People-Friendly Bad Boy Blade: Kizer ‘Nice Guy’ Review

Over the past 5 or so years, there has been a strong reaction to the overly aggressive “tactical” folders that saw popularity in the early aughts. Those massive, slabby, and less socially acceptable knives have since been replaced by, or supplemented with, smaller, slicier, more people-friendly blades.

These knives, typified by offerings like the Knafs Lander and the TRM Nerd, have pretty small footprints in the pocket and tend not to be festooned with fasteners, jimping, or horror-movie blade shapes. Even ZT, the progenitor of the production tactical folder trend, makes smaller, less conspicuous knives like the ZT0230 — a slipjoint of all things!

Enter the aptly named Nice Guy, a knife from Chinese producer Kizer, designed to hit every key attribute of an approachable knife, right down to the name. This presents itself as non-formidable, at the ready, and capable — exactly what you’d want in a nice guy! I carried it around for my own tests to see if it accomplished the mission.

In short: This small, slicey pocket companion presents a very good value, but not quite as people-friendly as other similar blades.

Kizer Nice Guy Folding Knife

Check price at Amazon

Specifications

• Steel: 154CM (Nitro-V in the not-CF versions)
• Grind: Flat grind
• Lock: Liner lock
• Blade length: 2.84"
• OAL: 6.7"
• Weight: 2.6 oz. for the CF version; other handle materials are roughly the same
• Price: $54
• Country of origin: China

Pros

• Excellent blade shape
• Good grip thanks to nicely placed jimping and discrete forward finger choil
• Classy-looking CF overlay
• Easy carry with a small footprint and excellent clip
• Decent blade steel for the money
• Snappy, consistent deployment

Cons

• Swedge and flipper makes blade shape less people friendly

Anthony Sculimbrene

Kizer Nice Guy Review

The Nice Guy looks and feels like a more expensive knife, thanks to the carbon fiber overlay on the G10 and the smooth deployment. 

The blade shape evinces deep insights into what makes a great folder. But the knife can be a little loud when popping open, going against its stated “people-friendly” design goal.

Cutting and Carry

In the post-holiday cleanup, I tossed boxes downstairs into my workshop for about 3 weeks. The result was a tidal wave of cardboard big enough to surf on. And our town’s recycling program is apparently run by the same stickler that makes gas station billboards with 9/10ths of a cent pricing, so I have to break it all down and package it correctly in order to be taken. 

While mildly infuriating, this gave me a great chance to test out blades, en masse. The Nice Guy proved itself pleasantly surprising. Its thin, high ground blade, forward finger choil, and out-of-the-way deployment made it a standout. 

Remember, geometry is more important than blade steel and heat treat when it comes to cutting performance, so even the Nice Guy’s oldish 154CM steel held pace with newer steels quite well.

Aside from that 3-hour testing marathon, the Nice Guy also came to work and lived in my pocket on weekends. In the shop, its thin blade and extra front jimping made for precise cuts and good marking. In the kitchen, the same held true — it cut veggies and fruit with ease, and the blade’s front jimping again made a difference. 

Opening packages was nice, too. All around, there were very few tasks that the Nice Guy did poorly.

Kizer Nice Guy: Design Details

Azo, Kizer’s in-house designer and the mind behind this blade, did a lot of good things here. It has no exposed rear tang, the finger choil is subtle but effective, and the double run of jimping is perfectly placed.

But the real design insight here is that the blade has a very subtle negative blade angle — that is, the edge does not extend parallel to the handle, but instead angles up past the handle slightly. This allows the Nice Guy to approach cuts more aggressively. 

This is something you see all the time in great traditional slip joints. It allows for an aggressive angle without the hassle of a recurve blade, which is notoriously hard to sharpen.

Heavily rounded-over edges on the handle, along with a lack of exposed sharp edges, allowed the Nice Guy to slip in and out of the pocket with ease. The clip was good and well-positioned, and the knife, overall, was light. I had no problems carrying the knife in jeans or dress pants. 

One last point: The detent on this knife is spot on. It is basically impossible to have a failed opening — if you put pressure on the flipper tab, the Nice Guy will spring to life. This proves that you don’t need an expensive cutter to get great action. 

Conclusions

For the money, the Nice Guy is one of the better of the sub-$80 knives on the market. It compares well to blades like the Civivi Yonder, the Civivi Baby Banter, the CJRB Pyrite, and the QSP Canary.

Its sub-3-inch blade and sub-3-ounce weight make it a good choice for an EDC, especially if you are on a budget. The steel’s age is hidden nicely by truly superior blade geometry. And the flipping action is stellar. I have no difficulty recommending this blade.

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