Kizer Beaver Finger knife made with Nitro V utility Skinning Knife

 Kizer "Beaver" Finger knife made with Nitro V utility Skinning Knife.

I'm kind of partial to some finger knives as i think they have their place, well if you have a reason to carry one. certainly their versatility is great from the point of view of having a very sturdy but very small fixed blade. Box cutting and utility functions they excel at. This particular one will be perfect for rapid skinning as my index finger perfectly reaches to (almost) the tip of this knife whilst I can also grip the knife amidst (possibly) slimy hands.

The KIZER BEAVER, (Kizer's own design) is made from Nitro V. If you re not familiar with Nitro V then here is the composition: (Image taken from: as per Knife steel Nerds as per Peter Bruno at New Jersey Baron)

As the above table shows Nitro V is almost the same as AEB-L, however, I would recommend reading the thorough summary of this steel from Dr Larrin Thomas AKA Knife steel Nerds

Nitro V was originally developed by New Jersey Steel Baron in conjunction with, and produced   by Buderus Edelstahl GmbH. It is a modification of AEB-L and incorporates Nitrogen to enhance the quality of the grain structure. This can be achieved with as little as 0.1-0.12% Nitrogen. To read more about nitrogen enhanced knife steels see my extensive article here.

Essentially the composition of Nitro V will provide a finer grain structure than AEB-L and excellent corrosion resistance. You can read more about it here from Knife Steel Nerds review

This is what Knife Steel Nerds says:

So basically we see a small knife blade with good toughness, so all the better not to be afraid to put it to hard use and that's exactly what I did as you can see in some of the above images

Stats at a glance: 3" blade, Nitro V steel, HRC 60-61, handle construction is a sort of black micarta and orange G10 liners. Torxhead bolts, drop point high sabre grind and a portion of the spine has been left with an acute edge so a fire steel can be easily struck against it.

The knife is kept carry safe with a kydex scabbard with excellent lockup. However, due to the small size of the "Tek lok" style clip, there is no provision for a locking mechanism which would/could prevent the accidental release of the clip from your belt. Try as I might I was unable for a full days carry to accidental dislodge the belt clip.

The Kizer Beaver design has a big lanyard hole and you could attach a karabiner to this rather large ring. I can think of no reason to do this though as one risks dislodging the knife from the scabbard. However, I see potential as a make shift martial arts "device" as in rope dart, should one be proficient with such a technique then I'll let you come to your own conclusions as to this possible use.

For me this knife represents a very cool little skinning knife and if not for this usage then it like many finger knives can provide and exceptionally stronger blade than the equivalent sized folding knife albeit with a  much longer carry profile and much shorter blade. Granted, these types of knives are not  everyone's "cup of tea" and are thus what I would deem more of a specific end use knife as I have mentioned for hunting purposes, due to the short blade and handle. Maybe a "gentleman's box cutting knife" LOL!

Of course I have demonstrated upon numerous occasions how one can use these small fixed blade knives during simple day hiking trips and if you are one who likes to move as light as possible and yet retain the sturdiness of a fixed blade then this sort of knife could be for you.  

Certainly, the quality in construction is there, not only with the knife itself but also with the construction and lock up of the carry system. It's small carry size will not arouse the attention of today's "Karen" when it gets whipped out around the public picnic tables when you are cutting up your salami. In fact I would argue that it would be less obvious removing it than flicking open a folding knife in what seems to the be the norm these days, like some mall ninja, thus demonstrating how cool you are (or think you are LOL). 

The Kizer Beaver has a blade which is only 3"  long and somewhat shorter if you only count the actual cutting surface. This I believe would fall into the category of possible carry in countries (AKA certain European countries, eg Germany, Italy,  and the United Kingdom just to name a few) where the legal knife size carry is rapidly approaching the  size where one will soon need the electron microscope in order to actually visualise the blade!

More to come!

KIZER CAMP 180 made with AEB-L and G10, Kydex Scabbard

 

KIZER "CAMP 180" made with  AEB-L and G10, Kydex Scabbard. 

Knife Design by:

Jonathan Styles

      

The steel

A seriously robust camp and hunting knife (I'm saying this!), made with the industrial knife steel designated: AEB-L.

Drop point design, 7.7 Oz. or 218 grams, this is a light weight field knife.

Composition: Contains approximately: 0.67% Carbon, 13% Chromium, and 0.60% Manganese. 

Manufactured by Böhler  (Uddeholmstrip) 

According to the literature:

DESCRIPTION
UHB AEB-L is a stainless grade with 13% chromium that is our No.1 choice for knife applications.

ADVANTAGES
» Superior cutting properties
» Close thickness tolerances
» Best available wear resistance
» Good corrosion resistance
» Consistent and uniform quality

Some good old tip abuse and drilling holes into seasoned Cottonwood (never recommended  unless absolutely necessary!)

Feathering Seasoned cottonwood

Feathering seasoned oak

Kizer is a Chinese knife manufacturer based in Guangzhou, China, They import some raw materials such as knife steels.

This knife, the Camp 180 was super comfortable to use and I tested it's edge holding capacity on seasoned oak (hardwood) and season Cotton wood (medium hardness) timber during the course of the day. I used a baton on the spine to split through seasoned birch timber (with a knot) 

and also to split and break apart pine fat wood (below)

Abusive torquing/levering action on this AEB-L blade!

All of this operation did not blunt the blade as evidenced by me being able to effectively slice through some dry reeds at the end of the day.

The manufacturers rated Rockwell hardness is given at HRC 58-60.

Seasoned Oak

The handle

The grip is super comfortable and when working with very hard woods such as Oak, this is important as no hot spots were found and I don't wear gloves as a rule when testing knives or even when not.

The tang is fully enclosed within  olive green drab G10 scales. This for me is an added bonus as this knife could be used without gloves in sub zero temperatures as there is no  exposed tang onto which to freeze you fingers should you get this knife wet. As to wether this design might make it harder to remove any water which might enter between the actual join, this I will have to present the long term data at another time.

The scabbard is made from  kydex and has an excellent and somewhat "tuneable" lockup system whereby one can make some small adjustments to the lockup via a Phillips head screw and rubber washer assembly. My knife scabbard came with a perfect lock up as far as I was concerned and there was no chance of accidental falling out of the knife. Also I might add, I did not need to use brute force to remove the knife! There is also a small drain hole on one side of the scabbard.

The lanyard hole is created between the G10 only and does not pass through any steel tang. Thus the construction of this knife does not allow for any exposed tang, so if banging the butt end of your knife against hard objects is your thing, then this knife is not for you.

Ah, the smell of good old Australia Eucalyptus oil!

Feathering seasoned birch timber, no problems!

The pommel is only G10, so not for bashing anything. The upside of this is that it is comfortable when the palm is pressed against it.

This model the Camp 180 has a slight touch of a Japanese-esque feeling to it and I think this is evidenced by the oval guard.

The Camp 180 is perfect for hunting duties and will suit anything from small to medium game. 

In summary*: The Camp 180 by KIZER  holds an excellent edge after working very hard oak and bashing into seasoned birch timber plus cutting dry grasses (full of abrasive silicon) and bashing my way through knots on oak! I put it through some abusive tests such as two handed twisting into fat wood stubs. AEB-L has been around for a long long time and like D2 should not be discounted as some sort of crap knife steel, because in reality, in the field, it isn't and that's a fact.



Other stuff:

The knife came very nicely packaged in a sturdy cardboard box with minimal plastic and a short length of black paracord (about 1m), and a  cleaning cloth like micro fibre material and a sticker.

The warranty period is "Limited Lifetime Warranty" 
ie against everything except abuse and modification and normal wear and tear.

*Whilst I never talk about pice in the channel or here, I must say for under $100 USD, this knife represents exceptional value for money if one is looking to get a good quality hunting and camping knife.