Kizer Original 2 First Week Impressions

NKD-ish

First week with the newer Kizer Original 2. I was excited for this particular variant give the semi forward finger choil over the first Original design, and the combination of a crossbar lock with an Insingo blade shape, which has historically been linked to Chris Reeve Knives and Rodney Connelly in recent production knives.

Knife arrived with a slight misgrind (but even bevels in appearance)- 24° of the left side to 21° on the right- which was suprising for Kizer. I reprofiled the knife to 17° dps (what I sharpen almost every edc knife to) adjusting for the slight asymmetry in the grind. I felt the original edge angle mitigated the benefits of having a hollow grind (should be slicey and thin behind the edge) and 14c28n handles 17dps very well. The edge deburred very cleanly.

-Action of the crossbar lock is smooth. There was a little bit of lock stick compared to the 3 kizer drop bears (154cm versions) that I own- but I realized that the Original 2 came with an off-center blade. After recentering the blade, the lock stick disappeared and is extremely smooth.

-The liners are HEAVILY skeletonized. As a result, combined with the thinness of the liners themselves- there is a bit of flex if you try to press the scales together. Not concerning, but apparent.

• Kizer does micarta extremely well. Great texture, nicely filleted on all sides. Pretty much exactly what you want/expect from micarta. After a day of use/fidgeting, the scales really changed color significantly and darkened up nicely.

-Jimping for the thumb ramp is a little slick, not a huge deal, but Kizer has done better jimping in the past.

-Through use on cardboard (both slicing and draw cutting), opening up a few packages, and general edc tasks through out the week, the 14c28n has held up exactly as expected. Took it to a 0.5 micron strop, and it's back to sticky sharp. After the reprofile to 17dps, it really opened up the performance potential of this blade shape and grind. I would put it near/around the Kershaw Bel-air in terms of slicing potential- they just go about it in very different ways (Kershaw = very thin blade stock, full flat grind- Kizer = thicker flat stock, very thin hollow grind).

All in all, it's a very nice light edc knife in the sub 70$ price range. I think the biggest takeaway is that this knife scaled up to a 3.4-3.6" inch blade would be even better- keep the same blade stock thickness and handle thickness- but have a taller hollow grind with more blade and handle. I feel like the same could be said for most of Kizer's offerings- an XL Drop Bear, Original 2, Pokiman, ect. would be very welcome. Hopefully that's something kizer considers in the near future.

Specs for anyone interested:

Overall Length: 7.31" / 185.62 mm
Blade Length: 3.19" / 81.10mm
Blade Thickness: 0.11" / 2.8mm
Blade Material: 14C28N
Blade Grind: Hollow
Handle Length: 4.11" / 104.52mm
Handle Material: Micarta
Weight: 2.51oz / 71.3g
Hardness: 58-59