ESEE IZULA 2 KNIFE REVIEW
The Izula 2, from ESEE Knives, is a small but very capable knife. With a blade length of barely over 2.5 inches, it’s easy to underestimate the full potential of this little knife. The overall design of the knife allows it to handle the smaller tasks that you would expect from a knife this size, but also allows it to be stout enough to take a beating when your outdoor adventures take an unexpected turn.
ESEE IZULA 2 KNIFE SPECS
Blade Length: 2.63” (6.68 cm)
Blade Thickness: .156” (3.96 mm)
Overall Length: 6.75” (17.15 cm)
Grind: Flat
Steel: 1095 High Carbon, 55-57 Rc.
Handle Material: Canvas Micarta
Weight: 3.2 Oz. Without Sheath
Sheath: Molded sheath
THE BLADE
1095 High Carbon Steel:
The Izula 2 is made from 1095 high carbon steel, and it extends through the length of the handle (full tang). In my opinion, this is a solid steel for this knife. 1095 makes for a dependable steel with reasonable edge retention 
and toughness. It won’t keep an edge forever, so if that’s your top priority, this might not be the steel for you. However, when your edge does start to lose its bite, it sharpens back up relatively easily and can be done in the field with basic sharpening stones.
With this knife being as small as it is, the level of toughness that 1095 provides might actually be overkill. “Toughness,” in knife steel terms, refers to its ability to resist chipping with impact (knives meant for heavy chopping, for example, will benefit from high levels of toughness). That being said, having this knife in 1095, as well as its fairly generous steel thickness, allows this knife to be quite a beast for its size. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a small knife, but the Izula 2 continues to surprise me with how well it performs when I’ve put it up against tasks that I thought were well beyond its ability. I’ve batoned this knife through tree limbs and even built a raft from reeds that carried me on the water for over a mile.
1095 high carbon steel is not your best friend, however, when it comes to corrosion resistance. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be used in wet environments, but care needs to be taken to ensure that rust doesn’t build up on your blade. I’ve used this knife from Arizona to Alaska. It rarely had a problem in the desert. Even during times when I did water crossing or swam with it, I just made sure to wipe it dry when I had a chance and it was usually just fine. In Alaska, with the rain, snow, rivers, lakes, ocean… it’s a different story, but I still don’t hesitate to bring it along with me. For most conditions, simply wiping it off when I get a chance and letting it and the sheath dry out once I return home has kept it in good condition. Occasionally, I’ll coat it with a little oil (I just use mineral oil or olive oil) and let that soak in a bit once it’s dried out. I’ve brought it out fishing on the ocean at times and used it for cutting bait and gills. The salt water is much more corrosive than freshwater, and so that adds a little more to the post-trip maintenance. After trips like these, I will usually take an extra fine piece of steel wool, some high grit sandpaper, or sometimes just a cleaning sponge if the rust is light enough and scrub out the rust. If the rust is only on the cutting edge, it will come out with a few passes on my ceramic stone. So bottom line with the corrosion potential of 1095, as long as you’re okay with a little post-use care, it will serve you just fine even in wet environments, but if you’re “wet environment” is very humid or if your primary use is near salt water, you might want to look at a knife made from stainless steel (the Izula can sometimes be found in S35VN which has much better corrosion resistant properties than 1095).
Flat Grind:
The grind on the ESEE Izula 2 is a flat grind. If you look carefully at where the grind meets with the spine of the knife, you’ll notice that nearing the handle, a very small portion of the knife blade’s full thickness can be seen right before it meets the plunge line. Some might call this a high (very high, hardly relevant) saber grind since that portion of the grind doesn’t go all the way to the spine the way a “full flat grind” would. For almost all 
purposes that are relevant to actual use, this is a full flat grind. The reason I bring up this subtle detail, however, is because it is another feature that makes this small knife such a beast. The extra amount of steel there is small, but it adds strength and rigidity to the entire blade. This is always a balancing act when designing knives, so if grind line carried out even further toward the tip of the knife, the Izula would be even more of a tank, but it would also lose its ability to slice and perform some of the finer tasks that one could easily argue is the role of a smaller knife like this. The balance that ESEE Knives chose to strike with this grind allows it to perform the finer tasks very well, but have just a little extra strength for those rare times when you probably should have brought a bigger tool.
The Blade Profile:
The drop point blade profile of the Izula 2 is a very basic shape which allows it to perform a wide variety of tasks. There are some blade profiles that are very specialized and designed with a very specific task in mind—this is far from one of those profiles.
The tip of this knife drops just slightly down from the spine of the knife. Actually, the entire upper portion of the knife, when viewed from a side angle, arcs which allows the knife tip to be near centerline without having to drop as far (like the way a Kephart-style knife like the ESEE PR4 does, for example). I personally appreciate this subtle drop because it provides good and natural-feeling awareness of where that tip is when in use. It also
allows the knife to have more belly at the front end of the cutting edge for skinning tasks. By dropping the knife tip to where it is, it gives this smallknife a good amount of curved cutting edge without taking away too much of the straight section of the blade (which is often the case when there is no drop). There is no perfect ratio of straight edge to belly in a knife, so this comes down to personal preference and the type of tasks you plan to use the knife for, but for me, I think it’s great for a small, all purpose knife.
The Steel Coating:
Coatings and treatments are often used on knife steel to help protect the steel from corrosion, scratches, or sometimes just to add color (blacking out a tactical knife or using a hunter orange color to keep you from losing it). With their 1095 blades, ESEE Knives always uses either a textured powder coat or a tumbled oxide finish (which is more of a treatment than a coating).
The Izula 2 can be found in both the powder coating as well as the black oxide, and both approaches have their advantages. The powder coat is tough and takes a good beating. It will wear off in places over time with enough use, but it holds up fairly well, in my opinion. This coating will hold back corrosion quite well, leaving only the sharpened edge exposed to the elements. The downside to this coating is it does add a small amount of thickness to the blade, and therefore increases the friction during certain cuts. If a super slicey blade is what you need above all else, the black oxide treatment takes up zero space as it becomes part of the steel. The disadvantage with black oxide, however, is that it offers less corrosion resistance. You won’t notice it during most situations, but if you’re cutting halibut and rockfish gills off the coast of Alaska all day, you’ll see some surface rust when you get home.
THE HANDLE
When it comes to handle design, there is no perfect handle that’s going to work for everyone. A handle should fit the design and intended purpose of the knife, of course, but since everyone’s hand is different. That being said, this is a small knife and so it has a small handle. I wear a size “large” in gloves, and for me, I’m able to get all four fingers on the handle. There isn’t much room to spare, but it feels nice in the hand and is supportive enough for the type of work I put this knife through. The way this knife is designed, the hand falls naturally into place to include not just the portion of the handle with the scales, but also the fingerguard-like portion of steel between the handle and the cutting edge. Most of the pressure I place on the grip, even during heavy, deep cuts, goes into the handle scales so I don’t have an issue with holding onto that portion of steel. For as simple as this handle design is, it is really very comfortable for me. There isn’t even much contour anywhere. From the side profile, it’s basically just an oval and the scales are flat on the sides. There is nothing bulky or cumbersome about this little knife, and that includes the handles—they’re just enough, without being too much. I also own a Next Gen from LT Wright. I love that knife and its about the same size as the Izula 2, but with a much fuller handle. If I’m carving all day, that Next Gen feels great in hand, but the Izula 2 sheds some weight with those thinner scales and also allows me to grip the knife in more ways for certain types of tasks. Neither knife handle is “wrong,” they’re just different, and those differences show not only in their appearance, but in use.
The handle of the Izula 2 is made from canvas micarta. This is a very strong material made from canvas pressed tightly with epoxy. It has an almost scratchy surface material that provides good grip on the knife even when wet. The material will absorb fluids to a small degree, so oils, blood, fishslime… can get in and bacteria growth can become a concern. I wash mine from time to time (especially after using it for fish or animals) in hot water and regular dish soap and it cleans up nicely. The original handle scales on this knife were flat on the sides, but from the photos included, you can see that I added a little variation to mine which adds even more grip. The handles can easily be reshaped with hand files (which is what I used—see this video for details) or a Dremel tool or something like that. Please, note that micarta dust is very bad for the lungs. I now wear a respirator whenever I’m shaping micarta, especially now that I’m making my own knives.
The knife handle also has a large hole at the rear that can easily accommodate a lanyard, but is large enough for a carabiner. Also, if you want an even more simple and streamlined knife, the scales can be removed. This takes away some of the comfort of the handle, but the remaining skeletonized tang provides a minimalist approach that is sometimes appreciated.
THE SHEATH
The sheath of the Izula 2 comes in a few different configurations depending on which setup you purchase. The basic sheath is a plastic molded sheath that holds the blade very well, but allows the knife to be easily retrieved with a simple push of the thumb while holding the handle of the knife. There are two holes on the cutting edge side and a long slotted hole on the spine side. These holes allow for the option belt clip to be fitted into place, but can also be used to secure the knife to a pack or vest. There is also a lanyard hole at the bottom of the sheath that doubles as a drain hole.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The ESEE Izula 2 is a dependable knife that is great for the lightweight tasks due to its small size, but can also tackle the tougher tasks when needed. It probably accompanies me on more adventures than any other knife I own. In the desert (especially high desert), I rarely needed more blade than this. Here in Alaska, it’s a little different story, but depending on my needs, this knife still makes the gear list—either on its own or paired with a longer knife, ax, or a saw.
It also might be worth noting that ESEE Knives has an even smaller version of the Izula 2 that is simply referred to as the ESEE Izula. I’ll review this knife separately at a future date and compare it with the Izula 2 for reference. This knife is nearly identical to the Izula 2, but has a smaller handle and is usually sold without handle scales (although handle scales can be purchased seperatley).
GEAR UP
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- ESEE Izula 2
- ESEE Izula
- ESEE PR4 (mentioned in this article)
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