Igor Skrilev "Boatswain" knife

[SolomonKane79]

Dear MTO members here follows a brief overview of this unsual rigging knife upon which i stumbled on ebay.
It is a slipjoint folder presumably made in Russia and designed by knife maker Igor Skrivel (RIP).
There's a paper that came along with it with some info and specs, but alas it is written in Russian and i am not even going to try and translate it.
The knife itself has a weird and quite original design, with "skeletonized" handles that in someway recall the LM Skeletool itself. I cannot tell the blade steel type nor other materials, it could be written in the paper so if there's someone out there who could translate it would be much appreciated! The only thing i made out of the cirillic is the name of the knife itself which should be "boatswain" in russian.
Both blades and handles have a matte non-reflective finish which seems well made and of good quality to me.
There are three main implements: blade, spike and a bottle-opener/can-opener/awl combo tool.
The blade is something between a spear and a drop point. That's unusual for a rigging knife since sheepsfoot or at least blunt tip is the norm. It didn't come sharp out of the box; it is no issue to me but it is for many. The backspring is strong and the blade goes into place with a nice snap. It has a thumbstud that does its job well, and it is reverseble for lefties. Some groves are present on the back of the blade near the handle, they are not the grippiest i have encountered but they can do some service with wet hands. Overall it seems to me that the blade is well made and functional, though i would have prefered a classical sheepsfoot and a bit more of sharpeness could have been given.
The marlin spike is oddly made, too. It has a square shape which is really unusual. Though i have seen similar unconventional shapes on other rigging knives, they never had the edgy frames of this one. Anyway it seems robust and well made. If i'll ever deploy this spike i will let you know how it works. The spike snaps firmly into place just like the knife.
The last folding implement is the big combo bottle/can-opener/awl. I am quite sure it does its job opening bottles since the size, but the edge for cans came totally blunt and thus useless without a touch up. I am pretty sure it would work wonderdully as an awl once a decent edge is put upon it.
There is a tooth sticking out of one of the handles, as found on many sailors knives, usable as a glass-breaker or to do some prying work.
Last but not least there are the curious slotted handles. There is one great shackle-breaker slot, no doubt about the purpose here. I like very much the fact that it is built into the handles as opposed to the great majority of folding rigging knives that have the shackle slot on the main blade. With the shackle slot on the blade you'll have to unfold it to use it and since some shacles around water could be really stuck you'll need to put some torque force with obvious security issues. Furthermore you will often end up stressing the blade back-spring or lock if present. These inconvenients desappear with the handle-slot, so this is a great feature to me. There's one last possible function in the knife though i haven't verified it yet. There are this circular slots in the handles that are closed halfway when the blade rests in the handles. I suppose they could be used to cut or strip wires, like in some SOG models, but i havent tried it yet. If i'll ever take the disturb i will update. The knife has a laynard loop though it doesn't feature a pocket clip. That's a pity!
Overall i say this is a very interesting knife and i hope to test it in real deployment sooner or later.

Pros

Original design
Good quality
Many possible functions
Shackle-breaker slot built into handles
One-hand opening

Cons

No sheepsfoot blade
No pocket-clip
Dull edge out of the box

Inviato dal mio LG-H500 utilizzando Tapatalk

[Alan K.]

Interesting.

[maxt]

I can read Russian. The paper is Russian certificate of compliance required for knives trade.
The paper names the manufacturing company and here is the link to their web-site.
It is not very informative, except for the indication of the steel - 440 (no other letter).
http://www.noksknives.ru/catalog/production/multifunction/bocman/
Sorry for posting to an old topic, hope it helps.

[Grathr]

I can read Russian. The paper is Russian certificate of compliance required for knives trade.
The paper names the manufacturing company and here is the link to their web-site.
It is not very informative, except for the indication of the steel - 440 (no other letter).
http://www.noksknives.ru/catalog/production/multifunction/bocman/
Sorry for posting to an old topic, hope it helps.

Thanks for the updated info.
Its a very interesting looking tool.

[SolomonKane79]

I can read Russian. The paper is Russian certificate of compliance required for knives trade.
The paper names the manufacturing company and here is the link to their web-site.
It is not very informative, except for the indication of the steel - 440 (no other letter).
http://www.noksknives.ru/catalog/production/multifunction/bocman/
Sorry for posting to an old topic, hope it helps.

Thank you very much, mate!

[Sea Monster]

Ooh, I'm glad this came back up.

Sailing knives are my thing -

(By looks only....) I don't mind that it doesn't have a sheepsfoot blade.

I like sheepsfoot blades, don't me wrong, but it can be hard to find some variety in sailing knives, so it's a nice alternative to the usual in that respect

The can opener I assume was mostly included as a spacer for the blade, as the marlin spike seems quite broad (and it never hurts to have a can opener, especially with the amount of long-life product you might keep on a boat )


It is unlikely to be a glass breaker so much as a screwdriver. Also used for opening Milo Tins

I don't know if I'm thinking about this right...but the shackle key looks backwards.

Thanks for the review and the opportunity to see a knife I'd mostly like has missed in the real world

[SolomonKane79]

Ooh, I'm glad this came back up.

Sailing knives are my thing -

(By looks only....) I don't mind that it doesn't have a sheepsfoot blade.

I like sheepsfoot blades, don't me wrong, but it can be hard to find some variety in sailing knives, so it's a nice alternative to the usual in that respect

The can opener I assume was mostly included as a spacer for the blade, as the marlin spike seems quite broad (and it never hurts to have a can opener, especially with the amount of long-life product you might keep on a boat )


It is unlikely to be a glass breaker so much as a screwdriver. Also used for opening Milo Tins

I don't know if I'm thinking about this right...but the shackle key looks backwards.

Thanks for the review and the opportunity to see a knife I'd mostly like has missed in the real world

Thanks for the reply 
I agree that the "tooth" could work for opening paint cans and the like... Though it may be short for the job sometimes. I must be honest i still don't know exactly what it was designed for... I have discussed with others at work though everyone has his theory... It can be found on about 50% around these days... 

Regarding the presumed shakle slot... I agree it looks odd. The square edges are really strange and unpractical. Who knows...

[Sea Monster]

On older style ones, there is a central liner between the blade and the can opener - the extension between the two served as a slot head screwdriver (slot head screws being more popular at the time  ) and (possibly only incidentally) provided a bit of lateral support to the blade/can opener.



I suspect it only appears on here because "They've always got that bit", and it provides a bit of function for the cost of a few mm of steel

'course, they could have turned those Speed Holes into wrench cutouts as well