Recommendation? what do you think about Kizer knife ?

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kizerknife

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Dec 4, 2018
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Kizer is a brand of an established knife company from Yangjiang, China, which has been focusing on the development, production and sales of professional outdoor tools. Do you own kizer tools? What do you think of the kizer knife?
 
Im not sure whether to take this post seriously or not.
There are good ones and not so good ones, and exceptional ones.
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
Also, if you search "Kizer" here...you can find out what people think of the brand. :)
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You know what people think of brand now and thought for example 3 years ago can be different. Companies grow or become worse etc.
Like 3 years ago my opinion about real steel was bad , but then since i got Real Steel Bushcraft 2 my opinion has changed.
 
Like i said...search "Kizer" and you can see what people think and how they have progressed over the years. :)
All posts have a date, day, month and year. :)
 
Every one I've owned has been well made, especially like the GTi folder.

More of their folders could come with reversible pocket clips for us southpaws though.
 
kizerknife said:
Kizer is a brand of an established knife company from Yangjiang, China, which has been focusing on the development, production and sales of professional outdoor tools. Do you own kizer tools? What do you think of the kizer knife?
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I like Kizers knives when they get the detent right but are you a representative of the company fishing for feedback?
 
I've considered kizer in the past, even pulled the trigger on one years ago but never got the knife (unfortunately, at the time, that dealer played the game of saying their items were in stock when they really weren't).

Since they have started officially selling their knives on the most well known counterfeit knife website I will never consider them again.

Kizer was the brand that broke the mold of large Chinese manufacturers. They seemed to go legit. They could prove they were using the materials they claimed. It was a game changing move. But now, with choosing to sell through a distributor that openly deals in counterfeiting, they have taken a step back over to the dark side. Too bad. They really seemed to care about being a change in what we see coming out of their country. Not so much it seems. They've sold their reputation. And think of all those designers who have their names plastered all over a website that sells counterfeits. I'd be pissed.
 
I was a late convert, but now own a Kizer Gemini and a Kizer Ursa Minor. Here are my thoughts:

1. The materials for the dollar are fantastic.

2. Quality control has been a minor factor. My Gemini has a slightly light detent, and will fail to flip if I use a lightswitch deployment. If I push button deploy, it fires out. My first Ursa Minor had so much lock bar tension, it continually pushed the blade off center to the point where it contacted the show side frame. Two disassembles + recentering and thread locking the pivot, etc— the problem returned. The dealer (not a BF dealer, and a damn shame that I can’t name him) exchanged it. My current Ursa Minor is ... perfect. The detent is exactly right. It snaps open every time, and can’t be failed, but the detent isn’t strong to the point of being a problem. The pivots on each have been perfectly smooth.

3. The blades are very well executed, and I want to specifically call out how much I love the fact that Kizer sometimes uses 3mm/.12” blade thickness instead of the 4mm/.155” everyone else seems married to. This is a specific reason why I have loved using my Kizers at work, and will not buy a Reate JACK, even though the JACK is gorgeous. The Gemini is an awesome user.

4. The pivot screws need to be keyed, or torx on both ends. Disassembly wasn’t horrible, but free-spinning pivots are unnecessary and frustrating.

5. Machining was generally beautiful. Each of the three I’ve taken down and reassembled have lined up precisely when put back together. The backspacers remain perfectly flush to the back of the frames, etc. 100% perfect.

Overall, an improvement in consistency with lock bar tension and a fix for pivot hardware, and we’re talking about knives that are competing in terms of materials *and* quality with substantially more expensive brands.

With those corrections, Kizer would be equal in those ways, while also having blades more suitable for actual use than most.
 
I had one Kizer folder a few years ago. It was perhaps among the biggest that Kizer has manufactured, at 4" blade. I believe the model number is KI5401A2. A ti flipper with s35vn (?) steel discounted at $130. At that price it was a good purchase. It did not flip well, needed some wrist action. Other than that, the quality is not bad. Have not bought another Kizer ever since, not because the brand is no good, but because my interest has turned much more to Spyderco and ZT.
 
Not a fan of Kizer. They have legit steel but the design and construction of them is low end and often made to be just acceptable.
My take is they are budget knives with high map pricing added to them and decent s35vn if you like that steel.

The only one I currently have in the collection is the t1 and I like and hate it. I think I've described this in another thread so I won't go into details. But Kizer is not a brand I will invest in, in the future. But I'm a high end knife nut. I don't think I'm the target demographic. Think twosun (another low end budget knife Co) with higher cost and better steel from Kizer.

Even if Kizer were to try more premium knife I think they wouldn't execute it properly. Cause m390 and other premium materials doesn't mean a better knife. But the whole design including functionality, materials, quality control etc matter more to me than just stamping m390 on a model. And I feel you don't get anywhere near that with the Kizer.

With that said I think they are okay as a budget brand. Though a bit too high in cost, as they often plummet in price a few months after being introduced.

The feist disaster was one of the major issues I noticed that shows how low end they really are.
 
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kizerknife said:
Kizer is a brand of an established knife company from Yangjiang, China, which has been focusing on the development, production and sales of professional outdoor tools. Do you own kizer tools? What do you think of the kizer knife?
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Welcome.
What in particular would you like to know about them?
Which Kizer are you considering buying?
What do you intend to use it for?

Please help us help you.

Also, just some advice since you are new...and I know everyone is busy....the longer you take to return to this thread and comment, the more and more people will think not interested in our opinions, but are here to merely promote the brand.
 
bobobama said:
Sure smells like it to me. O.P.' first post, and like Marcinek said, the longer they disappear for the less legit their intentions seem to be.
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Yup.

But, original posts like this one can serve as a double-edged sword.
 
sharp_edge said:
Yup.

But, original posts like this one can serve as a double-edged sword.
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Definitely seems weird when Kizer already has their sub-forum and PR account here though. Did a someone at Kizer miss a memo maybe?

As for their products, I only have a Tangram Santa Fe and it's great. At ~$20, it's certainly the best gift/gateway knife I know of.
 
Being a lefty, I am a big fan of Kizer. However, I would like to see better QA practices put into place. 2 of the 3 left-handed Kizers I own have grind issues. Nothing that effects performance but they are visually striking in the correct light. One is an inconsistency in the bevel angle visible on both sides of the blade and another is a mistake in the grind where either the person or the machine grinding the bevel left the blade in a spot for too long which created a blemish.

Again, neither of these issues comprise cutting performance, but they do cause these knives to be less desirable for collectors.
 
When they debuted on the US market, they had somewhat iffy quality control - but were offering premium materials at nearly unheard-of prices. After a lot of feedback, they started offering their knives tip-up as well.

My last Kizers were a Toro and a Megatherium. They’ve definitely stepped up their quality control, but, to be honest, they’ve lost the price advantage that made them interesting. They’ve already hit the ZT/Spyderco/Benchmade price range on most of their new releases.

Their Vanguard budget line seems alright, but also mysteriously constrained to smaller blade sizes.

Bottom line, I suppose, is that I haven’t felt excited for any of their releases other than the Megatherium in years - which I ended up selling for the same reason I rarely consider any of their knives: I can’t justify the price.

For as much money as I can spend on a Kizer (when they aren’t on sale), I can get a WE knife of likely higher quality. Even just the WE-made Massdrop knives tend to be less expensive and have designs I like more.
 
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