Boker "Tree Brand Classic" & Solingen made traditional knives

sailfish

sailfish

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Jan 1, 2019
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I've been eyeing up one of the newer German-made Bokers with carbon steel blades that are branded as "Tree Brand Classic Solingen". They are priced closer to a GEC so I was wondering if anyone who has experience with these knives can tell me how the fit and finish compares relative to GEC and Case.
 
dsutton24 said:
They're good knives. I won't get into the compare x to y thing since everyone has his own ideas along those lines. I will say that if you're seeing prices around the GEC level you're shopping in the wrong places.
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Seems like they used to be a bit lower but I might be out of luck since the one I want is discontinued.
 
sailfish sailfish I have a Club Gentleman arriving tomorrow and will report back, and also dropped you a profile note on a place to find decent pricing.

I did handle a couple from the Schloss Burg (oak handles from an old castle) and they were fine with the F&F but not quite up to the level of GEC in my opinion. The 1906 was a little sticky with a mid frame back lock that I didn’t love (very slim knife) and a Barlow just felt light to me. I didn’t love the acid etched blade finish on that line either.

To be fair, neither of these would be models I’d particularly want to buy anyway, and the ridiculous age of the wood might have played a role. It was like they were scaled with balsa wood, in terms of mass.

Overall, the actual F&F was well done, they just didn’t seem as tank like solid as the GECs.

The Club Gentleman seems like a ideal step up, so we’ll see. I’m also really interested in the Hunter Mono, too. I think the back lock style there is really interesting, as is the clever pen knife lock on the Enigma, but both are so pricey... especially for 440c in some cases.
 
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My experience mirrors lambertiana's - the price and quality are between Case and GEC, though closer in quality to GEC than Case.
If it is Tree brand, it's worth it because quality costs money. I just wish they had more patterns, now that Case is so iffy.
 
lambertiana said:
My experience with Böker's Solingen-made knives has been quite good. Fit and finish not quite as good as GEC, but certainly better than the Case knives that I have.
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My limited experience with Boker knives, at least the ones made in Germany, agrees with this assessment.
They have been as solidly built as my GEC's, but their Fit and Finish isn't quite as clean and seamless and the GEC's.
I would put them on par with Case knives from the 70's and 80's and a bit better than the knives that Case produces today.
 
Well I'm convinced. Confirmed an order for one of these. Paid nearly full MSRP but I guess beggars can't be choosers because I could only find them in stock at one place and now they're out of stock there so I seem to have gotten the last one anywhere.

We should turn this thread into a Solingen gallery now.

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Heres a boker with the castle wood. It looks like it could give you a splinter but i think you would need to do quite a bit of picking at it to develop any rough edges that could cause a splinter. This knife felt a little rough at first but after flushing, its wonderful.


Id say they are up there with gecs more recent productions. Gec seems to have been slipping a lot as of late yet they are still credited with over the top fit n finish though i think its more their qc is the issue.
 
Mass1632 said:
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Heres a boker with the castle wood. It looks like it could give you a splinter but i think you would need to do quite a bit of picking at it to develop any rough edges that could cause a splinter. This knife felt a little rough at first but after flushing, its wonderful.
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That's pretty cool looking wood and a nice sunken joint.:thumbsup: I wish Boker would pin their shields though.
On Coyja Coyja 's example it looks like the blade is canted downward a bit. Do you notice the same with yours?
 
Ramrodmb said:
That's pretty cool looking wood and a nice sunken joint.:thumbsup: I wish Boker would pin their shields though.
On Coyja Coyja 's example it looks like the blade is canted downward a bit. Do you notice the same with yours?
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Good point about the shields. That really is something that sets gec apart.

The blade on mine also angles down. Im certain its on purpose though at first i thought it looked a little funky.
 
Those Boker knives are sweet looking.
Whats the difference between the Club Knife and the Cattle Knife?
At approximately $165 to $200, I'd hope they were as good or better than a GEC equivalent.
 
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