I looked at reviews and offerings of all kinds and my impulse-control was not very good in the past 6 months or so and it would be embarrassing to detail the company and model of each knife that assisted me in parting ways with the legal tender. Each knife had a personality of its own and its own character. Some knives are going back; not for repair but permanently. If not, then auction or for sale at one of the sites. Anyone catching any of my reviews on those who takes my review at face value and with validity will not want to buy those knives unless they can smith them, themselves. The Kizer Dorado 5A2 version, is not one of those knives. Overall fit and finish, to me, comes in as one of the best knives I own. That does not include any of my 1, 2, 3, or 5 K dollar knives, because I do not own any of those. I am not sure that I realized that the Dorado is a serialized run. This one is #183/200. That means pretty much by now this knife is sold out. I don't know anything about the Kizer numbering system, but I imagine that the Dorado has subtle change or changes to it to account for change in model number. This one is Ki345 5A2. I see above that there is a ...5A1 and also a ...4A2-Looking at the latter, I immediately see a difference in the handle shape with basic engraving the same. There are also slight color variations in the engraving, part of it being due to being hand-worked, and part of it possibly being part of that slight change for model or run differences. Now about this folder. I love that there is no thumb stud to mark the beauty of the polished and engraved handle. Show side scales are beautiful on this version. Deleting of the use of blue in the engraving that goes through and near the pivot is an example of, "less is more." The stone washed finish is impressive and has its own look and in some lighting even produces a slight rainbow effect of certain colors. Blade-shape is gorgeous with the Ricasso being part of the design that looks like a warncliffe on its own, a bit. The curve of the top of the blade is just a beautiful, with the edge still being square but machined ever so slightly to remove any sharpness on the edge. The drop to the point is not sudden but still finds 11/64ths" of drop distance on my example. Far from wanting a smooth pivot, the that it has adds to the motion of the design. While the design is repeated on the knives, these are production. That said, my blade is perfectly centered within the handle. The lock up of the bar end against the blade's thickest point is substantial, more than I find in my Sebenza. The reinforced lock-bar seems to me to be at 50% when I look at it under 5X magnification. The frame is so elegant with that single stand-off with handle-recessed Torx screws locking the handle together there. This insides of these Ti scales are polished, further adding to the jewel-like aspect of this collectible but capable EDC. The interior of the scale scallops are chamfered, machine to a slight rounded eliptialshape and then those inside scallop edges are polished. Details! The engraving on the blade is not too large and the information is no more and no less than needed. Name and logo perfectly fitted on the Ricasso in the 40%-to-center range. And then the M390 Steel information with the model and run number under that closer to the handle, but with just enough room for the spacing itself to lend to the design of the knife. Art! Flipping this flipper over, the Capital & small letters spell out, "Dorado", spaced in the same manner as the name of the knife manufacturer on the opposite side. Inboard towards the pivot is the serial number which includes the specific number/the total run number. How cool is that? Takes more time and more work. This is awesome as it marks the knife similar to the rest, but unique in that aspect over and above the hand work differences. The top of the blade has the extremely classy "Cucchiara" (designer) name engraved in the center top of the blade's thickest part with the visual of the name extending into the handle near the pivot and also out over blade only area as well. Reminds me of military medals engraved on the sides or some coinage doing that. Again, a detail that took time and energy, planning and labor to execute. Because of the thickness of the scales being subdued by all the curves and machining, they visually appear to be substantially thinner than the blade stock. Once again, this lends to an artistic flare on blade steel acknowledged to be one of the new supersteels. The choil is just sufficient for choking up on the blade, but may be seen as a sharpening choil with flowing linesas it leads to the flipper protrusian which has 2 jimp relieves in it. Perfect for flipping and machined just right so no soreness develops when practicing the flip. Another "custom" aspect is the machining of the right-handed thumb space for access to reach the lock-bar to unlock the knife via the above mentioned reinforced frame-lock. it is not terribly noticeable yet is just sufficient to make unlocking more of a pleasure than a chore. That blade has that ancient element of the curved blade on the sharpened edge side for an artistic flowing line. The grind leading to that edge is not extreme, but gradually descends to where it gets its edge.Not terribly thin, the blade is meant to be strong. The blade comes quite sharp, in part due to the sharpening angle, which I did not measure. Finishing the blade is the swedge that runs along about 50% of the length of the blade and is artistically rendered. The sum total yields a blade that has enough "spear" to pierce is required. There is no lanyard hole but the stand-off on the handle allows the owner to put a lanyard on the end if desired. Building the lanyard onto the knife would work as well as disassembling the knife to get a pre-made lanyard onto and between the scales. Keeping this knife in pocket if it doesn't somehow become a collection queen is the clip which is annodized in a gradient of purple color on the clip's visible side.It is held in by two Torx screws. Both are recessed. The clip as a similar design to that of some Reate produced clips for their Ti knives except that the outer top of the clip is machined & chamferred at an angle with the screw-hole for the top Torx screw, none-the-less being countersunk or machined as such so that the screw head is mostly recessed. That detail is extreme but it is characteristic of the design and execution of this knife throughout. The overall polish effect upon the look of the knife is stunning. Yes, I spent some coin on this knife but this knife is worth it to me. It is as good an exeution on a short run or any knife for that matter that I have seen. This one stays in my collection. I can't see it going anywhere else for my lifetime.
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