Keanu Alfaro, a new talent to watch in the production knife scene, is following up a March Bestech debut with his first Boker collaboration. For the Solingen superpower, Alfaro created the Baba Yaga, a cute and creative little EDC knife despite its imposing name.
It’s too early in Alfaro’s knife-designing career to summarize his style definitively, but the Baba Yaga sees him continuing to explore the peanut butter/chocolate combo of bold blade shapes and intuitive, universal handle shapes. Measuring 2.76 inches long, the Baba Yaga’s drop point isn’t huge, but it does have a nice stout profile that gives it a tad more hard use capability and a lot more character. Boker is situating the Baba Yaga on the premium side of the all-encompassing Plus lineup, outfitting it with an M390 blade for long edge retention, especially in that everyday carry role. Opened with a flipper only, the Baba Yaga’s blade, if not lock and clip, is ambidextrous.
Alfaro paired this stout and adorable drop point blade to a rectangular handle. It’s a shape that provides a nice, neutral grip for the user, but Alfaro did add some subtle touches to make it that bit more ergonomic. The green Micarta scales have a three-dimensional rise and fall to them, filling the hand more, and there are restrained runs of jimping on the butt end, channel side of the handle, as well as the spot on the spine where the flipper is located – this jimping runs straight into some more on the blade spine itself.
Beneath the scales are steel liners, and a liner leaf is the locking mechanism employed here (the disengagement point has been jimped as well, by the way). A sculpted pocket clip can be spotted on the off-side, situated exclusively for tip-up, right side carry. The Baba Yaga weighs 2.66 oz., and Boker is including a nylon pouch with it too.
Alfaro’s very first production knife appeared earlier this year. It was called the Bestech Titan, and the Two Sun TS358 and TS390 followed shortly thereafter. That makes the Baba Yaga the fourth Alfaro design to appear in as many months – a pretty brisk pace for a new designer.
Knife in Featured Image: Boker Plus Baba Yaga
