Every once in a while, I run across a nice reminder that you can get some amazingly good knives for very reasonable prices. Such is the case with the two knives shown here. Both are from Boker's Plus lineup. They are Skellern designs...and very interesting ones at that.

In the foreground is the smaller G-10 version. The quality of this little EDC blade is very good. And yes, this is from Boker's Chinese production. The blade steel is 440C, nicely finished...with a handy thumb nick. The handle scales are smoothed G10...and nicely done at that. The liners are anodized titanium...one side blue and one side red; a very nice, subtle touch.

The larger knife is, for all intents and purposes, just a larger version of the small one...and again, is really suited to EDC. Instead of G10...the handle scales on this one are wood (from Africa, I think)...and fairly well done (not quite as nice as the G10...oddly). The titanium liners are blue...only. Again, a nice-yet-subtle touch. Candidly, while the quality on this knife is good, it's not nearly as good as the smaller one.

Both knives are amazingly light. The blade shape makes these magnificient slicers (the low-drag theory isn't just "theory", it's true). Neither is designed for hard use...so I would categorize them as light-duty EDC.

The knife design is very intriguing. You'd have to hold one to really understand what I mean by that. The handles are amazingly comfortable...yet the lack of a finger choil makes any pierce cutting a bit riskier than I like. Fortunately, there is some decent jimping on the spine of the blade...though without a thumb ramp, this feature provides very limited surety.

Whereas the build quality on the small G10 was very good...the larger knife has a couple of small issues. First, the blade isn't truly centered...and the adjustment tool works...but to limited effect. Second, the wood scales don't quite follow the titanium liners as well as they should and a couple of small gaps can be seen at the butt of the handle. Not tremendously noticeable...but certainly avoidable had QC been as mindful as it really SHOULD BE.

Both knives feature exceptionally smooth blade deployment and very positive lock up when open. When closing, the knives provide a very satisfyingly audible confirmation of final location.

The design is compelling, the price point is highly affordable...and, overall, these really appeal to me. I like them enough that I just ordered a large G10...and will likely order the small wood version as well.