Opinions on Kizer knives (quality,etc)?

Jerry Hossom said:
Who is Jeremy Hossom? Not a member of my family. Sound like that made up a name to sound like mine and used it. Be interesting to see what comes out as a Jeremy Hossom knife? :)
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HA! You got me! I didn't get what you meant until I went back through and read my first post. I had one of your Spyderco collabs on the brain and put your name in there on accident. The maker I intended to mention was Justin Gingrich, not yourself. As for the Jeremy thing... Stupidity on my part I guess.
 
Well curiosity got the best of me and I picked this one up:
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I've had it about a couple of weeks and putting it through it's paces. Preliminary observations:
Pros:
**Great materials for the price(will test the blade cutting performance and see if it measures up to other s35vn knives I own)
**Blade centered
**Came VERY (shaving) sharp
**Looks very good
**F&F good
**Zero Blade play in any direction

Cons:
**Out of the box, flips horribly - a little break free, loosened it up some but still no where near as buttery smooth as it should be
**VERY tight detent - takes LOTS of effort to wrist flick, and NO I don't make it a habit of wrist flicking any knife. It's just a reference.
**Even partially open, the blade doesn't drop free. Makes it safer in the pocket I guess
**Pocket Clip for tip down carry only - Minor complaint

The odd thing about this knife, and I'll expound more on a full review, but it seems to want to be a tactical knife/hard use knife (looks, materials and build) but the Ti scales are slick. If my hands get a little sweaty, it's tough to flick open due to the "slickness" and difficulty flipping it. I'd say this is closer to a gentleman's folder than a tactical use folder. If one side had G-10, it'd be better IMO.

Lastly, WHY oh WHY do companies think they have to make proprietary screw heads, the pivot screw in this case? Put a torx, security torx, slot or even a Phillips pivot screw so things can be adjusted, taken apart, fixed, etc. I'd like to take this one apart and sand the washers to see if I could smooth out the flipping action but I'm gonna have to find a super thin (but wide) slot screw driver to fit this. Over all, my first impression of Kizer is a good one. I think they are going in the right direction but Quality Control needs to step up a bit and they need a CONUS warranty center. Since I can't easily take apart the knife to sand the washers, it would be nice to have a place to send it to get it tweaked, spa treatment or whatever it's called now. Are they worth their current asking price? I'm thinking so BUT I want to put this knife through some serious use and see if anything gets better or worse. I will say this, as hard as it is to flip, it's getting a bit easier. I think it's more me than the knife though. We'll see....
 
Some of the newer Kizers can take a large (T27? I'll have to check) Torx wrench in the pivot, or possibly a large metric Hex as well. My 3404 can, but my 403 and 404 are round in the center so I have to use a flat blade.

There was a special tool floating around which was probably the tool Kizer uses to put these together originally. It was on a UK site that sells Enlans, but I can't find it on there anymore.
 
Lost Cosmonaut said:
Some of the newer Kizers can take a large (T27? I'll have to check) Torx wrench in the pivot, or possibly a large metric Hex as well. My 3404 can, but my 403 and 404 are round in the center so I have to use a flat blade.

There was a special tool floating around which was probably the tool Kizer uses to put these together originally. It was on a UK site that sells Enlans, but I can't find it on there anymore.
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I tried a few of my Torx but none of mine fit. I haven't tried a metric hex yet, good idea.
 
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I am new here - actually found this forum while looking for real world reviews of Kizer's stuff. I am primarily a Benchmade and Zero Tolerance fanboy, but also have a couple DPX folders, a few Ontario XM's, a couple Mcusta damascus folders, and a couple Hogue folders. I have cheaper stuff too, but obviously we're not talking about cheap knives.

Anywho... I just picked up two Kizers (403A2 and 401B1), and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with EVERYTHING about them. Sharp as I would ever want out of the box, centered blades, solid lockup, and they open fast and lockup solid using the flipper and/or thumb studs. As for the blades themselves, the grinds are pretty sweet on both, and the finishes are outstanding (one satin, one stonewash).

I honestly couldn't tell someone a ZT or Benchmade would be a *better* knife for the money because, quite frankly, it's not...although I think things like lifetime warranty and lifetime sharpening will keep the big name US knife makers in business (and continuing to take my money). And that is what would be my only reservation about recommending Kizer to my friends...you can buy a US knife for the same money, maybe with lesser steel and/or not as fancy scales, but it will function just the same and you'll have lifetime support. For a knife nerd who can sharpen/repair their own stuff, though, they're pretty hard to beat.

I went from curious to on the verge of becoming a Kizer collector. From what I've been able to see, Kizer is probably well aware that Chinese made products have a bad reputation for being poorly made, and they know they'll have to work that much harder to gain the US consumer's trust. I don't know much of anything about them or who's behind them, but after a week or so of fondling these knives, I'd almost be willing to bet my collection that whoever is behind the company has a long time personal interest in knives. I just don't see any other way a new company could have covered all the bases like Kizer seems to have done.

Like I said, I'll keep buying ZT, Benchmade, and stuff like that, but Kizer is definitely another company to keep on the radar.

PS - Both of my Kizers came with an extra pocket clip screw in the box (although I didn't need to change anything since both came in tip-up carry position).
 
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Ki403A2 - I was hoping for the satin version for this one. So I ordered one in satin too....figure I can abuse this stonewashed one and keep the other pretty.
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I love this grind...almost gives the illusion of a tanto style blade.
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Ki401B1 (per blade marking)
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The pair...
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