on the Gen 5 compared to past iterations?
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I like Gen 5 a lot, it packs all the recent features, slimmer blade and cool grind. But my model of choice is plain Jane — Zero 2024 🙃 Nothing wrong with NL, just a matter of personal preferences.
 
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Wanted to open the CDX up to take a look inside - the oil/grease from Russia always gets so filthy so quickly. Surprised this one got completely black almost in just a few months. Cleaned it up, fresh Gunny Glide on the rollers, and some fresh blue loctite on the screws should mean we're setup nicely for the months/years to come.


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Pompous said:
Wanted to open the CDX up to take a look inside - the oil/grease from Russia always gets so filthy so quickly. Surprised this one got completely black almost in just a few months. Cleaned it up, fresh Gunny Glide on the rollers, and some fresh blue loctite on the screws should mean we're setup nicely for the months/years to come.


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Blue Locktite with the new pivots, owners of new Shiros have it so easy! When I was buying Shiros you either had to use purple Locktite or hold the pivot to your stove!
 
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