The original Zero Tolerance 0454 was an award-winning collaboration between ZT and custom knife designer Dmitry Sinkevich. But it was also a very Limited Edition knife.

So ZT is doing something about that with the new 0450. While based on the original’s streamlined form and high-performance function, this new and more compact version will be much more readily available. With its 3.25-inch blade and lightweight-yet-stronger-than-steel titanium handles, the 0450 has a sleek and sophisticated look that, we think, makes it a perfect EDC.
 
ZT built it with an S35VN stainless blade that sharpens to a razor edge, holds it well, and can be resharpened easily. The knife opens smoothly and easily with the KVT ball-bearing opening system and built-in flipper. A titanium frame lock with hardened steel lockbar insert ensures solid lock up. Polished pivot hardware just adds to the 0450's refined good looks.

Specifications:

• Made in the USA
• Based on the award-winning 0454
• Manual open, KVT ball-bearing system
• Frame lock
• Reversible (left/right), deep-carry clip
• Steel: S35VN, stonewashed & satin finish
• Handle: Titanium, stonewashed finish
• Blade length: 3.25 in. (8.3 cm)
• Closed length: 4.1 in. (10.4 cm)
• Overall length: 7.4 in. (18.8 cm)
• Weight: 2.9 oz. (82.2 g)

S35VN
Crucible's S35VN modifies the formula of S30V for enhanced toughness and resistance to edge chipping with no loss of wear resistance. Its formula promotes the formation of niobium carbides along with the vanadium and chromium carbides. It provides a sharper, longer lasting edge.

KVT Opening System

• A manual opening system
• Enables smooth and easy one-handed opening of ZT's heavier blades, even without a spring or torsion bar
• Uses ball bearings to enable the blade to glide out of the handle

The KVT opening system is a manual opening system that enables smooth, easy blade opening without the use of a spring or torsion bar to "assist" the blade out of the handle. Instead, the KVT system uses a series of ball bearings that surround the pivot point of certain ZeroTolerance folding knives. As a knife user pulls back on the flipper blade protrusion or pushes outward on the thumbstud, the ball bearings rotate so that the blade glides out of the handle then locks into place, ready for use.

Titanium Handle
Titanium is a lightweight, corrosion-resistant metal with high tensile strength. ZT uses it as a handle material, a liner, a lockbar, or as part of a performance-enhancing coating.

Frame Lock
In a frame lock knife, the knife handle—its “frame”—consists of two plates of material on either side of the blade. To ensure a secure lock up, one or both of these plates is usually metal. When the knife is opened, the metal side of the frame, the lockbar, butts up against the backend of the blade (the tang) and prevents the blade from closing. To close a frame lock knife, the user pushes the frame to the side, unblocking the blade, and folds the blade back into the handle. Like locking liner knives, frame locks are manufactured so that the locking side of the frame is angled toward the interior of the knife, creating a bias toward the locked position. Both the blade tang and the lockbar are precisely angled so they fit together for a secure, reliable lockup. The thickness of the frame material blocking the blade open makes the frame lock extremely sturdy.