Kizer Cutlery - experiences?

Hi everyone.

Confessions of a Kizer fan...

I bought my first Kizer on a whim about 10 months ago. It was a Ki4403A and I was immediately in love. It would be my hands-down favorite EDC knife if not for the fact it's tip-down only. Someone earlier posted pictures showing an un-even grind on a Ki4403 blade, and I have kind of the same thing...not as bad as the pictures. I don't mind though, given the low price point.

My second Kizer was the tank-like Ki5414A3. I kinda bought this knife by mistake, as the A1 and A2 versions both have a flipper (I was looking for a Kizer tip-up flipper)...the A3 has thumbstuds only. Regardless, this is an incredible knife with a really solid build. The wicked looking recurve tanto blade is awesome. When this thing deploys, it "thunks" into place with a convincing tone. True, it's a little bigger than what I normally EDC, but I can promise with this in your pocket, you'll feel ready for whatever the day brings!

My third Kizer was a Ki4421A2 and I love it. The colorization on the titanium scales is really unique. The deployment on this blade is one of the smoothest and fastest of any knife I own. It's almost too pretty to carry and use.

My most recent Kizer is a Ki405 and at this point it's probably my least favorite. I probably need to strip it and clean it, but the action wasn't that smooth out of the box. The big con on this knife is that after only a few days of carry, the G10 is showing some pocket wear...the red is kind of rubbing off. That doesn't seem right?

Don't get me wrong, I love all these knives, just trying to find objective points of criticism. The fit, finish and materials on all these knives has been great. I know I'll be buying more...I already see several designs I must have. Now, from my personal experience, I've never owned a custom folder. My most expensive knife to date is probably a ZT 0561, but I've also got some American Kershaws, Spydercos, Benchmades and CRKTs. I have a couple of production Japanese knives also. Kizer can stand toe to toe with any of them in terms of materials, fit, finish, design and value. Some knife makers should be nervous.

Kizer, please keep it up and continue to give us carry options! Please give us a Kizer forum too!
 
evilgreg said:
I own lots of both, and all I can say is "your loss". IMO, the ki4423 is superior to my ZT 0801 regardless of price, for example.

That said, lets not clutter up this thread with opinions about foreign trade, though. Preferably we can keep it about the actual knives, which presumably you don't have any interest in.
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I second this, I have the Ki412A3, and it's better than many, maaaany American made knives. I'm actually carrying it more than my PM2.
 
I received a KIZER CUTLERY KI3411 a couple weeks ago. Love the stockeyness of this knife,its taken over from my Techno for time being. As been mentioned before,it would be nice to see a few more 3" and sub 3" blades. Im also not into flippers for the law likes to say there illeagal round here. So I tend to go with the thumb stud models.
 
If your coming to the SHOT show come say hi at the Kizer booth! Check out my first collab with a production knife company. All I can say is wait until you feel one of these in hand, Kizer asked me about every detail when building these and they came out better than I could have hoped for, just stunning quality, fit, feel and finish for a production knife made anywhere and any price point. Im very excited, first four of many to come the Dorado and Skully Dorado and the Flashbang and Skully Flashbang Cucchiara design frame lock folders! Check out the clips, just like my custom carved clips, there wont be a problem with these getting caught or breaking. Thanks!
Matt

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The kizer ki3404a3 is the knife that really got me into flippers. For being built in china its such a great knife. It is the smoothest flippers ive ever owned to date.
 
I've been reading these forums for years and only recently decided to become a member after reading this thread. I highly recommend the Ki405. S35VN steel with a sheepsfoot blade perfect for slicing make it an excellent EDC. Had it for a while now and no complaints so far. Holds an edge well and gets very sharp. Action is nice and smooth and even without any gimping it feels great in hand.
 
I recently purchased a kizer Kane vanguard series. I know the vanguard series is the low end of Kizer vg10 steel not s35vn but the overall quality and finish is superb, better than most US made folders. I am very happy with this knife, action is smooth as silk. I really like the Nomad with the persian style blade I think that might be my next.
 
In addition to some Ti Kizers, I have Kizer Vanguards in Gemini, Intrepid, Dukes, Kyre, and a little 2.5-inch liner lock model for which I can never remember the name.

These Vanguard models are first-rate. Kizer really knows how to make a liner lock. They are all centered with smooth opening and disengagement.

The G10 scales feel great in the hand. I prefer the grippy handles on the Vanguard Gemini to its Ti version.

Fit and finish is first-rate.

Highly recommended -- and not just at the price!
 
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Thank you for your support of Kizer!

I'm a big fan myself of the Vanguard series as our expectation when creating it was to bring a hard-working series that users will not be afraid to push to the limit. I'll be the first to confess that I use my Vanguard series a lot harder than my titanium handled Bladesmith or Prime knives, and the Vanguard stood up to the hard use wonderfully.

Please stay tuned for more of the Vanguard series coming out in 2017!

Kizer team.
 
My experience has been nothing but goodness, ive handled alot of kizers and made videos of them.

I suggest go for the ballbearing pivot, coz they are incredibly smooth, smoother than many other more expensive knives out there. Precise craftmanship and machining, but the only complain is the detent. Because they put so much effort on the smoothness, the detent isnt as hard as it suppose to be IMO.

They are definitely worth every penny, once you handle kizers, becareful, your expectations of knives becomes very high, thus thinking other knives to have the tendencies to be inferior.

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perryman said:
Does Kizer import S35VN from the US?
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Yah, it was confirmed a few years ago by a forum member reaching out to a Crucible sales rep directly. The rep confirmed that they ship pallets of the steel out to China. The thread is here on Bladeforums somewhere, but I'm too lazy to track it down.
 
good knives but if you read the reviews from everywhere, they are extremely inconsistent in QC/quality. id still buy one tho from my experience with them. id rather buy a Reate, WE Knives, Rike or ZT's tho. the one really great thing is they are affordable for what you get in the 120-200 range. anything upward go with the 4 other brands i mentioned.
 
Mo2 said:
good knives but if you read the reviews from everywhere, they are extremely inconsistent in QC/quality. id still buy one tho from my experience with them. id rather buy a Reate, WE Knives, Rike or ZT's tho. the one really great thing is they are affordable for what you get in the 120-200 range. anything upward go with the 4 other brands i mentioned.
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Maybe I've just been lucky then--I've bought eight or nine of them and they've all been great . . .
 
austonh said:
Yah, it was confirmed a few years ago by a forum member reaching out to a Crucible sales rep directly. The rep confirmed that they ship pallets of the steel out to China. The thread is here on Bladeforums somewhere, but I'm too lazy to track it down.
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That is awesome, and even though it is probably a drop in the bucket when compared to world wide steel production it is nice to see American made steel being exported. I have seen a few Kizers that interested me, now I may have to check them out.
 
evilgreg said:
Maybe I've just been lucky then--I've bought eight or nine of them and they've all been great . . .
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I think I've got about 20 Kizers now and the only consistent flaw I can find with them is weak detents. I have 3 or 4 knives that just won't flip because the detent is too weak. Some of them even shake out making them a little unsafe to carry. Someday I may try to tinker with them to make the detents tighter but I just haven't had time to mess with them.

Other than that one factor, I really like my Kizers. My problem is I've been carrying knives that are a little nicer and a lot more expensive and it's hard to go back to a "humble" Kizer ;). I guess it really is true that you can't keep a boy on the farm once he's been to Paris.
 
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