Todd Begg Steel Craft Sun Tzu Kwaiken

Ahhh, she arrives...and on a Saturday morning no less. Time to inspect.





 
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longbow said:
Is the plunge grind off in the last pic near ricasso? May be an optical allusion. If it is that would bug me. Especially if it is all machine made. Other than that nice knife. Not my type of blade profile but would do! keepem sharp
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FWIW, mine is perfect.
 
I like it a great deal in several ways but there are a couple of major flaws that keep me from pure love of the knife. Actually, one is a flaw and one is an attribute of the knife that causes fairly big problem regarding that flaw. I will try and address this in greater detail later as I have to run out with the wife & kids to run errands...AND...who doesn't like a good cliff hanger. In the mean time, if any Begg Kwaiken owners out there feel there is a flaw or want to guess what my issue is with the knife is, list 'em...
 
No clue.

I love mine and have carried every day since receiving it. I can see the top guard being an issue for some though.
 
Here's the deal, at least with mine. It reminds me of the same thing I (and lots of others) experienced when the zt0452 came out, the detent is quite a bit harder than I like. And no, my fingers are not on the lockbar when I open it, making it difficult to open. And I've blown the pivot out with compressed air and added a touch of good lube to the bearings & detent ball. And it did get even smoother. It glides closed under its own (blade) weight like a Thorburn or Shirogorov, etc. But opening is a different story. It still opens really nicely, with speed and authority...BUT...the detent is just set too hard on mine. Finger starts to ache after about 5-10 flips. The real problem now (for me) is the IKBS. -- I've seen guys talk about taking a Dremel to the edge of the detent hole to make their 0452 (and other knife models with a really stiff detent) more comfortable to flip...or flipping it a million times to "break it in" etc. The easy fix I've found and done a bunch of times, including on my 0452, is to simply take the knife apart, remove the steel lockbar insert/over-travel stop...and decrease the tension on the lockbar. It's a fairly easy & (thus far always) reliable fix to an overly strong detent. I've done it to several of my favorite edc's and got them to the point that they are just a smooth pleasure to open...and feel like a perfectly tuned custom. But I've never done this to an knife with IKBS, intentionally. I just don't want to mess with a potential nightmarish re-assembly that I've heard about IKBS so many times. So the detent is too strong, apparently just on mine as I haven't seen any other complaints about this yet (or I'm too delicate, but I don't think that's really the problem)...but I really don't want to open this knife up to do my usual fix to this (occasional) issue. I like a medium detent. Some guys would absolutely love it the way it is. But because of the IKBS, I can't see myself opening it up to "tune it" to be just the way I like a flipper to feel. So because of the (to me) too hard detent...and the inability to (really unwillingness to risk IKBS problems) adjust it...I'm not sure how much I'll carry the knife as is. Sure it's a subjective thing...but if it's not fun/comfortable for the owner to flip, why own a flipper? Just cause it's beautiful? Other than that, the knife is completely awesome...and obviously beautiful & unique. But I'm still a little bummed out about this...and trying to come up with another solution to the detent strength.
 
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Ok, I already have an update. I didn't have a lot of time to play with it yesterday when I first got it. But I'm sitting here playing with it and really looking at it. I realized that, unlike my other Reates: Hills and Horizon B & C, that have either jimping or a bit of a forward cant to the flipper tab in the closed position (or both). This Kwaiken has no jimping on the tab and a back leaning cant to it. So I often do a bit of a combo push button/light switch move when opening. When I do that partial push button with this Kwaiken, it's a real finger acher to get open. But I noticed when doing a pure lightswitch opening it works MUCH more smoothly and ache free. So it seems it's more of a technique thing with this Reate. I wish they kept their usual jimping (and slightly forward flipper tab angle) on this one but that forward angle wouldn't have worked as well with the overall aesthetic of this knife I guess, so I can see why they didn't...at least the angle. They could have kept the jimping on the tab. So apparently, full on lightswitch is the way to go. Feeling a lot better about the knife now, knowing I don't have to open it up to adjust.
PS. Evan, good eye on the avatar image.
 
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It has always flipped open via push button or light switch very easily and comfortably on mine. It has gotten even smoother. Your case is the only one I'm aware of. May want to send it back to the dealer for another one. You could also contact Todd Begg Knives.
 
Thx, RamZar. If after a week or so I still feel like it's not 100% right, I might. But the change in technique has already helped some.
 
Anybody know a good knife pimper/customizer that is really good at adding jimping to a flipper tab? I think I'd still really like some well done jimping on the tab. (I can't get over how beautiful this thing is.)
 
Skateboard Tape in stead of added jimping. Wow what a difference it makes. Easy to remove if you want to. Strong enough to stay in place if you decide you like the effect & additional finger tip grip, to flip. Barely notice it unless you're really searching for it. I made it as obvious as I could so it was clearly visible in these photos for you guys. It's a pretty cool, easy, non destructive solution if desired...that can be reversed if desired. :cool:





 
Scrim said:
Anybody know a good knife pimper/customizer that is really good at adding jimping to a flipper tab? I think I'd still really like some well done jimping on the tab. (I can't get over how beautiful this thing is.)
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Hi scrim, We will gladly tune this knife to your liking. When we make prototypes for David we make the detent to be strong but not so strong as to be difficult for any user. It is a fine line between strong and a weak detent. We did very strong QC on the Black Kwaikens and 2 were left out for having a very strong detents which I decided to keep one because my bear paws are like a human hammer. After flipping thousands of knives this happens and this is why I use my middle finger because I have been doing this for such a long time I am thinking I need to use even another finger to test a detent. Phil Boguzuski taught Todd this many years ago as a technique to test detents when tuning them for a customer because of this hammer finger thing that happens after years of doing this. We are very sensitive to this and we look very closely for the detent being just right but we are here to make sure you have a long happy life together with your new Kwaiken. We want you two be together through sickness and health and to love honor and cherish one another till death do you part. Remember our knives are not made they are born. You can email me anytime mark@beggknives.com This flipper does not have jimping on it because Todd felt it was perfect the way it was designed. We are working with David to get more aggressive on the radius work on the flippers for a nice smooth touch to the finger. These are the little things you will find with our semi-customs that make a difference that you don't always see but you will feel it. We are working with David constantly to address these kind of things that we believe really make the difference. Thank you for your support.
Best,
Mark
Begg Knives
 
Now that's service right there folks. I'll be getting one of these Kwaikens as soon as I can. Thanks all, :thumbup::thumbup:
 
Nephilim Killer said:
Hi scrim, We will gladly tune this knife to your liking. When we make prototypes for David we make the detent to be strong but not so strong as to be difficult for any user. It is a fine line between strong and a weak detent. We did very strong QC on the Black Kwaikens and 2 were left out for having a very strong detents which I decided to keep one because my bear paws are like a human hammer. After flipping thousands of knives this happens and this is why I use my middle finger because I have been doing this for such a long time I am thinking I need to use even another finger to test a detent. Phil Boguzuski taught Todd this many years ago as a technique to test detents when tuning them for a customer because of this hammer finger thing that happens after years of doing this. We are very sensitive to this and we look very closely for the detent being just right but we are here to make sure you have a long happy life together with your new Kwaiken. We want you two be together through sickness and health and to love honor and cherish one another till death do you part. Remember our knives are not made they are born. You can email me anytime mark@beggknives.com This flipper does not have jimping on it because Todd felt it was perfect the way it was designed. We are working with David to get more aggressive on the radius work on the flippers for a nice smooth touch to the finger. These are the little things you will find with our semi-customs that make a difference that you don't always see but you will feel it. We are working with David constantly to address these kind of things that we believe really make the difference. Thank you for your support.
Best,
Mark
Begg Knives
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Mark, that's extremely cool of you. I will be contacting you directly, via your email address, later today...and will keep everyone updated on this here, via this thread. Thanks so much for being a stand up guy/business owner...and I'll email you later today to get this going.

Appreciatively, Scrim
 
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