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Ogen_the_Matic
324
Aug 17, 2017
This knife literally arrived at my PO Box yesterday from Knife Center where I paid $134 for it. Unlike the $148 list price here, they show it to be $184 That aside, I find it to be a pretty good knife overall with a few issues I'll note below. For a size comparison to a popular knife, this is nearly identical to the Spyderco Sage series in handle, blade, & overall length. The steel is thicker at 0.140" vs 0.116". The handle is thicker at 0.58" vs 0.435" for the Sage (the '5' anyway - I didn't check the others). The grip position is much further back on this than the Sage having a flipper & lacking a forward choil but is still quite comfortable in hand. The first thing I noticed right out of the box was a pretty poor factory grInd so I addressed this with my KME sharpener. I cannot attest to the durability of the steel but it took an edge well & took a fair bit of work to do so. Thus I believe the heat treat to be fine on my example. The second notable issue is with the "thumb studs" which would take the muscles of Popeye to use as a means of deployment. It CAN be done while awkwardly holding the knife & pushing with my thumb on one side and my index finger on the other. Since the "thumb studs" contact the liners in the open position, I'd call them stop pins instead but seem to even be useless in that regard given the stop pin sandwiched between the liners. Superfluous overkill or simply decorative best describes them. They don't detract from the looks or function of the knife but they dont really add anything either. My third issue has yet to be proven true but I have a concern regarding disassembly of the knife. A T25 Torx bit 'feels' like it would work on the pivot but it's not exactly obvious and not very deep engagement for such a relatively large tool. Take a good look at the show-side of the pivot screw & you might be able to see what I mean. Overall I like the knife. On the other hand it's the first Kizer I've owned but hasn't exactly endeared me to the brand. A last thing to note is that there is no included tool for removal of the glass breaker but it's positioned at a slight can't & is not so sharp as to be annoying putting my hands in my pocket. Hope this helps. I wish more owners would take time to post reviews of their purchases.
Astrodinosaur
198
Aug 17, 2017
Ogen_the_MaticThanks for taking the time to do this! That's majorly helpful, and I too wish more people on here would do that.
To your point about this knife not selling you on the brand, the Gemini will probably make you a fan. That's arguably one of the best production folders made, and is also arguably better than the custom Jasmine that it's based on, which is really saying something.