Lancer and Little River Bowie prototypes

Dirk

Dirk

Joined
Mar 19, 1999
Messages
2,277
They are here and I have been checking them out for a little while. I have to say Kizer did an amazing job! We did a couple of handle materials for a test. We tried standard black g-10 and a black and gray g-10. The black and gray g-10 did not turn out as hoped. Not bad, but not quite what I was going for.

The Lancer is 8.5" oal and the blade is 4.5". The Little River Bowie is 8.75" oal with a blade length of 4.5" Steel is S35V for the Lancer and VG10 for the LRB. Both will most likely be in the Vanguard line up but, there is a possibility the Lancer will be in the Bladesmith line up.

The Little River Bowie is pretty straight forward. It is a great multi purpose design. The ergonomics make it very comfortable in pretty much any grip. A great self defense or back up blade or a general utility knife. Several sheriff's deputies are carrying my custom LRB as a duty knife.

The Lancer is a little more purpose driven in it's design. The original thought behind the design was pure self defense. However, many customers have told me they are using it the kitchen or in a utility role. The blade to handle ratio makes it very easy to carry. The canted handle reduces the amount of hand rotation to bring the tip of the blade to point for a thrust. And the thrust is the strong suit of the design. The blade has enough belly and width to make great slashing or slicing cuts. The handle design also makes this an excellent reverse grip knife. Something I found interesting was the number of orders I had from Australia for the Lancer and the fact they almost all said they were looking at the Lancer for reverse grip techniques.



Here is a group shot. I will be adding individual shots.

20161205_160354.jpg
 
Nuts, wish the steel choices were reversed.

Glad to see some fixed blade designs, though!
 
Outstanding designs! I'm not a fan of VG10 particularly, but the Lancer in S35vn is my first in line anyway! It looks great and look forward to picking one up. The LRB looks great too and will get one of those too. Thanks to Kizer for producing them!
 
madcap_magician said:
Nuts, wish the steel choices were reversed.

Glad to see some fixed blade designs, though!
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This. The LRB looks fantastic, but definitely lose the multicolor G10 across both models. It looks gaudy, or just weird in the case of the LRB since there aren't multiple layers exposed. Do you know how these will be sheathed? That's always the problem with a production fixed blade.
 
Sheaths will be kydex. I am waiting to see prototypes of the sheaths. We were playing with the idea of a leather sheath for the LRB. It couldn't be done the way we wanted at a good price.

I agree on the multi color g-10. It has to be done correctly to get the correct effect. We might revisit the idea down the road.

As far as steel, Is there an appetite for carbon steel on the Little River Bowie?
 
Dirk said:
Sheaths will be kydex. I am waiting to see prototypes of the sheaths. We were playing with the idea of a leather sheath for the LRB. It couldn't be done the way we wanted at a good price.

I agree on the multi color g-10. It has to be done correctly to get the correct effect. We might revisit the idea down the road.

As far as steel, Is there an appetite for carbon steel on the Little River Bowie?
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I think the green G10 one looks OK. I agree with Misanthropia about the sheath thing, though, I have yet to see a production fixed blade that had a really good sheath, which is a longstanding frustration of mine, since then any time I buy one I have to send it off for a new sheath.
 
Definitely interested in the Lancer--hope it could clip on a belt horizontally
 
I think the handle length will be a good compromise for strong grip + compact carry. Of course, handle shape is always a personal preference thing.
 
Out of the two, I'm most interested in the LRB -- looks awesome! And I can appreciate a little VG10 too!

Of course that Lancer also looks sweet too...
 
I got my protos a little later than Dirk, and I have to say, the Lancer has been a bit of grail knife for me since I held it when I first met Dirk at SHOT some years ago (when Blackie Collins was still with us) and this one has been on my want list since then.

I agree with the opinion on the multi-colored G10, it did not turn out as we hoped on the appearance side, we will look into a few different choices. The standard color G10 though, I think, matches both the Lancer and the LRB very well.

As for the sheath, it will kydex as Dirk confirmed. The exact configuration will undergo some iterations of changes, I'm sure, until we are happy with how it will turn out. (personally, and this is strictly a personal preference, I'd like to see a bowie sheath with a good frog design for a standard belt insert carry and a adapter for a belt-loop carry)

With our fixed blade line debuting in 2017 SHOT show, I'm looking forward to putting the Lancer on my carry list when out and about in the wild.

Kizer
 
Kizer Cutlery said:
I got my protos a little later than Dirk, and I have to say, the Lancer has been a bit of grail knife for me since I held it when I first met Dirk at SHOT some years ago (when Blackie Collins was still with us) and this one has been on my want list since then.

I agree with the opinion on the multi-colored G10, it did not turn out as we hoped on the appearance side, we will look into a few different choices. The standard color G10 though, I think, matches both the Lancer and the LRB very well.

As for the sheath, it will kydex as Dirk confirmed. The exact configuration will undergo some iterations of changes, I'm sure, until we are happy with how it will turn out. (personally, and this is strictly a personal preference, I'd like to see a bowie sheath with a good frog design for a standard belt insert carry and a adapter for a belt-loop carry)

With our fixed blade line debuting in 2017 SHOT show, I'm looking forward to putting the Lancer on my carry list when out and about in the wild.

Kizer
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Would be nice to have an IWB belt loop option, too. If you do the standard rivets for kydex, it's an easy hardware swap.
 
Madcap_magician:

That's a great idea! I'll bring it up in the next product meeting and see what we can do on that. Actually, there is a company that makes the IWB hardware that can be snapped onto any standard kydex rivet, isn't there?

Kizer
 
Jens Schuetz said:
Also interested in the Lanzer though I wish the handle would be 1/2 inch longer.
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Jens, I understand what you are saying. However, I would suggest getting one in your hand. You might be pleasantly surprised. The handle shape and size give surprising comfort and control. I have had guys with really big hands pick the Lancer up and be really surprised about how much they liked the feel.
 
Dirk said:
Jens, I understand what you are saying. However, I would suggest getting one in your hand. You might be pleasantly surprised. The handle shape and size give surprising comfort and control. I have had guys with really big hands pick the Lancer up and be really surprised about how much they liked the feel.
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That sounds promising. Will definitely give it a try.
Thank you.
 
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