The benefit of roller bearings vs SRBS or MRBS systems is lateral stability around the pivot. Rollers are much less likely to damage interior surfaces when excess forces are applied. The show pivot is captured by a ball bearing so it will not freely rotate.
That plunge grind line near the pivot is classic shiro, but I feel like it clashes somewhat with the curvy RJ Martin lines everywhere else. Just my two cents, which is about how much I have saved up toward a knife like this...
I own one. I love it. I am lucky. I own 1 of 100 for the USA. I own some that are rarer and less made, but ohman I love this one. I agree with his review 1000%. Thank you Sir for your awesome reviews..
Great video Frank, when you decide to to sell it let me know. I think it's fair to say we're due to finally do a deal! Mean time I hope all is well on your side.👊
Toughness is neat for hard use knives but when it comes flippers mainly on bearings I don’t think toughness is all that crucial especially for what that type of knife is for. Then again I’m a jackass on the internet.
You're totally right. Which is why it's likely a great steel choice for this knife. I just don't know how it performs over time, but I'm guessing it's going to be great.
I just purchased a Rockstead Shin from Recon 1 and I’m in the hunt to find someone to make me a black timascus or mokuti clip for it. That pocket clip just doesn’t fit with the rest of the knife. Any ideas where I could have one made for it Doc?
Good review. $1550 for a production knife is absurd, especially with the run-of-the-mill materials it uses - at that price range I expect custom hand-finished work, if not a hand ground blade. Shiro is definitely milking it for all that they can, especially with the odd design choices. I hope this is not a marked up Reate knife like CKF knives are...
@Marcquise White I've heard they use different contract manufacturers in China, including Kevin John, Reate, etc. However, they do "assemble" the knives in Russia FWIW
Although they are CNC machining, there is a fair amount of manual labor that goes into Shirogorov knives...including the blade. I wouldn't call M398 "run-of-the-mill". The $500-$600 markup is common with collaborations. Not saying the price is justified, but plenty are willing to pay it.
I do agree that their pricing in general is about $100-200 too high, but the market supports their pricing structure. I'm happy with my shiros. The blade on this is hand ground, as are pretty much all shiro blades. There is a lot of hand finishing that goes on at shiro with each individual knife. The rumor that started a long time ago about shiro having parts made in china has no backing, it's just hearsay. They heat treat their own steels, make all the screws and parts, and assemble and hand finish the knives. The only part they've said they outsource is their bearings.
@@Rothbardy I agree that the market dictates the pricing, so I have no complaints about that. Everybody has their own opinion and their own value on things, which is fine. However, do you have any evidence that Shiro's production blades are hand ground? If they truly were, don't you think they would advertise their production blades as being "hand ground" because that in itself would command a premium? By definition, a production blade isn't hand ground. There may be some "hand finishing", but not hand grinding.
@@vincea5535 All their blades are hand ground. Not just finished by hand: imgur.com/2Uhqk5v That's from the shiro subforum on the USN forums. They're not the best when marketing themselves and their process. Unfortunately. Some think there's no justification for their pricing.
im not giving them money again unless they actually comit to FULL internal milling what is this 30 percent ? every shiro iv had iv dumped while not bad i want more for my 1200 plus plus plus, set a high bar you have to keep a high bar
