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Do any of you use or have Dozier knives? What's the word on them? Thanks, Okie John.

Hi, Okie John.

Make yourself comfortable. An Ingram salesman will be with you shortly. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

While you're waiting ....
Most Dozier owners seem to be very well satisfied. Most Dozier knives are made of D2 steel, are hollow ground, and come with a kydex sheath. His heat treatment of D2 is of near legendary status. Bob's been making knives for about 40 years, I guess, and has developed a great reputation.

Bob Dozier is a true custom knifemaker, and will use other steels, including S30V, A2, and others, if you prefer. He can also do flat grinds and convex grinds. If you don't want to wait for a custom order, you might find a Dozier to your liking at:

A.G. Russell or Vintage Knives .

Bob makes some fine using knives as do several other makers. His D2 is as good as it gets. I've owned several and still have a couple. My son picked up a new one at the SHOT show, a Sweetwater I think. Excellent at holding an edge.

I've got a Wayne Clay folder that I really like. Wayne makes a nice fixed blade that's a only a little more expensive than the Dozers. Fit and finish are super, the wait is around six months though.

Can't go wrong with any of 'em

JB

Deleted double post

I also have owned several Doziers through the years and currently have 1 and � - the "1" that is a wonderful knife and among my favorite larger users, a Yukon Pro Skinner with a Straight Hunter handle, and the "1/2" an Arkansas Traveler with a modified Loveless drop point blade shape that has traveled back to Arkansas because of a chipped blade.

Interestingly enough, I�ve never had good luck with the smaller Doziers and very good with the larger so I guess my recommendations for someone contemplating a Dozier would follow those line...

Personally, I'm hung on GenOs right now - just awesome knives for less than a Dozier..

Okie,
I have a Dozier and as word has gotten around camp it get used by other people when sharp helps, like caping. I don't mind as the steel/heat treat will hold enough edge for my use and some others. One comment I get back is that the handle is too small for bigger guys. Might not be an issue with the bigger guide size knives. One thing really nice about the smaller Doziers is the horizontal Kydex sheath. It holds the knife very firmly and is out of the way for any kind of crawling/climbing you could do.

Thanks for the input. I'm considering one with a blade about 3" long, such as the Straight Personal. Any recomendations? I'd use it to clean small blacktail deer and hogs. Thanks again, Okie John.

I had a Straight Personal but just couldn't get a grip on the multi finger grooved handle, nor could the friend I gave it to. If I were to get another (which won't happen since I don't like the clip point blade either <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />) I'd spec it with a single finger groove like the Bird and Trout or AT. This is the single groove on my chipped bladed Loveless style Traveler...


The smaller Dozier pattern I'm liking most is the AG Russell "Arkansas Knives" marked Personal Utility. These knives differ from a true Dozier Made knife in a couple of ways, most notably using laser cut blanks and coming only in flat grind. I think a real "Arkansas Made" in this pattern with a convex grind would be a pretty fair blade. Pic from AG's site...

What's the story behind that chip? I did that to a Randall once. Okie John

www.vintageknives.com

I'd go with the Arkansas Traveler, but would opt for either the flat or convex grind, rather than the hollow grind version shown in this picture. I'm not a fan of hollow grinds, and especially not in D2. Too prone to chipping, IMO.

If the added cost isn't a concern, I would also specify either S30V or A2 steel, but I think the flat or convex ground D2 blade would serve very well.

Hey Okie you've got a PM
Jared

I bought this knife last year and since I hadn't had a chance to use it yet (mostly because I fell in love with a GenO Denning like I mentioned above!) decided to take it to Alabama for a January cull. The first evening I was using the knife to field dress and skin a small doe. In the process I made a ring cut around the knee joint of the front leg, broke it over my knee and went back with the knife to cut it free. I felt kind of a strange "catch" during this cut and when I looked at the knife there was a chip missing from the blade. It was fairly dark and I couldn't find the missing piece to see if it was deformed or crushed in any way.

I have my suspicions what the problem was and it has something to do with the D2/heat treat/edge geometry that Walker alludes to, but I won�t go into details since I didn�t have the knife tested before sending it back. Suffice to say that though disappointed, chit happens and the measure of a good outfit is often after the sale, and in this case Bob has offered to take care of it to my satisfaction � even though a long time had passed and he had no real proof that the knife hadn�t been abused. Fact is D2 does some weird stuff sometimes and though certainly not a �bad� steel its main claim to fame is that it will take a cutting edge with even crappy geometry and hold it a good while. IMO unless one lucks into one of those 'great' knives that transcend the spec sheets that makes D2 a good choice for a slicer/skinner, though not the �best�, but below several other choices as an all-arounder�though of course your needs may differ...

Ya'll brought me out of the woods with this post. I have over a dozen Dozier knives and hands down they're the best cutters I've had my hands wrapped around. I've owned others, Blackwoods, Ingram, Scott Cook, Denning, about every production blade around, ect... Dozier is the cat's a$$ IMHO. The Dozier family is also a class act. The Dozier kydex sheaths are topnotch rugged, secure, and easy to clean. The performance of Dozier's D2 is legendary. Respectfully, you don't have to rely on luck to get a good cutting Dozier D2 blade. There are about a gozillon (thats a lot!) folks who will gladly attest to the cutting ability of a Dozier blade. Check some of the big knife sites such as bladeforums.com or knifeforums.com by doing a search using "Dozier" for the keyword. The results will become boring regularity in praise of Dozier knives. The high hollow ground blade is designed to be a performance cutter and it does this very well. It isn't supposed to split the pelvis or do any such work that a saw or axe would be better suited for. A knife that can be pounded through the pelvic joint will most likely leave you wanting for a thinner blade for actual slicing and cutting chores. I also like flat grinds and can put up with a convex if I must, but each grind/edge style is best suited for different purposes IMHO. The hollow ground blade is weakest at the edge and that should be in the mind of the user when selecting a blade for a specific chore. Sorry, I digress, I just wanted to jump in and say hello and share my experience with my working Dozier blades.

Hi MOGC�welcome!

I enjoyed your post and agree with much of what you say and will attempt to explain my own earlier comments. First, all the folks I�ve met or talked to from the shop - Bob, Linda, Daniel, Wendi (when she was still there) and Pat are great. It�s just been my experience that the knives though by-and-large certainly ones I�d recommend are nothing out of the ordinary in their price range. I buy/sell/trade knives a BUNCH and currently have just over 80 fixed blade customs by all the makers you mentioned and tons others up to true �legends� like Lile and Herron and �national living treasures� like mastersmith Jerry Fisk, and just sold a Loveless. Out of those 80 six are �great� using knives that stand out from the others � light, comfortable in the hand, balanced in toughness and ductility, take a good edge and hold it, and on and on - and yes, one of those is a Dozier�but I�ve owned six other Doziers, five decent and one that sucked to get that one, and even it has the handle from one model and the blade from another. Of course each person�s needs in his tools will vary. I use my knives as hunting/camp tools and on animals - lots of animals - both at my and my wife�s family ranches as well as a great deal of hunting and a bit of guiding so that�s the basis for my comments. I did the search you suggested at BF and KF and the Dozier board over the last hour or so and just perusing can find very few posts by anyone that hunts very much or uses knives for dressing, caping, butchering or rendering � most are about cutting cardboard in their jobs and such things. Sure, the random poster talks about using a knife in camp or about the �whole really big deer� he did once without sharpening but I honestly think there is far and away better blade info from the members on this site for the guy wanting a hunting knife that on all of the purely knife oriented forums put together.

But back to the knives � if you�ll re-read my last post you�ll see I didn�t say one need get lucky to get a good cutting D2 blade � in fact I said they make good slicer/skinners. The luck comment was pointed toward finding a D2 knife that will equal one of several other steels as a balanced all-around cutting/skinning/chopping/etc tool. (And that doesn�t include splitting the pelvis btw � I�m honestly amazed on these boards at the number of folks that do that to dress an animal vs ringing the anus.) It�s kind of like your discussion of grinds - just like different ones suit different purposes so do the steels to which they�re applied�

�which circles back round to this thread, where one of the criteria of the questioner is use on hogs, and based on breaking down hundreds of the damn things, and on owning seven Dozier knives I stand by my answer � if one wants a D2 Dozier for this use one of the larger, thicker bladed models would be a better choice than the smaller, and if a smaller were chosen anyway I�d want the single groove handle, the heat treat to the lower end of Bob�s 60ish to 61ish range and a convex or flat grind over the thin high hollow.

None of my comments were meant to denigrate Bob (heck, again, I complimented him for his customer service), or Dozier knife users, just my own way of agreeing with you that thought needs to go into �selecting a blade for a specific chore� and I just don�t think anyone�s thin high hollow grind HRC61 D2, including Bob�s, is the best choice for parting out wild hogs.

Again, this isn�t meant to be argumentative, and I like Doziers just fine, its just my experience � hope you post more of yours� you obviously know a lot about knives�

While we're on the subject... I own a bunch of custom hunting knives none of which are Doziers. This is a situation that I wish to rectify. To that end, I have been perusing the Dozier web site for some time now and have got it narrowed down to two likely suspects: the K-6 and the K-31. As you can see, I prefer a smaller knife. Most of my use is on whitetails. Any comments on these two blades? Other possible choices? I'm open to suggestions. Thanks, RS

P.S. I'm not a fan of D2 but I understand that Dozier will gladly make my knives out of S30V if I desire. RS

RipSnort,
Sorry, I have no experience with the K-6 so can't comment on it. MOGC has 12 Doziers perhaps he can.

The knife in the pictue I posted above is a modified K-31 ordered with a quote "more classic Loveless style drop point instead of the standard almost spear point design." Most pics of the regular A-T don�t show how dropped the point really is. IMO the knife could be a good one but the balance is too handle heavy. I think a 3-1/4ish or so blade would help it a lot. Here�s another shot of mine before it chipped paired with the best Dozier I�ve owned, a Yukon Pro Skinner with a Straight Hunter handle�



By pure coincidence I should have in-hand tomorrow the fix on the above knife which should be a sort of finn-styled caper design. I'll post a pic if it shows up.

Journeyman,
Well thought out reply, I appreciate that. I also appreciate the fact that you recognized that I wasn't being contentious. I agree with much of what you're saying. I too hunt and use my knives on game, hunting, camping, and farm task, whatever comes along. I skinned over 100 squirrels with a Dozier Canoe Knife this past fall. I also put a couple of small Doziers to work on a couple dozen coyote, fox, and a bobcat I called to the gun this winter. Breasted out a couple of turkeys and totally processed three deer with a couple of different Doziers. You're right, many of the BF/KF crowd aren't processing game with their knives. But they are using them as opposed to collecting a bunch of safe queens. I have a friend with over fifty Randall knives. He is a huge Randall fanatic, obviously. However, he's never cut a thing with any of them! No way could he comment on Randall's heat treatment of his blades, or edge grind, heck, any performance. They're all safe queens. Yet, he recommends them to any and all you will listen. So, the fact that these guys are cutting up something and handling the knives has to account for something. You must know by now that I am a dyed in the wool Dozier fan. They are simply the best working knife I've used and I've tried many. Subjective yes, and that's what makes for fun discussion.

Ripsnort,
I too prefer smallish blades. For whitetails, for me personally a blade of 3" - 4" is about perfect. I lean strongly toward something in the middle around 3 1/2" or maybe a bit less even. I have small hands and really like Dozier's SINGLE finger groove K-series handles. I don't really care that much for the multi finger groove handles of any makers. Dozier included, though I have several with these handles. I have a Companion, but I had mine made with the K-series single finger groove handle. It has been a handy knife indeed. I had this knife made before the Arkansas Traveler was available. Once that knife was on the scene I had Dozier make me one up with a 3 1/4" blade and green jigged bone handles with brass pins. It's a beaut and is a quick, nimble cutter. I really prefer it to the Companion blade which seems to be a bit closer to a spear point shape than a classic drop point. Dozier will make your knife with S30V, and IMHO that would be a really nice general/personal use knife in the Arkansas Traveler form. The K2 and K4 are slightly larger but very useful blades too.

I so thoroughly suck at this digital photo thing. Tried a bunch of different angles and still didn't get a true representation of the blade shape, but here's the little Dozier caping knife that arrived this week...

Journeyman,
Very well thought out and useful! I like that a great deal. What blade length and material?

BTW, I too have a pair (small & large) of Scott Cook Owyhee Hunter's with Desert Ironwood like the one pictured below the Dozier. The G. Feller Casemakers leather sheaths they come with are very nice too.