Kizer knives, what's your opinion of them?

[stonproject]

I dont think anything could convince me to buy chineese cutlery.

Thats a pretty ignorant persepctive. I dont know if you realize, theyve been making cutlery for many moons longer than our country has even existed.


On topic, I have a kizer ki404b1 and it is absolutely flawless. the dimple texturing is uniform, and the anodizing is incredible.

Mine flips awesome, has minimal lock stick,blade came perfectly centered, razor sharp, and with ZERO bladeplay.

Kizer are going to give many knife manufacturers a run for their money!

 

[dkb45]

I dont think anything could convince me to buy chineese cutlery.

This is the opinion of the past. People said this about Japanese made goods. They said it about Taiwanese made goods. Now both countries are considered shining examples of manufacturing excellence. Here in just a few short years we will all be laughing about how China was once the manufacturing capital of garbage goods. Don't get me wrong, they will still make junk as long as there is money in it, but don't let the bad apple spoil the bunch. High end manufacturing will only continue to become better until it borders on perfection. We may eventually see tons of CRK quality plants all over China.

 

[whp]

This is the opinion of the past. People said this about Japanese made goods. They said it about Taiwanese made goods. Now both countries are considered shining examples of manufacturing excellence. Here in just a few short years we will all be laughing about how China was once the manufacturing capital of garbage goods. Don't get me wrong, they will still make junk as long as there is money in it, but don't let the bad apple spoil the bunch. High end manufacturing will only continue to become better until it borders on perfection. We may eventually see tons of CRK quality plants all over China.

That would be an interesting development, since we see only one CRK quality plant currently in the US.

 

[goldie]

Kizer,Reate,and Stedemon products easily equal if not exceed the quality of anything made here or anywhere else.This is a new benchmark for brands like them,they have nothing to do with cheap junk we used to associate China with.They are using the same machinery and precision making these knives there as Benchmade Spyderco and Kershaw is making here,anyone who says otherwise is really fooling themselves;and these 3 companies are only 2 or more years old, that's pretty huge I think...

 

[anthony cheeseboro]

The two Kizer knives I have are great. I plan on buying more.

 

[Joe58]

Blade making in China is an industry that dates back hundreds and hundreds of years. They definitely have the skills and know how to make quality goods, in just about every aspect of manufacturing today. Basically, about every piece of your technology and clothing comes from off shore sources. Knife buying is definitely a choice that we each make and where you spend your money is your business and I respect that. And I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the same in return. Buying a knife from any country made outside the States does not make you somehow less patriotic. People buy knives from Russia, Canada, South Africa, Switzerland, China, Japan, everywhere. Quality knives can be produced anywhere.

 

[Nomo4me]

Love the quality of mfr of mine - a 401X1 bought at $113 from blade HQ.

The blade is a bit heavy for best flipping but the quality is pretty amazing. I'll tell you, all parts are properly heat treated, even the tiny little screw that holds on the lock overtravel button.

 

[k_ozdragon]

We were talking about this at the shop recently. We have a fake Spyderco pm2 to show customers who believe that they could never be fooled by a fake knife. We were saying what a shame it was they dont make their own products and have to copy everyone else. The materials dont cost much, its the labor and manufacturing costs. At $35 they made a near perfect pm2 - with an absolute piece of garbage for a blade (lol gotta watch my language here). If only these shops would make their own stuff, they could easily compete with the best shops here. We had a guy that manufactures in China come to our shop, so we asked him what he thought. He told us its the Chinese mindset. They would rather copy an already established product than make something of their own. He said the new generation hates this, but that's how the older generation (the people who own most the factories) do things. In fact, when he designs his rc car parts, he has to send them to a friends he's known and trusted for years because when he sent them to other factories, the fake would hit the market BEFORE his product would. That's insane! The factories will sell his patents and even make the fake ones *first* for the highest bidder. Its sad that such manufacturing might is put to ill use, and a major reason China has such a bad name. So it's certainly nice to see some actual companies rising above this to make a legitimate product that has the high quality frames seen on the copies, with actual good american steels for a blade, and the low prices always associated with Chinese products.

 

[NorthernSouthpaw]

This is the opinion of the past. People said this about Japanese made goods. They said it about Taiwanese made goods. Now both countries are considered shining examples of manufacturing excellence. Here in just a few short years we will all be laughing about how China was once the manufacturing capital of garbage goods. Don't get me wrong, they will still make junk as long as there is money in it, but don't let the bad apple spoil the bunch. High end manufacturing will only continue to become better until it borders on perfection. We may eventually see tons of CRK quality plants all over China.

Sorry to throw the turd in the punch bowl here, but some people need to realize that "junk knives" is not the only reason people try their best to avoid Chinese made products.
Just remember that in most cases Cheap Labor = Real life people who are being grossly underpaid and usually overworked.

 

[k_ozdragon]

Sorry to throw the turd in the punch bowl here, but some people need to realize that "junk knives" is not the only reason people try their best to avoid Chinese made products.
Just remember that in most cases Cheap Labor = Real life people who are being grossly underpaid and usually overworked.

That's true. Of course the fact that Apple had to literally put up safety nets on all its balconies due to workers *repeatedly* committing suicide off of them hasn't really slowed down iPhone, iPad, iPod, ietc... That is something I actually put to consideration. From what I understand, kizer is a smaller company that has good work standards. Of course god only knows what a "good work standard" means in China, but as long as the workers have it better than most I suppose. Another reason why cost is low is because there's no environmental controls in China either. They're free to release pollution into the environment as long as it doesn't affect any major government functions; which I would assume would mean polluting necessary water sources mostly. Outside of that, anything else is fair game. I have heard that many of these new manufactures have been raising working standards drastically for their workers. Sadly, the worst working conditions come from foreign owned companies - namely us, the United States.

 

[The Burgh]

We all just knew this "red herring" stuff was coming. It was only a matter of "when."

Let's please just ignore the China xenophobia and move the discussion back to the knives!

P.S. I own a KI3404A3, and it does in all respects compete (in all respects, except price) with my Brou Mini Division and ZT 0770.

 

[k_ozdragon]

We all just knew this "red herring" stuff was coming. It was only a matter of "when."

Let's please just ignore the China xenophobia and move the discussion back to the knives!

I'd say the sinophobia is everyone's major conflict with this knife. If it was made in the USA, Germany, or Japan we'd all already own one. I would also say that the recent conversation on how a manufacturer makes his product and treats his work force certainly affects buying their product as well. Certainly I'd say that all the positive I heard about kizer made me confident in buying one though. So much so that I had to borrow the cash from a buddy lol. Also, I gotta say I was super happy when I saw that "made in China" wasn't stamped on the blade, but rather was a removable sticker. Idk if that makes me a jerk or not, but it still made me happy it came off and wasn't permenantly stamped on the blade lol.

 

[NorthernSouthpaw]

We all just knew this "red herring" stuff was coming. It was only a matter of "when."

Let's please just ignore the China xenophobia and move the discussion back to the knives!

It's not xonophobia. I have no problem with Kizer, and now Reate knives, and the only reason I don't own any is they (until recently) refused to make a lefty. However, if You want to rave about the high quality vs. cost, I feel that someone needs to point out the elephant in the room and say why it is such a radical difference compared to US, Japanese, Italian and Taiwanese products. Can you see the glaring differences between the social and financial structure of these countries compared to China?

BF is a free forum and many people who never post come here to check out reviews on knives they are interested in. As a regular poster here I feel responsible to show both sides of the coin so people can get a fair understanding of what they are considering investing money into.

Like I said before I'm sorry to bring down the mood a bit. But ignoring the REAL economic differences in manufacturing while singing the praises of the cost to quality ratio is just downright ignorant. Either that or you are just burying your head in the sand.

All that being said I'm happy that K_ozdragon is enjoying his purchase. Because like you said the knives is what we are here for.

 

[The Burgh]

"But ignoring the REAL economic differences in manufacturing while singing the praises of the cost to quality ratio is just downright ignorant. Either that or you are just burying your head in the sand."

I'll not respond to ad hominem nor red herrings.

Not really sure how many folks reading this forum are genuinely interested in the geo-political/economic reasons (nor the subjective socio-macro analyses) for pricing/profit differentials between knives. I could be wrong (and often am).

Someone want to chime in with another irrational comment to make it a trifecta?

Or are we back to Kizer knives?

 

[anthony cheeseboro]

Criticizing China without first acknowledging that First World corporations have fallen over backwards to set up shop in China, and ship good jobs to China is only telling half of the story. America has turned into a country of low wage workers who could not survive without cheap consumer goods made in China, Vietnam, or Indonesia.

 

[PURPLEDC]

Reading this thread i feel like that old man waving his cane screaming "i told you!" So many thought i was crazy when I warned china was going to be the next major player in the knife game.

 

[K.O.D.]

When Hyundai and Kia first came to the US people thought of them as crap and a joke. Today, Kia hasn't had a recall in over five years. My mother's 2013 ford cmax has had 7 recalls. Foreign countries can make amazing products if they want to.

 

[k_ozdragon]

When Hyundai and Kia first came to the US people thought of them as crap and a joke. Today, Kia hasn't had a recall in over five years. My mother's 2013 ford cmax has had 7 recalls. Foreign countries can make amazing products if they want to.

Hell, KIA is starting to make luxury cars lol. I still wouldn't own one, but every so often I see a nice car and say "ooo what is that?" and then have to say "oh wtf, a KIA?" I would definitely say that many of our manufacturing standard are either going backwards or being sent overseas while foreign economies and standard have been going up. But that's what happens as our economy falls and our wealth is spread elsewhere. I think kizer and companies like it are an obvious sign of this as well as a trend of things to come. I mean seriously, I am still shocked at the quality of this thing - and honestly if China continues to do this I'm certain their quality of life at work will continue to rise as well. Their main problem is their communist government - which is coincidentally another thing that we are also slowly moving towards.

 

[goldie]

(Apple had to literally put up safety nets on all its balconies due to workers *repeatedly* committing suicide off of them ) I remember seeing a news show about apple and they showed scenes more like people busting the doors down trying to get a job there,and they showed one woman whos job it was to use a tool and quickly clean out the carved apple logo that is on the front of their products, and this was hundreds if not thousands of them per day.I don't think there is that kind of volume, long hours and suicides in these knife companies,compared to a huge worldwide mega giant like apple , with constant changes,fast newer products,and super high demand worldwide....

 

[GronK]

It still boils down to one point for me. I buy American made knives because I still can, unlike my home entertainment and computer and other things no longer being made here.