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Product Description
The first folding knife from Boker Plus that’s entirely made in the USA, the Patriot definitely embodies its namesake. 154CM steel makes up the blade, which is known for its impressive edge retention and toughness Read More
For a little cheaper than a Delica, you get better steel, but at the cost of no liners and no washers of any kind. Not a “Delica killer” by any means, as some people have said. But it does seem like a nice alternate option.
I was let down largely by both the kwaiken's I've had, and i dont normally care in the slightest where a knife is made, but I want to give this different factory a try.
You mean when you were using the blade, not opening it, correct? So the flipper behind the blade's cutting edge, acting as a totally inadequate finger guard?
One of my Pro-tech made kwaiken autos is in my EDC rotation, and while I wouldn't want it for heavy work, I find it to be a handy knife when the day brings a variety of tasks, including food prep/consumption. Maybe it's uncouth to use ones own kwaiken in a nice surf 'n turf joint, but mangling a $100 cut of beef with the restaurant-provided steak/butter knife would have been a crime against nature.
Anyway, when using the kwaiken (and my apologies if I'm telling you info you already know; thought I'd presume, given the anecdote about getting cut slipping off the flipper) I've learned you really must have your index finger curled over the back of the handle, about where it meets the blade, and pressed against its right side; tip of the finger pointing more or less down. The leading edge of the handle/bolster has been designed so that the angles match the joints of the index finger, which makes it comfortable and provides good grip. It's possible to choke up or down a bit, but the design of the knife seems to demand this modified saber grip, for good or I'll. A pic, or maybe two, will demonstrate better than my rambling:
HatuletohThanks for taking the time to consider and reply, but no, i did mean i cut myself with the knife still fully closed after slipping attempting to open it.
On mine the heel of the blade sits just about flush with the opening on the spine.
Running your finger along the spine with the slightest pressure and you can touch the last half inch or so of blade...so the amount of pressure applied when slipping off the rounded flipper tab pushed enough skin down into the gap to make a pretty decent cut.
I don't know what would be different about the BladeHQ versions vs any others, but here's the list of my other issues by way of copy and paste of my full (generous 2 star) review there:
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First off, I want to say I'm absolutely in love with the looks of this knife. The copper and cf are gorgeous together!
And the blade came razor sharp, nice even bevels.
And that what earns it the stars it gets.
Beyond that though...
First thing I noticed out of the box was a pretty significant (0.011") gap under the cf on the "show side" on the end by the lanyard hole. Looking through the gap I saw something in there that I thought was just a burr or something, so I popped the scales off to fix the issue and found that the 3 screws under the scales, connecting the liners together between the backspacer were not properly countersunk to sit flush with the surface.
On a brand new $150 I probably should've returned it right then, but instead I ground the heads so they would sit flush figuring it would solve the issue.
The gap is smaller now, but not gone, the cf stayed slightly warped to that shape.
Then there was the action, pretty gritty feeling, so I continued dismantling to investigate that. Forewarning: if you take yours apart to clean it, be aware that these are NOT captive bearings.
The grease they were packed in was pretty gunky, but worse is that there appears to be a spot in one of the races where the bearings won't pass freely. They roll a little ways then get stuck.
I haven't solved the issue yet because when I reassembled to test with the new grease I found the final issue:
The heel of the blade sits almost flush with the opening at the spine of the handle.
So, when my finger slipped off what I consider to be a tab that's a little too smooth and too rounded, I sliced my finger wide open.
By the time I got it to stop bleeding I didn't feel like messing with it any more that day... But it's going to mean taking off a fair amount of steel, on an already narrow blade, before it's safe to use.
Oh, one last thing; despite the gritty action, and the rather high force required to overcome the detent with the flipper, the blade will still shake open pretty easily. So it's a no-go on legal carry in places that have strict gravity assist laws
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Despite loving the looks of it, had I realized all the issues at once, before dismantling and starting to fix it myself (and before I bled on the bare copper and started a premature patina lol), I would've sent it straight back.
I do wish this model had had the duplex grind though
I bought the Patriot after I found it discounted. It is an excellent light weight every day carry knife. The lack of washers delayed my purchase, but it does great without them, as it does without liners. The size places it between the Delica and Endura, but with better steel than VG10.
This knife is excellent in hand and rugged. You would be very happy to have it on you when you really need a knife for your task! Absolutely as tough as any knife at its weight and size.
dgt5The thing is that even though I've spent countless hours looking at knives on Amazon, this one never popped up in searches or "also viewed" or "also bought". Without Massdrop I would never have even known about this knife.
djprI had the same thought, it's very similar to the bugout.
Both are just over 3 inch blade, US made, polymer handle and ultralight. Main differences being axis lock vs back lock and S30v vs 154cm. The boker also has thicker blade stock with a .12in hollow ground blade vs .09in high flat grind for the bugout. The bugout will probably be slicey-er (?) but the boker will probably be a bit beefier and with the hollow grind should still cut well.
This drop is $45 cheaper than retail for the bugout ($115). Even though the bugout isn't the most competitively priced knife, this boker seems like a bargain, assuming the quality is good (I don't have any boker knives).
NotsurewhyibotherI have 2 bugouts and love them but they seem expensive for what they are, while this one doesn't have the same quality steel, for the majority of uses and for me thats mostly opening packets (in Aus national parks we're limited with fires etc. so not much bushcrafting), this Boker would do the trick at a cheaper price.
I have 2 Boker plus knives, I'm happy with the quality and action on both of them although, the titanium one I have is a bit stick on lock up, which won'te be a problem here.
Nice and light with one of the best non-powdered steels. Plus (get it) its the first Boker Plus to be made in the US. Only negative (for me) is its not a flipper. Very tempting. 🤔
Nice review and teardown here:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/boker-usa-patriot.1454651/
--Edited for link--
bookworm13The breakdown and pictures were great, thanks for the link. I am not a big fan of washer-less knives, but the rest of the design seems very well thought out and clean. The back lock design looks superior to the similarly priced Delica. The single screw clip is deep carry and looks like a cross between the spyderco wire clip and spoon clip. Not a bad place to go for inspiration.
If I was thinking about buying a delica or a bugout, I'd give this a good hard look first. Much cheaper than the bugout and has a significantly longer blade and far simpler construction than the delica.