I got me one of them there Kizer Apus' (Said in an old mans voice)

LimpCroissant

LimpCroissant

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Hey guys. First I guess I should formally introduce myself as I haven't yet. My name is Mr. LimpCroissant. I've been a knife enthusiast since I guess right around year 2000. I used to spend endless hours researching knives, steels, materials, buying, collecting, and a bit of selling. I went through a hard time in my life and ended up having to sell basically every knife that I could get more than 100 bucks for, so most all was sold off and the rest is a state away at my parent's house. All my CRK's including an original P model, a small Regular, a Zaan, a small micarta inlay Classic, a CRK one piece fixed, all types of ZT's, Spyderco's, BM's, Kershaws, Jim burke productions, and a few customs all gone and lately I have been missing them a whole lot. But such is life.

Today I received my first Kizer, an Apus. When I got out of knives about 8 years ago there really wasn't a such thing as a chinese brand that made really darn nice knives (Except Reate, which was around back then). So when I got back into the scene a few months ago I was super surprised to see people praising these new chinese brands and saying how good of quality they were. I guess Spyderco was making their Taichung models back then and those surprised the hell out of me with how awesome the fit and finish was, but that was Taiwan which has been known for making much better stuff than mainland China. So anyway, this time around I hesitantly decided to give one of these newer up and coming companys a try. It’s crazy to me that you can get a titanium framelock with premium steel starting at 100 bucks now days on say the Ti Penguin and what not.

Enter the Kizer Apus... These things bada$$ fellas/felletes! I haven't really seen anyone on here post one of these yet so I'll just give ya the quick low down. Titanium framelock with copper overlays, S35VN stonewashed blade, steel lock insert, and milled pocket clip. The fit and finish on this thing is really freakin good. Like it has no business having all of it's edges chamfered, having a milled out fuller with opening hole, having milled out inserts for the copper overlays, good milling inside the titanium scales for weight reduction, a nice even swedge and even edge bevel, nice fully chamfered titanium backspacer... This thing is really nice! It's super smooth and the factory edge is popping hairs off my arm without running it over my strop first! I took these pics last week when I got it and meant to post this but just now figured out how to post pics consistently.

Just thought some of ya guys might like to see some pics and hear about it. Thanks for having me everyone!

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Congrats on the new knife ! Even copper isn’t my thing, the knife looks very nice !
Kizer is a old company, being on US market for years, I think it was the first one to have registered rep (?) here in BF and they got good feedback from the forum and I believe from the market in general. Not surprised their quality is great, same impression from whatever of their knives I had chance to hold and fiddle with. Hope you’re happy with the knife when you use it in the future !
 
POCEH KOCEB said:
Congrats on the new knife ! Even copper isn’t my thing, the knife looks very nice !
Kizer is a old company, being on US market for years, I think it was the first one to have registered rep (?) here in BF and they got good feedback from the forum and I believe from the market in general. Not surprised their quality is great, same impression from whatever of their knives I had chance to hold and fiddle with. Hope you’re happy with the knife when you use it in the future !
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Thank you brother! Yea, I did not realize that Kizer is an old company, that's good to know. I'm a super big fan of copper, the patina it gets just does something big for me. To be honest the knife is almost just a hair too small in the handle for me. I haven't carried it yet, just messed around with it at my desk. I'm making the decision whether to go all out or maybe let it go for something else. However, I am definitely glad I got it regardless because now I know how good Kizer's fit and finish is. I'm just hoping their heat treat is as good as the fit and finish. I've heard good things on here about it but some skeptics on a couple knife podcasts I listen to. I may just use the hell out of it to see how good the heat treat is for myself so I can either trust them or not in the future.
 
The Grendels said:
Of all my Chinese folders, it's the Kizer knives that are the ones that end up in my hands getting used a lot more, especially the Sheepdog and Gemini.
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Nice man, that's good to hear. Yea those models are sweet too. In fact I just saw a copper Gemini on Bladehq. I'd almost for sure get that but looks like it's discontinue. Maybe I'll try to find one of those. Have you put some of them to good use? I'm curious about how good the heat treat is.
 
LimpCroissant said:
Nice man, that's good to hear. Yea those models are sweet too. In fact I just saw a copper Gemini on Bladehq. I'd almost for sure get that but looks like it's discontinue. Maybe I'll try to find one of those. Have you put some of them to good use? I'm curious about how good the heat treat is.
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I use my Kizer Mini Sheepdog almost daily on cardboard and packing tape, when I'm working in my showroom. The 154CM holds up fine and it's a good working blade. The XL Sheepdog gets used a lot less, because it's a bit less sized for public consumption. The Gemini is a high quality thin, slicy S35VN blade on a titanium frame with one of the better framelocks out there. I use the Gemini in my light EDC use rotation, because it's pretty, but it could handle a lot rougher use if I wanted to put into the hard use EDC rotation. One of the things I like most about Kizer is that when they work with a famous knife designer you get a great knife out of it, because they don't submarine it with bad materials.
 
The Grendels said:
I use my Kizer Mini Sheepdog almost daily on cardboard and packing tape, when I'm working in my showroom. The 154CM holds up fine and it's a good working blade. The XL Sheepdog gets used a lot less, because it's a bit less sized for public consumption. The Gemini is a high quality thin, slicy S35VN blade on a titanium frame with one of the better framelocks out there. I use the Gemini in my light EDC use rotation, because it's pretty, but it could handle a lot rougher use if I wanted to put into the hard use EDC rotation. One of the things I like most about Kizer is that when they work with a famous knife designer you get a great knife out of it, because they don't submarine it with bad materials.
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Well said my friend on your opinion of Kizer. And that's real good to hear that your getting good performance out of yours! I just looked at the Gemini and the Sheepdog again. I really like how they contour the handles nicely. I've always been a fan of contoured ti framelocks. That might be a model that I'll have to get one of these days.
 
Sonnydaze said:
Nice to know this, although I've had bare minimum experience with Chinese knives.
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Yea man, ya know so have I. In the past I never liked chinese knives and had a hard time accepting that some of the best Spydercos were coming from Taiwan (Again, I know it's not mainland China). But man these things are really giving US manufacturers a run for their money. It'll be interesting to see what effect these Chinese knives have on the knife community in general. Will US manufacturers start paying closer attention to their fit and finishes, will they maybe start being more careful with their quality control? Who knows, but it'll be interesting to see.
 
My experiences with Kizer have been overwhelmingly positive. The three folders I've spent the most time with are the Mini Domin, Micarta Gemini, and Tangram Santa Fe. That last one was part of their budget-branded line in Acuto 440. It was easily "best bang for the buck" in the year it came out. I gave a few of the Santa Fe and a couple of Mini Domins out as gifts. (Of course I disassembled, inspected, cleaned and properly lubed each and every one of them.) The Santa Fe has held up nicely to over a year of primary EDC for one relative.

I've had to contact Kizer's customer service twice. In one case, I needed a spare washer. They sent me at least two whole replacement sets for free. In the other case, I needed a spare pocket clip. They sent me a new one for $5 total.

I have a couple of premium Kizers. Sometime within the next week, I'll try to get a good picture.
 
Phenomenal knives for the money. Own both a Guru and a Roach, with a John Gray S.L.T. incoming.

Fit, finish, action and blade--all are first rate. Now shopping for something a bit smaller and a bit more "gentlemanly" for discreet carry.
 
Chronovore said:
My experiences with Kizer have been overwhelmingly positive. The three folders I've spent the most time with are the Mini Domin, Micarta Gemini, and Tangram Santa Fe. That last one was part of their budget-branded line in Acuto 440. It was easily "best bang for the buck" in the year it came out. I gave a few of the Santa Fe and a couple of Mini Domins out as gifts. (Of course I disassembled, inspected, cleaned and properly lubed each and every one of them.) The Santa Fe has held up nicely to over a year of primary EDC for one relative.

I've had to contact Kizer's customer service twice. In one case, I needed a spare washer. They sent me at least two whole replacement sets for free. In the other case, I needed a spare pocket clip. They sent me a new one for $5 total.

I have a couple of premium Kizers. Sometime within the next week, I'll try to get a good picture.
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Nice man that's real good to hear too. I wasn't familiar with the Tangram santa fe or the Mini domin and just looked into them. Those look really sweet too. I especially like that Mini Domin, that's a really sweet design. I think I'm going to have to get one of their G10/liner lock models. I'm realizing lately that in my past of collecting I think I placed too much emphasis on only buying knives that had materials like Ti and focusing on the more premium of the models if there was say a G10 version and a ti version. However lately I'm realizing that I've been missing out and there's really no reason to focus solely on the ti models when you can get a G10 or micarta model for about half the price, unless you just really love ti. I'm going to switch up my tastes and position on knife buying this time around I believe. I'll also be more likely to use the hell out of them.
 
Kirk Raptor said:
Phenomenal knives for the money. Own both a Guru and a Roach, with a John Gray S.L.T. incoming.

Fit, finish, action and blade--all are first rate. Now shopping for something a bit smaller and a bit more "gentlemanly" for discreet carry.
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Nice man hell yea! I just took a second look at the three models you commented on and yea those are sweet designs too. I'm really glad to see so many people having great experiences with them.
 
Wow! I was looking at the same model, but ended up grabbing a guru, as they are discontinued. Kind wish I’d gone for this one now, I love the details! Kizer has really made me a believer in quality Chinese brands. WE is also on my list, but it’s hard for me to justify the markup for a “prettier” knife that I’m gonna carry and scuff up anyway. In my eyes, Kizer makes better “hard user” knives- they have all appeared beefier than other brands. I do wish they’d expand a little bit into different titanium finishes, the colored titanium that WE does is gorgeous!

If you decide to get rid of the Apus let me know, I’ll be a buyer!
 
AdamFuzzyballs said:
Wow! I was looking at the same model, but ended up grabbing a guru, as they are discontinued. Kind wish I’d gone for this one now, I love the details! Kizer has really made me a believer in quality Chinese brands. WE is also on my list, but it’s hard for me to justify the markup for a “prettier” knife that I’m gonna carry and scuff up anyway. In my eyes, Kizer makes better “hard user” knives- they have all appeared beefier than other brands. I do wish they’d expand a little bit into different titanium finishes, the colored titanium that WE does is gorgeous!

If you decide to get rid of the Apus let me know, I’ll be a buyer!
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I agree with you man, I like a few of WE's designs but knowing that I can get this level of quality from Kizer, it's really hard for me to step up another 100 bucks into a lot of the WE territory. The other thing is if I'm paying 250+, unless it was a design that I just really loved and couldn't live without, I'd rather just save or put down a little more coin because that's just a hair under used CRK territory

And alright I'll keep this thread and you in mind if I do decide to sell it to get something else. If I were to sell it it'd probably be me selling a couple knives to get into a used sebenza or umnum because I really do love the materials and details like you said on this knife. She's got a lot of curves and chamfered edges!
 
Chronovore said:
My experiences with Kizer have been overwhelmingly positive. The three folders I've spent the most time with are the Mini Domin, Micarta Gemini, and Tangram Santa Fe. That last one was part of their budget-branded line in Acuto 440. It was easily "best bang for the buck" in the year it came out. I gave a few of the Santa Fe and a couple of Mini Domins out as gifts. (Of course I disassembled, inspected, cleaned and properly lubed each and every one of them.) The Santa Fe has held up nicely to over a year of primary EDC for one relative.

I've had to contact Kizer's customer service twice. In one case, I needed a spare washer. They sent me at least two whole replacement sets for free. In the other case, I needed a spare pocket clip. They sent me a new one for $5 total.

I have a couple of premium Kizers. Sometime within the next week, I'll try to get a good picture.
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After using the Mini Sheepdog for a few weeks, I bought a second one to give to my Dad.

I own a few QSP, Artisan Cutlery, RealSteel, Civivi, and WE knives, but the ones getting actually used the most are the Kizers. The next Kizer I'm probably going to buy is the Deviant with the green micarta and copper bolsters.

There's another company that's a subsidiary of Kizer, called Pivot, who make some nice knives but they chose a company name that doesn't do well with search engines and the quality gap between Pivot and Kizer isn't as dramatic as it is for Kershaw/Zero Tolerance or Civivi/We. The Pivot knives have been pretty discounted due to a lack of market traction and I was able to pick up a really nice knife for about half the price I'd expect to pay for quality materials and workmanship. There's also another company, Kansept, formed by the production manager of Kizer doing his own thing.

knifenews.com

Former Kizer Production Manager Creates New Knife Company | KnifeNews.com

Kansept Knives is a new knife company started by Kim Ning, who formerly worked at and designed knives for Kizer Cutlery.
knifenews.com knifenews.com
 
The Grendels said:
After using the Mini Sheepdog for a few weeks, I bought a second one to give to my Dad.

I own a few QSP, Artisan Cutlery, RealSteel, Civivi, and WE knives, but the ones getting actually used the most are the Kizers. The next Kizer I'm probably going to buy is the Deviant with the green micarta and copper bolsters.

There's another company that's a subsidiary of Kizer, called Pivot, who make some nice knives but they chose a company name that doesn't do well with search engines and the quality gap between Pivot and Kizer isn't as dramatic as it is for Kershaw/Zero Tolerance or Civivi/We. The Pivot knives have been pretty discounted due to a lack of market traction and I was able to pick up a really nice knife for about half the price I'd expect to pay for quality materials and workmanship. There's also another company, Kansept, formed by the production manager of Kizer doing his own thing.

knifenews.com

Former Kizer Production Manager Creates New Knife Company | KnifeNews.com

Kansept Knives is a new knife company started by Kim Ning, who formerly worked at and designed knives for Kizer Cutlery.
knifenews.com knifenews.com
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Nice, good info thanks! Wow yea Pivot really chose an unfortunate name. I just did a google search and only found one page with a few of them (I didn't search very hard). I've heard on Kansept too, I'll have to do some more looking into their models. I'd like to try a Artisan too. I really like how they have multiple folders with brass and copper scales.

Edit: I just looked at the Kansept knives that Knifecenter stocks and dang man you weren't kiddin. I think I just about like their designs better than Kizer's! Thanks for opening my eyes to those.
 
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Another vote for the T1 (Task 1). I did own one that I used for a while, until my neighbor wore me down and bought it off me. Haha.
If ya like bearings and great ergo’s, the T1 is a great knife.

Also, welcome to BF.
 
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