M5 Z-Sere and its variants
Z-Sere gen2 with reverse varied grind, red linen micarta scales
Z-sere gen2 with reverse varied grind, saw teeth, natural linen scales, stainless bolts
Z-sere gen1 with reverse varied grind, caramel linen micarta scales. Available only to current and former SERE Specialists/Instructors.
M5 Medium Z-sere. Shown with (unorderable) Lightning Witch grind. A half guard comes standard on the Medium. Black canvas micarta handles scales, optional unlined lanyard hole. (All lanyard holes are unlined.) Suicide Squeeze knife not included.
M5 mini Z-sere: varied grind, saw teeth, OD g10 handle scales, aluminum pommel plate (optional) and stainless loveless bolts.
M5 micro Z-Sere: Half height grind, natural canvas micarta handle scales, aluminum pommel plate (optional), pommel spacer (not available for order) and stainless steel loveless bolts.
Click the link below to see the Z-Sere gallery
The generation one Z-sere, was for a time the official U.S. Air Force S.E.R.E. Specialist graduation knife. It was inspired by a man named Paul Zinsmeister. Mr Zinsmeister was
an Air Force survival instructor and custom knife maker before his untimely death. I first heard of Paul through my friend Terry Barney who was an instructor at the same time Paul
was. Terry had one of Paul’s big bolo knives and being a knife addict I became enamored with it. It’s one of the finest crafted large knives I’ve ever seen, Paul Zinsmeister was an amazing craftsman. His knives are rare in the extreme so not being able to find one, I made one. Not as well or masterful as Paul did but I gave it a shot. The Z-sere Gen 1 was born.
The generation one z-sere looked pretty close to Paul’s original design. Making that knife was a lesson to me in just how good of a knife maker Paul was, that knife is very difficult to grind. At least for me it was. It was a big re-curve knife and if you’ve ever used one you’ll know
they aren’t the easiest thing to sharpen.
So with that in mind, I made the generation two. It’s just as good a chopper as the gen one but it’s easier to sharpen and easier for me to make without pulling my hair out.
These knives are amazing choppers inspired by a design that goes back
a long time in the S.E.R.E program. I’m proud to have been a part of it in
some small way.
Blade length gen2: about 9 1/2"
Handle length gen2: about 5 1/2"
Blade length gen1: about 9"
Handle length gen1: about 5 1/2"
Neither the Generation 1 or the Generation two is available for order at this time. My apologies.
There are, however, three other versions of the Z-sere available, all with the recurve blade design. They aren’t large knives, however. They are all belt knife size and smaller. I decided to make it available in smaller sizes because the recurved blade is so iconic and elegant looking, not to mention handy as a pocket on a shirt.
Medium Z-Sere specifications: Blade about 5 1/4” - Handle about 4 5/8”
Mini Z-Sere Specifications: Blade about 4 3/8” - Handle about 4 1/2”
Micro Z-Sere specifications: Blade about 2 7/8"” - Handle about 3 3/4”