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!