ALL THINGS BUDGET KNIVES

AUS8 is a decent steel that is identical to 440B and really similar to 8CR13MOV . It does well with a good heat treat. Heat treat can be quite a time consuming (and expensive) process.

Great chart!

Hadn't seen that one before.

You’re welcome. Glad it helps!

I believe that different chemistries can perform similarly and that the heat treat is as important as the blade steel.

It is odd that the three alloys on the far right in those graphs have drastically different composition and very similar properties. Maybe there is something left out about the last one, ZDP189/CowryX, as why would it do so well with only iron, carbon and chromium.

Sorry I was thinking of aus-8A steel, which has vanadium inlaid into it.

There hasn't been much discussion on this thread yet about DAMASCUS blades. Some knives with damascus blades also have damascus bolster/scales - those are usually way out of "budget" range.

In the past year, I have had (and still have) a burning love/desire for damascus. However, since I know that I'll rarely, if ever, use those blades, I fundamentally bought a few "budget" samples to whet my appetite. Glad I did - I admire them often.

I paid $53.95 USD for the Kershaw Skyline Damascus (claims to use "Alabama Damascus," supposedly a legitimate composition) and $58.88 for the Boker Plus Gent II (2.75" blade, compared to the larger but identical Gent I at 3.25"). The Boker has the added appeal of an ebony handle.

There may be more budget DAMASCI out there - I would love to hear about them!

RE: Chinese Ontario RAT-18868 Folding Knives? I think I want one for $19

I bought one and found them to be a fair copy but they are abit larger and heavier than the real rat1’s, if you do not have one of the real rats then they are ok, otherwise you will be disapointed. While i do not regret buying the knife i will buy acouple more of the originals esee made ones as my spares enough said.

before anyone asks

real RAT Model 1 Weight: 5 oz 142g

copy RAT Model 1 Weight: 6.5 or 184g

blade length was 2mm longer the metal parts of the handle were 0.23mm thicker

I will repeat it is not a bad knife just does not feel like the real deal, but as a beater very good for the money

I have a Damascus blade or two, that I don’t use much. It would be nice to have one with a really big difference in layer composition, like stainless and tool steel, so one could restore the pattern easily after sharpening it.

I read that originally, before modern knives and 20th century gun barrels, Damascus was a way of controlling carbon content, like (decoction?) mixing boiling and cold wort to reach an exact temperature, making beer. They put strips of wrought iron in a vessel and poured in cast iron, then worked it long enough to reach a more uniform carbon concentration. At that time Europeans never intentionally melted iron. The whole process was done with charcoal, hammer and anvil. Carbon was added by holding hot metal among the burning charcoal, or reduced by holding it above the fire. Pattern welded swords, like what we now call “Damascus” were made in medieval Europe in the same period.

AUS8A will be very close to 440C. Both AUS8 and AUS8A has vanadium. AUS8A is different only in that it has been anneale.

quote=downlinx]Sorry I was thinking of aus-8A steel, which has vanadium inlaid into it.
[/quote]

ZDP189 also has some other elements in small amounts that don’t seem to be on the graph.

ZDP189 Chemistry

I would worry more about the quality and consistency of the heat treatments, Schrade for example has had problems in this area recently with batches of there SCHF3N having there tips snapping off etc.

Boker for uses 440c alot and Buck uses 420 stainless alot with few issues. You don’t like a steel fine stay away from it, don’t like 420 avoid buck, gerber and falkniven to name afew.

My favorite complaint i see on forums is whinging and whining about there stainless steel rusting, it is stainless morons, you bought it learn about it’s proper care and maintenance of your tools. I had one of my elan knives rust on me because i forgot it and left it in my fishing tackle box after fishing from rocks and gutting mackerel. My fault not the knifes or the makers, but mine.

There are several types of stainless steel that can take years in salt water before rusting, 8cr13mov is not one of them.

You pretty much get what you pay for in this world.

Since I have no long term results to report - only been doing this with my firearms for 2 years and my knives for 6 months - I can only recommend a quick process which will, I believe, help all of us to maintain the finishes of our steel (coated or not).

Renaissance Wax, a gentle micro-crystalline coating which was developed, and is used by, fine museums worldwide ON ALL SURFACES. Search any gun forum and you'll find the plaudits. Yes, it is expensive, but I was shocked at the number of surfaces (metal, plastic and wooden) it covers with barely the tiniest amount of product. No strong chemical odors - I apply it with my fingers to have the warmth "melt" it into the surfaces. No concerns about having the wax accidentally lap onto (and contaminate) any unintended surfaces.

I apply it to all visible knife surfaces - even coated and damascus blades - and clean surfaces I expose when disassembling knives.

Since I have no financial interest whatsoever in the product, I'll stop here.

[But WOW, you should see the surfaces of my gunstocks and barrel/receivers!]

I’m in the tropics most of the year and 400 yards from the sea at that. I typically have a pocket knife in S30V and I can get those to spot with rust in one day just from sweat. I also carry plain carbon machetes and tool steel blades like M4, S7, 52100, and D2. I also use H1 steel which is almost zero maintenance.

I don’t have a problem with rust. I rinse and dry my blades after use. I keep mineral oil handy and wipe a bit on the blade after I have dried it. I do the same thing with my tools. Mineral oil is cheap and when I can’t find any, I use baby oil. Yes, my hands are lovely soft. :wink:

Following the Ganzo G720-OR that I got a few weeks ago that was very well made I thought I’d give the G717-OR a try.
These two are my only two orange knives unless you count several Opinels, different and not easy to lose.

First impressions, all three 7 series Ganzos that I have, G712, G720-OR and G717-OR (G704-BL on order) plus 6xG620s are all different, ignoring the 620’s as they are linerlock, lighter built and A/O. My 7 series all have a different feel to the action, it’s as though there are several makers involved. The G712 is stiff to operate, the G720 is well made with very close tolerances on blade centring but it feels as if there is a “lump” on the knife tang, only when closing it seems to hang up then as you close the blade further it really snaps shut. I’ll get round to stripping and examining the tang at some future time. This spoils an otherwise perfect (for me) knife. That has been my impression of Ganzo so far - patchy quality control.

So on to the G717-OR,
Blade 85mm, 3.5mm thick, very sharp 440Csteel, ~58HRC stonewashed with a slightly rounded spine - nice touch, also nicely rounded tips on the thumbstuds.
Scales orange G10 machined with an unevenly spaced Anso pattern. Adequate relief to get to the thumbstuds.
Pocket clip right or left side tip up only.
Weight 152g
Axis lock smooth and with a good lock-up by my standards, (greased and opened and closed about a dozen times then a couple of taps against the spine - no problems), and enough for the lock to move up to 3mm as it beds in and wears.
Easy opening and closing.

The best of the trio is by far the G717, well built and easy to operate with nice attention to detail. For $18.95 delivered from FastTech a very good budget option.

I’ll second the use of Renaissance Wax, an absolutely superb product that I use before storing any of my knives, sheaths, any wooden scaled or made knives like Opinels or Enlan EL-01D even a Japanese Tanto with wooden Saya.

Not exactly cheap to buy but a 200ml tin is still half full after 5 years use.

Thank you very much for your info.
2mm longer are nice for me :slight_smile:
I am forced to buy the copy because don’t want pay the double price for the original (30$ o- on amazon and 55/60 euro 8/10 euro shipping here in Italy :~ ). It’s absurd!

But, from wich shops on Aliexpress? From 19$ or the model from 24$ ? Thank a lot!

US $24.99 is the one i got

My SanRenMu 9063 arrived from FastTech today in a plain white box. Probably the most uninteresting picture on BLF. :stuck_out_tongue:

Completely devoid of markings.

What you do get is the Real Steel E963 - a $35 knife, (or $30 at FT with Real Steel markings) un-badged for $16. Real Steel sell different coloured scales for the E963 for $10 plus postage.
On their website they reckon they only have Orange, Dark Green or Blue left. No Tan, Bright Green or Red. :frowning:
These scales should fit the SRM9063 with no problem.

As it comes, with black scales it’s a great knife - a SanRenMu GB-763 on steroids but without the Axis lock.
It’s drilled liners keep the weight down to 128g or 4.5oz, not too bad for an 88mm blade this deep.

An excellent quality knife for $16, mine needed nothing doing to it - opens quick and smooth with a secure, no play, lock-up. Perfectly centred blade and it even keeps the bottle opener from the 763/7063 series.

Thank you very much :slight_smile:

That’s right Steve!
But now I really dont know what to buy between “normal” 763 or this on steroids :smiley:

Oh shit, I like too much knives!!! To many money to spend!!! :bigsmile: :_(

If it helps any the SRM 7063AUC-LI

and the 7063LUC-LI

are both very good, the Axis lock on these is like the ones on the older GB - black G10, GA - tan G10 and LB - Aluminium 763s that is one of the best Axis locks that China produces, nothing needs doing to the Ω springs to make them comfortable to use.
The LUC liner locks are very smooth as well. I have the blue pair same as above but there are other colours.
Both use aluminium for the frames and scales and are solidly built. Blade length is 68mm.


The 9063 linerlock is quite plain looking with black G10 scales over stainless liners, overall they keep the shape of the smaller knife but the 88mm blade is a nice feature. :slight_smile: If they produced a tan scaled model like the Real Steel one I’d be spending next month’s knife money on that. The $8 postage takes the total for the different coloured scales from Real Steel (for the Real Steel E963) up to $17.95, I’d rather have another SRM9063 for that price and try changing the scales myself from some material that I have.
The 9063 is a top quality knife for $16, a budget gem. All of them have the bottle opener as well. :wink: :beer:

Edit……BTW

The vendor that the RAT1 is from, DongCheng Outdoors Co. Ltd., I have bought several knives from, no problems with them as vendors or the quality of knives. One of their own brand knives, the DC-A4 has been on my “To Buy” list for a while now.