Cold War Steel - The Black Kite Combat Fixed Blade

snow and steel

snow and steel

Joined
Mar 5, 2011
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546
I got this recently and I offer it for your perusal and approval, a not often seen in the USA blade - the Kizlyar "Korshun" fixed blade knife.

This hand made knife from Dagestan features a duo form milled blade that is roughly a 6" long, with the whole piece being approximately 11.5" inches overall Made from French Z60 steel, this is one deceptively tough blade steel. The handle is a material called Elastron, which is pretty unique and really has to be felt to be understood and believed. With a soft grip it feels quick in the hand, like a hard poly handle, but if you grip hard the grip suddenly becomes just slightly tacky and sticks to your hand. It also acts as a shock absorbing material. The unique clip point blade shape is lightening fast in the hand. The knife shipped with a poly sheath and that can be worn on the belt, or worn lower with the provided leg strap.

A custom made kydex sheath would also really set this piece into a world of its own, although I'm not sure if I'll do that, or what I'll really do with it at all to be honest.

I've had this one for a little while and didn't post or comment about it because while it is a very unique and cool piece, until today it had one flaw - an edge at near 45 degrees per side and a point like a ball point pen. That was remedied today by "Richard J", master of the spinning wheels fame. He reprofiled the knife and brought it to a hair shaving sharpness and reestablished a tip. It was during the sharpening and reprofiling that we learned just how tough this steel was, requiring significantly more time than we had ever thought would be needed - it was impressively tough! As always, my thanks to Richard for his always great service and sharpening. With that flaw now erased I'm proud to present the "korshun" - black kite in Russian.

Enjoy everyone!

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Thomas Linton said:
Equivalent to AUS8 according to the company site.
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By the specs I would agree that is what it looks like.

All I can say is Richard zipped out about 10 other knives today while we were there, everything from quick little edge buffs to grinding full new edges and NOTHING was as hard to alter as this steel was. With the spinning paper wheels even a full reprofile should have been a two minute job followed by a quick hit with the buffer - but for this knife it turned into something more like 20. So I'm not sure if maybe my particular blade is harder or something, or if this is just the way the steel is - I know the specs don't always tell the tale of how steel really acts/behaves.

Perhaps Richard will comment since he was the one doing the actual sharpening.

Regardless, it was impressive, and doubly so now that it has one of Richard's edges!
 
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snow and steel said:
By the specs I would agree that is what it looks like.

All I can say is Richard zipped out about 0 other knives today while we were there, everything from little buffs to full new edges and NOTHING was as hard to alter as this steel was. With the wheels even a full reprofile should have been a two minute job followed by a quick hit with the buffer - it tuned into something more like 20. So I'm not sure if maybe my particular blade is harder or something, or if this is just the way the steel is. I know the specs don't always tell the tale of how steel really acts. Perhaps Richard will comment since he was the one doing the actual sharpening.

Regardless, it was impressive, and doubly so now that it has one of Richard's edges!
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the edge on that knife was sort of messed up and the steel was a little more than the wheels wanted to touch for some reason.
i decided to do it by hand on the belt sander (motor not running) which made the job a little easier with a coarser belt. once i got it down to where it was close i switched to a 320 belt before going to the slotted wheel to remove the burr and finish the edge. i think you were right about the person sharpening it at the factory not doing it right. it was probably a friday night about 2 minutes from quitting time and he had to go take a p on company time before clocking out :D

i believe it is possible for this knife to take the abuse you told smithy and me about. you should post what you told us here.
 
richard j said:
i believe it is possible for this knife to take the abuse you told smithy and me about. you should post what you told us here.
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I have it from an extremely reliable source that these knives are purchased privately by many foreign military members and are used in preference to their issued equipment, and they see extensive use in ways that none of us would dare do to our own personal knives - included but not limited to beating them into a brick wall in between the bricks with rocks or shovels to use a makeshift step ladder, used as can openers and used as pry bars to snap metal bandings.
 
The primary use for fixed-blade knives issued to U.S. forces in WW II was opening ration cans. Not romantic but also not a problem. I suppose the cans were "tactical" in a sense.
 
i would like to see what the edge look like on one that has had some rough use like being used as a ladder on a block wall.
 
richard j said:
post some pictures of the bayonet :D.
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Oh that little guy you also sharpened today? It is made by KA-BAR. Its a gag, but its still fun. I don't think its practical for anything, but I got it just for the laughs - that alone was worth the price of admission. I think when I bought it I paid $20?

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It'll come in handy for debt collectors or whoever when pistol whipping isn't enough. It'll be a bitter moment though, when you get in a hurry & stuff the gun down in your waistband.

Where did you get the Kizlyar? I see a few on Ebay but they're hard to come by otherwise without ordering overseas.
 
@ OP Good looking blade for sure. I wouldn't mind trying my hand at that handle material you described. Since no knife can ever be perfect, and there's always something to nag about ;), I wouldn't mind seeing that agressive swedge reprofiled just a little bit because it gives the knife a liiiittle too much of an...dare I say it... Extrema Ratio look. A nice black leather worn look sheath would imo complete the package.

A handsome and functional blade !
 
I handled a Kizlyar very similar to that at a knife show here a couple of years ago. It was one of two things I cut myself on (the other was a Hardcore Hardware tomahawk). Very pointy, very comfortable (and yes - grippy!) and it came with a real sense of confidence. I had no doubt it would handle some abuse. The grind was also interesting from memory - almost but not quite triangular in cross section.
 
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