Okapi Knife?

[Speedo66]

I found a knife on a trail, marked "Okapi", Made in Germany, and has, shockingly enough, a small imprint of an okapi animal on the blade.

Blade is about 4", has a little rust from being outside so obviously not stainless, and some sort of composition one piece scale. The locking device consists of a piece of spring steel that is released by pulling on an external ring. Opening the blade, it goes through a series of bumps before locking.

Looks like an inexpensive utility knife, but has a certain sturdiness to it.

Anybody familiar with these?

 

[Sam Cade]

Yep.
Neat knives. The CS "Kudu" is a clone. The one you found is pretty old, the last German made knives were in 1987.

http://www.okapi.co.za/site/


http://www.artknives.com/okapi_knives.html

 

[ugaarguy]

That's an almost creepy coincidence. I ordered a Cold Steel Kudu last night, and got the ship notification from Amazon literally hours ago.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Ragnards sells them or they used too.

 

[hso]

World Knives used to sell them as well.

They were listed in the good bargain knife thread we had a while back (along with Opinels and Mercators).
I don't find them any longer with a web search.

 

[HoosierQ]

Apparently the Opkapi is the knife that Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones carries. There is video of him using it to peel the wax off of a bottle of Maker's Mark before going onstage with Muddy Waters.

 

[ugaarguy]

Yep, according to Wikipedia the Okapi and clones were / are popular with "rude boy" street gangsters in Jamaica. Apparently Richards was given an Okapi on a visit to Jamaica.

 

[hso]

BTW, here's the current South African manufacturer's web address.
http://www.okapi-knives.com/site/
Link to the catalogue - http://www.okapi-knives.com/site/files/7015/knives_Catalog_18-06-2007(1).pdf

 

[Speedo66]

Thanks to all for the replies. I cleaned it up, and it'll sit in the car as a sturdy utility knife.

I just looked at the Cold Steel catalog, wow, pretty much stole the design. Their ad is interesting, but not logical. They call the Okapi "inexpensive" and "overpriced" in the same paragraph.

Here's their ad:

"In South Africa, an inexpensive ring lock folder is sold everywhere. It's a good design, but it's constructed from sub-standard materials, is poorly made, and is horribly overpriced. And yet, millions of these knives are sold there each year. Well, we thought we could do better, in the quality of materials, cutting performance, and in price.

The Cold Steel Kudu, takes some cues from its South African competition, but our version is vastly superior."

 

[theotherwaldo]

Y'all piqued my curiosity. I'd never seen an Okapi knife.
Picked one up on Ebay.
I like it.