Any love for the Kiwi 4?

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ChrisinHove
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Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#1

Post by ChrisinHove »

Who has one, and how do you find it?

The shape appeals, but at UK prices (think mrsp+) I will need to be sure I want it...
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elqfaltaba
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#2

Post by elqfaltaba »

The kiwi 4 is a great pocket knife, light, with the perfect size for any urban task, elegant with its Wharnclife blade, lock back is firm, impeccable settings, a success.

I hope that Sal is encouraged to create a steel version CPM CRU-WEAR and handle of Sambar, would be a perfect reinterpretation of classical Scagel Fruitport.

I am also European, in Spain Spyderco is very expensive, so I bought it in the US, worth the wait shipping.

Some images of mine

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Hope to help you.
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The Deacon
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#3

Post by The Deacon »

Seriously mixed emotions here. On the one hand, it's an excellent knife with typical Moki quality and the thin blade stock and full flat grind make it an excellent slicer. It also provides anyone looking for a 3" bladed midlock with a slightly thinner, considerably narrower, and 1 ounce lighter alternative to the Caly 3. On the other, I'm probably the biggest fan or the original Kiwi and believe that it's the most attractive in-house designed knife Spyderco has ever offered. The peel-ply G-10, exposed screw heads, and clip reduce this knife's appeal to near zero for me.
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#4

Post by Evil D »

Lots of love here, though as much as I love G10 I would much prefer it had contoured and polished G10 and was available in contoured stainless like the original. I'd also obviously love to see it with bolsters and CF, and with ZDP or SB.
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#5

Post by bearfacedkiller »

I have been really wanting one since they came out and I handled one at the SFO a few times and was very impressed. Well, I picked one up on Saturday and today is my first day carrying it. I have actually used it to cut a ton of pallet strapping already, maybe 250 or more bands and it has worked great. It is a true wharncliffe style blade and has the functionality that one would expect from such. It appears to be typical moki quality which is great. I have carried a Centofante4 for some time now and have enjoyed it very much but had been wanting a full flat ground wharncliffe for a while. So far on this first day of carrying my new Kiwi4 I can say that I have lots of love for it. If I had to find a fault so far it would be that it is not the easiest knife to open one handed or flick open.
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sal wrote:Knife afi's are pretty far out, steel junky's more so, but "edge junky's" are just nuts. :p
SpyderEdgeForever wrote: Also, do you think a kangaroo would eat a bowl of spagetti with sauce if someone offered it to them?
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#6

Post by RamZar »

The Deacon wrote:Seriously mixed emotions here. On the one hand, it's an excellent knife with typical Moki quality and the thin blade stock and full flat grind make it an excellent slicer. It also provides anyone looking for a 3" bladed midlock with a slightly thinner, considerably narrower, and 1 ounce lighter alternative to the Caly 3. On the other, I'm probably the biggest fan or the original Kiwi and believe that it's the most attractive in-house designed knife Spyderco has ever offered. The peel-ply G-10, exposed screw heads, and clip reduce this knife's appeal to near zero for me.
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Appreciate seeing a side by side of the old and new Kiwi.

Kiwi4 does not seem to be selling that well. I know of one dealer that has reduced the price to 50% off MSRP due to being overstocked on it.
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The Deacon
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#7

Post by The Deacon »

RamZar wrote:Appreciate seeing a side by side of the old and new Kiwi.
Here's a shot of it along with all 4 variants of the bolstered Kiwi, the all stainless Kiwi 2, and an engraved all stainless Kiwi 2...
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Holland
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#8

Post by Holland »

That CF Kiwi looks amazing, Paul!
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RamZar
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#9

Post by RamZar »

The Deacon wrote:
RamZar wrote:Appreciate seeing a side by side of the old and new Kiwi.
Here's a shot of it along with all 4 variants of the bolstered Kiwi, the all stainless Kiwi 2, and an engraved all stainless Kiwi 2...
Image
Wow! A picture is worth a thousand words! I agree with you. The old ones are clean, dainty and purposeful!

Very nice collection.
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#10

Post by IG-88 »

Some more pics :)


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twinboysdad
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#11

Post by twinboysdad »

I passed as I was hoping for a beefier design. I was hoping for a Yojimbo and Caly marriage and it felt more delicate that my expectations envisioned.
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#12

Post by nirvanero »

The original Kiwi it's something really special but I find her big sister a more usable knife. I love both.
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#13

Post by bearfacedkiller »

Been working well all day. :)Image

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I didn't cut these all up. They are fed through a chopper but I have cut almost 500 bands off to be fed through the chopper. Knife has been very comfortable in hand.
Last edited by bearfacedkiller on Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-Darby
sal wrote:Knife afi's are pretty far out, steel junky's more so, but "edge junky's" are just nuts. :p
SpyderEdgeForever wrote: Also, do you think a kangaroo would eat a bowl of spagetti with sauce if someone offered it to them?
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#14

Post by dres_x »

i got one recently and i absolutely love it!
I really hope they decide to make different handles for it though! anything other than plain black!
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#15

Post by RamZar »

By the way, the specs are missing on the Kiwi4 product page!

http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=895" target="_blank
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#16

Post by Halfneck »

It's on my short list to get. I have been carrying a Benchmade 531 at work because it is lighter & slimmer than my Delica. The Kiwi 4 specs on paper look like it could edge out my Benchmade. It not selling well might work in my favor if it starts getting heavily discounted.

That said I fully agree with the Deacon that the original Kiwi looks far better - especially the original jigged bone version.
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#17

Post by bearfacedkiller »

I am hoping for a couple obvious combos with this knife. Seeing how it is a Moki knife I would love to see a Grey FRN and solid Super Blue sprint as well as the other Caly treatment of Carbon Fiber and 420/ZDP. :)
-Darby
sal wrote:Knife afi's are pretty far out, steel junky's more so, but "edge junky's" are just nuts. :p
SpyderEdgeForever wrote: Also, do you think a kangaroo would eat a bowl of spagetti with sauce if someone offered it to them?
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#18

Post by Doc Dan »

I like the looks of this knife, even better than the original, which was a great knife. I would have preferred carbon fiber scales, or G10 in grey or something besides the ubiquitous black.

I wonder, have any of you taken off the clip and used it as an actual pocket knife? If so, how did it do in the pocket? (I cannot have a knife showing...at all...over here).
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The Deacon
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#19

Post by The Deacon »

Doc Dan wrote:I like the looks of this knife, even better than the original, which was a great knife. I would have preferred carbon fiber scales, or G10 in grey or something besides the ubiquitous black.

I wonder, have any of you taken off the clip and used it as an actual pocket knife? If so, how did it do in the pocket? (I cannot have a knife showing...at all...over here).
The clip came off one of my Kiwi 4's the day I got it. It doesn't fit in the watch pocket of any of my jeans, so it can't replace a Kiwi 1 or 2 there. That means I have to carry it in my back pocket as my primary folder, and a Stretch normally fills that role. I only carry a 3" blade back there a few times a month, on the days I go into Greenville, and the Kiwi 4 has some pretty stiff competition for pocket space on those. As a result, I haven't really carried it a lot. However, I'd say it works as well loose in my back pocket as any of my other "Greenville legal" choices. It's obviously one of the most compact ones.
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Re: Any love for the Kiwi 4?

#20

Post by Mallus »

Kiwi 4, like the G10 Persians, suffer in my eyes because of their pinned construction. Not that I lament any mechanical aspect of it, just that I'd like to be able to make a nice set of wooden scales for them. Now, should Spyderco come up with Super Blue Kiwi 4, I might give in, no matter what the scale color and material! :)

Regarding the pinned knives in general, would I run into difficulties if I were to drill the pins of and tried to make a new set of scales?
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