James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
I’m not sure this is as new an idea as Boker makes it out to be, but the result is a good knife with improvements that could be a sensible industry standard. Personally, I consider a knife to be safe if I know how it works, so doubled blade locks aren’t such a draw. I’m more impressed by the extra stainless steel.
Replacing the usual machined aluminum handle plates with cutout slabs of solid stainless increases the strength and the balance of Boker’s “revolutionary” Che lockback folder. Designed for convenient one handed opening with either hand, the Che features thumb studs on both sides of the stout high carbon stainless steel blade. The Plate Lock system also accesses with either hand and prevent an accidental release of the locked back blade. Milled to reduce overall weight, the handle provides a comfortable and ergonomically correct grip with a stainless steel pocket clip for easy carry. Bronze washers allow smooth opening and closing of the polished cobalt steel blade.
Present models of the Che evolved from the creative efforts of many experts, including Austrian knife maker Steirer Eissen, builder of the first prototypes. Boker currently is the only producer of this design, which was jointly developed by Dr. Christoph Stasser and Dr. Peter Judmaier of the Vienna Technical Institute. Even the alloy steel of the blade is new — N690BO comes from the combined efforts of Austrian steel producer Bohler and Boker knives.
Blade length of 3-1/4″ and an overall open length of 7-3/4″ transform this light pocket folder into a nearly full-sized emergency knife. The full stainless steel construction adds strength and reliability but surprisingly little weight. The Che weighs in at a very tolerable 4.9 ounces. If you’ve ever had to baby a good blade that connected to an outclassed aircraft aluminum handle, you’ll appreciate the extra strength of the Che.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
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I’m not sure this is as new an idea as Boker makes it out to be, but the result is a good knife with improvements that could be a sensible industry standard. Personally, I consider a knife to be safe if I know how it works, so doubled blade locks aren’t such a draw. I’m more impressed by the extra stainless steel.
