Kizer Cutlery - experiences?

RamZar said:
Made in China with materials imported from USA and Japan.

http://www.kizer-tbt.com
Click to expand...

I'm sure they are on par with American made knives but I don't know if I can bring myself to drop over a $100 on a Chinese made knife. They do seem to offer an excellent bang for the buck and I love the designs. Something to think about I guess.
 
ExtremAddiction said:
they all have white ceramic detents ( few models we had), action gets smother with time dont forget few drops of oil .
right now we are sold out and taking preorders only 7-12 business days til you get it .
new models coming very soon .
if you want different model email us we will get it for you .
Click to expand...

Open mouth, insert foot..
 
I've handled a few from a local dealer, they're extremely well built. There was one that was as smooth as my sebenza and as solid as one too. I was quite tempted to pick that one up.
 
Been carrying mine for about a week. Big bad and nation wide. Just an extremely well made knife and I kid you not. Flips better than using the thumb studs. keepem sharp

PS very large bang for the bucks spent, Chinese or not
 
I should get my 401x tomorow,i have high expectations.there is a new one out that is a gingrich collaboration from ranger knives. green g10 handles, thick ti liners that are anodized,very sere/afo like handle wise. if the 401x turns out good i will get this one next. I was not a big fan of made in china either,but these really look great. This out of china 10 years ago was unheard of. im getting tired of overpriced knives, & theres many out there that are more money & lesser materials/blade steel.The gunhammers & socom deltas for example are aluminum handles, & are twice the price.
 
It's kind of two edged.

While I hope this pressures comparable American knives to be cheaper I am scared that it will destroy some American knife makers.
No big deal if the quality is the same?
I think it will kill innovation. While China is good at copying they have not as much creative potential yet.
I'll get me one Kaiser folder out of curiosity but I'll try to stick to American knives as much as I can.
 
Jens Schuetz said:
It's kind of two edged.

While I hope this pressures comparable American knives to be cheaper I am scared that it will destroy some American knife makers.
No big deal if the quality is the same?
I think it will kill innovation. While China is good at copying they have not as much creative potential yet.
I'll get me one Kaiser folder out of curiosity but I'll try to stick to American knives as much as I can.
Click to expand...

I really doubt that one Chinese manufacturer putting out nice designs and quality will destroy any American makers, partly because of the bias seen in the knife community.
 
Bigfatts said:
I really doubt that one Chinese manufacturer putting out nice designs and quality will destroy any American makers, partly because of the bias seen in the knife community.
Click to expand...
Of course :-) wasn't talking about tomorrow.
Just trying to predict a trend. First there is one then two and so on. Give it a few years and if we don't keep our bias it's over.
Many typical American inventions aren't built here anymore in quantities worth mentioning. Lightbulbs, phones...
I guess and hope that high quality knifes will be different. The low end sector is already gone :(
 
Jens Schuetz said:
It's kind of two edged.

While I hope this pressures comparable American knives to be cheaper I am scared that it will destroy some American knife makers.
No big deal if the quality is the same?
I think it will kill innovation. While China is good at copying they have not as much creative potential yet.
I'll get me one Kaiser folder out of curiosity but I'll try to stick to American knives as much as I can.
Click to expand...

Between Kizer and ZT, I hope that there is a huge push towards better tolerances and materials in the US market. ZT is killing it these days with relatively low prices for the materials used. Benchmade has made a very interesting decision that does nothing but hurt sales - same materials, same knives, but with a 30% increase in what they will allow sellers to list their products at. Note that this does not increase how much money Benchmade makes... But drives customers away with higher prices. That's my take on it, anyway. Spyderco seems to be focusing on VG-10 FRN/G10 lockbacks with their new releases - and at prices in the ZT range - which is also a very interesting direction to take.

I think Kai is about to start really dominating the market. Their Kershaw lineup for the new year is absolutely tops, and very affordable for the passive knife owner, and also enticing for the collector or avid user. ZT is making dreams come true all over the place with the emerson and hinderer collaborations - good prices, good materials, great designs.

The upside of cheap high-quality Chinese knives is competition. Competition means good things for the consumer, typically.
 
Can someone email me the dealers that carry the Kizer knives mentioned here? I already have the Ki4411 waiting for me to pay. The one knife I am most interested in the big folder. Longbow, would you email, or do a visitor message and let me know where you got the big' un? That one is right down my alley!!!
 
Kershaw really seems to be coming out with some real nice stuff over the last couple of years.their knives were my 1st china made knives,& they are nice for the money. I think they are leading the pack right now. Kizer has some cool knives,but they arent going to rock the knife world like spyderco,benchmade & kershaw have.They have a long way to go but they are off to a good start......
 
Comeuppance said:
Between Kizer and ZT, I hope that there is a huge push towards better tolerances and materials in the US market. ZT is killing it these days with relatively low prices for the materials used. Benchmade has made a very interesting decision that does nothing but hurt sales - same materials, same knives, but with a 30% increase in what they will allow sellers to list their products at. Note that this does not increase how much money Benchmade makes... But drives customers away with higher prices. That's my take on it, anyway. Spyderco seems to be focusing on VG-10 FRN/G10 lockbacks with their new releases - and at prices in the ZT range - which is also a very interesting direction to take.

I think Kai is about to start really dominating the market. Their Kershaw lineup for the new year is absolutely tops, and very affordable for the passive knife owner, and also enticing for the collector or avid user. ZT is making dreams come true all over the place with the emerson and hinderer collaborations - good prices, good materials, great designs.

The upside of cheap high-quality Chinese knives is competition. Competition means good things for the consumer, typically.
Click to expand...

Agree with everything you said. However, my assumption is that Spyderco's VG10 offerings this year are based on production capacity more than anything else. Sal has said that Golden has been at max capacity for a few years now. Taichung might also be, they don't produce for only Spyderco after all. Im betting that the Japanese factories has the open capacity this year so Spyderco went with all the designs that Japan could produce. I want more Taichung personally.
 
We will be updating our site soon with lots of new models .
If you need specific pictures or measurements let me know .
 
Last edited:
We have a great special at KnifeCenter on the Klecker models starting at $84.95. We also have one designed by Justin Gingrich KUKI4416A2 - GTI, who did the Ranger series for Ontario. This is one sweet folder at a great price.
 
Bigfatts said:
I really doubt that one Chinese manufacturer putting out nice designs and quality will destroy any American makers, partly because of the bias seen in the knife community.
Click to expand...
Thats what was said about -Honda,Toyota,Kia,Subaru,etc.....and thats just automobiles
 
adamg01 said:
I'm sure they are on par with American made knives but I don't know if I can bring myself to drop over a $100 on a Chinese made knife. They do seem to offer an excellent bang for the buck and I love the designs. Something to think about I guess.
Click to expand...

Well try to look at it this way. A CNC is a CNC no matter which country it is in. Sure there are a lot of processes after the CNC machine that need human input. But there is the key word. We are all human. And Kizer actually has a presence here in the USA. Its not some ghost company of which there is no support after the sale. Another thing to look at is that if you were to look for knives with the same features you would spend considerably more. Sure there are examples of affordable USA produced knives with similar materials but they usually dont offer the intricate machining you will find on the Kizer knives. I think in 10-20 years china will have acheived Japan quality status. Right now is the time to get in on the action before prices catch up with quality. You just need to know what is worth buying. Kizer seems like a good bet.
 
BITEME said:
Thats what was said about -Honda,Toyota,Kia,Subaru,etc.....and thats just automobiles
Click to expand...

These companies didnt destroy American automotive manufacturing. Those companies did that to themselves. Heck many toyota cars are american than most actual american cars. The only thing that will hurt american knife companies if they dont adapt and continue to improve. If the bar overseas gets raised then they will need to step up. The ones that get complacent will be the ones that fall. Either way I dont think you can really compare knives to cars. Knives are essentially a luxury good. And as a luxury good there will always be a demand for high quality american products just like the Swiss will always be looked to for watches and Belgium for chocolate. A car is a necessary part of life for most people. City people can sometimes get by without them but in most cases people "need" a car for everyday life. And oddly enough people tend to seek value in high dollar items that they need. Luxury items many tend to simply want the best they can afford. And I think Bigfatts is right, there has and probably always will be a stigma about Chinese knives. Even if quality was superlative and they were making original designs and stopped counterfeiting. People would still have something bad to say.
 
Comeuppance said:
Between Kizer and ZT, I hope that there is a huge push towards better tolerances and materials in the US market. ZT is killing it these days with relatively low prices for the materials used. Benchmade has made a very interesting decision that does nothing but hurt sales - same materials, same knives, but with a 30% increase in what they will allow sellers to list their products at. Note that this does not increase how much money Benchmade makes... But drives customers away with higher prices. That's my take on it, anyway. Spyderco seems to be focusing on VG-10 FRN/G10 lockbacks with their new releases - and at prices in the ZT range - which is also a very interesting direction to take.

I think Kai is about to start really dominating the market. Their Kershaw lineup for the new year is absolutely tops, and very affordable for the passive knife owner, and also enticing for the collector or avid user. ZT is making dreams come true all over the place with the emerson and hinderer collaborations - good prices, good materials, great designs.

The upside of cheap high-quality Chinese knives is competition. Competition means good things for the consumer, typically.
Click to expand...


austonh said:
Agree with everything you said. However, my assumption is that Spyderco's VG10 offerings this year are based on production capacity more than anything else. Sal has said that Golden has been at max capacity for a few years now. Taichung might also be, they don't produce for only Spyderco after all. Im betting that the Japanese factories has the open capacity this year so Spyderco went with all the designs that Japan could produce. I want more Taichung personally.
Click to expand...

Yes and yes.

Spyderco at the Golden and Taichung plants just don't have the capacity for new models. It's disappointing that only one brand new model is coming from outside of Japan and that's the Tusk.

KAI's dizzying array of new product introductions for all budgets at the SHOT Show left you breathless.

Benchmade's MAP enforcement rule is baffling!

Knifemaking is not rocket science although the Chinese did manage to successfully land a rover on the moon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top