ALL THINGS BUDGET KNIVES

Ganzo also makes the 727M and the 727s that have 2.9 in blades. The difference between the G727M and FB727S is the latter is a newer model with bearings. There is also the F753M with a 2.9 in blade.

The new FB727S is much smaller than the G727M (blade length 3.07” / 78 mm vs. 3.46” / 88 mm). I have both of them and I prefer the FB727S for light EDC.

Doing some research, supposedly the D2 steel of Ganzo is lab tested and genuine. Hardness of 62, a bit on the high side. No idea how good the heat treating is. Even if it’s not great, it should still be better than the AUS6/AUS8 knives I’m used to.
Bladeforums has a few topics about this, what a dumpster fire. They probably have a point, about the fakes and lower quality control. They’re clinging on to the past or their pride, treating anything Chinese as inferior.

Plenty of suggestions here. Besides a bit shorter, I also like it to be fairly narrow. I’ll do some more research. If anyone can share more names of trustworthy Chinese manufacturers, I would be happy to hear about them.

Twosun Knives
Ruike Knives (a division of Fenix flashlights)
Bestech Knives

Just ordered the FH11S. Blade isn’t too wide, has a flipper. Let’s see how it goes.

How do you know its on bearings? There is no indication in the specs in the official website.

I don`t know about the rest but my FB727S runs on bearings. :slight_smile:

You’ll find. At those prices they are Chinese/Vietnam MFG.
Variable quality,assembly of.
Could be lucky. But they tend to be luck of the draw.

For Half decent, A lot of Chef’s use as good beaters.
Go to Hocho Knives. and check out the Tojiro Japanese.
Genuine VG10 triple layer. Worth the money.
I have several, use daily.

Above. Slippy polished timber handles.
You seriously use the knife.
Get a small tube of Clear Silicon.
Smear it very lightly over the scales.
It gives a lot more grip. But you lose the “polished” look.

I ended up buying the Stratos… Shipped to son in N.C.
He’ll pass it on with sister in law.
She flight crew on Quantas Aust/US runs.

The M16-14FK is one of my favourite.

I’ve got a Y-Start —02 D2 blade.

Alongside my Ganzo SanRenMu and Harnd’s.
I’d say it Maybe, a touch better that Harnds.
and a step up from other two.
F&F. Bearings. Balance in hand and feel.

That’s only My view.
With the models of the Knives I own.

There’s an awful lot out there.
Probably 98% of them better than my choices of blades.
Who knows… I’m happy.

Ah well. I’ve got a Cold Steel 6in fixed,
and an Iseya “I” Hammered series. 7 1\2in Santoku on the way.

Old one is Tojiro triple lam VG10. (I looove the blade shape and feel)
Tojiro are Very nice working blade.
But wife saw this and said X-Mas…
If you want a X-Mas.
THEY are a niiice Light piece of mid range 33 layer laminate.
So I keep telling myself.

I love Blade Forums but the place isn’t without difficulties. For instance, it’s very difficult to have a rational conversation about Ganzo knives over there. I understand opposition to counterfeits and clones, especially when some makers are contributors to the forum. I personally find counterfeits deplorable. That’s not what Ganzo does though. Sure, they have borrowed design elements and arguably a few clones. The difference is that they’re not trying to pass them off as something else, or lying about their steel content. There are also considerations regarding the historical progression of technology, the intricacies of intellectual property across different geopolitical zones and markets, etc. The hate usually feels a little misguided or poorly founded. Sometimes, it just boils down to anti-Chinese sentiment.

An interesting point made by Kevin Cleary is that some of the people advocating that hate might be unknowingly carrying a Ganzo-made knife. Given that many American or other companies have contracted to have their knives made in China anyway, Ganzo is one of the companies that might have made them.

Anyway, Ganzo’s D2 has been independently tested by various YouTubers. The HRC has been pretty good but that may have set artificially high expectations. From what I recall, cut testing puts Ganzo’s D2 on par with other budget D2 lines from China such as Steel Will’s. Given that Ganzo is delivering near the bottom of the price pool and competing with a lot of knives using 8Cr13Mov; I’d say that’s a win.

Xanadu NEW 14C28N steel tactical camping folding Knives G10 handle hunting Self-defense tool EDC cutter YX622
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/4PUwJVqu

Anyone have any budget front flippers like this?

Any others you can link me to would be cool…thanks

I think I have to have one to play with.

I have a Bestech Pebble which is similar to that Xanadu. It’s a bit more expensive as well. One of my favorite knives. I haven’t searched many places for it but, it might be able to be found cheaper.

https://www.bladehq.com/item—Bestech-Knives-Pebble-Liner-Lock—81583

That Pebble has a flipper tab. I’m interested in a front flipper.
Thank you

Are there any video reviews of this? I’m interested to see the action.

LuvThemKnives Spreadsheet of knife testing results to date seems to be updated only up to batch 16

Results for Batch 17 to 22 can be found on their channel site. For budget knives notice.
CH Nighthawk D2 (55-62) HRC 63 & 63.2
Ganzo FH41 D2 (55-62) HRC 63
CH Toucan D2 (HRC 55-62) 62.3
CH 3002 D2 (HRC 55-62) 59.9


———————— Batch 23 —————————————
—————————————————————————-
Bestech Bowietie M390 (60-62) HRC 60
Brother 1503 VG10 (58-60) HRC 57.8
CobraTec OTF 440C (58-60) 54.6
CobraTec OTF D2 blade (55-62) 59.4
Cold Steel Crawford 1 4034 blade (54-55) HRC 57 x 2
FF Mordax CPM20CV (56-59) HRC 59.5 x 2
GEC Yellow Rose 1095 (56-58) HRC 56.7
Real Steel H6 Elegance 14C28N (55-62) HRC 55
Spyderco Native Chief S30V (58-61) HRC 60.9 & 61.1
Yobo Tool Cayman VG10 (58-60) HRC 59.7 & 59.9
—————————————————————————-
———————— Batch 22 —————————————
—————————————————————————-
Amare Track S35VN (HRC 58-61) 56.2 & 56.3
CH 3002 D2 (HRC 55-62) 59.9
CH Toucan D2 (HRC 55-62) 62.3
HX Outdoors Mercenaries D2 not D2 probably 9CR14MOV (HRC 56-59) 56.2 & 56.3
Lovocoo Apologist S35VN (HRC 58-61) 59.2
Yon Xanadu YX650 D2 not more like 8CR13MOV (HRC 56-59) 59.2
Yon Xanadu YX750 VG10 (HRC 58-60) 57.8
—————————————————————————-
———————— Batch 21 —————————————
—————————————————————————-
9TIEDC Djinn Integral M390 (HRC 60-62) 59.6
QSP Gavail D2 (HRC 55-62) 58.9
QSP Locust VG10 (HRC 58-60) 58
QSP Songbird S35VN (HRC 58-61) 59.1
Spyderco Para 2 red M390 (HRC 60-62) 60.1
Spyderco Para 2 blue M390 (HRC 60-62) 60.8
Tangram Rumble Acuto Sold to Kurt (HRC 58-60) 54.8
Tuyaknife Kingsman M390 (HRC 60-62) 60
—————————————————————————-
———————— Batch 20 —————————————
—————————————————————————-
Real Steel Archangel D2 (55-62) HRC 60
Real Steel G5 Metamorph N690 (56-58) HRC 60.5
Real Steel Precision 3001 S35VN (58-61) HRC 59.3
Steel Will Tasso M390 (60-62) HRC 58 & 58.6
Tuyaknife Kostoba N690 (55-62) HRC 58 x 2
TwoSun TS134 Shockwave M390 (60-62) HRC 59 & 59.1
WE Synergy M390 (60-62) HRC 60.2 & 60.7
With Armour Sheepsfoot D2 (55-62) HRC 60.6 & 60.4
With Armour Dro D2 (55-62) HRC 61.1 & 61.2
—————————————————————————-
———————— Batch 19 —————————————
—————————————————————————-
Bastion Persuader D2 (55-62) HRC 59.6 & 59.2
CH Nighthawk D2 (55-62) HRC 63 & 63.2
Fanatic Edge Omen M390 HRC (60-62) HRC 57.3 x 2 -> $250
Ganzo FH41 D2 (55-62) HRC 63
Honey Badger D2 (55-62) HRC 62 (no PMI)
Isham Bladeworks Abstruse M390 (60-62) HRC 58.9 & 59.3
Kubey KU208C D2 (55-62) HRC 59 & 59.1
Manly Peak D2 (55-62) HRC 60 x 3
Manly Wasp 12C27 (54-61) HRC 57.1
—————————————————————————-
———————— Batch 18 —————————————
—————————————————————————-
Benchmade Barrage M390 HRC 60.2
Benchmade Griptillian CPM20CV HRC 60.3
Benchmade 805 TSEK M2 HRC 60
Benchmade 805 TSEK M390 HRC 59.6
Kershaw Dividend M390 HRC 60.1
Kershaw Knockout M390 HRC 61.3
Kershaw Link M390 HRC 61
Lionsteel M4 fixed blade M390 HRC 59.1
Microtech Socom Elite Auto 2018 M390 HRC 59.9 & 60
Reate Wave M390 HRC 59.3
Reate Knives Mini Horizon-D M390 HRC 59.3 & 59.2
Rike 1508 Integral M390 HRC 59.2 & 60
Spyderco Para 2 S110V HRC 62
Spyderco Manix2 lightweight S110V HRC 62.3
Spyderco Yojimbo 2 CPM20CV HRC 60.8
Steel Will Modus M390 HRC 57.8 & 57.9
—————————————————————————-
———————— Batch 17 —————————————
—————————————————————————-
Boker Kalash Auto S30V HRC 58.3 x 2
Buck 112 Slim Pro Micarta S30V HRC 58.2 & 58.7
James Brand Folsom CTS-BD1 HRC 58
Kawaiback clone not S35VN - Probably 8CR… HRC 57.1 & 57.6
LionSteel Roundhead M390 HRC 59 Peters Heat
Norseman Clone M390 HRC 58.3 & 58.1
Rike F1-T CPM-D2 HRC 64.3 & 64.7
Samier Field Cleaver not D2 probably8CR… HRC 55 & 56
Small cleaver not S35VN probably 8CR… HRC 57.9 & 57.2
Steel Will Cutjack Green M390 HRC 58.2 & 57.7

How’s that Kershaw launcher copy? Thought I saw them going for about $35, when the original is well over $100.

Thanks for summarizing this. Tedious to wander through all the videos. Seems like CH Knives has been scoring well on average, often hitting the upper end of the declared hardness range.

The launch copies are great. No hotspots, blades are sharp. And they fire HARD!
There are two more I’m going buy soon.