Zlatoust Boyar knife, (Russian made). Strange looking...

shane45-1911 said:
Interesting blade profile. It appears to have two different grinds - the grind towards the tip looks more obtuse, and the recurve length looks more acute. Functionally, there may be advantages to two different grind profiles on the same knife (ie, thicker/stronger tip). But that edge transition between the two - yikes!!! There is a spot of completely unsharpened edge?? That's going to hinder any kind of slicing action for sure, when you hit that dead spot, lol.

I know nothing about the steel spec (50x14MF, whatever that means). Is it stainless?
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this steel is basically equiv to 5cr15mov ... see it here

seems decent enough, should be tough like 420hc if they have the ht dialed in
 
littleknife said:
These are great knives (and a saber).
Great looking AND functional as well!
I especially like the Phoenix and the kinzhal.
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Thank you 👍
I like that they are still not ho-hum in the USA, although they have gained some more traction in recent years.
I believe in other parts of the world, like in Europe and Australia, the Russian made knives, (like the Kizlyar brand), have been fairly well received for some time now.
The following is another of my Kizlyar knife models, which is supposedly used by certain special force units in Russia. It is said to be used by them as a survival knife, not a military fighting blade.



The blade steel on it is the same as on my Kizlyar Phoenix knife, that being Russian U8 carbon steel. Handle is walnut. The blade coating is a matte black chrome, (same as on my Kizlyar Phoenix knife).

And here is another I have that is just like the one above, but in stainless steel...



Here is a Kizlyar factory video. It gives a good glimpse at their work there. It's done in Russian, so I understood zilch of what they said, but the visuals allows one to get an idea of what is going on. It does start off with a representative speaking about the company, but then starts showing the inner works of their manufacturing. A really good video!...


I wish I could find a similar video for Air Zlatoust, but have had no luck with finding anything.
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Yup, it's a strange looking knife, and that's exactly why I just ordered one to add it to my collection.
I have noticed that a lot of Russian knives have a unique look about them.

Anyone ever see or handle one of these? Curious to hear what your take on them is. Thanks 👍




Oh, btw, the overall length is listed as being just shy of 17" long. It is listed as it's best use being for Hunting, Camping, and Survival.

Here's the factory product description and specifications...
An impressive knife with a huge blade of variable width and 6 mm spine thickness. The blade has different angles of descents of the reverse lenticular shape, which allows you to cut with the near half of the blade, while the far one chops like a machete. The handle is large, convenient for cutting, has a hole on the top for a lanyard. We recommend taking this knife in the trunk of a car instead of an ax when going out into the woods or countryside. It has no equal, when it is necessary, to chop branches to use under the wheels of a stuck car and when arranging a camping site.

Specifications:

Full length: 428mm

Blade length: 287mm

Blade width: 34mm

Steel grade: 50x14MF 58-60 HRC

Weight without scabbard: 376gr

Weight with scabbard: 480gr


I do already own a fix blade knife made by the same Russian firm, and it is very nicely made.
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this knife is made based on old Russian knives from 300-400 years ago. This model is called "Boyar" - a member of the upper class of the Russian feudal society of the 10th-17th centuries
 
Many Kizlyar knives were used during the First and Second Chechen Wars. The city of Kizlyar, where they were made, was not far from the place where the fighting was going on. Knives could be bought at any market, in any hardware store. Many military men bought them for their own money and brought them home later. But these were rarely combat knives, mostly hunting and cutting knives. My neighbor in the garage brought such a knife after finishing his service in Chechnya.
Often Kizlyar knives were used as a reward with a gift inscription from the command.
 
How is the quality of the Kizlyar knives compare to the other AUS-8?

I have the pocket fixed blade Kizlyar "Igla", cheap and hardworker, but I don't own any popular AUS-8 like Cold Steel, OKC, etc stuff to compare.
 
Deino said:
How is the quality of the Kizlyar knives compare to the other AUS-8?

I have the pocket fixed blade Kizlyar "Igla", cheap and hardworker, but I don't own any popular AUS-8 like Cold Steel, OKC, etc stuff to compare.
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Kizlyar uses quite a few different steels, including native Russian made steels, (Gost?).
As for how they heat treat their blades, including when they use AUS-8, I don"t know, but their reputation for making decent quality knives is pretty much worldwide, so I'm sure they know what to do with each type of steel they use.
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Kizlyar uses quite a few different steels, including native Russian made steels, (Gost?).
As for how they heat treat their blades, including when they use AUS-8, I don"t know, but their reputation for making decent quality knives is pretty much worldwide, so I'm sure they know what to do with each type of steel they use.
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I hope so. I got mine out of curiosity, and I even recommend it on another post.
According to the Kizlyar website and Russian official store, AUS-8 is their baseline steel. I know that they use some russian steels and even french steels (Z60 and Z90), but funny enough, the 95h18 and 110h18 are very uncommon compare to the other Russian makers, such as Zlatoust.

I'm thinking about getting a Biker-1 pocket knife in H12MF from them purely for the design.
 
From what I have read concerning Russian steel, the knife firms seem to feel that the West's steel is simply more consistent. So, that may be a reason why a company like Kizlyar would choose steels from abroad. Another reason may be that they may want their exports to have steels that may be better known by potential customers abroad.
Whatever their reason(s), there's no doubt that Kizlyar uses quite a few different domestic and foreign made steels in their line up of knives.
When I ordered my Kizlyar Phoenix Combat knife, I was pleased to see that it was made out of Russian made U8 carbon steel, and that all the laser etchings were in Russian... Why?... Well, since my reason to own it is for my collecting hobby, I liked it to be as genuinely Russian made as possible, since it is a Russian made knife 👍😊👍
 
So I visited the Kizlyar.ru, the Russian site of Kizlyar, and found that the description of all of their AUS-8 models has now the "AUS-8 (or equivalent)". Their native steels' and higher quality steels' (which they might still have in stock) descriptions stay the same.
This is new and recent because I last visited it when I was writing the posts above, asking you. It was about 1 week before the full scale war, they didn't have that in their description then. Probably, the trade is not doing well with everything happening over there. The 'equivalent' might probably be the 8Cr14MoV, the most popular analog. Though, with that little change, they probably used good sources of AUS-8 before and more or less hold on their reputation by doing that change.

(This post is about the company, not country's government. My item was purchased a long time ago)
 
I have an K phoenix with russian Letters i will upload an picture when i finish my work it has an serial number.
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Por lo que he leído sobre el acero ruso, las empresas de cuchillos parecen sentir que el acero occidental es simplemente más consistente. Esta puede ser la razón por la que una empresa como Kizlyar elegiría aceros extranjeros. Otra razón puede ser que quieran que sus exportaciones contengan aceros que puedan ser más conocidos por los clientes potenciales en el extranjero.
Cualquiera que sea su(s) motivo(s), no hay duda de que Kizlyar utiliza bastantes aceros diferentes de fabricación nacional y extranjera en su línea de cuchillos.
Cuando pedí mi cuchillo Kizlyar Phoenix Combat, me complació ver que estaba hecho de acero al carbono U8 de fabricación rusa y que todos los grabados con láser estaban en ruso... ¿Por qué?... Bueno, ya que mi razón para poseerlo Es para mi hobby de coleccionar, me gustó que fuera lo más genuinamente ruso posible, ya que es un cuchillo de fabricación rusa.👍😊👍
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Here is a picture of one of my favorite Kizlyar knives.
It's a Kizlyar model Phoenix Combat. Here in the United States it has been pretty much fully copied by 'Tops', Tops calling it their 'Wild Pig Hunter', (below is a picture of my Tops specimen as well)...




The Kizlyar Phoenix Combat is made with Russian U8 carbon steel, while the Tops Wild Pig Hunter is made out of 1095 carbon steel.
Both have Micarta type handle scales.

It wasn't all too many years back that finding a Kizlyar in the States was pretty rare, and they commanded a pretty penny. But, while they are still not commonly sold here yet, they can be found at reasonable prices now, ($110 to maybe $150).
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Unfortunately as of my response,the Kizlyar Phoenix is unavailable due to the war and embargos,I missed the chance in 22-23 to buy it and I have quality replicas but I want the real one badly , I'd gladly trade my Tops Wild Pig Hunter for one despite the Tops selling for $250 and up plus tax ,thank you for your post!!im jealous 😂
 
Coco_l3_cat said:
I have an K phoenix with russian Letters i will upload an picture when i finish my work it has an serial number.
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Your very fortunate,I've been trying to buy one since 2023 and only have found quality replicas that look and feel the same and came with kydex sheath's with danglers in DC 53 steel
 
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