Your favorite small folder design by Jesper Voxnaes

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silvaticus

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Aug 26, 2016
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Hi folks, I'm thinking about rounding out my collection with a folder by Danish designer Jesper Voxnaes. I particularly find his small (sub 3 inch blade length) folders intriguing, but there's quite a number of them - Suru, Biblio, Pilar and many more. So I'd be happy to hear what your favorite small Voxnaes designed folder is (and why). Thanks in advance for the input!
 
I would recommend the Suru.

I don't have any personal experience with it, but Fox Cutlery has a good reputation, and if you're going to buy without being able to "try" first, the name behind the knife is important.
 
GM Nimbus or Biblio.
Both designed along with Ansø tho, so I don't know if that counts.

The Pilar is also a great design, and as far as I know only designed by Voxnæs.
 
Rykjeklut said:
GM Nimbus or Biblio.
Both designed along with Ansø tho, so I don't know if that counts.

The Pilar is also a great design, and as far as I know only designed by Voxnæs.
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Thanks for the reply. I have a bunch of Ansø design knives, so definitely up my alley!
 
I thought about the Pilar. As the self-described CRKT fanboy, it would be on-brand, for me.

The problem is still their heat-treat. About one out of ten Columbia River knives just will not get sharp.

I would recommend them to people who want something better than Mtech or United Cutlery, but in this case, I would actually steer the OP away from Columbia River, because unless they've fixed their HT QC issues, you just don't know what you're getting.
 
The Pilar is for sure my favorite design among Vox's small knives. But as others have mentioned, the execution from CRKT is super inconsistent, which really sucks and kinda kneecaps a really great design. I managed to get a CF/D2 steel model that is pretty good, and I'm happy to have it, but I wouldn't even try one of the base models with the 8CR13mov steel.

I like the look of the Suru, but I'm not sure how practical of a cutter it wold actually be with the upswept tip on such a small blade. And the Maniago knives' M390 seems to be getting more and more questionable the more testing it is subjected to, so that's kinda made me steer clear. The Giant Mouse Ace Biblio is pretty cool design-wise, especially the TI version, but it's on the edge of being more of a mid-sized folder.

All things considered, I'd sat a Pilar in CF or one of the G10 scale models, with D2 steel is probably the best small Vox option around, especially if you can order from a dealer who will check the QC on it. That's my pick.
 
Does the Tur count as a small knife? 2.8" certainly isn't big... It's my favorite of his production models by far.

Fox-Knives-TUR-LL-Carbon-Fiber-FX-528-BHQ-70974-jr.jpg
 
2.8" is so close to 3" that I don't think it makes much difference.

For the sake of starting an argument ( yay! Internet!), I'm going to opine that the dividing line between "small" and mid-size should be 2.625", or for those like me who have not quite got the hang of converting decimals in their head, that's 2 5/8".

If anybody would like to disagree, let's talk about it. We'll probably never reach a concensus, but it could be interesting.

(Or, if somebody feels like starting another thread instead of hijacking this one, which would probably be the better way to do it...)
 
You cover a huge range of prices. From a $30 CRKT to almost $200 Fox/GM. Is there a budget?

My best bang for the buck might be the GM Vox/Anso ACE Iona. M390 blade for $99. I don't mind FRN (Delica and Endura get plenty of pocket time) and tip up only isn't a huge deal to me. I tend to take pocket clips off anyways. It does have a nice wire pocket clip too.

If $ isn't an issue, then the Biblio might be my favorite. I'd go for the micarta handles.

I tend not to recommend CRKT. Too many QC issues. At least the Pilar is D2 tho.
 
Rykjeklut said:
Well the question was what your favourite design is, so i guess not.
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Thanks for all the replies so far folks! Rykjeklut Rykjeklut is correct that right now it's more about the knife design for me than the price. That being said I don't own a knife >300$ right now, so there's that.
Keep it coming folks, great to hear your thoughts!
 
silvaticus said:
Hi folks, I'm thinking about rounding out my collection with a folder by Danish designer Jesper Voxnaes.
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If he is thinking about rounding out his collection with a Voxnaes knife, it sounds to me like he is going to purchase one. Hence the budget question.
 
Ti Biblio. It's a nice smaller knife. Great ergos. Snappy for all opening techniques. (Although I did lighten the detent to get there.) Just a great all around edc.
 
Well, there seems to be a tie in opinions between the Suru, the Pilar, and the Biblio - this is actually great, as it means I can't go wrong either way ;-)

And I just saw this one, to make decisions even more complicated: MKM Colvera. Available in all Ti or with micarta, G10 or CF show side. Flipper with removable tab.
STANDARD-39567.jpg

STANDARD-39563.jpg
 
silvaticus said:
And I just saw this one, to make decisions even more complicated
Click to expand...
Removable tab, how cool is that? :cool: Nice find man.

Actually i would have just picked the Pilar CarbonFibre with Chinese D2 whose stock (22pcs) was collecting dust for 3-4 months in bladehq's warehouse (well, until last week when the 22pcs sold out within 4 days omfg) but 40US$ intl shipping had killed the deal for me. Honestly I wasn't too fond of the pocket clip attachment grooves, the clip itself, and the Chinese D2 steel but i would have swallowed it. At that point i wasn't aware of Biblio and Suru and i would not have cared anyway because of the huge price leap.
The new Biblio Ti has been widely available lately (seemingly/surprisingly not a bestseller!) but it is more of a normal folder (closed length 10.1cm) not a small folder (9cm Suru & Pilar, 8.7cm Techno 2) in my books.
I've been looking for Voxnaes alternatives to Pilar and Techno too, so i am thankful for this thread!
 
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Looking forward to the Colvera in micarta. Also I wouldn't mind a head to head with the Fox Tur & the TRM Neutron.
 
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