Ka Bar Dozier Folding Hunter Long-Term Review: High-Value Modern Classic!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- Here's my long-term review of the outstanding and inexpensive Ka Bar Folding Hunter, Model 4062. After nearly 5 years of testing and daily use, I think it's safe to say my initial impressions were correct! For under $25, the little Dozier has proven to be a durable, dependable knife that fits the hand well and is a faithful companion. The steel isn't exotic, but holds up extremely well. The mechanism isn't complicated, but very smooth and doesn't seem to wear at all. In short... Go buy one or five!
Good to see knives from both ends of the spectrum to continue show up here on the channel. I know your preferences have become more refined, but showcasing a knife like the Ka Bar Dozier really helps make your knife reviews well-rounding (IMO) Great stuff as always buddy!
You know... After we talked the other day, it occurred to me that I had been leaving out the "high-value" segment of the knife world these past few months, and decided to dig through the safe for a few I haven't reviewed yet. The Dozier rose to the top :). I've got some traditionals coming soon too :)
I have had this knife for 4 years and used it extensively. It it easy to fully disassemble if you just push the pin through on the lock bar btw. Mine never opened as smoothly as in the video and the black finish wears off with fire steel use but this is still my favorite knife. It has never folded on me and cut me or anything like that. I love how i can bury it in the sand or mud then just pop it apart and blast all the pieces with water and soap. The few number of pieces and lack of cavities makes it hard for the gunk to hide. This knife is the perfect mix between quality and a low enough price that you aren't afraid to use it.
Walter Daniels i can't manage to get the pin out
the pin simply pushes out. I remember removing the blade before the pin. maybe that has something to do with it
Walter Daniels thank you, it works now
Its really awesome that yiu keep the cheaper end knives on ur channel
Hi Rob, as a subscriber I can't understand why I've not seen this review before as I find them fascinating. I have the Dozier and the Delica 4 (flat grind) and also the BM940 which you've reviewed. I love them all in different ways and view them this way: Dozier = 'beater' knife for work pants. Delica = EDC for jeans, and BM940 = gentlemans folder for suit trousers. Just my way of thinking but to be honest, I carry them all in whatever pants I'm wearing!! I have the Mini Dozier on my my key ring too. God bless mate. :)
I tried mine on a draw cut and my finger released the mid lock back. No similar problems with normal use - palm against lock bar. I like the Dozier Kabar because it is so much lighter than, say, a Benchmade Mini Griptilian. The Benchmade Bugout is even lighter than both, but it's too expensive to risk losing (at least for me).
Bought one of these for my brother years ago and he still carries it....I think I'm gonna get one now!
I have been looking to gift myself something nice like a benchmade 940, but theres just something about this kabar dozier i keep coming back too. Had the same tan one for 5 years, just ordered an od green one off amazon. Great knife.
Cool little knife and one I may have to add to the collection. I recently picked up a Kershaw Shuffle 2 in tan and couldn't believe how great the action and the detent were right out of the box. These little sub $40 knives can be real gems.
Hey Rob,
Like you I am a knife addict! I started collecting antique American folders when I was a kid in the 1970s. I love your GEC videos, great knives. I have a ton of knives ranging from collected to budget. I more often than not find myself carrying budget knives like the Dozier, I use my knife a lot and don't have to worry about rough tasks. Just my thoughts. Note: Your Tony Bose interviews are amazing and should be submitted to the Smithsonian archive(He is an American treasure)
Great review. The past couple weeks or so I've been doing research, trying to figure out what the best bang for your buck type pocket folding knife is, as the winner would be my first EDC. Today, after watching and reading many versus type reviews and general reviews (yours included), I decided the Ka-bar Dozier was the right knife for me, and headed to amazon.com where, they actually had free shipping on the coyote brown, which was the color I wanted--destiny. I proudly made the purchase. I'm sure it will seem like a long week, as I await delivery.
Hey hows the black coating on the blade hold up?
Motive X7 since you've been waiting 2 years,I'll let you know. It holds up great, and comes very sharp. Great buy for 20 bucks.
I may be a bit late to the party, okay way late but I've got one coming and am interested to see how I like it.
I prefer high value inexpensive knives because I don't require more, I like 'em plain & simple, I prefer kickbacks as I'm a lefty , and like 'em relatively thin / slicey.
This seems to be my kinda knife so I hope I like it.
My Buck 482 was " the knife " every single day for years, but I found my favorite pretty much right off the bat then eventually went to traditionals for the lack of modern options for me.
I'm still big on traditionals since they really do cut the best and I've got fixed blades for any occasional one handed need, but I have some pants with less than ideal pockets so clips are definitely nice sometimes.
BTW great review, it's good when someone can still appreciate the high value knives and not call the more expensive knives " good knives " when mentioning them.
Far too often on the forums does someone say " time for my first good knife " when they weren't exactly using flea market knives before.
Too many people end up with the impression that a knife has to be expensive to be good, I'm sure after the lure of " high end " wears off they realize the value stuff can still be considered good.
LOVE THESE ..I own 3 ..one with thumb hole 2 with thumb studs ..$23 each..i love ultra lite knives with NO liners ( just like original gen 1 spyderco Delica ) purchased these over the overrated -over priced Benchmade Bugout ...again love the KBAR DOSSIER
Good review. I have 3 of these knives and I love them, but at first glance I was worried that the friction-fit lockbar pin would work it's way out. So, whenever I get a new one I carefully center punch the back side of the pin and slightly deform/ peen it so it cannot back out. Otherwise, this is a perfect design, regardless of price.
You know, I've had this knife apart, obviously, but I can't say for sure on this one, however I'm pretty sure that pin is shouldered into the handle scales. I don't believe it can fall out, but please correct me if I'm remembering that incorrectly.
It is held in by the pressure from the lock-bar spring. If you take a small nail or punch you can push it right out w/ a little bit of pressure. However, falling out on it's own would be more difficult I think.
I agree with the mid lock back design being worse for accidents. The lock back at the rear is safer if designed right and can also provide more leverage to the blade lock being father from the blade. On the other hand I had a bottom liner lock fail that has to be pushed sideways to unlock and cut my finger. I was in an awkward area reaching on an angle and either the pressure I was applying or a twisting action disengaged the liner lock. I think it's all marketing that drifts these bad ideas into being amazing and popular. I've been carrying a small fixed blade in a sheath for years and I have a larger fixed blade in my backpacking kit. I like that much better as there is no guessing and confusion on the technology locking design inside the mechanism. I recently ordered a Buck Slim Ranger Select for the very reason that it is a small knife with a longer handle given its size and the lock back exposure is small and to the rear.
Like it, shall be buying one in the morning !
For $20 you just can't go wrong. I have 6 of these in various colors. I forget they are in my pocket most of the time. They take a great edge. The back lock is something I gravitate to in knives more and more. Every knife I have with them well, they just lock so tight and have zero blade play. Even these. I consider these one of the best buys out there. If you lose one? So what? $20 gets you a new one one. Everyone should have a couple of these and they also make nice little gifts too.
Just ordered one! Thanks for the review!
wow kept that in good shape for 5 yrs
Only an egomaniac could not appreciate both high value AND premium quality.
Excuse my ignorance but just how hard and strong is the type of Zytel used in knives? If it can serve as a washer it must be pretty solid stuff. It's a little hard to nail down a definition of the stuff. I did a little research and found that it is part of a "family" of several compounds that come under the general heading "nylon". The roots go back to a compound originally developed by George Westinghouse in 1910. The article I read made it seen as though zytel, g-10, mycarta, and frn are all related with some key differences.
I don't really know how to quantify this, but just from experience, this particular form of fiberglass reinforced nylon, or "Zytel," is pretty tough and kind of slippery, although the molded texturing is pretty effective. The raised circles inside the knife which emulate washers, bearing the blade tang, are an improvement over a design like the Spyderco Native, in which the blade tang contacts the entire inside of the handle, creating much more friction and resistance in opening and closing. The Zytel is much harder and nearly as slippery as teflon washers. Hope that helps :)
TheApostleP It helps. Thanks. I feel fairly secure about strength of the material. It seems that Ka-Bar has their share of smart and knowledgeable people.
I'm a big fan of the Civivi designs or edc in general but the only Chinese knives I would buy are those made in Taiwan. Picking up a dozier soon as I'm just into knives these few weeks and found it to be very handy to carry everyday but I'm still deciding on the size though. Not sure how deep im getting into collecting but Im starting with the Dozier and Kershaw leek as my entry EDC
Thats a great knife...sharp as heck right out of the box...a great buy!
Another great video my friend :)
Great look at a nice little EDC. This is making me want to do a long term review of my Kershaw Vapor. It would be a bit less glowing than you Dozier review.... :) but would be fun to do.
I suppose I could have picked this knife apart a bit more, but it's $20!!! I have to cut it some slack at that price point.
TheApostleP Oh I know... and the Dozier looks like it is a great $20 knife. My Vapor (which I carried for years) is a junky little knife with AUS6A steel that rolls at the drop of a hat. No matter though... I still love it regardless and will never get rid of it. :)
Hey ApostleP, Great review brother! I've just discovered your channel recently and think your knife reviews are very unbiased and just very truthful! Good stuff my friend. I have a few question for you though as a fellow left handed user.
I bought 3.... yup you heard right... 3 of these dozier knives a while back and everytime I attempted to convert the knife over to left hand carry, it was a completely failure! I would remove the male pocket clip screw and the female cup, yet the clip felt as though they glued the damned clip to the handle! And this happened on all three models I bought. Secondly, trying to switch the thumb stud over for left handed use turned out to be so hard that I finally gave up after the messing up the third knife. I found that once you loosened the thumb stud, it was pretty much impossible to retighten it, and when I attemped to use pliars to hold the stud to prevent it from rotating while tryig to tighten down the torx screw, that I ultimately just wound up marring the thumb stud....even after wrapping the thumb stud with both a few layers of paper towel and on the second knife, a piece of leather.... In all cases it was a failure and the thumb stud got marred otherwise I simply would not have been able to tighten the thumb stud, because as you tighten the torx screw, the thumb stud just keep spinning in the slot.
On a side note, I agree that just about anything including a sharp rock is better than a Spyderco. I can't stand Spyderco and wouldn't be caught dead using their knives now. I had a miserable time with their customer service a while back and vowed to never purchase anymore of their products again. Secondly, I also truly believe that Spyderco knives are *very over-priced* and usually *ugly as hell* to boot! And I also had problems with my endura4 with lock up. When I recieved the knife, I noticed that once of the frame screws was loose, so naturally I tightened it so it was firmly secure like all of the other frame screws, only to find out that it messed up the lockup on the knife! Very strange because I had two older generation Enduras and that was never the case. Seems like a major design problem to me.... There is no reason that a frame screw should be left loose (and no, I'm not talking about the pivot screw, I'm talking about the frame screw near the mid-lock button). Just found it to be such a lousy flaw.
***** Thanks for your kind words, and I'm sorry to hear about your experience with your Doziers. Not sure what to tell you on that one. Mine was pretty easy to switch over.
By the way, what is the title on that video you mentioned where you did the review on the spyderco delica? I'd like to watch it. Thanks
That video is long gone, Dan. It was on my old channel "rbcarnut," and I have no idea where the original is.
Maybe try some loc-tite then try and tighten it?
Hmmm, I have 5 SPydercos and never had a problem with any of them. I agree that a lot of their knives aren't real attractive. :) :) :) As far as the pricing goes, I think they have decided that they can make more money from collectors than people just wanting to buy a pocketknife, so they up the quality slightly and the price considerably. Just my $0.02 worth.
I got this in black. Am I allowed to say that?
Can the knife be used for wood carving since there are no steel liners ?
branded & a bang for d buck knife your video made me wanna buy this knife for EDC. It's cheap if you lose it it's okey you won't cry like a baby.
I've carried a Gerber LST since the early 80's of identical construction that is made in the USA I also have LST II that has a thumb stud both hold an edge well.So what makes the Dozier so much more popular??
they make a liner lock version of this knife now
What lube are you running in it? It looks a little wet.
This knife always pops up on Amazon, over all I'm impressed with your review.
It was a little wet. I had just reassembled it after cleaning and lubrication, and I think I got a little crazy with the Daiwa Reel Oil. FYI, after the video was done, it settled back in a bit and the blade freed up considerably.
I need to get some of that stuff. A free blade on a lockback, riding against plastic is a foreign concept to me.
The d2 version is 30 bucks and I don't believe there is a better pocket knife for 30 and under
Do you have any lanyard making tutorials?
That is a nice looking lanyard, isn't it!
fyi Hogue uses the same raised portions of the frame/liner instead of bushings.
Thanks, buddy... I did not know that. Kind of interesting though that the Dozier is a much less expensive knife.
Bel coltello, l'ho preso pure io, mi dai un Consiglio? L'apertura e un po dura, c'è qualche cosa Che posso fare per mollare un po ? Se mi scrivi in italiano grazie nille
I thought there were inflated Teflon washers
mine's got a little lock rock, the blade moves and the knife goes click when i apply force on the blade
is it only good for $2o or is it really good
same opinion on the delica versus dozier...facts dont lie....
Is the material it's made of similar to something like polymer?
Great knife tho good video!
Thanks. How does it compare to the spyderco delica? I know you are not a fan of spyderco lock-backs so do you think this is comparable?
Gotta watch to the end, my friend :)
Nice !
Thanks apostle
Thanks for watching, Paul :)
Nice review. Dozier vs Rat 2?
Aneesh Sompalli Definitely RAT 2. Love the Dozier, but the R2 is a big step up.
TheApostleP That's good to know! I bought my Rat 2 after seeing your glowing review of it. Thanks for the great channel!
+TH-cam Aneesh i looked up them up and the rat 1 and 2 are like 23 and te others 25 and thier bettr quality ther 30 on the offical site lol they should be real just a good amazon prize thier just a little lower then the site price cant wait to get on looking at them now
+TheApostleP why is rat 2 a step up? I know it has Flat grind which would be nicer to have. Curious, how ever I might be stuck with Dozier as I want the small version. I started out looking for a key chain knife, and the Spyderco Manbug is a budget buster. Yet perfect for Key chain!!! The Gerber LST Ultralight is on the I don't know, because at that quality I might as well buy the Swiss Army Classic SD or a Carbon Opinel No6 by the time I clip pointed it and carved / whittled handle It would be small enough with a superb blade
at the moment the Dozier small is at top of list. The Boker Urban Trapper is my main unless too big (meaning attention getting).
Edit: I actually have the Sog Micron clip point. It's pretty small and in a pinch would maybe cut something. A between size would be nice, hence the interest in the Ka-bar Dozier small.
Ive had both for a long time, and i prefer the kabar dozier. Its just better at cutting and holding an edge it feels stronger with the backlock and its very lightweight. Rat 2 is a basic liner lock that dulls quickly in my opinion, kabar, better price, better color options, going strong after 5 years of edc use.
a dollar a minute
(follow up comment)......remember when your hands were free of segs....?
Dang..sold me ( on 2)
1 for me & a pink for a girlfriend from work ( the guys will be less bold about stealing a pink 1 I think)
20 minutes of fondling and unsuccessful sinus clearing.