All About Pocket Knives

Well, my must-have knives for 2021 just passed before my eyes in the new Boker 2021 catalog... HORN HANDLES! Can you believe it??!! HORN HANDLES! (synthetic, of course.) If anyone has a couple hundred bucks lying around and you are wondering what to get me for my birthday in May...

Carson Felix-Dalichau says in an interview with Blade HQ that Boker is one of the last remaining - and largest - knife makers in Germany, having around 50 employees.HobieonYoutbe sent me a link to this great interview.

HOBIEONYOUTUBE has a great knife channel, with dozens of videos on knife related stuff. His primary focus is on SAK, but he recently did a very detailed review of the Boker book!


Oh yeah, I shamelessly stole the two photos above from BokerUSA's new 2021 catalog. You can view the entire catalog here:
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/fulls ... -busa-2021

Interesting to hear how Boker is positioning themselves in these trying times. The key phrase is "modern traditional", with many old classic patterns built with modern materials: G10, exotic blade steels, titanium, carbon fiber, etc...

Boker USA ?
Surely you mean Boker Solingen, Germany ?
And prices ! $289 for a 2 blade Jack. I don't think many people will pay this much for a 'regular' Jack knife. I don't know cost of N690 steel but imitation cow horn is not a high end handle material and bolsters are N/S like most traditional style folders. If it had Mammoth handles and a gold shield, maybe people would spend the over $300 cost once sales tax and shipping is included, but not for what is a basic Jack knife with upgraded steel.
What am i missing here ? It does not make sense to me.
kj

Those swell-end Jack's with the cap lifter remind me of the knife that Glennbad that cobbled together (I believe Violet was her name) and was passed-along to a dozen or so forum members. Maybe Mr. Trowbridge is due royalties

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:49 am Boker USA ?
Surely you mean Boker Solingen, Germany ?

kj

No, he meant what he said. www.bokerusa.com

Rangerbluedog I am always excited when the Boker catalogue comes. What a bunch of great stuff and usually some very innovating things as well. Love German quality. Thanks for sharing.

I just looked at the Boker USA website and in the new arrivals there is one I just have to own.
A Barlow Expedition, Olive Mircarta handle, brass bolsters and a 440C clip point blade. Looks
like there is also a matching single blade called the Barlow Prime Expedition only it doesn't
come with the typical bolsters found on a Barlow.

Steve Warden wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 1:06 pm

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 8:49 am Boker USA ?
Surely you mean Boker Solingen, Germany ?

kj

No, he meant what he said. www.bokerusa.com

O.K. I was thinking "Boker USA" was meaning manufactured in USA. I just took a look at the link you provided. The prices seem very high, 2-3 times that of GEC knives..
kj

I have always enjoyed the Boker catalog, used to get it in the mail, now just view the PDF. Their prices seem to have risen over the last few years. I was disappointed with the 150th Anniversary knives, I thought they would do something very special, but it was just green wood. They did more for the 140th, releasing a different knife every month.

Here is a link to the annual damascus series, it is a good reference, you can use google translate

https://www.boker.de/jahresmesser

Those new Scouts have my attention. I've got one of the Boy Scouts (bottom knife) and I'd love to have one with a Spear blade and Ironwood.

I'm confused on these prices too. Did they start pinning their shields or doing something else to drive up the prices? I paid $135 for the pictured Boy Scout in October, 2018. The blade steel is N690 just like these new ones. These are almost double the price I paid 27 months ago!

Very nice knives. I know these prices listed in the catalog are MSRP and we will see them much cheaper online and at retail, but it sure does seem a bit steep for synthetic (horn). Then again it seems like everything in the gun and knife industry has gone up since the pandemic.

Yep, you usually find the retail prices about 50-60% of the MSRP listed in the catalog.
Still a little high, but knives coming from Germany pay a 25% tariff coming to the U.S.
-Blue