Böker Manufaktur Barlow BFF 120506 couteau fixe

mercredi 15 mai 2024

samedi 30 décembre 2023

After a couple of weeks, my overall impression about this little knife is pretty good. Don't expect it to look as nice as seen on the pics though... There are no walnut burl scales here, just basic walnut... Of nice quality ok , but basic. Once polished and treated properly they look fine though... Received mine with an uneven edge, and i do state that it's totally unacceptable at this price range. Sharp enough, but I quickly put my own edge on it it at 22°, somewhat thinning the blade a bit, but this is how it should be released on the market ... I'm not affraid to say that the factory edge wasn't quite what it should be... The global factory finish is decent, but definitely nothing special. AEB-L steel can indeed get CRAZY sharp with a minimal effort and is a tough steel, but the edge retention is just less than average, and i don't think that they heat treated the blade to a very high level HRC (It's a data that u won't find anywhere btw...) A real pleasure to sharpen though, as it has a very fine grain. But despite its inherent qualities, AEB-L steel is just an old tool steel former used for industrial razor blades, no fancy modern CPM technology, and therefore quite cheap to produce. This leads me to my conclusion: Considering the materials involved, this little knife is way too expensive for what it really is. Being made in Solingen you would at least expect a better care and attention on sharpening and finish. I know that producing knives in Germany nowadays is expensive, but if it was made by a less known company in China or Salvador, or just made overseas in the Böker Plus line of knives, it would probably cost less than half of its retail price and probably wouldn't look worse. So what's left?... The reputation of the factory?...Who still believes in this?.. No, definitely. But the form factor, yes indeed! It's indeed excellent. Brilliant design. Despite its tiny size, this little beast is really handy and effective in any circumstances and there's not much you can't ask from it (according to its size ofc) And with this almost perfect sheath, it's definitely an excellent EDC knife with some extra strenght available, thanks to the fixed blade. The scales could be a bit thicker to get more comfy, but again, they seem to try to save money wherever they can... This would also add some weight to it, so nothing really wrong with the scales... Nah... It's a very good little knife... Just wait that some chinese company copies the design and sells it for a third of the price.... Or pay for the 'Solingen' stamp on it... That's up to you. I'm glad I have this one. If BFF stands for 'best friend forever', I say maybe... why not! And I own a lot of knives... But it would be an expensive friend... The kind of friend that u wanna pamper instead of (ab)using... Is that the real purpose of an EDC knive?... Excellent knive. Overpriced.

dimanche 10 septembre 2023

lundi 10 juillet 2023

mardi 20 juin 2023

Petit Barlow fixe de gentleman, dont la silhouette est délicieusement désuette, (Mark Twain fait allusion au Barlow dans "Les aventures deTom Sawyer et Huckleberry Finn", en 1876). L’acier AEB-L fut conçu à l’origine pour la fabrication de lames de rasoir... Le couteau et son étui sont d'une confection irréprochable. Je recommande.