Boker Oberland EDW or Titan Defender Lightweight

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eschwebach

eschwebach

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I am sorry to say that even though I have over 70+ knives I don't own a single Boker. I am looking to alleviate that issue. (Actually already ordered a Boker Anso Solo :) ) Two other knives that have caught my eye are the Oberland Arms EDW and the Titan Defender Lightweight. Both are about the same size, both have micarta handles and both have n690 steel which I like. They both seems like overbuilt folders. I am wondering if any of you have them and what you think of these two knives. Pics would be great as well. :cool:
 
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Well I just went and ordered both of them. :D I'll let you know my thoughts when I get them.......
 
I had the Oberland Arms, but ended up selling it. There was nothing wrong with it, i just needed the cash at that particular time.

The Oberland Arms was a real nice blade. The reinforced spear point gave the impression, that it was robust and strong. The beefy handles filled the hand very nicely. The Ti liners were very thick, much thicker than the ZT0200. The only issue with mine was a very weak detent. A hard shake and the blade would come flying out. It also had some centering issues. Im not bothered by a off-center blade, but a knife in this pricerange should have none. I sent it in to Boker to fix the deten, but they did nothing else than to tighten the pivot, which i already had played with my self.

Dont forget to post some pics of the 2 knives!


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Thanks Prop, one of the reasons I have held off on buying Boker's is because it seems like I am constantly hearing of QC issues. I was hoping that buying the Solingen (Tree Brand) line this would be less of an issue. Hopefully it works out. I will definitely post pics since I love taking pictures of my knives. :)

I love the blade finish on the EDW, one thing I have noticed about Boker is they do a really nice job on changing up the blade finishes. I have seen some with polished grinds and stonewashed or etched flats, provides a nice contrast I think.
 
So after not owning any Bokers I received my first three in the mail today. The Oberland EDW, the Titan Defender Lightweight and the Boker Anso Solo. I wish I had better news but it looks like what I have heard about Bokers QC extends to their Solingen line as well. Two out of the three are going back. The lock bar on the EDW fails to engage sometimes, and the lock is incredibly sticky on the Titan as well as the blade being way off center.

The Anso Solo on the other hand is awesome! If you like big beefy folders this is the knife for you. I will upload some pics of it in the next couple of days.
 
Thats a shame. Ive never experienced the liner not engaging. Stickly Ti locks are not unheard of though...Ive seen it on many Ti knives both linerlocks and framelocks. If i flicked the blade on my Oberland open real hard, the lock would stick too. A little graphite from a lead-pencil on the locks mating surfaces helps alot.

The Anso Solo looks like a great knife. Ive got the Boker Haddock myself, another Anso design, and it has no issues whatsoever. Thats also a Boker knife id recommend if youre into the design.
 
Yeah, I have had sticky locks before as well and the pencil trick and/or sharpie trick sometimes does the trick (although not always). But in this case the sticky lock in conjunction with the very off centered blade means a no-go for me. It's a $200+ knife, I get more picky when we get into that price range.

The Haddock doesn't do much for me but I have had my eye on the Anso 67 for a while. I like a lot of Anso's designs. There is a smaller version of the Solo coming out, as well as the Arctos which looks interesting and a titanium flipper he designed being released by Fox Knives.
 
Hi, I was just thinking of getting the OA-EDW but after reading the post here... I've never owned a Boker before because of the same QC problems you mentioned. I agree it is unacceptable for a knife of this price range to have any imperfections. It's a shame as this is such a nice design. Thanks for the head-up.
 
Boker is a real hit or miss brand. Both of the framelocks I had (epicenter and pipsqueak) developed bladeplay, one in about 10 minutes, one within a day or two. The fit and finish on the pipsqueak however was spot on. Like, probably in the top 10% of knives that I've ever handled. Sebenza smooth, perfectly centered, absolutely rock solid (once I bent the lockbar in, would have been even smoother had I not needed to do that.) and the stonewash was incredible, on the hollow grinds and the titanium. The micarta was immaculate and the edge was semi mirror polished and rediculously sharp out of the box, no grind lines that you see on alot of factory edges (ZT). Honestly, if it were a sterile 9kind ofblade and I knew nothing about the knife, I'd have thought it was a custom. All of this, other than the lock rock. They really need to do a better job fitting their locks. My epicenter was really nice too, not as nice as the pipsqueak, but still very well done, other than the lock. I think it may have been off center too, but I really only pay attention (kind of) to the German made ones.
 
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