Boker Kwaiken (pic heavy)

ALthough not needing or able to afford a new knife, on a late-night whim I ordered a Boker Kwaiken from knifecenter.com. As usual, their service was impeccable and a couple of days later the knife arrived in the mail

I was surprised by the size of it and the weight. Even though it has titanium scales, the liners are thick and the whole thing is a fairly beefy package...not that I mind that, it was just unexpected. Upon examination, the blade was pretty well centered, fit and finish was good for a production folder.

The pocket clip was smaller than I am used to but works well.

The action is smooth but the angle of the contour on the flipper is such that somehow I found a sharp edge on a scale or liner and got a nice cut in the pad of my index finger (I am a klutz and am happy that I did not drop this one this time.) Unlike other flippers I have, I have found the Kwaiken operates more smoothly if I use the first joint in my index finger rather than the pad of my finger.

THis knife came super sharp. Probably the sharpest out of the box in recent memory. For some reason I thought it was 440C when I ordered it. I think because I was looking at various knives in the middle of the night I confused it with another.

Conclusion: I probably paid too much for an AUS8 knife. On the plus side, AUS8 is super easy to sharpen and for common tasks this knife will do all right. It's fun to flip, it's razor sharp, and it looks nice. Would I buy it again? I don't know but life is short and I am happy with what I have.

There are user reports of folks cutting themselves with this knife because the edge is so close to the spine side of the grip when closed.
That might be what happened.

Click to expand...

Upon closer examination of the knife I think this is exactly what happened. The tip of my finger slid off the flipper and pressed hard into the spine and into the blade edge. Takes a bit of the comfort factor away from using this knife. If I use the joint of the index finger it clears the spine but in a hurry and using my finger tip I run the risk of another cut.

Well, I really wanted to like this knife. But after a second nasty cut…this time on the pad of my thumb…caused by me pushing the closed knife into my pocket I have decided to return it. The design of it truly is poor…placing the edge of the blade too close to the open spine with nothing between the sharp edge and the flesh of your fingertips.