NKD Esee Izula Black

 New Knife Day

Picked up the last stock of the black variant at Enough Said in Biak na Bato, Quezon City, Philippines. Awesome knife shop. They are good guys. Hopefully they bring in more Esee stuff.

I picked up the Esee Izula in black color with the intention of getting the original Esee Crimson Red scales for it. Going for that Deadpool look. Not a bad color choice for your first Izula.

Pretty big box for a small knife. I have no freaking clue if this is the original box that the Izula comes with but this is my first Esee product and I have nothing to compare it with and more importantly, I don't care as boxes can't even cut things.

I can't wait to get home and open this up.

The outer box has awesome graphics and there the Izula is the small knife pictured in the corner. Now I want whatever knife is pictured in the middle.

The other side of the box. Nothing special. Same photo.

This is what is printed at the bottom of the box. I would have to know these stuff but I guess you learn about these things when you join the RAT Survival Seminar thing.

Once you slip off the outer box, there is the actual box. I've seen some boxes online with Esee logo label stamps, but this one, does not have. I wish it did but who cares.

Opened the box. So much goodies inside.

Let's see some papers first.

Back side of the brochure.

This is it. Freaking awesome. We have the knife, sheath, clip and screws, some pvc cards and two stickers.

I have the serial number 104310. So many Izulas out there.

You'll see "Rowan" marked at the other side. Good job guys from Rowan.

Let's check out the clip

Looks symmetrical.

But if you plan to belt mount this knife horizontally, you can only screw on the three holes. The last clip hole is totally off the remaining sheath hole. Who really cares. Custom Kydex sheath will definitely in the future for this knife.

Mounting time.

For reference, the clip mounting screw and barrel nut.

The engraving is so deep that it creates long shadow depending on the lighting.

This is a pretty cool knife. I've compared it against the Kabar Wrench Knife (my first choice), and ended up going home with the Izula. The Kabar is a likeable knife, but I see the Izula having slight advantage for me as it can be installed with scales.

Factory sharpness is so-so, but I've suspected that the minor dullness came from the knife being a display item. I passed a couple of time on the whetstone, and now it cuts clean.

The black coating is so thick that it gets sharpened with the edge as well. There might be some minor issues with the cutting smoothness because of the textured coating, only if you compare it to kitchen knives when you are preparing food.

As a fixed blade knife, I see this as having active use. The size is just enough for practical use. If I get something longer, I will probably be only displayed at home. The black coating might be a boring choice given the vast colors available, but this is something I feel that will match any type and color of scales available out there.

Check out this link for size comparison to a Spyderco Para 3.

Check out this link for size comparison to an Ontario Rat Model 2 in D2.