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Kizer Original Serape
- Pros: Light, compact, excellent action, ideal blade shape, remarkable factory edge, solid button lock
- Cons: Initial lock stick before break-in, might be too colorful for some tastes, $18 more than the regular version (presumably because of the goodies in the box)
Calling a knife the “Original” seems like a name that brings a lot of baggage with it. After all, the “original” knife at time of writing dates back to the early homo sapiens nearly 2.5 million years ago, so what exactly makes this folding pocket knife the progenitor of cutting tools? Well, obviously nothing: it’s just a name. But the Original might make more sense when you think about the original purpose of a knife: to cut stuff. Paring the design to the essentials, distilling all the features into a basic shape, sweating all the details until it’s nearly perfect – maybe this is the original idea of a knife.
This is the second Serape series knife we’ve reviewed, after the Cormorant Serape. The Cormorant was a knife that had been on my “want to try” list since its debut in 2020. I was impressed by the quality but less enthusiastic about the feeling that the entire kitchen sink of design features had been thrown at it – front flipper, finger flipper, thumb hole, funky handle, funky blade shape – it's all just kind of a lot.
The colorful Serape series G10 scales make it pop, as they do on this Original – patterned after traditional Mexican blankets, you’re certainly not going to lose this knife if you drop it. Even in a dark room. But the Original is stripped down, lean, light, and simple. Using it for a little while shows the genius of the concept at work here with this Kizer in-house design. It has a superb blade shape, excellent ergonomics, light weight and dimensions, a stellar action, and there’s not much to dislike. Let’s take a closer look at the Original Serape Series folder.
Key Specs: Kizer Original Serape
The Blade
Kizer offers the Original in two sizes – the “original” Original, seen here with its 3” blade, and the Original XL, which I’m calling Original II: Electric Boogaloo, with a longer 3.3” blade. This smaller version uses a traditional drop point blade shape, with a nearly full flat grind: there’s just a hint of a flat along the spine that narrows towards the front and descends into a radiused diagonal plunge line towards the rear.
That plunge line terminates behind the sharpening choil, so the radiused edge prevents the steel from being too wide at the back of the sharpened edge, keeping the geometry the same all the way back. Blade stock is thin at 0.11” across with a flat, non-chamfered spine. Thickness behind the edge is a scant 0.023” owing to the thin blade stock and high flat grind, making for solid slicing performance. On the Serape, the blade and the hardware are black coated with a flat satin finish.
Blade steel on the Original is 154CM, which is used in a lot of the Vanguard-series Kizer knives, whereas the Bladesmith series uses higher-end steels like S35VN. 154CM has been around for ages, being a modified version of 440C stainless with the addition of molybdenum. 154CM was developed by Crucible in the ’50s for the purpose of ball bearings in gas turbine engines, which required much greater “hot hardness” properties than the previously used 52100 tool steel, so this variation of a high-hardness martensitic stainless steel proved popular.
In cutlery, the addition of molybdenum in combination with chromium provides better corrosion resistance and edge retention (by about 20% by CATRA testing) versus 440C. These days, the sub-$100 market is gradually moving to 154CM in addition to other affordable stainless steels like 14C28N or semi-stainless tool steels like D2, providing exceptional performance for the money you pay. Higher-end versions of the Original are available in Elmax, 20CV, and S35VN, but at a considerably higher price point.
Deployment & Lockup
The Original deploys via a pair of ambidextrous, symmetrical thumb studs and uses a button lock for both the detent and lockup with an external stop pin to locate the blade in the open position. The pivot has caged ball bearings to make for a frictionless action.
When I say that the Kizer has dialed the action in on this knife to perfection, I don’t speak lightly – they've really nailed the detent and pivot on this knife. There’s not a scalloped thumb relief to access the studs, but since the studs stand slightly proud of the scales it’s a non-issue, with just the slightest outward push popping the blade open with a satisfying click.
In contrast to the Cormorant, which had a detent that was too hard for the front flipper but too soft for the finger flipper, since the Original has just a single opening mechanism to tune for, they’ve achieved what is possibly the perfect action for a button lock knife in terms of deployment. It’s light but well-defined, and immensely fidget-worthy.
I encountered minor lock stick when the knife was new, but as I carried and used it, the button lock’s surface where it interacts with the tang of the blade wore in and the release of the button became smooth. By design, in the closed position the surface of the button is flush with the scales, but when the blade is deployed, the button is slightly above the scales, making it easier to release. Lockup is solid, with no horizontal blade play – and most impressively for a button lock, no vertical blade play or lock rock to speak of. The light, airy action of the Original makes it a real joy to open and close.
Features, Fit & Finish
Although there are several variants of the Original, most of them – like this Serape Series – use G10 scales. There’s a FatCarbon scaled version, Richlite scales, and anodized aluminum as well, but G10 suits this design. Of course, those Serape scales are eye-catching – with a colorful gradient pattern in a series of vertical commingled bands of white, blue, maroon, yellow, brown and black like a Mexican blanket.
Below the scales is an extremely abbreviated liner extending maybe ½" behind the forward body screw, just big enough to support the lock mechanism and pivot. The rear of the handle has a pair of hourglass-shaped standoffs, and there are two threaded inserts directly in the G10 to which the pocket clip mounts. Construction is bolt-through on both sides, with Torx T6 screws for the body and clip screws, and a single Torx T8 for the pivot screw – which is one-side, a Chicago-style pivot screw where the female side is anchored to the liner to prevent it from spinning when you adjust it.
The pocket clip is a bent steel deep carry clip, anchored to those threaded inserts with two vertically oriented screws with a pass-through hole in the clip for access. The base of the clip sits in a slot in the scale to keep it from rotating, which is always a design element I appreciate. It’s configured solely for tip-up right hand carry with no provisions for flipping the clip.
It seems a minor point, but the branding on this knife is both minimal and nicely executed. The etched logos on the blade are on the tang, vertical and behind the thumb stud – the lock side displaying “KIZER” and a serial number, the opposite side the blade steel. The spine of the blade has the model name and Serape M etched along it, all the etching done through the coating to reveal the silver metal below. It’s a small detail but it impresses under close inspection, and the lack of branding on the clip is classy as well.
Quality on this knife is excellent. It is probably the sharpest factory edge I’ve witnessed since the Hogue X1 Microflip, slicing through stretchy plastic bags and envelopes with ease. The contouring on the G10 scales with a full chamfered edge around the circumference as well as a relief cutout at the top of the button lock for access, is very precise. Blade centering is spot on, all the body screws are flush with the scales, and the clip screws are counter-sunk to be flat with the lower surface of the clip, so they don’t snag on your pocket. For a sub-$100 knife, absolutely nothing to complain about in terms of quality and fit & finish.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the extra goodies the Serape Series knives ship with. Although these are hardly things that improve the usefulness of the knife, there are a lot of goodies: in addition to the knife, there’s a colorful zippered pouch, a cleaning cloth, extra screws, a Serape-colored lanyard bead, a G10 “maker’s ID tag,” a user manual, and a warranty card. Although this makes unboxing more fun, I’ve never understood the proliferation of goodies that aren’t the actual knife to drive cost up. The cleaning cloth is nice, though!
Field Test
The knives that get used the most are inevitably the ones that get carried the most. So how well the knife carries is of equal or greater importance to me than how it cuts, truth be told. The Original with G10 scales rings up the scales at only 2.2 ounces, so packing a 3” blade and a 6.85” overall length into such a light package is a great start.
Those nearly linerless G10 scales help keep the weight down, but the folded profile of the knife is also genius – the spine of the blade is nearly flat with the shape of the handle when closed, measuring less than an inch wide at the thickest spot (0.987” by my calipers). In practice, this means that it takes up minimal space in the pocket with no protrusions to bump into whatever else you’re carrying – plenty of space for your smartphone in the same pocket.
The clip is great, too, although these days most clips are great if you avoid 3D milled ones. The rounded tip and curved contact point make it easy to slide in, and there’s plenty of clearance for your pocket’s hem; in addition, the mounting point is high enough that only a sliver of it peeks out of your pocket. The slot that the clip sits in keeps it from rotating, which is a common annoyance as well.
Blade shapes are extremely important, and nothing hits the sweet spot for me like a full flat ground drop point for day-to-day usage. It’s got a nice thin tip for piercing material, but the spine doesn’t start to taper until ¾" from the tip, leaving plenty of metal behind the tip to avoid snapping it off. The shallow sharpening choil keeps what you’re cutting from getting stuck behind the sharpened edge, all of which makes this a supremely effective cutting tool. The factory edge on the Original is shockingly good, able to shave arm hair, diagonally cut printer paper, and even slice plastic bags without dragging or hanging up – if only all knives came this sharp out of the box!
Ergonomics are plain, but solid: there’s a shallow forward finger guard and just enough space for a solid four-finger grip on the 3.87” long handle. No jimping to be found anywhere on the knife, nor does it feel like it’s needed. Although I’m always a fan of forward finger choils for a choked-up grip for detail work, on a knife this size it would lead to a lot of wasted real estate in an already compact package, probably dropping the blade down to below 2.5” or less of usable cutting edge if it had one, so its omission is understandable.
In terms of maintenance, my advice is – as always – don't take apart button lock knives if you don’t have to. It does have an anchored pivot and standard torx screws if you needed to, but getting these knives back together is always an exercise in frustration. The flow-through construction means that you can just blast the handles out with compressed air and drop a little oil into the pivot as need be. The plain blade shape and 154CM steel will make for quick sharpening sessions as well.
Alternatives
Looking at a competitive knife set for the Original presents an overwhelming number of options, so let’s narrow the focus a little: under $100 to be price-competitive, a 2–3" blade so similar size, and under 3 oz of weight. I’ve left off the filter of the lock type for a little more variety in the list of alternatives, because this pulls up a very compelling set of options.
Civivi Qubit
First up, the Civivi Qubit folder. With a 2.98” drop point blade in Sandvik 14c28n stainless steel, the Qubit’s dimensions are quite close to the Original: 7.19” overall, thin 0.10” blade stock, 2.82 ounce weight. It also deploys via thumb studs with a ball bearing pivot for a smooth action, and like the Original it utilizes a button lock. The big difference is the handles, which are anodized aluminum, available in black, red, blue, and pink as well as a green anodized version with a Damascus blade for $80. Civivi quality is always top-notch (similar to Kizer), and the Qubit has been receiving rave reviews in the community. It’s a good bit cheaper at $66 retail too, or $80 for the Damascus variant, although 14C28N won’t hold an edge as long as 154CM.
Spyderco Delica 4
The Spyderco Delica 4 has been around a long time – it was released in 2006, in fact – so in some ways it’s hopelessly out of date. It has a back lock, phosphor bronze washers instead of bearings, no deep carry clip – it's just a plastic handled relic, if you ask some people. Other people will say that you don’t need to fix things that aren’t broken, and this BladeHQ Exclusive Delica with mint FRN scales and a black-coated M4 blade still brings a few things to the table: a very high performance tool steel blade in arguably the best shape for slicing performance, a four-position pocket clip that mounts to extremely grippy scales, and muscle-memory deployment via a standard thumb hole. I bought my first Delica in 2008, and I still miss it today. Chinese alternatives offer more features for less than the $94 MSRP of this M4 Delica, but it still appeals.
Knafs Lander
Ben Peterson used to be the face of BladeHQ’s YouTube channel, but he’s since branched out into starting his own knife accessory business, the amusingly named Knafs. They’ve recently launched their first knife, the Lander, which is produced by QSP for Knafs. The Lander features simple ergonomics, a 2.75” long stonewashed drop point from D2 steel with thumb stud deployment via ball bearings, a liner lock, and an ambidextrous deep carry tip-up pocket clip. One neat feature are the fast-swap scales, which can be changed out with four screws if you want to change up your look. Simple, utilitarian and with great action, the Lander looks to be a hit. At $58, you have money left over to buy the adorable Kitty Cosmo Crew scales featuring astronaut cats on a space walk. Why not?
Ontario Knife Company RAT Model 2
Finally, a discussion of affordable 3” folding knifes with great drop-point blade shapes cannot occur without the Ontario Knife Company RAT Model 2. Despite OKC’s recent sale to Blue Ridge Knives, one of the largest knife distributors in the US, it looks like BRK will be buying out the manufacturing facilities and continuing production in the future, which is good news for fans of this landmark folder.
The RAT 2, in D2 steel, rings up at only $40, bring a 3” drop point blade with thumb stud deployment and a solid liner lock. It doesn’t have the slick button lock or ball bearing deployment of the Original, but for a no-nonsense budget folder it’s still the king of the hill, with an ergonomic grip, nylon scales over full stainless liners, and a 2.75 ounce weight.
Wrap-up
When the Serape Series knives showed up from Kizer (including this Original, the Cormorant, the Towser K, and the Mini Bay), the Cormorant was the most interesting of the bunch. After more examination, I think the Original is easily the most compelling and arguably one of the best sub-$100 3” folders on the market.
If you like the idea of the knife but don’t want the super flamboyant scales, the standard G10 Original (with black and white striped G10) is only $72 vs the $90 for this Kizer Serape Series, which admittedly does come with a lot of extra goodies in the box. If those are of no value to you (like they are to me), at $72 the Original is an even more compelling EDC option.
The purple anodized aluminum version runs $93, and at 2.6 ounces it’s only a minor weight penalty if you prefer the feel of a metal handle. It’s simple, compact, light, carries perfectly, has an absolute light saber of a blade, and addictively smooth fidget-friendly action with no extra fluff.
As we get further along into the expansion of the pocket knife market, we seem to be distilling the essence of what makes knives great companions to humanity – tools that make our life easier, with virtually no downsides. I think you can hardly do better for an everyday folder at this price point. But with the way things are advancing, check back in a year. As it stands, the Original is excellent.
You can read more reviews on Kizer knives like the Cormorant Serape, Begleiter, Matanzas, Feist, Rattler, Kyre and Guru.
