opinions about Katz knives

G

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
9,398
Hi all. I was curious if anyone has had any experience using Katz knives? Cruising through the forums I've haven't seen these dicussed. Please forgive if they have already been talked about. If not what are your feelings on the XT80 steel that they use? Does any body know exactly what this steel is? I would think it is some sort of high end stainless steel like 440C. I own the Cheetah folder in cherrywood, Wild Kat in cherrywood and the Wild kat cub that I rehandled with a elk antler handle and nickel silver pommel cap. From my experience, they hold an edge well and seem to sharpen easily. Any opinions? :)
 
i had one a few yrs back, it was ok, but i think there are other brands which are better for the $$, spyderco/BM/etc.

as far as steel/etc, i thought it was ok, at least as good as the better CRKT stuff (AUS8???) but the basic designs didnt grab me.

but they are ok imho.

greg
 
Katz knives are of really good quality. I have owned several of them, and all had great fit and finish and grinds were very close to perfect. The steel seemed to be on the harder side to sharpen, but held an edge quite well. The prices were also on the high side, but bargains can be found if you look around. I give Katz knives a thumbs up.
 
Good knives -- a few of their pieces have been outsourced (safari kit I think) but the rest of their pieces are nice. I have their boot knife and it's still one of my favorite double-edged blades I've owned.
 
The owner/founder of Katz knives had a table at a gun show here in Phoenix last year. As I was walking by his table, the first words out of his mouth were "you need to check these out (I was going to anyway) as I'll guarentee these are better than what you're carrying." :eek: Well at the time I was carrying a lg decortated Sebenza, a Hinderer Firetac and a Blackwood Litewave necker. He then told me that I obviously didn't mind overpaying for knives as his were equal quality for less money. :rolleyes:

I never did look at his knives.
 
BurkStar,
I had a very similar experience at the Crossroads show here in Phoenix. I don't know if he was the owner or not, but his tactics were similar to the timeshare folks up in Sedona. :grumpy:
I moved along pretty quickly as well.

Mr. Razorback, sorry for the slight hijack, but I didn't get around to trying one of the knives because of the "Hustle". They may be fine knives.

Bill
 
Like I posted earlier, they ARE very fine knives. But, having read your experiences, I probably would have walked on by too. I hate pushy people.
 
What I've heard around shows and other forums is "XT80" is 'bout the same as that "Tru-Sharp" crap Case uses....YMMV
 
Don, I can tell you that it's not that Tru Sharp crap or anything similar. I believe it's something like ATS34 or a similar Japanese stainless. It's good stuff; just a little hard to sharpen.
 
When Katz was first hitting the market, one of the magazines looked over the spec sheet for the line, the steel was in line with 440c or AUS-8.
 
My info is that it is in line with ATS34 regardless I have carried the little Katz Vets Knife for a while now (had a kydex neck sheath made for it) and it cuts and keeps its edge better than any 440c knife I have had.
 
I've talked to the owner a few times, and he's definitely a character, but irregardless they are good knives. The knives are actually more along the lines of ATS-34 as a few of you have posted. (that was from Mr. Katz himself.) :)
 
Alot of mixed feelings about these knives. I agree they are over priced. But it seems alot of high end knives made in Japan tend to be over priced. I personally have not put any of mine to alot of vigorous use, just some light cutting. A friend of mine has a Lion King and used it to field dress a deer and it seemed to cut quite well. I have other knives I like to use more.
 
I need to apologize if my post was construed as being negative towards the knives themselves. After being turned off by the the owner of Katz, I never did check them out, but it did look like he had some interesting models on his table and they could be very fine knives.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top