Boker Plus Small Trigonaut

The Böker name is synonymous with quality knives from the German steel and cutlery city of Solingen, where the company have manufactured blades since 1869. Their trade names include the famous ‘Tree’ and ‘Arbolito’ brands, and now there is the relatively new Böker ‘Plus’ range which offers premium knives at very reasonable money.

The Böker Plus series of knives is produced in the Far East, but this shouldn’t cause any concern as they are well designed by some of the world’s premier bladesmiths, with Böker overseeing production details and quality control. Besides, the Böker company have a history of making high quality knives in countries other than their original German home; Canada, Mexico, USA and Argentina have all had Böker factories over the years, in fact the Arbolito brand is Spanish for ‘little tree’.

Heinnie Haynes have sent two models from their large stock of Böker Plus knives for us to have a look at; the Böker Plus Elegance Voxknives Rhino Stag and the Böker Plus Trigonaut. Although both are fixed blade knives and both are on sale at £69.95 apiece, they actually couldn’t be more different.

Vox Pop

The Voxknives Rhino Stag is in the Böker Plus ‘Elegance’ Series, and it’s easy to see how it was bracketed in this group, as despite its short length, chunky grip and stubby blade, it still manages to stay good-looking… as the advertising blurb says ‘a knife that you will just need to own.’  Perhaps ‘need’ is too strong a word, but you might certainly ‘want’ one – I know I do.

Originally the Rhino design was a very successful handmade piece from Danish custom knife maker Jesper Voxnaes of Voxknives. This Böker Plus version of his original Rhino knife has the same sweeping blade lines, with a practical curved edge, ideal for a variety of cutting tasks. With its roots in various traditional skinning and food preparation tools, the ‘dropped’ curved blade of the Rhino is reminiscent of some of Jesper’s modern kitchen knife range – which are also marketed by Böker.

The blade is made from 4.5mm stock 12C27 Sandvik stainless steel and construction is full tang, which makes this a very strong knife. The 3” blade is marked on one side of the ricasso with the Voxnaes logo and the other with the Böker + symbol. The handle is short and thick, crafted from stag antler with red liners and 3 mosaic pins. The grip is constrained by length yet nevertheless good with two finger choils, one extending to the base of the blade which forms a neat and effective half-guard. A ferruled lanyard hole completes the handle and a black spliced (DC style) nylon lanyard is included. Overall length is 6 3/8” and the weight is 3.8 oz.

The knife comes with a Scandinavian deep carry style leather sheath featuring a steel spring pocket/clothing clip. This is a neat little package and a good choice as a small camp or utility knife, though some might prefer a blade design with a more pronounced point.

Modern Utility

Departing from the traditional stag handle and leather sheath of the Rhino, our second knife is the Böker Plus Small Trigonaut, a very high tech fixed blade knife designed by David Mosier, a custom knifemaker from Missouri, USA. With a background in tactical knives you would expect something quite radical from Mosier – and you wouldn’t be far wrong.

I have to hold my hands up here and declare that I’m not usually one for tactical style knives, but this is something special, combining the twin goals of any great design – form and function, i.e. it looks good and it does its job.

Bearing in mind that I’m looking at this knife from a utility angle, it has to be said that the blade shape – described as a ‘modified Wharncliffe style’ – has all the practical working qualities that you could need, while still holding that ‘ready for anything’ look.

Once again the construction is full tang and the blade is made from Sandvik 12C27 (4mm stock) stainless steel. A deep choil at the junction between handle and blade gives a good grip and also forms a half guard. A section of deep jimping on the spine – just forward of the handle – gives a good hold position for close-up work and fine control. The cutting edge is slightly curved, well shaped and at 3 1/4’’ long its plenty long enough for a variety of tasks.

The handle has two-tone Micarta scales, ergonomically shaped with fine finger grips and the afore-mentioned deep choil. The Micarta is milled with a raised zig-zag pattern along its entire length which not only looks good but also aids a good grip. Overall length of the knife is 7 3/8”, while the weight is 5.5 oz.

The knife is supplied with a Kydex sheath and Tek-Lok, meaning that it can be carried in a number of different ways. The knife sits very snug in the sheath, in fact it was a little too snug – although this could easily be adjusted to suit the user. Suffice to say I couldn’t see it falling out of the sheath, even during the most rigorous of outdoor activities.

One thing that intrigues me about the Böker Plus Trigonaut is its name; possibly it refers to the three way angles of the false edged spine and the actual cutting edge that all help to give an exceptionally strong and useful point.