Wanted: brief reviews of the Boker A/F.

Professor

Professor

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Apr 6, 1999
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Thank you in advance for responding. I've been thinking for some time about picking one of these up, and wasn't sure about the consistency of quality in terms of grind lines, etc. Also, how's the edge geometry out of the box? Am I gonna be spending some time re-angling the edges to get my desired 30-40 degree razorness? How's the overall fit and finish? How's the optional kydex sheath's quality overall (Bladetech, right?)?

I did a search through the archives and didn't turn up much. Thank you again. Professor.
 
Hi,
I´m from Germany and bought one of the first 300 A/F I liked the weight, the feel and the balance. However, yes you will be spending lot´s of time getting the blade sharp.I´ve tried with a Spydee sharpmaker and it was futile. I do not use it much since it is a sucker to give it a servicabe edge and one that con be restored quickly.
Hope this helps
Matt from Munich
 
Hi Professor,
I have an A/F too and also bought the Kydex sheath. The quality of knife and sheath are good, the knife fits so snugly in the sheath that the additional rubber strap is unnecessary, even for inverted carry. The sheath has a rigid belt loop that is wide enough (6cm) to be fitted to military webbing and ten rivets to tie it to equipment. Boker will soon offer a shoulder harness for the whole A/F series. One tiny flaw on my knife are the grind lines right at the choil, they don't match exactly. I agree with Matt (Greetings to a fellow German knife addict, btw.) that mating the bevel angle to the sharpmaker's 20 degrees will take a lot of work (A lansky set and a diamond stone can probably help, though). But even with a razor-honed edge, the two bevels of the dagger are too steep to make it an efficient slicer. Have You looked at the CS Peacekeeper series as an alternative ? They don't have the great looks of the A/F, but both edges have bellies and should slice better.

Take care,
Tobse !

 
teh only A/F iI have'nt had is the Harsey model. If i had to say I,d say the boker is the best for actual use once the edge has been reprofiled I have the cordura sheath so I cant comment on that
 
professor: i have one for sale, check the for sale forum, thread "couple of production knives...."

matt: servus und gruesse aus graz/oesterreich

Ray
 
Blademan, all I saw was the Gerber folding A/F. Did I miss it? I'll look again. Thanks for responding.

Thanks to all of you. I've got one of the folders, and despite its locking problems, I like the feel of the unit in the hand. An even longer blade would be more balanced for me; that's where the fixed blade comes into play. Are they pretty tough in terms of withstanding some hiking/camping abuse for example? Would the guard conceivably loosen, or the tang wiggle in the handle? Thanks again. Professor.
 
The blade has a max thickness of 4.5mm in the center, it should be suitable for light prying. I have tested the tip strength by stabbing the knife into wood and levering it out, no problems. But I wouldn't use it as a camp knife for several reasons :
  • The double-edged grind makes the knife a poor slicer
  • For light chopping or cleaning branches, the balance should be farther forward
  • Food preparation and other, finer work is difficult (stabbing onions just won't do)
  • The butt of the handle is tough plastic[Zytel?], so it will take some abuse, but pounding nails or opening beer bottles will definitely scratch it (My definition of camping/hiking ?)
So the question is, do You feel that the benefits of the second edge outweigh these problems ? Or did I just provide all A/F owners with another excuse to buy more knives ?
BTW, IMHO the so called "utility"-version combines the downsides of the dagger with the loss of the back edge (and it looks weird, too).

Take care,
Tobse !
 
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