The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

Blues Bender said:
I love they micarta on the Python, and in the past I considered picking one up (but again, I couldn't find one instock). However, I can't help but call that micarta color "Cosby Sweater Micarta":D It looks great, but that name just seems to fit perfectly!
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That's pretty funny, but true about the color. I'll have to watch out for it behaving inappropriately with my other knives. :eek:
 
rexbo said:
I noticed that about mine as well, so I loosened the pivot a bit and that helped. I also discovered that the "push button" technique vs "light switch" with the flipper tab works better.
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The first reaction getting my RDD was "This doesn't feel like a typical Shiro". And I concluded after awhile-- yes, it isn't
RDD are definitely "light switchers" and the most lefty-unfriendly so far for me. The emphasis is on the aesthetics, where the bigger dollop for a flipper tab in the original design from Tom (which works better but detracts a little from the look (to me) has been flushed and made smaller on the RDD. This comes at the expense of the flipping action. Detent and lock strength is light on the RDDs.. Loosening the pivot lightens the detent even more in my case which wasn't to my preference. Then from the dagger-ish design to the light weight form-- everything would run counter to a design with expected stellar flipping performance. So based on all these I would say this design is one where either you go for the looks or the action. Having said I am looking for a Mayo Dr Death now.. no price for guessing that the version Im looking for would be a thumbstud and not a flipper ;)

I would say from the older ones right up to the latest RFT-- the RDD probably represents the greatest challenge to pack everything into an overall acceptable package out of all the collaboration works and Shiro own designs. FOr the collection.. I'm not complaining. My daily F95 and 111 beaters are more than sufficient for usage.

ok.. too wordy-- pic time
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It's been kinda quiet over here lately and I've really nothing to report, so I'll just post these pics of my Hati taken while I was working on the books the other day. It was time to show that ledger who's boss!

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anvil_den said:
Not much happening here either... at least in terms of new Shirogorov knives recently, so it's back to carrying my biggest edc in the rotation and a few Bear paraphernalia courtesy of friends :)
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Nice pic, a_d! I'm assuming those are Shiro beads of some sort, but find only a couple of the markings even somewhat familiar in those that seem similar to the bearing system markings inside some knives. I was able to pick up a large radiator bead here on the Exchange for a nice price, but any beads one can find for sale on this side of the pond are just stupefyingly expensive.

Those are nice friends for you to have! :cool:
 
Those are the "Vegas" Seasons Beads.
Buying one was buying a chance to win the lottery where u can then buy the actual knife.

The Vegas is a lesser known collab series..
Seasons was the 2nd in the series.. the most recent and probably the more well known one is the mini Vegas Cannabis aka "Cards" -- 52 pieces

For the "Seasons" - it was a new take on one of the rarest old collab so far-- the Nura which is one the 2 collaborations where the original run had only 10 pieces as opposed to the usual 100-200 pieces each like RDD and Jeans etc.

Seasons had a total of 12 knives I think- -3 pcs per the 4 Seasons of the year.. Rare Bird.

After the lottery-- many people just have these beads lying around :)

Edit: add....
I unabashedly ask and collate them into little trinkets now and then ;)
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Not sure if it was just my knife, but I had an olive micarta F3 in Cronidur 30 EVO that had a crack in the blade. It took me about a week to realize the blade had a crack, but it was there. The seller acknowledged the defect and refunded my money.

I honestly won't buy another Shirogorov product from here on. The knife I had only cut the tape and cardboard on a couple small boxes of ammo. No way that I caused the crack. Be sure to check your blades carefully with a jewelers loup; that was pretty much the only way I found the crack in my blade.
 
Blues Bender said:
Not sure if it was just my knife, but I had an olive micarta F3 in Cronidur 30 EVO that had a crack in the blade. It took me about a week to realize the blade had a crack, but it was there. The seller acknowledged the defect and refunded my money.

I honestly won't buy another Shirogorov product from here on. The knife I had only cut the tape and cardboard on a couple small boxes of ammo. No way that I caused the crack. Be sure to check your blades carefully with a jewelers loup; that was pretty much the only way I found the crack in my blade.
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So you had a defective blade and you write off the entire brand? Seems a bit drastic to me, how many ZT's have had cracked blades through the years direct from the assembly line.

Sounds like you had a bit of buyers remorse even before you found the crack.

Maybe I'm reading too far into your post but that's the way it reads to me.
 
dwdickey said:
So you had a defective blade and you write off the entire brand? Seems a bit drastic to me, how many ZT's have had cracked blades through the years direct from the assembly line.

Sounds like you had a bit of buyers remorse even before you found the crack.

Maybe I'm reading too far into your post but that's the way it reads to me.
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Buyers remorse? I've been buying knives for years, and many cost way more than the F3 did.

The ZT's I've seen with cracked blades are from parts that press fit into the blade. The F3 I had was cracked at the edge, which leads me to believe that it was a problem with the heat treat. If so, then my blade wasn't the only one with a bad HT.

I'm not going to jump through hoops to send the knife back to Russia. The knife was nice, but I'm not buying from a brand that had an issue like this. If they are going to tap into an overseas market, they should make sure every knife they send is flawless so the buyer doesn't have to risk losing their knife by shipping overseas.

Besides, the knife was very underwhelming for the price, which I accepted from the start. The flipping action that everyone praises was nothing to write home about. Again, I could have lived with this, but the cracked blade just gave me an overall bad experience with the brand.

Maybe next time ask questions before you assume the knife was too expensive for me and got cold feet. The money refunded was promptly spent on an AR15 that came to me with zero issues, made right here in IL. No hoops to jump through if it has a problem.
 
Blues Bender said:
Buyers remorse? I've been buying knives for years, and many cost way more than the F3 did.

The ZT's I've seen with cracked blades are from parts that press fit into the blade. The F3 I had was cracked at the edge, which leads me to believe that it was a problem with the heat treat. If so, then my blade wasn't the only one with a bad HT.

I'm not going to jump through hoops to send the knife back to Russia. The knife was nice, but I'm not buying from a brand that had an issue like this. If they are going to tap into an overseas market, they should make sure every knife they send is flawless so the buyer doesn't have to risk losing their knife by shipping overseas.

Besides, the knife was very underwhelming for the price, which I accepted from the start. The flipping action that everyone praises was nothing to write home about. Again, I could have lived with this, but the cracked blade just gave me an overall bad experience with the brand.

Maybe next time ask questions before you assume the knife was too expensive for me and got cold feet. The money refunded was promptly spent on an AR15 that came to me with zero issues, made right here in IL. No hoops to jump through if it has a problem.
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There's no need to get snippy with your remarks. Nowhere did I mention anything about costs. You yourself admit it was buyers remorse in your own words. I just don't think it's fair to write off an entire brand (especially one as well respected as shirogorov) because your only example had a flaw.
 
Blues Bender said:
Not sure if it was just my knife, but I had an olive micarta F3 in Cronidur 30 EVO that had a crack in the blade. It took me about a week to realize the blade had a crack, but it was there. The seller acknowledged the defect and refunded my money.

I honestly won't buy another Shirogorov product from here on. The knife I had only cut the tape and cardboard on a couple small boxes of ammo. No way that I caused the crack. Be sure to check your blades carefully with a jewelers loup; that was pretty much the only way I found the crack in my blade.
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(I started this post before your response to dwdickey and his to you showed up.)

Sorry to hear about your knife, Blues. I know you really liked that one when you got it and I enjoyed seeing your pics and posts on it. It speaks well of the knife trade that the dealer made things right. It sure makes for a big high-to-low swing when you find something like that, but knowing how experienced you are with quality knives I doubt the previously expressed "buyers remorse" theory postulated earlier.

You know that I'm a Shiro enthusiast for sure, as the existence of this thread clearly indicates, so I hope that the bitter taste leaves your mouth after a bit as I feel that Shirogorov clearly has its place in the realm of well-made mid-tech/higher-end knives that you and I both enjoy. I'd hate to see one bad apple spoil the whole barrel in this case. On the other hand, sending a knife back to Russia for a fix is basically untenable, so your point in your second post just above is well-taken.

BTW, I see you've posted at least one pic since the Photof**kit disaster hit. Nice to see another member back up and running. That whole deal has sure wrecked a lot of good old threads. :mad:
 
dwdickey said:
So you had a defective blade and you write off the entire brand? Seems a bit drastic to me, how many ZT's have had cracked blades through the years direct from the assembly line.

Sounds like you had a bit of buyers remorse even before you found the crack.

Maybe I'm reading too far into your post but that's the way it reads to me.
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His response is reasonable. Sounds like you are blinded by hype (it is a Shiro after all).

Let me remind you, this is what...a $1000 knife? $1000. Let that sink in. You can build a pretty nice custom computer for that amount. If it is for just a knife, they damn well better have inspected it in depth. You can't compare to ZT either, the prices are obviously vastly different.

I don't know about the flipping action, but I know hype when I see it. I am completely sure some (not all) of people praising Shiro flipping are just being dragged by the hype train, and have placebo effects about it beng the best of all time.

The fact that an experience member who has handled a vast amount of high end knives says the flipping is nothing special pretty much confirms this.

Always interesting to see through the veil.
 
Cutlover said:
His response is reasonable. Sounds like you are blinded by hype (it is a Shiro after all).

Let me remind you, this is what...a $1000 knife? $1000. Let that sink in. You can build a pretty nice custom computer for that amount. If it is for just a knife, they damn well better have inspected it in depth. You can't compare to ZT either, the prices are obviously vastly different.

I don't know about the flipping action, but I know hype when I see it. I am completely sure some (not all) of people praising Shiro flipping are just being dragged by the hype train, and have placebo effects about it beng the best of all time.

The fact that an experience member who has handled a vast amount of high end knives says the flipping is nothing special pretty much confirms this.

Always interesting to see through the veil.
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I don't know what Blues paid for his knife, though it likely wasn't very near a grand. Of my five, the two I got new were $850 and $900 and the others were secondary market ranging from 5 to 7 hundred. You can pay 2, 3 grand and up for one if you're so disposed. Shiro prices are certainly inflated over here as there was little US distribution initially and the market was set by Russian re-sellers and, while it's dropped somewhat, is still clearly overpriced.

Regardless, Blues had a problem with his knife, got a refund, and has decided not to buy Shiros again as sending them to Russia for repair is at best a PIA. He's a very solid, experienced BF member and a good dude and his opinion is what it is. It's unfortunate his knife got through QC with its cracked blade, but stuff happens. CRKs and others come through with flaws too, but sending them in for work doesn't involve the inherent risk one would assume sending a Shiro back to the Motherland.

From my end, I've been pleased with all my Shiros and have not experienced any insurmountable issues with my knives. Two of my four flippers are the best two of that ilk I've handled. The quality of all my five is top-shelf, I'm glad to own all of them, and their number has grown based on my experience with those I've bought along the way--not because I've been in any way bedazzled.

For your part, I'm glad you can recognize hype when you see it, can avoid being dragged along by its train, and are able to see through the veil, though a bit of first-hand experience with the knives might be helpful.

(Edited to correct typo.)
 
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I am sure its just a bad apple, I have handled pretty much majority of the Shiros (production), 95T, F95 inlay, F3, Neon, Hati and ALL had a superb flipping action. I did have a bad apple which until that moment I didn't think it was possible but I fixed it easily. For steel insert on lockbar there should not be any lockstick but there was. The surface finish on the steel insert wasn't completely flat so I touched it up on a ceramic stone veryyyyy slightly to take of the high points and VIOLA no lockstick.

HOWEVER, as a general rule I would definitely agree that a $1k knife should be simply PERFECT. Having to ship to Russia then get charged for delivery back is not right imo for something that shouldn't have been a problem to begin with. Its a shame but sometimes experience like that can ruin a brand all together for some folks.

Even the tiniest little detail matters to me. Here is a slightly off topic comment. I will not buy any ZT (or any other brand really) simply because cannot stand all the writing on the blade. I like my blades as sterile as possible, but that's just me.
 
How many of you whining that for the money each and every one ever produced should be absolutely impeccably perfectly flawless, have ever bought a new 30,40,50 thousand dollar vehicle only to discover or get a notice in the mail some months later that there is a manufacturer defect and there is a tsb or a recall on your vehicle, or have you ever bought a computer and had a faulty hard drive or an "update" turn your $1000 cell phone into a useless brick.


I'm not disputing that it didn't live up to his standards. Nor would a cracked blade be up to mine. But if we judged everything in our lives on a one specimen system then we would have nothing or buy nothing with that mentality.

Chances are the blade cracked due to an inclusion in the metal that was isolated to his specific blade and not a heat treat issue as he tries to assert, however he did not bring it to the attention of shirogorov so we will never know with any certainty.

The fact is if Blues Bender felt they only way to satisfaction was to return the knife and no longer consider any other products from them then so be it. As long as he's happy. There's plenty of other compatible players in the market.
 
Blues Bender said:
Not sure if it was just my knife, but I had an olive micarta F3 in Cronidur 30 EVO that had a crack in the blade. It took me about a week to realize the blade had a crack, but it was there. The seller acknowledged the defect and refunded my money.

I honestly won't buy another Shirogorov product from here on. The knife I had only cut the tape and cardboard on a couple small boxes of ammo. No way that I caused the crack. Be sure to check your blades carefully with a jewelers loup; that was pretty much the only way I found the crack in my blade.
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Any pics of the crack The Aflac Duck The Aflac Duck
 
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