A shot from the Boye Website:
These two folders, one plain edge and one serrated are both made from dendretic cobalt. The plain edge folder is sabre hollow ground to a very thin edge, just visible, which based on a jig is about 30-35 degrees included. The serrated one has the scallops ground at 15.0 +/- 0.5 degrees which are 0.020" thick at the back.
The plain edge boat knife was not very sharp NIB, well below shaving. However the edge was evenly ground and with just a few passes on the fine Spyderco rods set at 20 degrees it was set to a razor hair popping sharpness. With this finish it readily push cut 3/8" hemp with 28.4 +/- 0.5 lbs, pointed a one inch basswood dowel in 6-9 slices, and sank 148 +/- 2 pages into a phone book under a 50 lbs push. The serrated version was very sharp NIB, cutting through the thread with just 110 +/- 8 grams, and slicing through the hemp on a two inch draw with 26.0 +/- 1.2 lbs of force.
The knives were purchased mainly to examine the edge retenion of the dendretic cobalt in a more quantitative manner than that which was done previously, and to evalute the performance of the Boye serration pattern. However after carrying both for a few days, it was obvious that the edge retention of the cobalt was not in the same league as the current high end stainless steels. It was carried alongside a S30V Chinook II from Spyderco which stayed sharp through multiple sharpenings of the Boye knife. The aggression of the serrated pattern was also fairly low, outcut on ropes and such many times over by the Spyderedge pattern, and even outcut by the plain edge knife if left with a medium finish.
The lock on both knives was secure under white knuckling and spine whacks and light torques.
This review was cut short mainly because the performance of the knives was vastly different than what was expected. If a really high corrosion resistance is required then these are an excellent choice, ergonomic handles, secure lock, easy to sharpen and solid cutting ability. However the cutting ability and edge retention are vastly exceeded by modern stainless steel folders unless they corrode.
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| Last updated : | 04 : 01 : 2005 |
| Originally written : | 04 : 01 : 2005 |