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Kizer Deviant is the Latest Production Knife from Chris Conaway

March 18, 2021

The incoming Kizer Deviant is the latest production knife from Chris Conaway of Sheepdog Knives. This new folder is based off a custom knife and differs from Conaway’s previous Kizer work in many ways.

2021 marks Sheepdog Knives’s tenth year in the custom biz, but production knife users will be most familiar with Conaway’s work through the Kizer Sheepdog, the production collaboration that put his style, and the folding cleaver concept generally, in front of its largest audience yet. The Deviant deviates from this well-known predecessor in many ways. Its silhouette is completely different, defined not by a cleaver but a sheepsfoot blade instead. And at 3 inches of blade length, it’s shorter than the standard and XL versions of that knife. These traits add up to something spec’d for EDC all the way, ready to tackle the usual suite of quotidian cutting chores.

The blade steel on offer is N690, something that’s become a common sight in the Kizer catalog thanks to a spate of recent releases made from the stuff. N690 is a German steel that brings adequate performance across the board; it isn’t a super steel, but is easier to work with and keeps the price from jumping up. The Deviant only opens one way – via thumb stud – and has a liner lock.

The ergonomic situation is a simple one, the classic “one finger groove” profile that is both ubiquitous and reliable. At the back end the Deviant tapers into a wasp-ish point, where an oval lanyard hole has been cut. The Deviant is coming out in two configurations, each with its own color scheme and bolster material. You can have it with a white G-10 scale and black micarta bolster, or with a green G-10 scale and copper bolster. The loop over pocket clip remains the same across both versions, but the copper model is significantly heavier: 4.89 oz. compared to 3.81 oz.

The upcoming release of the Deviant isn’t the only bit of good news from Kizer recently. Last week the company finally retrieved its Instagram account after losing it to a hack in the middle of the month.

Kizer says that the Deviant is expected to arrive with dealers at the end of March.

Knife in Featured Image: Kizer Deviant

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