The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

Synov said:
The RKMP looks cool. 3.5 inch blade, more minimalist design. Thoughts?

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this one isn't working for me. the plunge angle looks weird opposing the handle angle and the ricasso area is way to big. also the logo placements look out of place as well.

of all the collabs this is one I had the highest hopes for and it is disappointing. should've stayed closer to the custom version

marlowe1.jpg
 
severedthumbs said:
this one isn't working for me. the plunge angle looks weird opposing the handle angle and the ricasso area is way to big. also the logo placements look out of place as well.

of all the collabs this is one I had the highest hopes for and it is disappointing. should've stayed closer to the custom version

marlowe1.jpg
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OK, I'm confused. What is that knife? Are you in the right thread? Or maybe just the wrong pic?
 
ChazzyP said:
OK, I'm confused. What is that knife? Are you in the right thread? Or maybe just the wrong pic?
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It is the kmp22. It is the Charles Marlowe custom knife the rkmp is based off of.

Why confused? You are familiar with Charles Marlowe?
 
I'm not familiar past name recognition. So you posted that in response to a Marlowe/Shirogorov collaboration? I do like the collab better for sure.
 
ChazzyP said:
I'm not familiar past name recognition. So you posted that in response to a Marlowe/Shirogorov collaboration? I do like the collab better for sure.
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The collab is hideous. The custom is a much better design. But not everyone has an eye for design and detail.

You can see I was responding to the collab. Should be no confusion.
 
Synov said:
The RKMP looks cool. 3.5 inch blade, more minimalist design. Thoughts?
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Looks like a good EDC — an "ideal" blade to weight ratio, slim handle, slicy blade. And I dig the design, it looks more practical and balanced than any of the Strips.

P.S. Well, I guess 150 pcs. is not enough for common folks to "win" 😣 Hopefully there will be more variations of RKMP next year.
 
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I just picked up one of the Q95 Ursus models in micarta direct from Recon 1. It's a nice knife, but the detent is a lot weaker than I expected (I haven't owned a Shiro before).

It reliably flips open, and it started dropped smoothly shut once I oiled it, but it's nowhere near something like a ZT or Reate, and I can shake the blade out with a medium-strength shake. Lockup and everything else is mechanically perfect. Is this normal for a Shirogorov?
 
marrenmiller said:
I just picked up one of the Q95 Ursus models in micarta direct from Recon 1. It's a nice knife, but the detent is a lot weaker than I expected (I haven't owned a Shiro before).

It reliably flips open, and it started dropped smoothly shut once I oiled it, but it's nowhere near something like a ZT or Reate, and I can shake the blade out with a medium-strength shake. Lockup and everything else is mechanically perfect. Is this normal for a Shirogorov?
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Not in my overwhelming experience.
 
marrenmiller said:
Thanks for the response. Guess my first Shiro is a dud. I've already used and disassembled it thinking it would break in, so this one is stuck with me.
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My Q95 came with a lighter detent than my F95’s but it’s not “too light” where the action sucks or doesn’t allow the knife to flip with a little authority. Honestly my experience with Shiro has been that the liner locks just don’t have the solid feeling detent and lockup that my F95’s framelocks do. I’ve now compared the Q95, 111, multiple F3’s and two Stellars.

In your case I believe you should be able to send it back to R1 for warranty work but since the knife has already been disassembled and you probably don’t want to wait a long ass time, couldn’t you take it apart again and give the lock a little more bend/tension forcing it against the blade tang? That should provide more felt detent tension and help it flip better, and obviously hold the blade in place when shaking it.

(I’ve dropped several Shiro’s and the blades have flew open on impact multiple times even the strong detent knives I own)
 
Jsega51 said:
My Q95 came with a lighter detent than my F95’s but it’s not “too light” where the action sucks or doesn’t allow the knife to flip with a little authority. Honestly my experience with Shiro has been that the liner locks just don’t have the solid feeling detent and lockup that my F95’s framelocks do. I’ve now compared the Q95, 111, multiple F3’s and two Stellars.

In your case I believe you should be able to send it back to R1 for warranty work but since the knife has already been disassembled and you probably don’t want to wait a long ass time, couldn’t you take it apart again and give the lock a little more bend/tension forcing it against the blade tang? That should provide more felt detent tension and help it flip better, and obviously hold the blade in place when shaking it.

(I’ve dropped several Shiro’s and the blades have flew open on impact multiple times even the strong detent knives I own)
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marrenmiller marrenmiller , I was thinking of writing about your Q95 issue before Jsega's quoted post beat me to the punch, but I'll put my two cents in anyway before all the pennies are gone.

I'm quite in agreement with his opinion on Shiro liner locks and his suggestion as regards tweaking the lock bar. Just bend it just a little while feeling you've made some difference, then put the knife back together and give it a try. Sometimes it takes a few dis- and re-assembly cycles and bends to get it right, but you should be able to stiffen the detent, making the flipping action a bit crisper and hopefully getting away from being able to shake it out. I've done so a few times with knives both to lighten and strengthen detents. A little fluoro grease on the detent ball helps with both flipping and closing action.

I never had such issues with my Shiro's, though the detent and flip do vary some from knife to knife. Both my F95's, my Neon UL, and 111 all drop shut nicely, but it took getting all the grease out, oiling them lightly, and some break-in over time to get those there. My Hati on washers took quite a few years to almost get there with a very slight wrist movement to drop closed, while the RDD needs to be shaken closed, though I usually forefinger flick most knives closed anyway. My current and former Tabargans have sliding bar locks and don't count. I had a Quantum Ursus NL that was my only Shiro that dropped shut out-of-box, but I found the knife to be a bit meh and moved it along.
 
Jsega51 said:
My Q95 came with a lighter detent than my F95’s but it’s not “too light” where the action sucks or doesn’t allow the knife to flip with a little authority. Honestly my experience with Shiro has been that the liner locks just don’t have the solid feeling detent and lockup that my F95’s framelocks do. I’ve now compared the Q95, 111, multiple F3’s and two Stellars.

In your case I believe you should be able to send it back to R1 for warranty work but since the knife has already been disassembled and you probably don’t want to wait a long ass time, couldn’t you take it apart again and give the lock a little more bend/tension forcing it against the blade tang? That should provide more felt detent tension and help it flip better, and obviously hold the blade in place when shaking it.

(I’ve dropped several Shiro’s and the blades have flew open on impact multiple times even the strong detent knives I own)
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I've tried adjusting the lockbar to firm up the detent and it didn't make much of a difference, so I reverted it back. Here's how mine behaves right now:


I reached out to Recon 1 and they said they'd ask a local maker (Danny Yard) to take a look at it for me. I'll probably start with that and see what happens.

Edit: I do want to add that the knife does normally flip open (sluggishly), and I definitely did pull the flipper tab lightly in the video to really show off how weak the detent is, but I genuinely didn't expect it to fail to open. Unfortunately conveying detent strength over the internet is difficult, but I just expected significantly more detent than what this knife offers. If mine is operating as intended, then I wouldn't see the point of buying this knife.
 
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ChazzyP said:
marrenmiller marrenmiller , I was thinking of writing about your Q95 issue before Jsega's quoted post beat me to the punch, but I'll put my two cents in anyway before all the pennies are gone.

I'm quite in agreement with his opinion on Shiro liner locks and his suggestion as regards tweaking the lock bar. Just bend it just a little while feeling you've made some difference, then put the knife back together and give it a try. Sometimes it takes a few dis- and re-assembly cycles and bends to get it right, but you should be able to stiffen the detent, making the flipping action a bit crisper and hopefully getting away from being able to shake it out. I've done so a few times with knives both to lighten and strengthen detents. A little fluoro grease on the detent ball helps with both flipping and closing action.

I never had such issues with my Shiro's, though the detent and flip do vary some from knife to knife. Both my F95's, my Neon UL, and 111 all drop shut nicely, but it took getting all the grease out, oiling them lightly, and some break-in over time to get those there. My Hati on washers took quite a few years to almost get there with a very slight wrist movement to drop closed, while the RDD needs to be shaken closed, though I usually forefinger flick most knives closed anyway. My current and former Tabargans have sliding bar locks and don't count. I had a Quantum Ursus NL that was my only Shiro that dropped shut out-of-box, but I found the knife to be a bit meh and moved it along.
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I replied to Jsega as well, but I tried the lock bar adjustment and didn't find it to have much of an effect. The issue seems to be that the detent ball doesn't sit very deep in the detent hole. The only thing I can think of to fix this would be to slightly enlarge the detent hole, and I have done that on some other knives to good effect, but I really don't want to do that on a Shirogorov.

To be honest, I'm just surprised that there is this much variability in such an expensive knife brand, even considering I bought the "entry-level" model.
 
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marrenmiller said:
I replied to Jsega as well, but I tried the lock bar adjustment and didn't find it to have much of an effect. The issue seems to be that the detent ball doesn't sit very deep in the detent hole. The only thing I can think of to fix this would be to slightly enlarge the detent hole, and I have done that on some other knives to good effect, but I really don't want to do that on a Shirogorov.

To be honest, I'm just surprised that there is this much variability in such an expensive knife brand, even considering I bought the "entry-level" model.
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I'm not trying to be an apologist here, but I think your earlier response hit it right on the head--you got a dud. Bummer. All the QC in the world won't prevent the occasional lemon from slipping past the threshold and out the door, despite the cost and what the knife should be. While I did mention in my earlier post that "the detent and flip do vary some from knife to knife", I meant that more from model to model and not so much from knife to knife of the same model. I doubt that your knife's action would fall within any normal variation of any model.

The downside of buying Russian knives in the US is the cumbersome process of returns for replacement or repairs, especially given the current situation between our two countries. Hopefully your knife's visit to Danny Yard via R1 will result in correction of its short-coming and you'll get it back working as it should. Sorry that your first Shiro is leaving a bad taste in your mouth.
 
marrenmiller marrenmiller I watched your video and tried that with my maroon Q95, I can get the blade to fly out with a decent flick of the wrist as well but not as easily as your video shows. For the hell of it I tried it with my Stellar which I can get to open but it’s definitely harder to do and I was able to get one of my F95’s to do it as well which I knew had a lighter detent than the others.
 
Positive update: I couldn't leave well-alone, so rather than send my Q95 with a weak detent back to Recon 1 and Danny Yard for repair, I instead slightly enlarged the detent hole on the Q95 myself (extremely carefully with a Dremel slowly spinning a tubular piece of fine sandpaper in the detent hole, ). I also bumped the lockbar tension up a tiny bit, just out of individual preference.

The change to the detent hole size is unnoticeable to the naked eye, but the change is just enough to allow almost the entire visible portion of the detent ball to sit in the hole. I don't want to go any further, as it could create detent lash if the hole becomes too big, and the detent is now almost too strong.

I don't necessarily recommend anyone else do this, but it's not that complicated if you take your time, and now this Q95 rockets open and drops shut, exactly how I expected it to. It also can't be shaken out, no matter how hard I try. This knife now has the best flipper action I've ever experienced.

Shout-out to Recon 1 for being great on email communication, even if I didn't end up requiring their generous offer of assistance.
 
marrenmiller marrenmiller , there's something about putting work into a knife that makes it even more special and prized than what you'd hoped you were getting originally. I'm in no way an adventuresome modder, having made little tweaks to some and adding clips, scales, standoffs, and de-assisting others, but two of my favorites had their status rise greatly due to all the work I put into restoring and augmenting one and correcting the detent and reducing the already light weight going to open back construction on the other.

While it's a drag that your first Shiro slipped past QC in an unfit state, you really took the best route to making it right and that will likely bring a feeling of satisfaction every time you open and close it. Enjoy!
 
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I wonder how many denizens were lucky to score the RKMP. A few are available at a premium, but I'm still hesitant to pay extra for this collab.

Any feedback on the model would be appreciated.
 
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