The Bears' Den--Shirogorov Showcase

Try taking it apart, mine came with a really thick oil, it wasnt flipping that great, I took it apart cleaning every bearing and everything, used nano oil 10 on the bearings and detent, when I put it back together, it was flipping amazingly and dropped freely, used blue loctite with a toothpick and its been a great EDC, dead centered and zero blade play
 
Lots of interesting reading the last few pages with a great variety of opinions, experiences, expectations, and thoughts on sourcing Shirogorov knives.

Of the 8 I've acquired, keeping 7, I've only bought two brand new and none from any dealer, authorized or otherwise. The two new knives (F95T SRBS & 111CF) were bought on the Exchange* from individual Russian sellers who purchased them over there and delivered them, pivot stickers intact, in clearly brand new condition. Both knives came substantially below North American retail. My NeOn UL was about as LNIB as you can get, posted here on the Exchange the day after the seller received it from R1.

The rest of the lot came mostly in pristine condition, some carried and used, the exception being my older G10 Hati which had been through at least 4 owners, had a hard life, and required considerable effort on my part to make it the very good user it is now. It is the only Shiro of all mine that has ever been (and remains) off-center.

All my knives are serial productions, all now get carried and used, though it took some of them a while to get there, and two of those are work users--the Turtle starting from brand new and the Hati which came to me in that state anyway. As much as I admire (and covet) CDs and collabs, I really appreciate my serial knives as EDCs.

As far as action and tuning goes, the only knife that gave me any trouble was my F3 Python Micarta which came to me with too-early lock-up and still unbroken-in despite me being the third owner. It developed significant lock-stick as it wore in and required considerable effort on my part to cure. It sure gave me lots of practice dealing with dis- and re-assembly and I ended up with a knife with unbelievably smooth action, better lock-up, and silent disengagement. The rest of my knives have been apart, save my two Tabargans. To answer TRfromMT TRfromMT 's question, what I've been looking for tuning has been a little smoother action and freer closing. All of my knives have been great flippers right off the bat, but a couple were not the smoothest, and none true free-droppers. Both my F95s now drop closed with little encouragement, my NeOn self-closes amazingly, and the 111 is a nasty thumb guillotine. Tuning mostly involves cleaning, interior polishing, bearing cage de-burring, and lubrication change.

*Edit: Re-reading a couple days after posting, I should note that the Turtle was not bought directly from the Exchange, but by writing Vladimir_K--an authorized BF seller as well as having a presence at USN--asking him to find a knife to my specs over in the Motherland.
 
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Here's that scuffed up old Hati over in the shop today. Not pretty, but a helluva work knife with its sharp M390 blade. Running on washers, if CRK made flippers, they would feel just like this.

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The more I use this knife, the more I love it. I couldn't be happier. I have started to delete the emails I get from all the various knife dealers as they come in without reading them. I'm just not interested in any others since receiving this beautiful knife. Today was a nice day for pictures and this one ended up being my favorite.

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Yes, it did. I noticed the blade was off centered right after reading your previous posts. I'm positive it came centered as it's easy to notice with the backspacer. I doubt there was Loctite on it since it did come loose, but I haven't taken it apart yet
I really spoke too soon, it's loose again! Good thing I have purple Loctite!
 
Shiros haven't entirely stopped me from buying other makers' knives but they've slowed that to a crawl, have me selling considerably more than I might buy, and something has to have been high on the want list or extra special to pique my interest now. Shirogorov has certainly raised the bar and I don't spend any time looking at all the dealer emails I get daily either.

I still like, carry, and use my Spydies, BMKs, and Hinderers, though with decreasing frequency, and have a few singletons in the regular rotation like my Olamic Wayfarer 247, Wilson Combat Eagle, and RJ Martin Machine Flipper. I carry my two Cheburkovs and just got word from Alexander that the Raven he made for me is done. Psyched for that one. :D

Other than that, I concur with Stumpy72 Stumpy72 that my CRKs and Shiros certainly could cover all the bases regarding thumbstuds and flippers. I traded away one CRK picking up my Tabargan recently and my CRKs and Shiros now stand at 7 each. I'm also feeling sort of balanced and comfortable with my selections of those and not feeling any great impetus to change or expand that. I'm still working on slowly winnowing down all the others, proceeds from multiple sales getting consolidated into fewer, higher-end knives.
 
You’re not alone. Same here. For future purchases, I’m now down to CRKs for thumbstuds and Shiros for flippers.

Shiros haven't entirely stopped me from buying other makers' knives but they've slowed that to a crawl, have me selling considerably more than I might buy, and something has to have been high on the want list or extra special to pique my interest now. Shirogorov has certainly raised the bar and I don't spend any time looking at all the dealer emails I get daily either.

I still like, carry, and use my Spydies, BMKs, and Hinderers, though with decreasing frequency, and have a few singletons in the regular rotation like my Olamic Wayfarer 247, Wilson Combat Eagle, and RJ Martin Machine Flipper. I carry my two Cheburkovs and just got word from Alexander that the Raven he made for me is done. Psyched for that one. :D

Other than that, I concur with Stumpy72 Stumpy72 that my CRKs and Shiros certainly could cover all the bases regarding thumbstuds and flippers. I traded away one CRK picking up my Tabargan recently and my CRKs and Shiros now stand at 7 each. I'm also feeling sort of balanced and comfortable with my selections of those and not feeling any great impetus to change or expand that. I'm still working on slowly winnowing down all the others, proceeds from multiple sales getting consolidated into fewer, higher-end knives.

I’m about the same as you guys. I have the Turtle which I am not able to get out of my pocket. I love that knife. Any time I think of carrying another knife, I ask myself if I’d really like to use that knife instead of the Turtle and the answer is always an easy no.
I’m leaning towards keeping my Arius and a couple of my Hinderers and CRK knives and slowly letting go of the others I have. I have way too many knives at the moment and I need to thin out the collection.
 
As of yesterday, this is the new blemish on the Turtle. After almost a year of pocket carry in the outside leg "cell phone" pocket of my pants in a shop environment 4-5 days a week, this is the result of working in some switchgear.

I knew yesterday when it drug alongside a leg of a workbench that it was going to be scratched. I didn't even bother to stop and look. Last night at home when I put it up, I though, "Eh, well, there you go. You got some busted knuckles now."

What is it called when you reach a place of happy contentment where this does not bother you in the slightest? Not being unhappy about this makes me happy.

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What is it called when you reach a place of happy contentment where this does not bother you in the slightest? Not being unhappy about this makes me happy.

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I used a phrase over at USN, noted by a couple posters there, that described unconcernedly dropping a large amount of money on another of these knives we are so taken with. The "Shiro Shrug" might also describe that same unconcernedness when putting another beauty mark on a knife so liked that you carry and use it despite any risk of marking it up.

My Turtle is a regular work user and wears its scars proudly and well--the finish on its handle slabs is excellently scratch-blending. I had the slightest pang when I scraped my F95R's clip against the end of my Biesemeyer fence rail in the shop a while back, but was able to Shiro shrug it off figuring the knife had just become more carry-able.
 
What is it called when you reach a place of happy contentment where this does not bother you in the slightest? Not being unhappy about this makes me happy.

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That’s a great place to be in. I would look at it as the knife having some character with some memories attached to it. It is very satisfying when you finally reach that stage.
 
I have been selling off many of my other 'brand' knives lately... but I keep buying Shirogorov knives!

I have carried a Millie for over 20 years now... (started carrying a Spyderco Military when they first came out, around 1995) and my Shiro Hati S30V w/washers has been pushing 'ole blue' out of my pocket over the last few months...

I have started whittling my collection down to 'one of each' in my ZT and Spyderco hoards...

but it will be a while before I sell any of my Shirogorovs....

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here are a few of my 'Shirogorov Rotation' - the third one down gets most of the pocket time...
 
As of yesterday, this is the new blemish on the Turtle. After almost a year of pocket carry in the outside leg "cell phone" pocket of my pants in a shop environment 4-5 days a week, this is the result of working in some switchgear.

I knew yesterday when it drug alongside a leg of a workbench that it was going to be scratched. I didn't even bother to stop and look. Last night at home when I put it up, I though, "Eh, well, there you go. You got some busted knuckles now."

What is it called when you reach a place of happy contentment where this does not bother you in the slightest? Not being unhappy about this makes me happy.

View attachment 1133852

Might be more due to other aspects of your life. For example i lost a large sebenza 21 unique graphic with a damascus blade last week. $850 dream knife and I currently make just under $20 an hour so its kind of a big deal. I havnt been that upset or devastated. It sucks sure and i hope it turns up somewhere but its just a thing. I think it stems from a range of hobbies and interests in the rest of my life. I volunteer as a deputy, i do K9SAR, i play guitar and go to the gym. So i get this exposure and these interests that are more experience based and produce personal development. I enjoy watches and knives and i get to use them but the difference there is its more just an ownership and my best explanation is that if all you do is have things then those things matter more, maybe more than they should. So i suspect you have stuff and exposure that lets you look at the things and the value of things vs experiencing aspects of life.

Also when you know youre gonna use it youre willing to accept this stuff, it sure is hard to enjoy such an amazing tool when youre worried about it all the time.
 
Might be more due to other aspects of your life. For example i lost a large sebenza 21 unique graphic with a damascus blade last week. $850 dream knife and I currently make just under $20 an hour so its kind of a big deal. I havnt been that upset or devastated. It sucks sure and i hope it turns up somewhere but its just a thing. I think it stems from a range of hobbies and interests in the rest of my life. I volunteer as a deputy, i do K9SAR, i play guitar and go to the gym. So i get this exposure and these interests that are more experience based and produce personal development. I enjoy watches and knives and i get to use them but the difference there is its more just an ownership and my best explanation is that if all you do is have things then those things matter more, maybe more than they should. So i suspect you have stuff and exposure that lets you look at the things and the value of things vs experiencing aspects of life.

Also when you know youre gonna use it youre willing to accept this stuff, it sure is hard to enjoy such an amazing tool when youre worried about it all the time.

I'm done with traveling.... I've crossed the globe with the U.S. Military and the country with a Fortune 500 Drug Company...
I've washed dishes and spoken at national symposiums... I play guitar and sing "oldies" for local nursing homes... My children are living their lives successfully and independently (thanks, Lord) and I have a devoted wife and a neurotic dog...

What I don't need or want is to be 'lectured to' about how to live my life or to be questioned on my attitude toward my possessions...

It is easy to make yourself feel superior by inferring motives and judging other people's behavior as inferior to your own...

People have differing interests... Some are more interested in objects and find great satisfaction in works of mechanical 'art' .... People who do are usually drawn to careers in engineering and other STEM fields.... Those who don't usually tend toward jobs that are more social in nature...

You can learn to appreciate a wide range of interests in life... But we are all born with basic proclivities... I accept that.... My wife loves her horses and I have my music and a few collections...

Live and let live... We all have the same Father.... and we will answer to him...
 
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