Kizer Sheepdog C01C Mini (S35VN, Raffir, Ki3488A6) Review — Two Years In
This is the review format the internet almost never produces: the same knife, the same pocket, two years. The Sheepdog C01C Mini is Chris Conaway's cleaver-style Sheepdog shrunk to a 2.64-inch office-friendly footprint — and the specific version I bought in September 2024, S35VN in a Raffir composite handle, has since vanished from Kizer's lineup. The Sheepdog family it came from is thriving: the current 2.75-inch button-lock successor holds 4.6 stars across more than 1,200 Amazon ratings. So this page does two jobs — what two years of carry revealed about mine, and what today's Sheepdog line gives you instead of it.
By [AUTHOR NAME]·Purchased Sep 2024, direct from Kizer — owned 2 years·Family standing: successor model 4.6 across 1,216 ratings, verified live 2026-09-02
Heads up: links below are affiliate links — if you buy through them I earn a commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I bought this knife with my own money, direct from Kizer, in September 2024; nobody paid for this page.
The verdict
Direct answer: after two years of carry, the Sheepdog C01C Mini has earned permanent rotation status — a 2.64-inch S35VN sheepsfoot that cuts like a much bigger knife because the cleaver geometry puts real blade height behind a short edge, on a ball-bearing pivot that was smooth in 2024 and is still smooth now. The catch is that you can't buy mine anymore: Kizer has discontinued the premium S35VN/Raffir Mini, and the Sheepdog line has pivoted to bigger, cheaper-steel button-lock versions. They're excellent value — but the change is worth understanding before you buy.
Owned & carried 2 years
Kizer Sheepdog C01C Mini (S35VN, Raffir, Ki3488A6)
For: anyone who wants a genuinely small EDC that still handles box-breakdown and utility cutting like a work knife — the wide sheepsfoot blade is the whole trick — and who values a premium steel (S35VN) at the compact end of the size range where most makers fit budget steel.
Skip if: you need a piercing tip (a sheepsfoot deliberately has none), you want a blade over 3 inches for food prep or field tasks, or you're set on this exact Raffir/S35VN build — it's discontinued, and secondary-market pricing on dead variants is rarely rational. The current 2.75" successor below is the sane buy.
Owner photos & measurements coming
Two years of wear is the entire point of this page, so the photos have to show it: the Raffir scales today vs. Kizer's stock renders, the blade after [N] sharpenings, the clip and pivot hardware. Landing in the next update — until then, every claim below is sourced and linked; nothing is invented.
What two years actually tells you
A week-one review can tell you about action, fit and finish, and first-cut sharpness. It cannot tell you any of the following — which is exactly the list I'm filling in from the knife on my desk:
Edge retention in practice:[YOUR NOTE — roughly how many sharpenings in two years? does S35VN hold up between them for your actual use?]
How Raffir wears: Kizer's pitch for the material was a matte, "no plastic feeling" composite. Two years of pocket rash is the real test. [YOUR NOTE — scratches? sheen change? still matte?]
Whether the bearings survived lint: ball-bearing pivots are famously smooth new and famously lint-sensitive. [YOUR NOTE — still drops shut? ever cleaned/oiled it? (the Kershaw oil review is the companion page)]
What it actually gets used for: the honest answer to "do you need a cleaver blade in a 2.6-inch knife" is written by what a knife does in year two, not week one. [YOUR NOTE — the three jobs this knife does most]
Lock and lockup today: any developed play, lock stick, or drift after two years. [YOUR NOTE — also confirm the lock on your unit: retailer listings for the Mini family describe frame locks]
Key specs
Spec
Value
Blade length
2.64 in / 67 mm, sheepsfoot (mini-cleaver profile)
Frame lock (per retailer listings for the Ki3488 Mini family)
Designer
Chris Conaway, Sheepdog Knives — the design the whole C01C family descends from
Extras
Pocket clip; deeper finger choil than the full-size C01C; ships with storage case
Specs from Kizer's published listing copy for Ki3488A6 (via the Amazon product page, verified live Sep 2, 2026) and cross-checked against retailer listings for the Mini family. My own scale-and-caliper numbers replace these in the next update.
The uncomfortable part: Kizer killed this version
Direct answer: the S35VN/Raffir Mini is gone from Kizer's catalog, and it didn't die alone — the premium Mini family around it (titanium, carbon fiber, even a CPM-20CV version) shows up as "discontinued" at major retailers. What replaced it is a bigger, cheaper-steel, button-lock Sheepdog lineup: 2.75-and-2.9-inch versions in AEB-L and Nitro-V. Those are honest steels and the market clearly loves the result — but a premium-steel, sub-2.7-inch Sheepdog no longer exists new.
Checked directly on Kizer's own Sheepdog collection page (Sep 2, 2026): 28 products, spanning button-liner-lock and Clutch Lock C01Cs in Nitro-V, ELMAX at the top end, utility-blade variants, even a fixed-blade Survival model — and exactly one Mini, a 14C28N/G10 version, listed sold out. The premium Minis of my knife's generation surface only as discontinued listings at KnifeCenter and secondary stock at smaller dealers.
What that means if you're shopping today: the C01C 275 — 2.75-inch AEB-L, button liner lock, micarta — is the closest living relative, and its 4.6-star average across 1,216 Amazon ratings says the design translated. AEB-L trades some edge retention against S35VN for easier sharpening and toughness; for most people, most of the time, that's a fair trade at a lower price tier. What you can no longer buy is precisely what made mine worth reviewing for two years: powder steel in the smallest frame. If that combination matters to you, this is your periodic reminder that "I'll grab it next sale" is how knives like this end up reviewed posthumously.
What independent sources say
Kizer Knives — official Sheepdog collection — the live catalog: current locks (Kizer Button Liner Lock, Clutch Lock), steels (Nitro-V, AEB-L, ELMAX at the top), and the absence of premium Minis. Verified Sep 2, 2026.
Amazon listing for the exact Ki3488A6 — Kizer's published specs and Raffir description; a small 4.8-star pool (7 ratings) on this low-volume premium variant, and "currently unavailable" status. Cited for specs, not as a popularity signal.
Juicebox Hero — Kizer Sheepdog C01C review (Aug 2023) — hands-on with the full-size 154CM Clutch Lock variant: "extremely fidgety," sharp out of the box, comfortable four-finger grip — and two honest dings, thumb studs that worked loose repeatedly and near-5-ounce weight. Different variant than mine (bigger, different lock, different steel), cited for what carries across the family: the geometry and the ergonomics.
The mini-cleaver geometry is the design's genuine idea: a tall, wide sheepsfoot puts big-knife cutting authority behind a 2.64-inch, socially invisible blade. The 1,216-rating pool on the current successor is evidence the idea has a durable audience, not a gimmick's.
S35VN at this size is what made this variant special — a powder steel with real edge retention in a class where 8Cr and 14C28N are the norm, run in a 2.8 mm stock that keeps the knife slicey.
Ball-bearing flipper action — smooth at purchase, and the two-year verdict on whether it stayed that way is the [YOUR NOTE] above; the family's reviewers consistently praise the deployment.
The deeper finger choil (the Mini's specific change vs. the full-size C01C) makes a sub-3.6-inch handle usable with a full grip — the ergonomic complaint you'd expect from a knife this size mostly doesn't materialize.
At 2.61 oz it disappears in a pocket; compare 4.76 oz measured on the full-size Clutch Lock variant by Juicebox Hero.
What doesn't
No tip. A sheepsfoot trades away piercing entirely — opening clamshell packaging or starting a cut mid-material is technique, not stab. Buyers who've never carried one should know this going in.
Discontinued: you cannot walk into this exact knife new, and I won't pretend secondary-market hunting for it is rational for most buyers when the C01C 275 exists.
The premium Mini tier died for a reason — low review counts (7 ratings on this listing) suggest it never sold in volume. If you love small premium knives, the market keeps voting against you.
Family-level watch items from independent reviews: thumb-stud hardware loosening on the full-size Clutch Lock variant (Juicebox Hero) — worth a periodic screw check on any C01C — and cleaver-wide blades polarize on looks.
[YOUR NOTE — the honest two-year gripe: what would you change about yours?]
Raffir is a Danish maker of resin-stabilized composite handle materials — layered media set in resin and machined like any scale material. Kizer's own description of this handle emphasizes the matte, non-plastic feel of the finish. In hand it reads closer to a stabilized natural material than to G10; how it wears over years is exactly what the photo section above documents.
Is S35VN worth it over the AEB-L and Nitro-V in the current Sheepdogs?
For edge retention, yes — S35VN is a powder metallurgy steel and holds a working edge longer. For sharpening ease and toughness, AEB-L and Nitro-V (both fine-grained AEB-L-family steels) push back honestly, and they take a screaming edge with less effort. If you sharpen rarely and cut a lot, mourn the S35VN Mini; if you enjoy sharpening, the current line gives up less than the spec sheet implies.
Why would anyone want a cleaver-shaped blade this small?
Because blade height does work that blade length usually gets credit for. A tall flat-ground sheepsfoot tracks straight through cardboard and strapping, keeps the edge fully in the cut, and puts your thumb over the spine for controlled push cuts. The Sheepdog's whole family exists because Chris Conaway's original made that case; the Mini makes it at a size that offends nobody at the office.
Is the Sheepdog C01C Mini discontinued?
This premium generation of it, effectively yes: Kizer's live Sheepdog collection carries no S35VN Mini, the titanium and carbon-fiber Mini siblings show as discontinued at KnifeCenter, and the sole current Mini (14C28N/G10) was sold out at Kizer when checked in September 2026. The design lives on in the larger C01C 275 and 2.9 versions.