Forty-two dollars used to be the price of a knife you did not think about. Now it buys Bohler N690, a liner lock and a Willumsen design credit, which is a strange sentence to write about a knife that is currently sitting in Kizer's new-arrivals row.
The Barbosa V3487N1 is a 7.05-inch folder with a 2.98-inch drop point in N690 at 58-60 HRC, satin finished, on black G10 scales over stainless liners. Closed length is 4.07 inches, the lock is a liner, the clip is tip-up, and the whole thing weighs 3.07 ounces. Designer credit goes to Mikkel Willumsen, whose work for Kizer tends to sit on the aggressive end of the catalog rather than the polite end.
N690 is the interesting part of the spec sheet. It is a Bohler stainless with cobalt in the mix, roughly VG-10 in edge retention and noticeably better than VG-10 in corrosion resistance, and it takes a very fine edge off a ceramic rod in under a minute. It is not a supersteel and it will not hold a working edge through a season of cardboard the way S35VN does, but it is tougher than its reputation suggests and it is forgiving on a cheap stone. For a knife that will be sharpened on a kitchen rod or a pocket diamond card, that is the right trade.
Against the rest of Kizer's sub-fifty shelf the Barbosa sits in a crowded lane. The Original V3605E2 at $50.40 gives you 154CM, a button lock and 2.61 ounces in the same general size, which is the better carry knife. The T1 V3490E1 at $47.40 gives you a 3.2-inch 154CM blade at 61 HRC and 3.68 ounces, which is the better hard-use knife. What the Barbosa adds is the G10 grip and Willumsen's handle geometry: a fuller, more neutral shape that fills the palm instead of indexing on two fingers.
Verdict: buy it as a glovebox or workbench knife, or if you specifically want N690's corrosion resistance around salt water and sweat. Skip it if you already own an Original or a T1, because both are more knife per dollar in their own direction. At $42 it is not a mistake, it is just not the only sensible option in the drawer.
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