Kizer Vagnino Zipslip Heinnie® Exclusive Folding Knife 18

I love collecting the Heinnie specials, for the money this is one of the best, yes the thumb studs are a little short resulting in the requirement of some extra effort when opening, however, they function perfectly but do make the knife more of a functional tool rather than a fidgeting toy. Great HH service as always.

A really well made and quality tool as well have come to expect from anything that HH agree to put thier name too. Very tactile and lovely to hold. Lots of negative comments about one hand opening but really who cares because this is first and foremost a practical tool for use. The double detent is essential for a knife if this sharpness as I’ve too many trips to A&E from folders folding into my finger . The silly UK laws actually make knives more dangerous but this double detent makes this tool safe and effective to use.

Nice little knife, strong construction, heavy solid blade very sharp out of the box. Unfortunately despite weeks of practice this knife is not one handed opening unlike my lock backs which are now illegal carry! I assume that as there is no lock the back spring has to be stronger which combined with the variable cam radius on the pivot end of the blade makes the opening resistance far too high for one handed operation. Perhaps HH should correct their description!!

Sharp “out of the box” blade a lovely looking, satin finished, drop point Good fit and form, the build quality is good and the red G10 scales look and feel great, very tactile. Opening one handed is a challenge to say the least although the thumb stud on mine was okay, no sharp edges. I really like this knife, it’s just a shame that it’s hard to open, hopefully it’ll get easier as I get used to the knife or become a two handed opener for me, either way I still like it. HH’s service and delivery is first rate as usual.

A great collaboration between HH and Kizer. A premium feel with a sensible price tag. 154CM is more than adequate for general EDC. This is what the original ZIPSLIP should have been like all along. Much much better hand / finger positioning in relation to the cutting edge. Even for my larger hands. Regarding some reports of difficulty opening, if you follow the curve of the scales with your thumb, rather than just trying to push straight out, the motion very quickly becomes smooth and intuitive But…. The ridges on the thumbstud have been left sharp and quickly start to cut into your thumb. A quick polish sorts it right out but this missed bit of important final finishing is all that stands between 4 and five stars for me. Well done HH & Kizer.

Firstly great delivery and customer support from HH. Lovely knife and would happily address the thumb stud issue which really had me unsure on buying this knife for a while. I can confirm the stud sits at the same height as the handle... Therefore impossible to open if trying to push the blade out perpendicular to mechanism. Sure enough push 90 degrees to this and it opens easily (and I am no wilderness rough handed expert, even my soft thumbs manage it with ease). For clarification: if holding the knife vertically slide your thumb up the sheathed back side of the blade until hit the stud and keep sliding, the blade easily pivots. Additionally lovely blade and the security of using it with the index finger holding the blade open gives a much more confidence when applying pressure especially with the UK EDC rules. Only gripe would be the colour which I know I could have gone for the non HH edition, but I do really like the thumb stud. Overall fantastic knife and easily gone to my daily use knife.

This is a beautiful knife. The shape, the colours, it's all so attractive. The shade of red used for the handle is truly beautiful, almost regal. I'm the kind of person that normally just goes for a tactical black on everything and avoids colour, but I've really fallen in love with the red handle here. I also love how the slip joint mechanism is hidden from view, and the back spine of the handle is sealed instead of showing a gap between the two scales. • The scales have a relatively grippy texture, but also feel smooth and comfortable at the same time — much better than the rough texture of the CRKT Pilar Heinnie. • The front finger choil is fantastic for guarding against accidental closure and for easily closing the knife. Unlike the CRKT Pilar Heinnie, the front of the choil is smoothed and rounded, so the finger is fully protected from the cutting edge. • There's also a quarter-stop to help protect from accidents — I much prefer this over a half-stop. • The pocket clip is fully deep carry, and completely plain for maximum stealth. This knife could have been perfect. It could have been a contender for the number one knife in my collection. Unfortunately, it has a fatal flaw that relegates it to being just a display piece. The big problem with it is the thumb stud. It's simply impossible to use. It is positioned far too close to the pivot to get proper leverage, and far too close to the handle to squeeze the thumb in to grab it. And then the knife is very stiff on top of that. I can press on the thumb stud with all my might, and the knife doesn't open — all I get is injury to my thumb. It leaves deep impressions/bruising on my thumb and has caused me to bleed, while still not budging. It is just impossible to use. I've seen several other reviewers mention this, both here and on YouTube, so it's not just me. This should really be considered a two-handed opening knife. Even then it's still awkward, as the blade is slippery and hard to properly grip to pull it out. It's such a shame. The original Kizer Zipslip had a thumb hole, which is superior. For some reason, it got swapped to a thumb stud on this Heinnie Haynes version, and it makes the knife impossible to open. I don't understand why they did that. The thumb stud is really just there for decoration. I'm now looking into ways to modify this to make it possible to open one-handed, such as replacing the thumb stud with a larger one, or with a hook-style one, or with a "thumb bar"... We'll see.

Well after reading all the so called problems of the thumb studs I really was on the fence about this knife. No offence to all those of you that are struggling but you are doing something wrong. Yes this is not going to be a flipping easy fidget toy but all you need to do it push the thumb studs upwards towards the blade instead of out from the handle and have a thumb that’s not made out of cotton wool and BANG it opens !! If you’re a traditional knife person then you want be used to this sort of opening method and you will think your thumb has broken lol. It is a excellent knife which after 2 days I can flick completely open no problem and I have arthritis ( not sever but int fingers and thumb are not as strong as they was ) Honestly I can flick it open no problem, you lot really need to get some hang d skin on them thumbs . No offence intended to anyone but you just really need to get used to it and let it break in a bit before slamming it so hard as it’s a great knife for legal carry in our over controlled country.

Great knife very happy.