Kizer ‘Good Man’ Folding Knife Overview

Over the previous 5 or so years, there was a powerful response to the overly aggressive “tactical” folders that noticed reputation within the early aughts. These large, slabby, and fewer socially acceptable knives have since been changed by, or supplemented with, smaller, slicier, extra people-friendly blades.

These knives, typified by choices just like the Knafs Lander and the TRM Nerd, have fairly small footprints within the pocket and have a tendency to not be festooned with fasteners, jimping, or horror-movie blade shapes. Even ZT, the progenitor of the manufacturing tactical folder development, makes smaller, much less conspicuous knives just like the ZT0230 — a slipjoint of all issues!

Enter the aptly named Good Man, a knife from Chinese language producer Kizer, designed to hit each key attribute of an approachable knife, proper right down to the identify. This presents itself as non-formidable, on the prepared, and succesful — precisely what you’d need in a pleasant man! I carried it round for my very own checks to see if it achieved the mission.

In brief: This small, slicey pocket companion presents an excellent worth, however not fairly as people-friendly as different related blades.

Kizer Good Man Overview

The Good Man appears and seems like a costlier knife, because of the carbon fiber overlay on the G10 and the sleek deployment. 

The blade form evinces deep insights into what makes an important folder. However the knife is usually a little loud when popping open, going in opposition to its said “people-friendly” design aim.

Reducing and Carry

Within the post-holiday cleanup, I tossed containers downstairs into my workshop for about 3 weeks. The outcome was a tidal wave of cardboard large enough to surf on. And our city’s recycling program is seemingly run by the identical stickler that makes fuel station billboards with 9/10ths of a cent pricing, so I’ve to interrupt all of it down and bundle it accurately with a purpose to be taken. 

Whereas mildly infuriating, this gave me an important likelihood to check out blades, en masse. The Good Man proved itself pleasantly stunning. Its skinny, excessive floor blade, ahead finger choil, and out-of-the-way deployment made it a standout. 

Keep in mind, geometry is extra necessary than blade metal and warmth deal with relating to chopping efficiency, so even the Good Man’s oldish 154CM metal held tempo with newer steels fairly properly.

Apart from that 3-hour testing marathon, the Good Man additionally got here to work and lived in my pocket on weekends. Within the store, its skinny blade and further entrance jimping made for exact cuts and good marking. Within the kitchen, the identical held true — it reduce veggies and fruit with ease, and the blade’s entrance jimping once more made a distinction. 

Opening packages was good, too. Throughout, there have been only a few duties that the Good Man did poorly.

Kizer Good Man: Design Particulars

Azo, Kizer’s in-house designer and the thoughts behind this blade, did plenty of good issues right here. It has no uncovered rear tang, the finger choil is refined however efficient, and the double run of jimping is completely positioned.

However the actual design perception right here is that the blade has a really refined adverse blade angle — that’s, the sting doesn’t prolong parallel to the deal with, however as a substitute angles up previous the deal with barely. This permits the Good Man to method cuts extra aggressively. 

That is one thing you see on a regular basis in nice conventional slip joints. It permits for an aggressive angle with out the trouble of a recurve blade, which is notoriously onerous to sharpen.

Closely rounded-over edges on the deal with, together with an absence of uncovered sharp edges, allowed the Good Man to slide out and in of the pocket with ease. The clip was good and well-positioned, and the knife, total, was gentle. I had no issues carrying the knife in denims or gown pants. 

One final level: The detent on this knife is spot on. It’s mainly not possible to have a failed opening — should you put stress on the flipper tab, the Good Man will spring to life. This proves that you just don’t want an costly cutter to get nice motion. 

Conclusions

For the cash, the Good Man is likely one of the higher of the sub-$80 knives available on the market. It compares properly to blades just like the Civivi Yonder, the Civivi Child Banter, the CJRB Pyrite, and the QSP Canary.

Its sub-3-inch blade and sub-3-ounce weight make it a sensible choice for an EDC, particularly if you’re on a funds. The metal’s age is hidden properly by really superior blade geometry. And the flipping motion is stellar. I’ve no problem recommending this blade.