Issues with Kizer QC

E

El Maestro

Joined
Jun 5, 2024
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I was recently gifted s Kizer Grazioso in Titanium. When I tried to open it, the flip mechanism was too stiff to activate. I had to use both hands to open the knife. I contacted Kizer; no easy task given that they are in China. After a week of back and forth the promised to send me repair parts. Will that work? Who knows. To quote a famous film, “It’s China (town)”. How this turd ever got off the factory floor I’ll never know. Kizer is a new name to me. I know zip about them except that they are in China. Is QC an issue with them?

I generally don’t buy Chinese tools as their quality is uneven. This was a gift however. I noticed that the knife was packages as if it were something high end. The Chinese frequently do that to add perceived value to otherwise pedestrian things. What, in your experience is the deal with Kizer? Are they any good? Are they a good value? Why is the name spelled so oddly? Kaiser is the famous steel company. Is Kizer just a Chicom plagiarism?
 
I've owned quite a few Kizers now. In fact I still own all of them. When I came back into the knife game a few years ago after a decade away, buying a Kizer was my first introduction into Chinese made knives since it became a thing that they were making quality knives. I was actually extremely impressed with that first one. It was one of their titanium framelocks, I believe the Apus with the copper inlays. Since then I've bought about 5 and have had really good experiences with all of them. It impressed me a lot comparing it to my Sebenza and seeing how even all the chamfers were, and the overall finish on all the surfaces. I'm still very impressed with them. I had 2 minor issues, one was a fixed blade that came with a horrible edge, about 35 degrees per side, no joke. The other issue was something about the pivot, I forget what it was, but it turned out that it was my mistake. However they sent me 2 new pivots and 2 new sets of bearings for free, so I was pretty happy with how it all went.

Other than that theyve been pretty dang awesome in my experience. I'll continue buying them when I see a design that I really like and can fit it into my knife budget at the time.
 
did you try loosening the pivot a little to see if that helped.

I've handled a few Kizers without any issues. the Beglieter and mini version are two of my favorites from them, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some bad eggs leave the factory
 
El Maestro said:
I was recently gifted s Kizer Grazioso in Titanium. When I tried to open it, the flip mechanism was too stiff to activate. I had to use both hands to open the knife. I contacted Kizer; no easy task given that they are in China. After a week of back and forth the promised to send me repair parts. Will that work? Who knows. To quote a famous film, “It’s China (town)”. How this turd ever got off the factory floor I’ll never know. Kizer is a new name to me. I know zip about them except that they are in China. Is QC an issue with them?

I generally don’t buy Chinese tools as their quality is uneven. This was a gift however. I noticed that the knife was packages as if it were something high end. The Chinese frequently do that to add perceived value to otherwise pedestrian things. What, in your experience is the deal with Kizer? Are they any good? Are they a good value? Why is the name spelled so oddly? Kaiser is the famous steel company. Is Kizer just a Chicom plagiarism?
Click to expand...
isn't that model a flipper knife? you aren't squeezing the exposed frame lock bar part are you?
 
El Maestro said:
What, in your experience is the deal with Kizer? Are they any good? Are they a good value?
Click to expand...
Excellent value and QC on their mid-priced knives; all the ones I've owned have been superb. Average to poor quality on their ultra-budget offerings. They do smooth, blasted titanium really well.

+1 to wondering if you're putting pressure on the lock bar while trying to flip the knife.
 
The only time I've had quality control issues with Kizer was with their cheaper knives. I had a Begleiter arrive dull as a butterknife.
 
Kizer is a good company. They work with good designers and do not inappropriately copy things. Their quality is usually good too. I've probably had 50 Kizers apart for inspection, either for myself, as modding projects, or as gifts for others. (Seriously, I'm not exaggerating.) I've had a few with detent issues, usually too strong as opposed to too weak. (I'm in a similar position with WE/Civivi. They have about the same error rate, but usually on the "too weak" side.)

Contacting Kizer is not hard. They have a company website and an Instagram. They've always responded to me, either on those few quality issues or just when I've asked for things. (They do have a sub-forum here but they don't do much with it due to low traffic.)

Just to give you an idea, I had given a Kizer to a relative as a gift. He lost his pocket clip in a field somewhere. I had the same knife so I took my clip off and gave it to him on the spot. I then reached out to Kizer and asked for a new clip. They charged me $5 to ship it from China with no additional costs. In comparison, I mangled some clip screws on a Spyderco when I caught the clip on something and accidentally wrenched it from my pocket. Only the screws were damaged and I only needed replacement screws. Spydeco flatly refused to send me the screws and the only option was to buy a new clip that came with screws. When all was said and done, it cost me like three times as much and was a much bigger pain in the neck.
 
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