German knife manufacturer Boker has turned up the heat on its “tactical” models in recent years, producing an impressive array of contemporary folders. None of these, however, impressed me quite as much as did the superb AFD. The Advanced Folding Dagger is a serious piece of hardware with a big, comfortable handle and great attention to detail.
Designed by Dietmar Pohl, the AFD is just under nine and a half inches overall with a four inch blade. It weighs over six ounces. The blade is made from 3/16-inch thick CPM S60V steel, which (according to Boker) is “a unique tool steel made by the Crucible Particle Metallurgy process using powder particles in an atomized melting process to develop highly alloyed steels with a very uniform particle structure. The result is a steel with much more carbon and additional vanadium for exceptoinal edge retention and superb corrosion resistance.”
The substantial handle is made of anodized, aggressively grooved, CNC-machined 6061-T6 aluminum. It is very thick and fit my large hands perfectly. Nicely squared, deeply ground grooves have been cut into the dorsal and ventral portions of the handle at both ends and around the butt. These provide excellent tactile reference points for your fingers and also improve traction for a very good overall grip. I am very picky about such grooves and found the ones on the AFD to be just to my liking – particularly the finer grooves cut into the double guard. The handle also has a lanyard hole.
The removable, stylized pocket clip has decent tension and works fairly well, though there is no getting around the fact that this is a large folder with a large handle (and thus may not be comfortable in the pockets of all users). The clip could stand to be a little tighter but I did not find it unsuitable. The knife is configured for tip-down, right-hand carry only. The clip can be removed but is not reversible.
The graduated, elevated thumb post (which ships from the factory configured for right-hand use) is held in place with a single Hex-key fastener. A groove cut into the handle of the AFD accommodates the stud when the blade is closed. To open the knife using the stud takes considerable thumb pressure and is not my preferred method of opening the AFD. Instead, I simply swipe my index finger on the grooved guard and flip the blade open that way. A firm swipe combined with a slight wrist flick is all that is needed to lock the blade firmly in place. Out of the package my AFD didn’t snap open as smoothly as it might have, so I oiled the pivot lightly.
The blade is sharpened on one side only but tapers to a false edge on the opposite side. It is completely enclosed in the handle when folded. Point of balance for the AFD is roughly even with the handle groove cut for the thumb stud. Because it feels handle heavy, the blade moves very well when the knife is locked into my mitt. It feels fast and penetrates deeply. While better suited for thrusting than for slashing, it does have a subtle “wasp” shape that gives it a little “belly” for cutting.
The AFD is a liner lock. It snaps open with an audible click and has absolutely no blade play. The liner engages the blade tang fully at the left side, with perfect lock-up and plenty of room for wear.
As a fist load. the handle of the AFD makes an impressive weapon all by itself. Strikes with the grooved butt left heavy indents in discarded wood furniture. I would not want to be on the receiving end of a blow from even the dull end of the AFD.
My AFD shipped to me in a nice padded case for storage. I do not believe I’ll feel inclined to store it for any length of time, though. This is a knife that demands to be carried, if only as insurance against things that go bump in dark alleys.
For those who participate in FMA or related martial arts, Boker also manufactures the EFD, or Escrima Folding Dagger. This is simply a repackaged AFD with slightly different handles. All other features are the same. The butt of the knife is tapered for use in striking.
The AFD and EFD are excellent fighting folders whose sense of style falls somewhere between “clean” and “aggressively tactical.” There is no mistaking the German daggers for anything other than what they are.