Review: Ganzo 704 folding knife with axis lock

Ganzo 704 Folder

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★


Summary:

Size: Overall length 198mm
Lock: Axis type
Action: Manual release
Handle: G10, Black
Blade: 85mm, coated stone washed finish
Clip: Black, Tip up only, both sides
Price Paid: $15.31
From: DiscoveryBargain
Date Ordered: 2011-04-12

Pros:

  • Axis type lock
  • G10 scales with light checkering
  • Clip fits on either side
  • Heavily built, solid full length liners
  • Thick blade (3.5mm)
  • Inexpensive for the quality
  • Jimping for thumb rest
  • Only two torx bits, T-6 and T-8 needed to adjust or disassemble
  • Comes with a medium quality holster

Cons:

  • Heavily built, some may find it too heavy at 150g
  • No other jimping other than thumb rest
  • Very slight vertical blade movement

Features / Design / Value: ★★★★

The axis lock is what attracted me to this knife. I also like the G10 scales. I have found micarta scales to be harder to hang onto when gripping a knife and using the thumb to open the lock. The light checkering on the 704's scales works well too. Only two torx bits are needed to adjust or take it apart. That may seem a minor thing, but when your knife has a little rust that needs to be removed, trying to find the bit needed for that unusual pivot can be annoying. A T-6 and a T-8 are all that is needed for this knife. But I think it may be a tiny bit expensive to be considered a great value so I can only give it four stars.

Build Quality: ★★★★

With solid steel full length liners and a blade 3.5mm thick this knife is certainly solid. It is pretty hefty too. I have it in my back jeans pocket now and have carried it clipped to my front jeans pocket. It is comfortable both ways. But I find it a little heavy for loose carry in a front pocket. The blade is 440C and is coated with something that is moderately durable. Despite the label I'm told that the blade is actually 9Cr13MoV, not 440C. I have no idea what it is, but it stood up very well to some deliberate attempts to scratch it with the point of another knife. No visible marks whatsoever resulted from this scratching. I was surprised by this and tried again, this time putting some body weight into the attempt. Same result - no visible marks.

Unfortunately this knife does have a weakness, at least with my copy. Out of the box it had a very tiny amount of vertical play in the lock up. Nothing visible, but it can be felt. And now after only a small amount of use, opening a couple packages and a bag of chips, plus the requisite amount of opening and closing when playing with it, it has developed some side to side movement in lockup. The pivot seems to have been glued with loctite or something similar. It is tight and has no play in it. So it looks like I'm going to get a chance to use those torx bits.

Summary: ★★★★

Overall I'm satisfied with the Ganzo 704. It is a knife that gets your attention right out of the box with its size and weight. It should not be difficult to tighten up the side to side play. The vertical play has not increased and is so slight that in normal use it should be unoticeable. The combination of the G10 scales, axis lock and dual thumb studs allows it to be easily opened and closed with just one hand. And the two position tip up clip allows it to be easily used by those who are left handed.

This rating is for the knife, not the review.

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Your rating: None Average: 4 (1 vote)

Nice review! Sticky'd. Nice looking knife too.

Very nice review! Thanks! I have been eyeing up that Ganzo...However...

I have looked everywhere for that Land!!! Please sell me it :( It is sooo gorgeous. I need one :(

You can buy one here: Sanrenmu MC-962

Racoon City, thankyou so so very much :D

mizjif: Forgot to mention, DiscoveryBargain has some inconsistent feedback here and here.

I bought that Ganzo for my son not long ago. I wasn’t sold on it but he picked it so we got it. Changed my mind when we got it. It is really nice. Ous has no play at all, everything is nice and tight. Really good knife. Good review too.

Nice review, but please use a different background in the future. Black handles on a black background are hard to see.

Great review! Always wanted one of these even the ganzo. 962 on my way hoping to get it soon (should be any day now).

Few other notes to supplement your review:

- It's a Benchmade/HK 14205 copy (http://www.benchmade.com/products/14205) but a really good one!

- Steel is not 440c (even if it says so), polish knife community (knives.pl) has contacted the seller and he has replied that the steel is 9Cr13MoV

- Blade is not coated, it's stone wash finish (that's good news!)

- Side blade play can be adjusted via pivot screw

- Up-down blade play is caused by a too small stop pin

- Knife is spine whack proof

- It has a really solid feel, it will serve as my backup abuse blade

Overall it's a great knife for the price!

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. It's my first attempt at a knife review I obviously have room for improvement.

I like the black, but I get your point. I will try to improve the contrast if I do another one.

Thank you for the corrections. I have updated the review. Is it really 9Cr13MoV or 8Cr13MoV?

Nice review, thanks.

I had this knife now for 2 and a half month (blame BLF ;) ) and like it very much. In my sample the blade locks firmly without any play and holds the edge clearly better than the SanRenMu 8Cr13MoV steel (which is OTOH easier to sharpen)

I believe the steel is really 9Cr18MoV. It is the chinese version of 440C (not identical but quite similar) and often used in better quality knives from China marked with "440C".

Well darn you guys for continuing to post all these tempting knives in the gear section! I've been doing my best to resist buying very expensive knives for ages. I was completely appalled by the miserable quality of knives that came out of china several years ago. After doing a lot of online research, it seems that several newer budget knives (including the one in this great review) come highly recommended by many knife-a-holics around the world... so I just ordered 9 more to add to my collection. Its nice to see Chinese budget knives that actually rival the quality of some very expensive name brands, but I guess the same can be said for flashlights as well.

Mr. Admin, please don't add sections for exotic automobiles, aircraft, yachts or upscale brothels to your site... or I'll soon go broke!

9Cr18MoV is what seller said. Without special equipment it's hard to tell the difference. Also blade is 4mm (give or take) thick :) Checked with calipers. Hell of a knife for that money. I'm telling that as a knife enthusiast and owner of some knives by spyderco and benchmade.

Um... I wouldn't object to the last one you mentioned.

My calipers measured it to be 3.5mm at the spine. But I just checked and exduct and other sites are stating 4mm. I wonder if they are rounding up or if my calipers are off. I will have to find out. Thanks for mentioning it.

It would seem that Exduct and others are rounding up the blade thickness. I measured the blade with a tape and then my calipers once again. You can see the results here. Whatever the inaccuracies of these measurements are, it is pretty clear that the blade is not 4mm thick.





@photon1k Looking at your photos it's hard to deny that your Ganzo is 3,5mm. Funny thing is that, when I measure mine (checked again) It's mostly 4mm with places 3,9mm and 3,8mm... Standard inaccuracy with callipers is 0,1mm but we are looking at Chinese knife here so maybe your batch is 3,5mm and mine is 3,9-4mm. Anyway, it's a great knife for the money.

BUDGET light forum. So it's be about buying and fixing up cheap clunkers, ultralights, dingys and...

how the heck do you mod the last one into an acceptable substitute?

Back on topic, Im looking forward to receiving my 704.

Thx for the review, great write-up and great pics.

Thanks for the contribution.

I ordered this knife last week, so Im looking fwd to when it arrives. Ive never even seen an Axis lock before, so I hope its a sturdy lock.