Now a days it's quite a common practice for companies in the knifeindustry to cooperate with external custom knifemakers and designers. Spyderco jumped on the bandwagon early but all the major dragons like Benchmade and Kershaw do the same. CRKT as an example have made a name for themselves by in principle base their entire productline on that procedure. Also Boker is famous for their many collaborations.
Unfortenately the outcome often feels like compromises whether it depends on too simple materials or lack in production skills and qualitycontrol. That is often the case with knives from CRKT according to me. You can rarely feel that enough of the designlanguage and ideas still being present in the production knife to recognize the originals.
But something is about to change and this knife, the Gemini from Kizer, is one of the knives pointing the way.
Kizer Ki3471 Gemini
Kizers "Gemini" is a brilliant example of when almost everything is done right. Actually some say that this knife is very close to it's original, the "Jasmin" by Ray Laconico in many ways. I have not handled that knife so it's not for me to tell but I can say that the result of the collaboration is a knife with the same restrained designlanguage, top notch materials and good function.
My Twitterversion of this presentation: Gemini - one of the most exclusive knifes in it's priceclass
Blade
One pet subject of mine is that a blade should be kept supersimple if there isn't anything in particular you want to express with them. That rule is applied here. In this case we have a capable droppoint that measures a tad under three and a quarter of an inch. Because of how the grind is made the edge and bladelength are nearly the same. The blade is characterized by a simplicity that is both practical and aesthetical. No ornation or complicated grinds. It gives a sparse appearence that I appreciate and that matches the performance.
A very fastidious bladedesign makes for excellent base for a pocketknife. Over three inch of FFG droppoint
The steel choice is a stellar one and the blade is made out of Crucibles powdersteel S35VN. It's not as exotic as it used to be and most knife afficionados agree that it is an excellent allround steel. But it remains to be seen how Kizer manage to use it's properties through proper hardening, choosing correct edgegeomery, grinding et cetera. I have another knife from Kizer, "Sunburst" with the same steel that I touched up the edge on a couple of times and it's not difficult to get back to real high sharpness. The stated hardness on both knives is 59-60 HRC.
In addition to steel choice and hardening, geometry is of course crucial for how a knife actually performs. Gemini is full flat ground from a thickness of 0.12". Excellent proportions for a theoretical high performance cutter. But I think Kizer have been to covardly in order to sustain higher durability. The knife has a bit to much steel behind the edge for my taste. It is ok but certainly not excellent in that regard. Which reminds me that I should get an micrometer so that I can find out the exact measurements.
The factoryedge was however well executed. The knife cut paper with ease and it shaved hair with only a slight pressure out of box. The grind is even from tip to heel and and it is rather symmetrical in width.
Steeltype: CPM S35VN
The blade have been given a very fine and well made stonewash. The finish is good at hiding scratches at the same times as it gives a certain luster to the blade. Another detail that feels consistent given the knives discrete image is the markings on the blade. Steeltype and the name in small font and Kizers new, tasteful logotype are written on the blade. That's all. I was not a fan of their old logo, too big and too cheap looking. Ray Laconicos name is stylishly etched on the spine of the blade.
When it comes to "daily chores" the knife excels. Opening packaging, breaking down boxes, cutting tape, soft- and hard plastic and different kinds of rope works just fine. The flat ground blade makes for instance cardboard cutting a breaze. And it cuts decently in cloth as well. A big deal to me personally since I'm a keen Mountainbiker and cleaning bikes requires a big amount of rags, trust me.
I also tried the Gemini on wood, both fresh and dried. Or more like frozen and dried in this case due to the winterconditions. The blade and the grind works ok. It's not a whittler. The blade has a proper bite to it but the handle isn't up to pair. Not a surprise though since this is a smaller knife.
I personally almost never uses folding knives in food processing except for camping and hiking trips, for that I have a wide array of kitchen knives. But I test them there. And as expected this knife functions somewhat well as a small pairing knife. The geometry makes for a fairly good slicer. I say "fairly" because compared to proper kitchen knives few folding knives can compete. They are generally to thick as an example.
So far I found edgeretention pretty good. I haven't resharpened the knife yet but as per usual I use my sharpening rods and a strop to keep the ege in good shape. However when I do sharpen the blade more thoroughly I will reprofile it a bit. I want a thinner edgegeometry.
To be coninued in part II...
Unfortenately the outcome often feels like compromises whether it depends on too simple materials or lack in production skills and qualitycontrol. That is often the case with knives from CRKT according to me. You can rarely feel that enough of the designlanguage and ideas still being present in the production knife to recognize the originals.
But something is about to change and this knife, the Gemini from Kizer, is one of the knives pointing the way.
Kizer Ki3471 Gemini
Kizers "Gemini" is a brilliant example of when almost everything is done right. Actually some say that this knife is very close to it's original, the "Jasmin" by Ray Laconico in many ways. I have not handled that knife so it's not for me to tell but I can say that the result of the collaboration is a knife with the same restrained designlanguage, top notch materials and good function.
My Twitterversion of this presentation: Gemini - one of the most exclusive knifes in it's priceclass
Blade
One pet subject of mine is that a blade should be kept supersimple if there isn't anything in particular you want to express with them. That rule is applied here. In this case we have a capable droppoint that measures a tad under three and a quarter of an inch. Because of how the grind is made the edge and bladelength are nearly the same. The blade is characterized by a simplicity that is both practical and aesthetical. No ornation or complicated grinds. It gives a sparse appearence that I appreciate and that matches the performance.
A very fastidious bladedesign makes for excellent base for a pocketknife. Over three inch of FFG droppoint
The steel choice is a stellar one and the blade is made out of Crucibles powdersteel S35VN. It's not as exotic as it used to be and most knife afficionados agree that it is an excellent allround steel. But it remains to be seen how Kizer manage to use it's properties through proper hardening, choosing correct edgegeomery, grinding et cetera. I have another knife from Kizer, "Sunburst" with the same steel that I touched up the edge on a couple of times and it's not difficult to get back to real high sharpness. The stated hardness on both knives is 59-60 HRC.
In addition to steel choice and hardening, geometry is of course crucial for how a knife actually performs. Gemini is full flat ground from a thickness of 0.12". Excellent proportions for a theoretical high performance cutter. But I think Kizer have been to covardly in order to sustain higher durability. The knife has a bit to much steel behind the edge for my taste. It is ok but certainly not excellent in that regard. Which reminds me that I should get an micrometer so that I can find out the exact measurements.
The factoryedge was however well executed. The knife cut paper with ease and it shaved hair with only a slight pressure out of box. The grind is even from tip to heel and and it is rather symmetrical in width.
Steeltype: CPM S35VN
The blade have been given a very fine and well made stonewash. The finish is good at hiding scratches at the same times as it gives a certain luster to the blade. Another detail that feels consistent given the knives discrete image is the markings on the blade. Steeltype and the name in small font and Kizers new, tasteful logotype are written on the blade. That's all. I was not a fan of their old logo, too big and too cheap looking. Ray Laconicos name is stylishly etched on the spine of the blade.
When it comes to "daily chores" the knife excels. Opening packaging, breaking down boxes, cutting tape, soft- and hard plastic and different kinds of rope works just fine. The flat ground blade makes for instance cardboard cutting a breaze. And it cuts decently in cloth as well. A big deal to me personally since I'm a keen Mountainbiker and cleaning bikes requires a big amount of rags, trust me.
I also tried the Gemini on wood, both fresh and dried. Or more like frozen and dried in this case due to the winterconditions. The blade and the grind works ok. It's not a whittler. The blade has a proper bite to it but the handle isn't up to pair. Not a surprise though since this is a smaller knife.
I personally almost never uses folding knives in food processing except for camping and hiking trips, for that I have a wide array of kitchen knives. But I test them there. And as expected this knife functions somewhat well as a small pairing knife. The geometry makes for a fairly good slicer. I say "fairly" because compared to proper kitchen knives few folding knives can compete. They are generally to thick as an example.
So far I found edgeretention pretty good. I haven't resharpened the knife yet but as per usual I use my sharpening rods and a strop to keep the ege in good shape. However when I do sharpen the blade more thoroughly I will reprofile it a bit. I want a thinner edgegeometry.
To be coninued in part II...