What "Traditional Knife" are ya totin' today?

New style Victorinox Explorer with glass magnifier

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Is there a way of telling whether the knife has a glass or plastic magnifier? They do not feel that different, just scratch differently.


Giving the upper one some dirt time. Until it liberated my newest acquisition from the envelope. I am pleasantly surprised by the build quality of that lil' Boker.
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Is there a way of telling whether the knife has a glass or plastic magnifier? They do not feel that different, just scratch differently.
I guess you could scratch them.
I have the notion that the large ones with grey frames are glass and the small ones with clear frames are plastic. But even if that has been true, it might have changed.

I took my Vic explorer to NY state with me, but it stayed in the drawer. Too heavy on the belt. I had my folding hand glass, a church-key, and a Sears four-driver in my pocket instead.
And the Swiss Buck going and coming, and the Buck 307 while there. The Utica Tungsten since getting back.
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I guess you could scratch them.
I have the notion that the large ones with grey frames are glass and the small ones with clear frames are plastic. But even if that has been true, it might have changed.

You’re on the right track.

The original gray frames do indeed have an 8x glass lens. The next generation of magnifiers made in the mid-2000s had a clear frame and 5x lens made of a single piece of plastic. Current magnifiers have a clear plastic frame with a separate 6x glass lens.
 
You’re on the right track.

The original gray frames do indeed have an 8x glass lens. The next generation of magnifiers had a clear frame and 5x lens made of a single piece of plastic. Current magnifiers have a clear plastic frame with a separate 6x glass lens.
Nice they've gone back to glass, the stout fellows.
 
Is there a way of telling whether the knife has a glass or plastic magnifier? They do not feel that different, just scratch differently.


Giving the upper one some dirt time. Until it liberated my newest acquisition from the envelope. I am pleasantly surprised by the build quality of that lil' Boker.
IMG-20190807-181616-2.jpg

IMG-20190807-183143-2.jpg

Snail, please tell me about that upper knife :thumbsup:, the single blade spear o_O

I sure do like that Boker #493 too!
 
You can tell by the shape of the tang on the clear housing. The plastic lens housing has a hump near the pivot:

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The glass lens housing is flat near the pivot:

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That's fantastic! I even sent the question directly to Victorinox a while ago and they .... didn't respond.

Just to be sure: are you referring to the thing in the very middle of the fancy circle? :D

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Snail, please tell me about that upper knife :thumbsup:, the single blade spear o_O

I am not sure how much can I tell you before being shot down for 'promoting' a knife maker, who is not supporting BF. But if I'm being objective, pointing out also the downsides, it should be OK, I guess? How otherwise are we to have a valuable knife discussion?

The knife in question is 'Rebec' (read 'reh-beh-ts') and was hand made by Czech knife maker by the name Jaromír Bareš residing in Sedlčany - small town with tradition in cutlery.

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He's making them at ridiculously low prices. (Nobody truly understands, how can he keep producing them and not go bankrupt.) But the low price comes at a price. Attention to detail is not there. It is that kind of knife that reveals its hand-made nature not by immaculate execution, but by all the imperfections and inconsistencies. Bolsters are just a thin sheets of metal and edges of the liners are sharp. Mine is not the nicest one even by his standards, must be friday production. Look at the nail nick positioning, centering and spring termination. Surely enough, I can embrace these as character.
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It is 4 inch frame, mine is made of carbon steel blade, stainless steel bolsters, spring, liners and pins and palisander wood (kind of rosewood in my understanding), but it can be had in variety of steels (even RWL-34, elmax) and cover materials.
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Still, it is my best food prep. folder as it is thin convex ground and nice broad spear. Totin' it today too.
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