KizerDomin, Black Micarta Handle with Black N690 Blade Folding Pocket Knives, Vanguard Series-V4516N5

I've heard mixed opinions on Bohler's N690 stainless steel, but so far I'm impressed with this knife. I've been carrying it at work for about a month now, and it's performed admirably.The relatively thin blade stock combined with a full flat grind makes this a great slicer/ light EDC pocket knife. The pivot runs on Teflon washers sandwiched between two bronze phosphorus washers, and the action is a smooth as many of the ball bearing flipper knives I own.Blade centering is good and there is no blade play in either direction. The micarta handles look great and and provide just the right amount of grip. Very comfortable in hand with no sharp edges or hot spots.So far the edge retention has been excellent for a moderately priced steel, I've cut a lot of cardboard and other packaging materials at work, and have been able to maintain a hair shaving sharp edge with just a little light stropping.I would definitely buy again, and I'm considering getting the compact version as a companion piece.

No frills, just a good knife. Very well priced for that you get out of it.

I will say that I liked the action and black stonewashed/micarta finish of this knife well enough to put in the extra effort returning multiple copies of this knife, which was the only reason I gave this two stars instead of one. All three knives dropped shut, had no blade play, and were very sharp. The only issue with each one I received was the liner lock.As you can see in the pictures, none of the three knives have an adequate lock-up of of the liner lock bar. I decided to keep the one with the best engagement but the other two were basically only engaging with the detent ball not the lock itself, and I would consider the condition very unsafe. Also, all three experienced some lock stick when disengaging after a thumb-flick opening.This knife has potential but BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK and inspect the knife. The two I'm returning I've marked as defective but who knows if they get sent out to the best buyer. I would NOT recommend gifting this knife to someone inexperienced since they may not identify the issue and be endangered when using it.UPDATE: I'm also returning the third knife that I had initially kept since it had the best lock-up of the three, but it was still unsafe. Usually I would thumb-flick the knife open but if you open the knife two-handed using the thumb studs the liner lock doesn't engage at all.and can be closed from fully open with very little force. Really tried to like this one and since I have no working models after three attempts I'm lowering the rating to one star.

The blade can not open completely, and the liner lock is too long to get to the right position.I have fixed it, but I may not buy any Kizer again in the future.

For anyone who knows how to work a thumbstud on a knife, it works great. Will be buying another.

Excelente EDC con la calidad Kizer, un gran acero con excelentes capacidades de corte y resistencia. La acción es espectacular y la construcción de la mejor calidad y materiales. Las cachas en micarta son extremadamente resistentes pero muy elegantes. Una gran pieza capaz de cumplir con todas las tareas, y un gran item para tu colección. Excelente compra!

Great quality

Very disappointed. Was excited to receive this knife only to find the lockup barely held. Failed to lock consistently as liner lock to be about 2%. When it did hold it wasn’t safe. This one’s going back as with another one which wasn’t as bad but still had barely any lock. Will be my 3rd Kizer to be returned. It’s about 50% fail rate for Kizer’s for me now. The ones I did keep I’m very pleased with however.