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Product Description
Designed by Kim Ning, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the knife industry, the Kizer Vanguard Bolt has a multi-purpose blade made from VG-10: a high-carbon-content stainless steel manufactured in Japan. Midway up the spine the blade juts slightly upward, almost like a harpoon or an arrowhead Read More
Of my dozen or so pocket knives, I like the look and feel of this knife, but it's nothing special when compared against a Zero Tolerance, Benchmade or even my higher end Kershaw blades. As stated by others, the detent has a real good feel but takes some work to push out the blade, guaranteeing a good snap to lock out the blade, but beyond that there is nothing significant to write home about. Scales feel good and build quality and engineering are in good order with tight tolerances and a good overall feel in the hand. Knife uses high quality Japanese VG10 steel but I'm not certain if it's made in Japan or China. Coating leaves a bit to be desired and would prefer a high quality textured coating or a matte or polished steel instead. Overall good knife but simple nonetheless.
This is my smallest Kizer to date. Yeah, they say size doesn't matter, but I also think they lied to you. Overall it's a good knife. This one is destined as a giveaway item on my YouTube channel. The fit & finish is excellent, just as you would expect from Kizer. The detent is pretty strong. It means a little more strength to open, but a good reliable snap out every time. I love the pattern on the G10 from the shaping of the scales. Sure, function is always more important than form, but it's nice to have something pretty to look at whenever possible too. Like someone else said, VG-10 is good steel. I've seen it resist corrosion very well. it's a good size for EDC, not so much for a hard use carry - about the same size as a RAT-1. the edge was perfectly honed right out of the package. The clip dug into my hand just a bit. Again, not too much of a problem for EDC use, but I could see it getting uncomfortable over time. It's got some great features, but just not quite there in the 5 star range. Great deal for what you are getting though.
Pretty good. I don't carry it much, as it isn't really my style, but here is my take.
Pros:
- Built fairly well. Kizer is pretty reliable about this sort of thing.
- Looks nice. A tad aggressive, but I do like the design. Most of the reason I got it in the first place.
- With the right lubrication and adjustment is fairly good for fiddling with.
- You steel snobs can say what you like, but I think vg-10 is awesome.
- Ergos are pretty durn good.
- Both studs and fuller can be used to deploy.
Cons:
- Teflon on bronze washers. Kind of annoying. Makes it hard to adjust the pivot as much as I would like.
- Blade is coated under the pivot and detent ball as well. Definitely hurts the action. Eventually the detent ball will wear a track in the coating, and honestly, with the right lube, it flicks well enough.
- Flicks well enough is best I can say about the, er, flickiness I guess? Anyways required a few takedowns to get to where I wanted it.
- Clip digs into hand during repeated flicking. What about during hard use you say? No idea, all my hard use knives are lock backs.
Overall/ tl;dr:
Good knife. Looks nice. Well built, good steel (imo), and can be a fiddler if you work at it. Would prefer to have just bronze washers (instead of teflon and bronze), and non-coated blade, but whatever.
Recommended, fills a nice niche in my collection.
Solid hard use knife with some flaws. The DLC isn't very good, and the thumb studs are barely useable. I found the fuller does a much better job as an opener. My knife came sharp and holds an edge well, almost as good as Chinese D2. All in all I would buy again.
I like this knife. It has been my everyday carry since it arrived. The red/black G10 gets plenty of compliments. My main complaint is the blade coating and edge. The coating looks nice but as other reviewers said its useless. I have had trouble keeping the knife sharp. A sharp knife is a safe knife.
Blade detent from closed requires monumental force to open. (Poor tolerances) edge needed reprofiling to put it right. Blade coating is worse than useless. Too soft and not at all slippery.
I like the style and feel of the Kizer Vanguard Bolt. Action is smooth and the thumb studs act as the open blade stop. There is a separate stop pin for when it is closed. The G10 looks interesting in red/black. The blade edge needed to be reprofiled to be of any use. The blade coating adds no value. Still, I really like the knife, but I take off a star for substandard out og the box blade performance.
what you expect from Vanguard series, cheaper material for what their high end knives are. blade looks amazing but the handle feels a bit cheap. other than that, packaging is alot cheaper than high end Kizer.