Who carries or has carried and used Okapi knife?

L

lonestar1979

Joined
Mar 2, 2014
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  1. I have ordered couple of these inexpensive knives,a locking larger okapi and smaller non locking keychain one.I plan to use these hard and see how they hold up.The key chain one will be for edc and larger for food prep etc.Any experiences on these ones?I know there's plenty of better knives around but like rustic look and easy to sharpen steels that I'll try to sharpen on whatever comes handy.
 
I had one pass through my hands a while back, it wasn't bad but wasn't for me. For the price they are worth a shot! You should do a review when you get them:)
 
I have two of the ratcheting ringlockers and I love 'em. I'm sure you've heard this but they will need to be sharpened and how. I spent a couple of hours over a few nights just getting them to bite my nail. Now that the edge is there they are good cutters and strop back to sharpness easily. Like you said, they definitely have a rustic look. Mine are pretty funky in spots and they got me into other rustic knives. I picked up a few Douk Douks and have a Mercator Black Cat on the way. Opinels are too pretty looking for my taste.

Here is my more photogenic Okapi:
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I saw a photo of Keith Richards with some kind of ratchet knife and thought, "Whatever that thing is, I want one." I had never even heard of Okapi knives before I looked into it.
 
If the Cold Steel Kudu and Eland count, I carried them for a month or so, about 2 years ago.
I figure since they are pinchable, they'll make a good "winter knife" here in Idaho.
 
I have the Okapi ratchet, which in my opinion is a bit of an exotically hipsterish dud, at least the example I got. It did indeed take a lot of work to sharpen, but my real beef is that it has never loosened up to where I can flick it open, even though the blade wobbles in a couple of planes when open. If you can't flick it like a rudeboy thug, then what's the point? In contrast, my Kudu works quite nicely.

I also have a couple of the small slipjoints, the sheepsfoot Biltong, and the Genet, a clip point that when open looks a lot like a kitchen paring knife. The Genet came from Baryonyx, and got the three dollar edge tuneup. It is quite sharp, but has yet to capture my fancy like my favorite, the Biltong, which competes for pocket space with an Opinel 6. That edge took some work too, and my sharpener-fu is relatively weak, so I would like to get one of them from Benjamin, in order to start out with a decent edge. The blade has a wicked snap, and is very pinchable. The Biltong is tremendously useful, light and easy to carry.
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I live in South Africa and know the Okapi well , I have a few examples for collection purposes and home use only.

These knives need a LOT of sharpening before use , these knives appear flimsy and only have a rudimentary finish , but the steel used is quite acceptable and works well , these knives are pretty well indestructable.

Okapi's are not much carried by ordinary people around here , but they are however the hands down first choice of the less than savory members of our society.

:eek: :D

Cheers.


Cheers.
 
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