Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
Buy a Rare Kizer w/ M390, Help Out the Custom Maker Who Designed It
[Skip to the second paragraph if you just want to get to the who/what/when/where/how point relating to the title.]
The knife that turned me from a knife OWNER into a knife COLLECTOR was the Kizer Flashbang with Rainbow Skully anodized handle. It was on sale at BladeHQ a couple years back (Kizer has an annual end-of-year sale with discounts ranging from 30 to 60%, no crappy 10% "sales" like most companies), so I picked it up, but found I didn't want to use it. It was too...pretty. Or cool, yeah that sounds better, it was too cool, and I didn't know what to do with it, so I stuck it in a drawer and regularly pulled it out to play with and admire. Eventually I realized "because I enjoy looking at it, and playing with it" was as legitimate a reason to own a knife as any other, so I accepted the formerly uncomfortable idea that I could buy knives even if I didn't plan to cut stuff with them.
So I've always had admiration for the designs of Matt Cucchiarra, the custom knife maker who designed the Flashbang, and also the Dorado, which some of you many have purchased through (Mass)Drop like me, and a number of other designs. But it seemed like he quit producing knives right about the time I got interested in 2017, and indeed that was more or less true: in 2016, I believe, he was hit by a drunk driver and messed up bad. Like metal pins and rods, traction, loss of dexterity, and painful rehab-bad. Then at some point after, as he was starting to get better, he had a stroke, or a series of strokes, which totally messed up his fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, things that are nice to have when grinding a custom blade. He hasn't been able to work since, and as you'll be able to read for yourself, he "lost [his] wife, [his] house, and both of [his] Awesome cars." [sic]
Last night I was browsing eBay and found this page: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MATT-CUCCHIARA-Mini-Flashbangs-Plain-Only-Left-Flipper-Bohler-M390-Folding/401807763451
This is literally Matt Cucchiarra selling off a personal stock of Mini Flashbang knives to try to make some money. What's really cool is that the version of the Mini Flashbang that was released to the public only had S35VN blade steel like the full-sized model. Matt is selling Mini Flashbangs with M390, like the Mini Dorado has (I always wondered why the Mini Dorados had M390 blades, but not the Mini Flashbangs; well, that's because Matt Cucchiarra ganked all the M390 models for himself). The other thing that's cool is that he's selling them for $66.00, and it includes the two boxes, case, and cloth from that normally come with high end Kizers.
So go help a dude out--a SoCal dude like me, and a great designer too. I myself have to pay a hefty vet bill today, but this Wednesday the dividend payments will hit my account, and I'll be ordering at least one, maybe more. Anyway, $66 is a hell of a deal, you can't claim any charitable act when that's the price for a knife like that, so get buying, friends, and we'll all be happy.
P.S.: he is out of the Rainbow Skully handles, but people around here seem to prefer the plain handles anyway, so I trust the limitation would dissuade you.
search
close
Sort by: Newest
keyboard_arrow_downHatuletoh
850
Sep 27, 2020
reswrightOutstanding, thank you. I think I may have to look at my investment accounts to find some funds I can allocate for the acquisition of a Mini-Flashbang, despite the total size of my accounts being no more than a few jars at the moment. And not the big half-gallon ones either, just regular pint jars. But hopefully my financial adviser Mr. CoinStar can find a little extra hiding someewhere, and I'll put pressure to remit on debts owed by the Couch Cushion Holdings Company and Last Week's Trousers, LLC, and that ought to generate liquidity enough to facilitate the acquisition.
Depsite making the original post, I didn't buy one of the Minis from Cucchiara's personal stash on eBay immediately, and by the time I got around to doing it the next day, the remaining stock had been cleaned out by the (Mass)Drop folks.
I'd never seen the M390 version sold in a knife shop, but to be fair, I'm geographically a stone's throw from a great little knife shop, and a mule ride from a great big knife shop, and if those guys don't have something it's not really on my radar, because I kind of hate buying models of knives that I haven't been able manhandle a bit first. Of course, they've closed their storefronts for the duration of the Endless Spring (Out)Break of 2020, so maybe that's a sign I need to expand my horizons. I still have a hard time buying I knife sight-unseen though.
Omniseed
1972
Jul 27, 2019
reswrightDamn I wish I had seen this sooner, for one thing that's a horrible run of tragedy and for another I really love the small M390 Kizers, but never picked up a Flashbang.
If any of you don't like it as much as you had hoped, I would be thrilled to buy it for slightly more than you paid
Kavik
5531
Jul 9, 2019
Thank you for sharing this!
I bought 1 of the 3 that were left, because it's a helluva price!! 😲
But I gotta say, I'm slightly confused.....i see the plain Mini Flashbang in m390 in stock at SMKW right now?
Oh well, maybe not as exclusive as advertised? But still, a quarter the cost 👍
Hatuletoh
850
Jul 15, 2019
KavikYou all beat me to those Flashbangs: they were sold out by the time I went to buy one. But I'm ok with that and maybe Mr. C. has some other cool stuff he'll sell at a desperate man's prices. I genuinely feel bad for the guy; I'd heard about his situation before because I did some digging, wondering why he hadn't released anything new lately, but it hits much more viscerally to read the details from the individual himself, who asks for your patience because mailing knives is taxing with limited motor skills. And he's selling off a collection that's both knives and personally significantly memorabilia from what I imagine was the high point of his professional recognition and success...
I didn't realize, obviously, that there were Mini Flashbangs w/ M390 because they were never sold by BladeHQ. This is a good illustration of how spoiled I am: I had no idea what SMKW was, had to google the letters. Except for a Strider from Steel Addiction, and a Custom Marfione and some rare Microtechs from Pioneer Valley Knife, I have never bought a knife from any shop other than BladeHQ or BladeOps. I've never even searched around to find other shops because when something is coming in that I want, I just email or call my local stores and ask them to hold one for me when the shipment arrives (to be fair, BladeHQ makes me wait until the piece is actually live for purchase on their site before theyll promise to hold one for me). Clearly I'm limiting myself and other places have cool knives that my local shops don't, but it seems like a lot of work to find other retailers when I have a great relationship with the locals.
Kavik
5531
Jul 15, 2019
HatuletohDamn, you're lucky. I wish any of the big knife stores had a brick and mortar store near me!
Then again.....I might be bankrupt by now if they did lol
Actually, i messaged him on ebay to ask about this as well, and he wasn't aware they were selling them either.
It may be possible that SMKW bought up some of the eBay stock and listed them on the site, he did say he had a couple people order a bunch of them.
I'm hoping that's what it is, because the other options are that he's lying (which i seriously doubt. He'd have no reason to, and it would be too easy to catch if he did), or that Kizer is making and selling more without his permission. Guess we can't know unless someone buys one and checks for the serial
reswright
3850
Jul 8, 2019
Ordered. Looks like there's only 3 left.
Almost bought the Flashbang when BHQ had it on sale. Had it in the cart, let it go.
Related Posts
raulqr
Have had my chair for almost five years now. Holding up pretty good. But it needs a set of new wheels right away. Where can I get these?
Mar 27, 2024
Trending Posts in More Community Picks
Graham88
Completely surprised by the lack of blade diversity here on Drop...
I’ve been a collector of Blades since before my teens, and a retailer coming up on 15… or maybe 20 years. Drop has really been kind of an interesting experience for me, because I do occasionally get to see some unusual tech and sometimes EDC items that otherwise I might not have been aware of. And maybe it’s because I have a deep love of cutlery and bladed weapons, but I find myself trolling through the site looking at it what’s available; and it’s just it’s pretty much the same. And the bladed community here is just always confused me.. every single knife is about the same, they’re almost all drop points and although the handle materials change and brands change.. it’s really just the same knife over and over and over again... occasionally you’ll see a tanto or a slight variant; but rarely… and almost never a serrated blade. And I’m just deeply amazed at this diversion of serrated blades. And I’m just surprised there isn’t more of a request for diversity here.... and I...
Mar 12, 2020
JellyDPhoto
Can we get Sony E-Mount or other mirrorless camera options please..
Would be nice to see some Sony E mount full frame cameras on here. I currently shoot with a A99 and they killed the lense path for better or more option lenses and now is all E-Mount. 🤔
Jan 13, 2020
RayF
There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Drop Refurbished
Like-new products you can trustDrop Rewards
Get $5 for every 500 points you earn! Learn more
Drop Keyboard Club
Become a member and expand your keycap collectionCollaborate With Us
For Brands & DesignersFollow Drop