Choosing your first (or next) Shirogorov

The workshop makes one kind of knife very well: a titanium-framed folder on a bearing pivot, tuned so the blade falls shut on its own. Within that, the lines differ in size, lock, steel and scale material, and the tiers differ in how many were made and who finished them. This page is about the choice itself; the short first answers are on Getting started. The tier ladder explains the tiers, the steels page the materials, and Buying, selling and value the money.

The best first Shirogorov

For a first purchase we point people at the Ursus line: the Q95 Ursus or F95 Ursus, 95 mm Elmax blades on liner locks with Micarta scales over titanium liners. Step two is an F3 in Elmax with carbon fiber or Alutex scales, or a Hati Gen 3 with an M390 blade. Step three, and the top of what still counts as entry level, is an Astrum in M390. Every knife on this ladder is serial-production, sold new by the workshop’s dealers, and runs on the same multi-row bearing system (MRBS) as the rest of the serial lines. The full comparison and the reasoning behind each step are in The entry points below.

Start with how you carry

Blade length is the first sort, because it decides whether the knife lives in a pocket or a bag.

The NeOn, at 85 mm, is the compact carry and a line many first buyers land on. The HatiOn is a NeOn-platform build with one carbon fiber scale and a titanium clip side, so it belongs here rather than with the Hati. The Stellar, at 90 mm, sits one step up: the workshop’s own mid-size design with a liner lock and an apron.

The F95, at 95 mm, is the flagship and the reference point for everything else the workshop makes: the most variants, the deepest secondary record, the size most people mean when they say “a Shirogorov.” The F3 is the same size on a liner lock, a few grams heavier in most configurations, and able to wear a different scale material on each side. The Hati is a frame lock with an asymmetric handle: titanium on the lock side, carbon fiber, G-10 or Micarta on the show side. The Quantum is the workshop’s own design, the custom that won Best Tactical at Blade Show 2019 before entering serial production in 2020: a Persian-style blade at about 95 mm with a wider profile and a little more presence in the pocket than an F95.

Above that, the Astrum, at 100 mm, is on a liner lock with an apron, in M390 as a serial knife, with MagnaCut on its First Production and Custom Division runs. The Astrum (November 2024) and the Q95 Ursus (June 2025) are the newest serial lines. The 111, at 111 mm, is the large flagship and the one to buy for capability rather than discretion; it is a substantial knife in the hand and in the pocket.

If you carry in an office, the NeOn family and the Stellar are the sensible end. If you want the knife most collectors will recognize, the F95. If you already own an F95 and want something that feels different in the hand, the Quantum or the Hati; if you want the newest steel, the Astrum.

The entry points

For a first purchase we point people at the Ursus line, the workshop’s working line: the Q95 Ursus and the F95 Ursus, liner locks with Micarta over titanium liners and an Elmax blade, on the same multi-row ball bearings (MRBS) as the serial lines above them and at the bottom of the workshop’s range. The next step up is an F3 with an Elmax blade and carbon fiber or Alutex scales, or a Hati Gen 3 with an M390 blade, both current production. At the top of what still counts as entry level, an Astrum in M390. All of them are serial-production knives sold new by the factory’s dealers; Getting started has the same ladder in the first-buyer’s words.

The five side by side, with the factory’s own figures:

The two Ursus knives take hex bits where the other three take the workshop’s slotted screws. What each one brings on the market, as the number of observations and the last one seen; the figures themselves are behind sign in:

For a second knife, buyers most often step up one of three ways: to a larger line (F95 to 111), to a Sprint Run or Custom Division piece of a line they already like, or to a collaboration whose designer they follow.

Locks, and what they change in use

Most lines are frame locks: a section of the titanium handle is the lock bar, with a replaceable hardened steel insert at the contact point. They lock hard, release with one hand and give the clearest feedback.

Five lines are liner locks: the F3, the Stellar and the Astrum, the last two with an apron, the Q95 Ursus, and the 111, whose version collectors call an inset lock, a liner lock with a stainless insert; the Sinkevich Fat Strip, Fit Strip and Skinny Strip are liner locks as well. A liner lock lets both scales be any material, which is why the F3 can wear G-10 on one side and Micarta on the other and why nothing shows on the 111’s show side, and it keeps the handle contour unbroken by a lock-bar cutout. Release asks for slightly more precise finger placement than a frame lock.

The Tabargan’s axis-style lock is history; the line is discontinued.

Blade shapes

The drop point on the F95, NeOn, Hati and F3 is the all-purpose profile: enough belly to slice, enough tip to pierce, easy to sharpen. The Quantum’s Persian-style blade has more belly and a finer tip; it slices beautifully and rewards a lighter hand. Recurves appear on a few collaboration and special pieces; they bite into fibrous material and take more care on the stones.

Steel, briefly

M390 is the serial standard and the safe choice. M398, on the Hati Gen 3 option and a few limited pieces, holds an edge longer and asks more of the sharpener. S90V and S110V trade some ease of sharpening for edge life; Vanax 37 runs at lower hardness with higher corrosion resistance than the carbon-based steels, which matters near salt water. MagnaCut, on the Strip collaborations and the Astrum’s limited runs, balances all three and is the steel most buyers now ask for. Cromax PM is the working steel of the Ursus line, from the Quantum Ursus NL of December 2021. The Damascus steels are on the limited tiers and are chosen for their pattern. The steels page carries the factory’s hardness bands for each.

Scale materials

Full titanium is the workhorse: rigid, light for its strength, and finished stonewashed, bead-blasted or anodized. Anodizing burnishes with carry, which some owners like and some do not. Carbon fiber and TechnoCarbo drop weight and change the look; on the Hati and HatiOn they are the show-side scale. Micarta and G10 carry the entry models and are the most practical of the lot. Micarta is warmer in the hand and grips better wet. The exotic materials (mokuti and timascus collars, zirconium backspacers and clips, ivory and mother of pearl inlays) live on Custom Division and collaboration pieces.

Collaborations and special editions

Two things get called “limited” and they are not the same.

A collaboration is a design from outside the workshop, built by the workshop: Dmitry Sinkevich (Pero, Bio, Jeans, Kami, Fat Strip, Fit Strip), RJ Martin (the Overkill family), Chris Reeve (the UniHati Custom Division run and the Hati CGG), Scott Cook (the Russian Lochsa), Tom Mayo (the Dr. Death), John Barker (the Russian Hokkaido). Runs range from 10 to 300, most between 100 and 300. The factory builds them on MRBS or SRRBS (single-row roller bearings) by model, and they sit beside the tier ladder rather than on it. Buyers come to them for the designer as much as the workshop, which is why the deepest secondary interest follows names.

A special edition is the workshop’s own variation on one of its designs: a show edition such as the Sinkevich Touch sets, where a production model carries Sinkevich hardware, anodizing and engraving; a themed finish such as the Elements series (the 111 Ignis and 111 Aerum); a dealer exclusive. The knife underneath is the serial model.

Custom Division is a third thing: a serial design rebuilt with more finishing time and other materials, on single-row rollers, in runs of typically 50 to 100 pieces, with some runs as small as 30. It is not a custom. Sergey Shirogorov’s full customs are one-off or a handful, on double-row rollers, with the duck foot pivot that appears nowhere else. The Custom Division FAQ and the full custom FAQ take those two tiers question by question.

New or used

New from one of the factory’s dealers buys factory condition, the complete box and papers, and a known starting point for authentication, and the limited lifetime warranty follows the knife either way. Used buys access to discontinued lines, sold-out runs and the generation you want, at the cost of more authentication work, though the same checks apply to a new knife. Buying, selling and value weighs the two, including how prices move after a release.

Building a collection

Collectors who stay with the workshop tend to pick a thread. One line across its generations (an F95 or 111 in each Gen) shows the design moving. One designer across their collaborations reads as a body of work. One example of each bearing system, from single-row balls through multi-row rollers, is a mechanical history in five knives. A size run from NeOn to 111, a material run through the Damascus and MagnaCut pieces, or a complete Elements set are the other common shapes. Whatever the thread, the same three habits protect it: keep the box and certificate with the knife, keep the knife as you bought it, and buy the piece for itself first.

Questions buyers ask

Questions buyers ask

Which model holds its value best?

None reliably. A few collaborations have risen over the longer arc (the Russian Lochsa is the usual example) and the best-known Custom Division pieces have compressed hard from their release prices. Buy for the knife. Buying, selling and value has the evidence line by line.

Is a Custom Division knife better than a collaboration?

They are different purchases. The Custom Division buys the workshop’s own design at its highest finish and on rollers; the collaboration buys another designer’s shape. A collector who values the action above all usually reaches for CD; one who follows designers reaches for the collaboration.

How much difference does the bearing system make in hand?

Less than size or lock does. Multi-row balls and single-row rollers feel different. Rollers ride on line contact, so the travel is damped and even, which is what hydraulic action means; balls give the free drop shut. Which system a knife carries mostly follows its tier; collaborations are set by model, and a few early Custom Division pieces carry double-row rollers. Neither is a reason to buy a knife whose size or lock is wrong for you. The bearing systems page explains the five systems and what each feels like.

Does the knife need a break-in?

The action smooths over the first few hundred cycles, and roller systems need less of it than ball systems. Keep the pivot clean and lightly oiled through that period; the disassembly and pivot tuning page has the procedure.

What should I look at first on any listing?

The tier and the generation, then the bearing system, then the box and certificate, then the price against the price record. Balls in a pivot on a knife claimed as Custom Division or Sprint Run are a reason to stop, while double rows on the Hati 3D Seashell or F95 3D Silk and rollers on a collaboration are expected. If any of the four is missing from the listing, ask before you pay; the authentication guide has the checks by tier.