What's the story with Böker?

goldie said:
Once Boker started their plus line made in China, their german stuff got less and less as did the german quality. Id say pre 1990 Boker, like Puma, is the way to go....
Click to expand...
By "got less and less" do you mean they are making fewer knives in Germany, rather than offshore? That's possible; I don't know their production totals.
I have a number of post-1990 Solingen made Bokers and I think the quality is very good.
4PfWpRd.jpg
 
Smaug said:
When I was growing up, they were considered to be pretty high-end.

Now, I see disparaging comments about them.

Do they have some cutoff line between good and bad ones, a certain price point? Or by manufacturing location? (For example, are there "cheap Chinese" ones and "good German" ones?

... Or have they just slipped and it's just the older ones that are good?

I just watched a BladeHQ video in which Zac visited them, and they seemed quite proud of their heritage and seemed to have people who love what they do.
Click to expand...
The "Plus" and "Magnum" series/lines are the (relatively) low cost knives.
Beware. Some dealers list them with 440C blades. The Plus and Magnums are all 440A, according to Böker. The Plus are made in China, and other locations. I believe the Magnum line is all China manufacture.

The Tree Brand marked "Solgien" are the only ones 100% made in Germany, just like in "the good old days".

I have a Plus stockman and matching trapper, and a Magnum 4 blade scout type knife.
The Plus are nice, the Magnum required a bit of tweaking to get one of the blades to open without opening the other blade on that spring, using a screwdriver to pry the blade up far enough and grip with pliers to open it the rest of the way. (the pull on the other three blades was a nice, smooth "5")

I've no experience with the Tree Brand series/line. They are way out of my price range.
 
Böker has branched out a lot and they have a lot of different lines know, which are very hard to distinguish from each other.

The 'Solingen' knives are quite good. They are usually a bit more 'high-end' and priced a bit higher. I have a 'Tree brand' traditional that's very good. It's just as good as a GEC, only stainless, and actually available without price gouging, so it's objectively better. (Think of your blood pressure, Uncle Randy).

The other knives are kind of a gamble. They're cheap but well designed, but what you'll get in terms of fit and finish is a bit of a lottery. If you get a good one, your mind will be blown and you'll have way more knife than what you paid for. The other way around if you get a bad one. The Argentina factory has nice looking stuff, but the knife I got from there was ground by a blind drunk, apparently.

Also, Böker is at the age where it has forgot it's own birthday. Every so often they'll 'find' documents that 'prove' the company is actually older than they thought which is always good to celebrate with some new limited 'anniversary' editions.

Edit: spelling
 
Last edited:
The problem with Boker is their quality control or better the lack thereof. Even their premium brand Boker Manufaktur Solingen - which they charge premium money for - is seldom of a quality that Spyderco USA is offering for example. Recently I acquired a Boker Boxer - a very nice Raphael Durand design folder - but the quality just wasnt there. For MSRP of over 200 you get pins that are not flush with the handle, noticeable gaps between the liners and the ironwood scales and vertical and lateral blade movement aplenty. Its just a pity...
 
Yeah, the Boxer is the one. Forgot it was that expensive. Terrible execution.
 
Ah, I had Boker Plus GoBag in D2...

It survived:
Throwing by my ex GF, and my ex GFs entire weight when she used it to pry open a stuck drawer.
It then survived my entire weight when I tried to straighten it.
Then I tried to baton it into wood and hit sideways to straighten it, that's when it finally broke.

@EatingSarma has one as EDC and he is known to be very abusive to his knives, it's still in one piece. I even seen him push it through some really thick plastic, see plastic crack and crumble around the blade as his veins are bulging from force he uses to push it down... and then he proceeded to cut copper wires with it.

So, I'd say their fixed blades are durable for the price considering they are around 30€ here

What you don't get tho is fit and finish:
Secondary bevels on mine were really off and asymmetrical. And one scale was thicker than the other.
I remember him telling me his knife arrived dirty from grinding and with uneven secondary bevel and no finish/polish on scales (I guess they skipped last part on his knife)...
 
Its possible that the German bokers are selling more in Germany and Europe and they are less available in the U.S. and Boker plus is more prevalent.
 
In answer to the OP, I find the bewildering array of knives, the semi 'meh' designs and varied reports of QC coupled with 'made where?' is all a bit of a turn off.
 
I had one of the gents lockbacks back in highschool, first really nice knife I ever had. Gave it to my boss's son when the farm went under in '06, he was the one that really got me into knives. It was absolutely beautiful, and last I talked with him he still has it....

So much for nostalgia, I find the gaucho knives made in Argentina and some of the German made slip joints very attractive, just haven't pulled the trigger on one yet.
 
I have had good luck with Solingen-made Bökers, from the 1980s to last year, including the Durand lockback that apparently didn't turn out so well for a few others on this thread.
 
This has been an interesting thread to read. I have never owned let alone held a Boker knife.

I am just simply not drawn to their offerings, or see anything that stands out in value or design.

I almost picked up a BOB for fun, but it seems too expensive for what you get.

I just don’t get excited by anything they offer.
 
All of the German Bokers I've run into have been decent to excellent.

The Argentine Bokers are close to the Germans.

The Boker Plus line up is a toss up, there are some that are great, others that are a lot worse than their Chinese off-brand cousins. You really need to look at pictures and read the reviews on a model by model basis.

The fourth Boker line is the "Magnum" one. This seems to be a catch all Boker offshoot, most used in Europe, that deals in everything from special editions, to odd lots Boker buys, to junk. Some neat stuff gets sold under that label, but you really need to know what you're looking at.
 
I like everything about the urban trapper and kwaiken but the steel. It is overpriced imo, especially with unreliable QC.

I look at Boker the same way I do CRKT. Not worth my time with the good possibility it will have issues, plus both are overpriced, especially CRKT.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top