The Enlan Bee EM01 is my favorite EDC knife ever. I like the size and the design fits my eye perfectly. Not the absolute best steel, but it’s not hard to get is shaving sharp, or difficult to keep it that way!
I’ve given a couple away as gifts too!
[quote=boxsurly]
I’m waiting for these
Enlan Bee EM01
I had great experience with EL01S and figured I would have been satisfied by EM01 too, but upon receiving a couple of those I found them to be much too small for my taste. I cannot operate such a small knife properly, so those will be gifted to less of a knife-snob folks.
There’s nothing wrong with the EM01, reasonable steel that Enlan knows how to heat treat and a good size for many people.
I bought one a while back to pair it with an EL-01 that I was going to re-scale with Kirinite, only a photoshop for now unfortunately.
WoW..those look very nice. :crown:
The Burgh wrote:
Just arrived, A LOVELY BEAST!
Initial inspection yielding terrific results. Flipper flips easily - no wrist action required. (Description claims "spring assisted.)Good detent and lockup. No sharp edges at all. A few minor mis-grinding marks along bottom edge of frame at liner lock cutout - no big deal. No dirt, grit or grime. Countersunk screws protrude tiniest bit. Blade is super sharp and has immaculate grind and finish. Blue liner (glossy, probably just painted) exactly matches the (?fake?) blue carbon-appearing inserts (which are high gloss). Beautiful contrast between those colored inserts and the blue aluminum scales. Liner lock slab is a bit thin but perfectly engaged. Zero bladplay in any direction. Blade centering to rear standoof is perfect to my eye. Blade is sharp, but not sharpest - guessing that a few strokes with a fine/extra-fine ceramic rod will finish it. Two-screw pocket clip is too strongly sprung for my tastes and is (ugh!) matte black in color. Double level spine of blade is perfect. 200 grams is claimed and feels about right.
I just absolutely love the look of the perforations from the back of the handle up through the channel in the blade.
$11.99 delivered from my source? http://www.doubleknife.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=205 WARNING: This retailer/website, and some of the products thereof, may be reprehensibly objectionable for those who object to piracy, cloning, trademark infringement, copies, etc.. No, I am not deriding your opinions or views. This is merely a fair warning.
You gotta' be kiddin'! Admire it, use it, beat it up and still feel like you got an amazing bargain.
Safe Queen in your pocket for $12.00!
Mine arrived a couple days ago. First impression was not good as the grey part of the scales appears to be just plain HDPE or some painted plastic. (See EDIT below) Pretty slippery, but the shape of the handle enables a secure hold.
Looking beyond that, the rest of the knife seems to be pretty high quality. The blade has a lot of machine work and it's nicely finished. Seems like it should be in a much more expensive knife. Not sharp out of the box. The blade does seem to be pretty abrasion resistant (indicator of good steel/heat treatment) as it is taking a good amount of work to change the angle of the edge. I haven't finished yet. So the blade is not yet sharp yet. Once sharpened and used some, I'll have a better idea about the blade quality. Seems promising at this point though.
The frame does appear to be blued. It seems a little thin, but is strong. So maybe some type of carbon steel and thus the bluing. No blade play. Wish the liner lock touched more the the back of the blade, but that is not possible with this design. Seems to be strong enough though. Don't feel like stress testing it as I like the knife and don't want to risk hurting it.
I'm not a fan of assisted openers. Had one open in my pocket and I was lucky was not seriously hurt. This one seems like that might not be an issue, but I will be watching it closely. Sure opens fast and reliably with just a little flick of the flipper tab thingy.
I just can't reconcile the scales with the rest of the knife. I preliminarily say this is steal if one is up for rescaling the knife or one is ok with the scales as they are. I sure don't regret the purchase. Thanks The Burgh. :)
EDIT: I'm happy to say that the scales are not plastic I as original reported. I pulled on off today and it was aluminum, as reported by The Burgh. Now what to do about the finish. Thinking about stripping off the finish (appears to be paint) and anodizing.
Looking at the side of the frame, I can't tell if its paint or bluing. The blue varies in darkness (thickness), but the picture below doesn't capture it.
Certainly is a good looking knife, I’ve had that website in my bookmarks for a few weeks but money is so tight it’s virtually non existant at the moment so nothing spare to buy knives with, for a while at least, I’ll look out some of my knives and do small reviews on them for a couple of months.
I’ve been collecting material for scales for a while now, some great G10 and Micarta from Lithuania via ebay, about half the price of local sources.
I can get wood for scales from Australia cheaper (including postage in the price) than from the U.K. something is very wrong somewhere.
A cheap source you might not think of is Laminate flooring suppliers, you have to be careful that they are solid not just a veneer surface.
I got ten of these sample packs for £1 each delivered, 8”x5”x3/16ths thick Bamboo two pieces in each pack and all well figured right through, made by compressing sheets and impregnated with resin at a high temp. and pressure -
More Kirinite
Australian timber
Malee Burl
Red Birdseye gum
Queensland Black Walnut
Very nice samples there. I would be cautious when cutting and sanding any types of laminate. Wear respiratory protection. They can contain formaldehydes and other chemicals. Especially if imported from...you guessed it...China. There is an ongoing investigation in the States right now in regards to laminates (flooring products) imported from China. US supplier, Allwoods Flooring, is implicated in wrongdoing by coercing China company to export known toxic flooring products to US. US based Allwoods Flooring saved millions on the Chinese toxic exports at the expense of the safety and well being of the US population. Pretty lowdown US company if you ask me. Not saying your samples are bad, just a heads up that it is possible.
I read the report and watched videos of the investigation, just what I’ve come to expect from big business, anything to increase the bottom line for their shareholders.
I am a retired joiner/machinist so know a bit about working with timber. First thing I do is go to a wood toxicity guide A lot of the irritants can be personal, I can work with most woods without any effect but one of my favourite woods, ash, can close my throat in an hour or so, when I started you didn’t have masks and most of the safety equipment you see now so you quickly got to know which wood made you ill.
I’m looking forward to the plastics, G10, Micarta, Kirinite and Corian. a couple of £ a week into the fund gets me most tooling and I got a drill press for my 60th birthday. Some cheap knife blanks for practice and a lot of watching YouTube vids, onwards and upwards is the way.
My report in Post 212 has an inaccuracy regarding the scales. They appeared to be some type of plastic to me from the outside, but I pulled one today and it is clearly aluminum.
Now I'm thinking instead of replacing them, I will strip and anodize them. Really like the color, but I want to make the handle a little less slippery. Thay way I get to keep the great lines and the carbon fiber looking insert (Which is grippy).
EDIT added to Post 212.
For those interested in making their own knives (or close to it) seller urknifesource has some discontinued Marbles Trailmaker bowie blades that are just looking for a hilt to be fitted.
Some Mora blanks as well. Good carbon steel but not full tang. 
Anyone know anything about this knife or brand? Never heard of “SF” knives. Tried web search but can’t find any info on SF knives.
I like the G10 squares pattern, the blade shape and stone wash finish.
(click photos for link)
Also an interesting clip style:
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The G10 pattern reminds me of this smaller knife by SRM, the 7056 multi-function:
I also like this SRM 7056 version with grooved g10 “Maze” pattern:
I also like the blade flipper on the 7056 models.
Rick Hinderer would find that clip quite familiar too! 
That looks like a decent knife. Only thing I’d be faulting it on would be the screws used in the construction, for the near $23 I’d expect them to be countersunk into the G10 a bit more. They look like the heads are on the surface - nit picking. At least the pivot is an easily adjustable screw not a proprietary type.
Sometimes you just have to go for it, you could have a good knife.
I took a chance once on an Omuda 3922, never heard of them before but the knife turned out to be one of the nicest slip-joints that I have.
I’ve bought from KnifeBase a couple of times before, no problems.
EDIT………… I’ve just noticed that there are two different knives used in the photos, the blade in the top two photos has no markings and the rest do. Also the steel in the description is 7Cr17MoV in the photo that beam0 and isti use there is a clear Sandvik marking on the blade with a steel type that I can’t make out but definitely a Sandvik steel.
Both should be O.K. steel.
FastTech have the SanRenMu M1 back in stock for $12.77, very good price, I paid nearly $20 each for two from an online vendor last year, they were very hard to find cheaper.
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In order L to R
EL-01AB
EL-01KH
EL-01BA
EL-01GY
EL-01B
EL-01O?
EL-01A
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In order L to R
EL-01D
Boker Magnum A-Stan
RUI Energy Series
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Difference between two Enlan EL-01Ds - Rosewood Scales. The one above has been kept in its original packing and given one coat of Renaissance Wax, so has the one underneath but this one has been a daily user.
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I like the EL01 really much, but sold the versions, which I don't use (KH, GY, never bought BA and D - wood isn't my favorite handle material). The orange is on the way.
About the M1: Thank you for the information. Now I have to ask myself - do I need the M1 (have the 9051 black/green), maybe I will get a the black white instead of the M1 (but this have the SRM logo [which looks better] on the blade an not the blue line letters). I have the SRM 9055 in blue/black and white/black and like the black white with the brown backspacer. The 9051 with black white handle looks also really good. Maybe I will order both - I have to think about it.
Uhm…Steve, something tell me that you like EL01…maybe I’m wrong…I think you like a bit, is’n’it? :bigsmile:
The finish the M1 has on the scales is smoother, a better “dress” knife I think.
The rounded spine on the blade and the lack of a contrasting back-spacer pushes in favour of the M1/9051 for me, I’m not keen on the 9055 having the liners overhanging the scales either. Not that the 9055 is a bad knife, it isn’t, it’s just design choices.
All this is supposing the M1 is identical to the older one, the design on the blade will probably match the blue line logo rather than the SRM logo.
