No need for bolsters, there is a 2.5mm thick liner below the scales on each side, same on the wood and G10. More than enough to hold the blade securely.
I don’t think strong materials justify a weak design. The liners are much closer together than bolsters would be and therefore see more force for a given amount of torque between the blade and handle. Also, isn’t the liner cut on one side for the locking?
I think I may have seen knives with the bolster and liner the same piece, I don’t remember where. That would be expensive, because stainless is hard to machine.
I only have a few knives with bolsters but the Y-Start caught my eye after seeing it on isti’s blog I had to have one.
I got the G10 and Micarta one, the stonewashed blade swung it. The satin steel and polished blade look well with the Micarta. As far as I can tell the Y-Start is an entirely Chinese designed knife but there can only be so many combinations of blade shape and handle design, I like it a lot anyway.
The Vallotton has the small piece of Micarta fitted into the bolster so the bolster is actually longer than it looks.
The Hungarian would be a strong design with the pivot and securing screw close together, it’s a lovely knife all round and probably the best made clone that I have, not expensive either, around $20.
I have seen some slip joints with the bolsters silver soldered to the liners, it used to be a popular way of producing knives before the bean counters got involved. A good product but more labour intensive to produce.
These are the three that are on-person, all the time. The rest usually travel in a bag.
I bought a number of these, used, but in great shape. There’s no way I could have afforded to pay full retail on them. I’m really glad to have gotten my hands on them
As long as you follow a few rules it should last you well.
Don’t try cutting anything that you think might chip the blade.
Twisting the blade will probably break it.
The tip is very delicate.
Obviously if you drop the knife with the blade open something will give, blade tip usually.
Now the good stuff.
It should arrive extremely sharp and it should stay that way for a long time, good thing as they are very difficult to sharpen.
As long as you are careful with it the blade should last for years without any maintenance.
I have a few ceramic blades, some for kitchen use and some general cutting.
The top one is a Zayka and the bottom one a BlackDog. Pretty much the same knife as the Boker Plus Anti-MC but less than a third of the price. They were in stock at one retailer in the U.K. lasted two days and never seen again. The tip on the black one lasted about ten minutes, I didn’t even know it had gone. but as I don’t intend piercing anything with it that’s O.K.
Both of these excel at push cutting 550 Paracord and have lasted 4+ years, mostly because I don’t use them a lot.
Post some photos of your other knives, it’s always good to see pics.
Thought I'd post a fixed blade that just entered my collection. "Budget" knife designation because this is an heirloom for my (now 3 years old) Grandson. Priceless?
"Gambler's Hideaway Bowie" forged and made this year by John Doyle of Michigan.
The Bee L04GN is about the only knife I gave up on. The flipper is the wrong geometry to flip properly and the opening is rough without a strip and clean, at this point I would put Phosphor Bronze washers in there and use the thumbstuds, the internal stop pin fouls any PB washer I could find so I put the originals back in and put it away, what a poor knife compared to the EL-04 and EL-04MCT.
It is a decent looking and locking knife but I prefer the Bee L05-1, L01MCT and L01-1