hey everyone David C Anderson here coming at you from the KnifeCenter and
today we're gonna be taking a look at something cool from Kizer Cutlery and
Darrel Ralph let's check it out so after previously working with other companies
on his designs Darrel Ralph was looking for someone new to bring his custom designs
to a production price point and where he landed was Kizer Cutlery he's found them
to be very great people to work with and they do a fantastic job with their
production Darrel himself has even gone so far to say that Kizer's quality is
right up there with American companies like Zero Tolerance and while that's a
bold claim we certainly think they stand up Kizer's Gemini in fact made our list
of top frame locks of all time and it's easy to see why once you hold one of
them in your hand the knife we're gonna be looking at today is called the Gunhammer
and this is a design of Darrel Ralph's that's been around for quite a
while but he actually doesn't make custom versions of this anymore so if
you want a brand new Gunhammer you're gonna be looking at a kizer and
thankfully the materials and fit and finish are not going to disappoint so
taking a quick look over this knife it's definitely a spin on a popular format
and that is it a titanium frame lock flipper with a super steel blade
we've got s35vn steel in this case with a really nice stonewashed finish and a
very broad recurve clip point blade the grind lines on these knives are very
precise but all the edges have been softened just a little bit thanks to
that tumbling process that gets us that stonewashed finish it makes it very
comfortable so you don't have any real sharp edges and it's also a really nice
working finish on a blade as I've said many times that stonewashed finish is
going to help hide scratches when you actually put this knife to use so it's
gonna look great for a long time the recurve on the blade is pretty mild but
it does add a little bit of visual flair but it doesn't detract from the
usefulness or the ease of sharpening of this blade I really like how broad it is
to when you have a blade that is this wide it's very easy to choke up on it so
you can get right behind the tip and do some smaller work that might be a little
cumbersome if you were holding it in a standard grip and that's just simply
something you can't do with narrower and thinner blades we've also got a nice
thumb ramp here at the back and the jimping is not too aggressive so it does
add some extra traction for your thumb when you're powering into a cut but it's
not so bad that you're going to tear up your thumb when you're doing it
moving back to the handle as I said it's made from titanium and it's got a really
cool milled finish on to it it's kind of got some intersecting lines going on in
a way it kind of reminds me of old school gun grips with their diamond
checkered pattern but this sort of a more abstract interpretation of it looks
really cool and adds some nice traction to that frame turning it over you can
see that the frame lock does have a replaceable steel insert here which is
going to provide a longer-lasting interface for the lock we also get a
milled pocket clip which is going to be nicer than a simple folded over pocket
clip and it does have two positions it can be either tip up or tip down for
right-hand side carry and they do leave the titanium flat under there so that
that texture is not going to get in the way when you're actually clipping this
into your pocket it's gonna create a nice smooth landing for extraction
looking at the spine you can see it as an open back construction which is gonna
make it easier to keep clean it's gonna be harder for lint to accumulate and get
caught in there but even if it does a quick blast of compressed air or even a
rinse under a faucet it's gonna be enough to clean that out really easily
one of the biggest differences you can find from a high-end knife and a lower
end production model is the feel of it when you're flipping and the feel of
this knife is truly premium we've got a bearing based system which makes it feel
really nice as well as a signature pin here from Darrel Ralph that adds to the
flair a really light press is all it takes to fire that blade out and the
flipper tab itself is very comfortable to use we have that signature Darrel
Ralph hoop instead of a solid tab with some very light jumping on it again not
too aggressive doesn't tear up your finger feels really nice although if you
prefer to open it another way we've also got a pair of thumb studs on this knife
and they pull double duty not only do they allow you to open the blade but
they also serve as the stop pin on the frame when it is open
overall this classic Darrel Ralph design comes with tons of attitude and it's
just a really cool knife and remember if you want a new Gunhammer you got to
check out this Kizer if you like what you see here and want to get your hands
on one make sure to click the link in the description below to head on over to
KnifeCenter.com