Recently I was sent two Kizer knives to evaluate and assess.
The knives were sent over and arrived from China in just a couple of days.
So, I suppose you would like a review.
If I’m honest, I struggle with knife reviews. I like to mull over and critique and praise. Comparing and contrasting works for me, so it’s handy that there are two knives!
This will just be a meander through the two knives. I have a few pictures of them and will add some notes to them as I go through.
On opening the package I was greeted with a zipped case with a Kizer patch on the side – a nice touch!
I quite like the pouch, let alone worrying about the knives!
The two knives:
As you can see, both are set for tip down carry, clip on the right hand side. This is the only position the clip can go in for both.
Open back design with standoffs:
Both knives use what I call the ‘dumbbell’ design of standoff. It’s a style I like.
The larger knife is a framelock. I don’t know for sure but I presume the scales are Titanium.
The colours are quite interesting combined with the texture pattern.
It got an instant reaction from me. I’m still not sure if that was a good reaction or not. I’m very much in two minds about it.
I would like to see it in a plain coloured scale before I truly made up my mind.
One of the beauties of a framelock for me is the lock being quite apparent on the side.
Lock up is early, which I know some will not be keen on:
Time will tell if it beds in further with wear or if production will change the tolerances there.
It has an additional button on the side to stop the lock bar being over extended when unlocking the knife:
On close examination, the liner lock knife has a number of fit and finish issues. The carbon fibre scales don't match up to the bolsters correctly.
I’m not keen on the thumb stud. I think it looks too cheap for the knife.
The lock up is nicely in the middle:
The matching of the bolster to the liners is nicely done. It’s only on close examination that the seam is noticeable.
The blade is a multilayered steel.
The core is nice and central.
While I have no problem with these knives being Chinese in origin, having a plastic sticker does seem a bit, well, tacky.
Swedge…
I find the hole pattern a bit confusing. It seems a bit disjointed. The two drilled through holes seem out of
place and to be unnecessary.
dfdfd
??
The blade looks a bit worryingly close to the lanyard hole here:
So I had a look down the lanyard hole:
No blade showing through.
However, a bit of a squeeze of the blade while shut and…
I realise that it’s a bit harsh to criticise this. The chances of squeezing the blade with a lanyard in are possibly quite slim plus as soon as it’s sharpened a few times that edge will push back. However, it’s not something I’m keen on.
I found the handle a bit wrong sizing for me if I held it as I naturally would.
The ‘pointy bit’ of the grip sat right on my second finger if I held it so my first finger was right up to the guard.
If I put the point between the fingers, it dropped my hand further back and felt less ‘locked in’
I had the same problem with the framelock:
The framelock is nicely curved along it’s length:
Whereas the linerlock is flat
The pocket clip is sat on the bolster, not recessed in.
Framelock:
Due to the curves and shaping on the handle, screws couldn’t be flush. The style they’ve used appeals to me. I like the extreme cone shape to them.
Blade nice and far from the lanyard hole!
The clip is sat in a recess:
The thumb stud is basic but suits the knife.
Two different logos used?!?
[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/sjlight/media/Kizer/P1090664_zps44bfd00b.jpg.html]
[/URL
Flipper profiles are both different but both do what they need to do.
An odd gap on the framelock…
While the linerlock has a gap as well, it doesn’t seem so out of place as the other.
Swedge again:
I didn’t notice at first, but the linerlock blade is slightly recurved:
Noticing this made me go back and check the framelock blade…
Even more slight!
Neither clip is a low ride clip.
However, I did have a problem with the framelock in that the thumbstud would catch on my pocket…
The framelock relief cut (blurry pic!)
The clip ‘in hand’
I’m not keen on tip down carry because of the clip sitting at the front of my hand grip. I much prefer it at the rear of the handle.
--
So, what are my overall thoughts?
That’s hard to write without appearing massively critical which I don’t want to be as I do find both knives ‘ok’.
If I am getting critical, in general I’m not too keen on the liner lock as a more expensive knife. It just has a number of little niggles that doesn’t feel ‘right’ to me.
The framelock, I do like. The curved shaping of the handle suits me, though the side profile doesn’t. If I owned one I would reshape that section even though it would then affect the appearance of the anodising. That would give me the excuse I would need to then get the scales blasted so I could see it in a matt finish….
The main thing I would like is a faster flipper action for both….
hghgg
Read More..
The knives were sent over and arrived from China in just a couple of days.
So, I suppose you would like a review.
If I’m honest, I struggle with knife reviews. I like to mull over and critique and praise. Comparing and contrasting works for me, so it’s handy that there are two knives!
This will just be a meander through the two knives. I have a few pictures of them and will add some notes to them as I go through.
On opening the package I was greeted with a zipped case with a Kizer patch on the side – a nice touch!
I quite like the pouch, let alone worrying about the knives!
The two knives:
As you can see, both are set for tip down carry, clip on the right hand side. This is the only position the clip can go in for both.
Open back design with standoffs:
Both knives use what I call the ‘dumbbell’ design of standoff. It’s a style I like.
The larger knife is a framelock. I don’t know for sure but I presume the scales are Titanium.
The colours are quite interesting combined with the texture pattern.
It got an instant reaction from me. I’m still not sure if that was a good reaction or not. I’m very much in two minds about it.
I would like to see it in a plain coloured scale before I truly made up my mind.
One of the beauties of a framelock for me is the lock being quite apparent on the side.
Lock up is early, which I know some will not be keen on:
Time will tell if it beds in further with wear or if production will change the tolerances there.
It has an additional button on the side to stop the lock bar being over extended when unlocking the knife:
On close examination, the liner lock knife has a number of fit and finish issues. The carbon fibre scales don't match up to the bolsters correctly.
I’m not keen on the thumb stud. I think it looks too cheap for the knife.
The lock up is nicely in the middle:
The matching of the bolster to the liners is nicely done. It’s only on close examination that the seam is noticeable.
The blade is a multilayered steel.
The core is nice and central.
While I have no problem with these knives being Chinese in origin, having a plastic sticker does seem a bit, well, tacky.
Swedge…
I find the hole pattern a bit confusing. It seems a bit disjointed. The two drilled through holes seem out of
place and to be unnecessary.
dfdfd
??
The blade looks a bit worryingly close to the lanyard hole here:
So I had a look down the lanyard hole:
No blade showing through.
However, a bit of a squeeze of the blade while shut and…
I realise that it’s a bit harsh to criticise this. The chances of squeezing the blade with a lanyard in are possibly quite slim plus as soon as it’s sharpened a few times that edge will push back. However, it’s not something I’m keen on.
I found the handle a bit wrong sizing for me if I held it as I naturally would.
The ‘pointy bit’ of the grip sat right on my second finger if I held it so my first finger was right up to the guard.
If I put the point between the fingers, it dropped my hand further back and felt less ‘locked in’
I had the same problem with the framelock:
The framelock is nicely curved along it’s length:
Whereas the linerlock is flat
The pocket clip is sat on the bolster, not recessed in.
Framelock:
Due to the curves and shaping on the handle, screws couldn’t be flush. The style they’ve used appeals to me. I like the extreme cone shape to them.
Blade nice and far from the lanyard hole!
The clip is sat in a recess:
The thumb stud is basic but suits the knife.
Two different logos used?!?
[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/sjlight/media/Kizer/P1090664_zps44bfd00b.jpg.html]
[/URLFlipper profiles are both different but both do what they need to do.
An odd gap on the framelock…
While the linerlock has a gap as well, it doesn’t seem so out of place as the other.
Swedge again:
I didn’t notice at first, but the linerlock blade is slightly recurved:
Noticing this made me go back and check the framelock blade…
Even more slight!
Neither clip is a low ride clip.
However, I did have a problem with the framelock in that the thumbstud would catch on my pocket…
The framelock relief cut (blurry pic!)
The clip ‘in hand’
I’m not keen on tip down carry because of the clip sitting at the front of my hand grip. I much prefer it at the rear of the handle.
--
So, what are my overall thoughts?
That’s hard to write without appearing massively critical which I don’t want to be as I do find both knives ‘ok’.
If I am getting critical, in general I’m not too keen on the liner lock as a more expensive knife. It just has a number of little niggles that doesn’t feel ‘right’ to me.
The framelock, I do like. The curved shaping of the handle suits me, though the side profile doesn’t. If I owned one I would reshape that section even though it would then affect the appearance of the anodising. That would give me the excuse I would need to then get the scales blasted so I could see it in a matt finish….
The main thing I would like is a faster flipper action for both….
hghgg
