KA-BAR Dozier KA4065, by Thomas Christianson

With a price of only $20 at the time of this writing at the Dozier Knives website, the KA-BAR Dozier KA4065 Folding Knife is the best value for an everyday carry (EDC) knife that I know about today.

The knife has a three-inch hollow ground blade made of AUS 8A stainless steel that is 0.11 inches thick. The blade can be deployed with one hand ambidextrously by using a thumb notch. A lockback latches the open blade securely in place. The unlined Zytel handle provides an excellent grip surface. It is light and thin and easy to carry.

The knife was designed by Bob Dozier, and manufactured in Taiwan (Free China.)

If you need a good EDC knife but are short on cash, this is the one to buy.

Background

Back in October of 2023, my review of the KA-BAR Dozier KA4062 was published in SurvivalBlog. That knife has many outstanding features, but its use of a single thumb stud makes ambidextrous one-handed opening impractical. The KA4062 has so many good features, that I was eager to test the similar KA4065, which utilizes a thumb notch instead of a single thumb stud. This allows for ambidextrous one-handed opening, thus overcoming the single greatest drawback of the KA4062 design. So when someone gave me a gift card, I ordered the KA4065. About a week later, a padded envelope arrived via USPS Ground Advantage.

First Impressions

The padded envelope contained a 6 x 1.5 x 1 inch package box made of glossy printed paperboard. The box contained the knife in a bubble wrap sleeve as well as the warranty. The warranty covers the original purchaser only, for the lifetime of the purchaser under normal use, but excludes normal wear and tear. I can understand the exclusion of neglect and improper use including throwing, batoning, opening cans, chiseling, prying, screwdriving, digging, or other “heavy work for which the product was not designed.” But if a lifetime warranty does not cover normal wear and tear, then what does it cover?  I assume just defects in manufacture.

The knife came out of the box shaving sharp, but just barely. A couple of sessions with the AccuSharp Diamond PRO 2 Step Knife Sharpener soon had it up to smooth-shaving standards. One of the advantages of reasonably priced stainless steels like AUS 8 is that they tend to sharpen easily.

The blade opened a little stiffly at first, but it quickly loosened to an appropriate level and then stabilized there.

Testing

I clipped the knife into the left front pocket of my pants, and carried it on and off for a period of five months. During that time, I used the knife for a wide variety of different tasks:

∙ Opening a carton containing a new five-gallon bucket of Sikkens Cetol Log and Siding Stain.
∙ Prying off the lids of one-gallon cans of stain. The knife was not the ideal tool for this job (a screwdriver would have worked better), but it managed to complete the task without breaking or damaging the cans.
∙ Opening a package of ear plugs as I prepared to use an electric pole-saw.
∙ Chopping away wild rose vines growing over the driveway.
∙ Opening a shipping box containing a birthday present our youngest grandson, “Earnest”.
∙ Cutting a length of hose to connect to a pump to help relieve flooding in our younger daughter’s basement.
∙ Opening bags of insulation for our younger daughter’s attic.
∙ Breaking down cardboard boxes to be recycled.
∙ Opening a container of hydraulic fluid to top off a manual hydraulic log splitter that I was selling.
∙ Opening a package of devotional booklets to be placed for distribution in the church foyer.
∙ Untangling a twist tie from a book stand that needed adjustment in my office.
∙ Cutting away wood splinters around a hole that I had drilled.
∙ Cutting a bad spot out of an apple that I was eating.
∙ Removing an orifice reducer from an empty bottle of salad dressing so that I could wash the bottle prior to recycling it.
∙ Puncturing a worn out basketball that would no longer hold air so that it would take up less room in the trash can.
∙ Cutting a broken rope off of my wife “Kari’s” childhood sled so that the rope could be replaced with a better one so that our grandchildren “Cicero”, “Earnest”, and “Ginger” could play with the sled in the snow.
∙ Carving shavings from some sticks to help kindle a fire in the snowy fire pit.
∙ Opening a package containing a tanned cowhide that I received as a Christmas present from SurvivalBlog’s Senior Editor James Wesley, Rawles. I plan to use the cowhide as a backdrop for some of the pictures that I submit with my reviews.
∙ Opening the dog’s monthly dose of heartworm medicine.
∙ Cutting saplings out of the way while moving firewood to a round wood stack.
∙ Opening a bag of birdseed for an elderly couple in our church.
∙ Opening bags of salt to be added to the water softener.
∙ Opening shipping boxes with Christmas presents for our grandchildren, children, and Kari.

An Abrupt End

My testing came to an abrupt end when I loaned the knife to my cousin at a family Christmas party so that she could open a package. After opening the package, she set the knife down on a table. Her elderly boyfriend, who is in the early stages of dementia, picked up the knife and imagined that it was his. My daughter, “Rivka”, tried to rescue the knife for me, but relented when he insisted that the knife was his. I let him keep it because I did not want to embarrass him or my cousin.

One of the advantages of a reasonably-priced knife is that it is less painful if the knife is lost, broken, or needs to be sacrificed to preserve the dignity of a loved one.

Keepers and Gifts

I did not feel too bad about allowing my cousin’s boyfriend to keep the knife, since I would have given the knife away, anyway. I review more EDC knives each year than I can possibly put to good use, so I pass them on to others. As good a knife as the KA-BAR Dozier KA4065 is, it was not good enough to displace one of the eight EDC knives that I have designated as “keepers.” I would like to tell you a little bit about the keepers, to date:

• Leatherman Skeletool CX. Whenever I am not carrying an EDC knife for testing and evaluation, the Skeletool CX is what I carry clipped into the left front pocket of my pants. My review of this multi-tool was published in SurvivalBlog on March 18, 2024. What I like about the Skeletool is that it provides pliers and screwdrivers in addition to a blade. That has saved me many trips to the nearest toolbox. The Skeletool had a manufacturer suggested retail price of $89.95 at the time of this writing.
• Swiss Army Classic SD with a Tortoise Gear Firefly Fire Starter. I carry this tiny knife every day in my left front pants pocket. I carry it primarily because the little scissors are so handy. If my regular EDC multi-tool or the knife included scissors, then I would stop carrying the SD. In the meantime, I have replaced the toothpick in the SD with a Firefly Fire Starter, which is a tiny ferrocerium rod. My review of the SD and the Firefly together was published in SurvivalBlog on April 7, 2021. The SD had a manufacturer suggested retail price of $24 at the time of this writing.
• Silver Stag Lion. I keep this knife in the mini survival kit in the glove compartment of my pickup truck. This knife is a keeper because it is a beautiful work of art. It is almost too beautiful to carry and actually use, but it is safe in the glove compartment of the truck where I can retrieve it if I really and truly need it. My review of the Lion was published in SurvivalBlog on February 13, 2023. The Lion had a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $178 at the time of this writing.
• Case Marilla. I keep this knife in the mini survival kit in the glove compartment of my wife, “Kari’s” car. This knife is a keeper partly because of the excellent strength-to-weight ratio that the carbon fiber and aluminum handle provides. My review of the Marilla was published in SurvivalBlog on July 1, 2024. The Marilla has a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $207.99 at the time of this writing.
• Bear Swipe IV. I keep this knife in the mini survival kit in the glove compartment of our 2008 Honda Fit. (An aside: Our Honda Fit has almost 260,000 miles on it, but it just keeps running and running without any problems as long as I change the oil on schedule, and replace the tires when they get worn. We kept the Fit when we bought the truck, because the Fit’s resale value was so low and it runs so well. I drive the Fit and the truck on alternating days to keep both batteries fully charged. Someday the Fit will die, and we will bid it a sorrowful farewell. In the meantime, it saves us enough gas to cover the cost of the extra insurance and gives us a vehicle that we can loan to family and friends or use ourselves when one of our other vehicles is in the shop). The authoritative snap of the assisted opening blade of the Bear Swipe IV blade deploying is very aesthetically pleasing. My review of the Bear Swipe IV was published in SurvivalBlog on January 15, 2024. The Bear Swipe IV had a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $99.99 at the time of this writing.
• Kershaw Link 1776. I keep this knife on the pegboard over the workbench in the pole barn. The primary reasons that it is a keeper is because of its rugged durability and the authoritative snap of its assisted opening blade deploying. My review of the Link was published in SurvivalBlog on August 26, 2024. The Link had a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $159.99 at the time of this writing.
• Tyrant Designs TDC 001. I keep this knife on the pegboard by the workbench in the basement. The primary reason this knife is a keeper is because of the excellent ergonomics of the grip. My review of the TDC 001 was not yet published at the time of this writing. The TDC 001 had a manufacturer suggested retail price of $79.75 at the time of this writing.
• Bear Edge Model 61125. I keep this knife in my fishing tackle box. It gained a place as a keeper because it is sharp, fun to open, and scales on its matte grey handle remind me of a fish. My review of the 61125 was published in SurvivalBlog on March 13, 2023. The 61125 had a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $69.99 at the time of this writing.

The combined manufacturer suggested retail prices of those eight knives is a total of $909.86. If you wanted eight EDC knives and did not want to spend more than $900, you could buy eight of the KA-BAR Dozier KA4065 for a total of only $160. The KA4065 is not quite as versatile as the Skeletool, doesn’t have scissors like the SD, is not as beautiful as the Lion, does not have as good of a strength to weight ratio as the Marilla, does not deploy quite as pleasingly as the Bear Swipe IV or the Kershaw Link, does not fit the hand quite as well as the TDC 001, and doesn’t resemble a fish like the 61125. But for most practical, everyday tasks, it will work just as well.

About Zytel

Zytel is trademark owned by the Celanese Corporation of Irving, Texas. It refers to a number of thermoplastic polyamide formulations in the nylon family. The Zytel that is commonly used in folding knife handles is reinforced with fiberglass. It is highly abrasion-resistant and impact-resistant.

Conclusions

The KA-BAR Dozier KA4065 Folding Knife is an outstanding value for an EDC knife. It is easy to open with one hand using either hand. It is easy to sharpen. It is corrosion resistant. It is thin and light. The warranty is nothing to brag about, but it is inexpensive enough that you could afford to replace the knife several times before approaching the price point of many similar knives.

I will repeat my words from the introduction to this review: if you need a good EDC knife and don’t have a lot of cash, the KA-BAR Dozier KA4065 is the knife to buy.

Disclaimers

Silver Stag, Case, Bear and Sons, and Tyrant CNC all provided me with samples of their knives for earlier reviews. Tortoise Gear provided me with a sample of their Firefly Fire Starter. I tried not to allow the kindness of these vendors interfere with the objectivity of this review, and I believe that I have succeeded. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.