Thoughts on IKBS

Hondo.3

Hondo.3

Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
1,121
What do you think about your IKBS knives? I was thinking about getting one by Les Voorhies.
 
Love them. The smoothest opening and closing knives I own. No issues with cleaning or maintanence. Don't own one by Les Voorhies, but I have had my eye on one or two of them. IKBS is awesome.
 
I have a Voorhies VPD and it is by far the smoothest and fastest knife I have ever owned. I need to pick up more of a general working type blade w/ IKBS to see how the pivot holds up over the long haul (The VPD is a double edge dagger style). I have seen the video of the test Ikoma and Korth did where they try to break the pivot of an IKBS knife and it is quite convincing.
 
I have four of Voorhies' knives. They are all very smooth and slick openers. I have nothing but praise for the IKBS.
 
Pretty cool system. :cool:
Here's a detail drawing and some information:

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I have the CRKT Ken Onion Ripple. It has the smoothest action of any folding knife I have ever experienced. It feels like it is floating on a cload and has so little resistance once past the ball detent. My AXIS lock Benchmades (710D2 and a well worn Mini Grip) comes close but there is a noticeable difference. And all of the other knives I've tried too. I am totally sold on IKBS. Now I just have to get the better implementations of it.

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The smoothest IKBS knives I own are Todd Begg. Those things are so smoooooth. :D
 
are they hard to clean? I always wondered why they didn't use a closed bearing system so you don't loose the bearings
 
Socom Elite said:
are they hard to clean? I always wondered why they didn't use a closed bearing system so you don't loose the bearings
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They are usually packed in grease so if you do take it apart you shouldn't lose bearings. If any do fall out they are quite easy to put back in. I always have my IKBS knives in a plastic bag when I break them down. As far as cleaning goes, I blast the pivot with WD-40, then canned or compressed air, and then lube lightly using Tuf Glide. A closed bearing system wouldn't give you the same surface area and wouldn't allow for that same super smooth and fast opening.

There really shouldn't be any need to break your knife down. I find that if I clean the pivot once a month I have no need to disassemble.
 
Tony8179 said:
They are usually packed in grease so if you do take it apart you shouldn't lose bearings. If any do fall out they are quite easy to put back in. I always have my IKBS knives in a plastic bag when I break them down. As far as cleaning goes, I blast the pivot with WD-40, then canned or compressed air, and then lube lightly using Tuf Glide. A closed bearing system wouldn't give you the same surface area and wouldn't allow for that same super smooth and fast opening.

There really shouldn't be any need to break your knife down. I find that if I clean the pivot once a month I have no need to disassemble.
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Cool, thanks
 
Vege-Taco said:
The smoothest IKBS knives I own are Todd Begg. Those things are so smoooooth. :D
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I only own one Begg. A CIG, and it is definitely smooth opening. I do feel like the Galyean Pro-Series knives open just as smoothly though. I need to get me a Balisong with the IKBS pivots. I can't imagine how smoothly one would flip. :eek:
 
Tony8179 said:
They are usually packed in grease so if you do take it apart you shouldn't lose bearings. If any do fall out they are quite easy to put back in. I always have my IKBS knives in a plastic bag when I break them down. As far as cleaning goes, I blast the pivot with WD-40, then canned or compressed air, and then lube lightly using Tuf Glide. A closed bearing system wouldn't give you the same surface area and wouldn't allow for that same super smooth and fast opening.

There really shouldn't be any need to break your knife down. I find that if I clean the pivot once a month I have no need to disassemble.
Click to expand...

But aside of smoothness, does it offer other advantages over washers?
Will the knife be tighter, less blade play? Will IKBS allow to transfer bigger lateral forces without damage?
 
The lockup is super tight on my IKBS folder. No play at all, even when I push it side to side(or try to which I can't) with a lot of force and it still shoots our like a rocket.
 
idaho said:
But aside of smoothness, does it offer other advantages over washers?
Will the knife be tighter, less blade play? Will IKBS allow to transfer bigger lateral forces without damage?
Click to expand...

IKBS is used for smoother opening and closing of the knife. That's all. Now because of this you should be able to tighten the pivot down without having the blade bind up which in turn will reduce bladeplay. IKBS wasn't made for this purpose, but it is a nice side effect.

As far as lateral force goes. No, the IKBS system will not allow for greater lateral force to be applied to the blade. IMHO you should never apply lateral force to a folder anyway. A fixed blade or better yet a pry bar should be used if you need to apply lateral force.
 
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