Like I said, some of the knives I got while exploring the sub-$20 direct sales from China on Aliexpress looked pretty good. Some had decent actions. Some came very sharp. Looking at the pictures you posted, those look great. You said that “disassembly & reassembly is no problem”. That’s great. I’m glad you didn’t get the kinds of horrible surprises I got on a few of mine. The worst was with screws that stripped with slight pressure because then I couldn’t get any farther! The place I’m most curious about is the steel. It’s the easiest thing to cheap out on without a customer knowing right away.
You mentioned liking these much better than your new Ganzo. My own FH11 was decent out of the box. The liners aren’t skeletonized and some of the scale edges created mild hot spots but overall, I was impressed for the price. I did what I always do with a new knife. I took it apart for inspection. I cleaned it completely with alcohol. (Even with more established brands, there can be gunk in the works and the factory lubes aren’t always ideal.) Then I relubed it with Lubriplate, carefully reassembled it, and got it dialed in just right. The action went from good to great. I honestly like it better than some of my knives that cost three times as much.
I also ended up chamfering the scale edges and reprofiling the blade for fun. That gave me some real-world confirmation of the steel. The independent validation tests I saw online confirmed D2 with a hardness of 62 HRC. It sure acted like it on my stones! I’ll be curious to see how the steel on these Gocomma blades wear with use and how they act when you sharpen them, especially if you do any reprofiling.
I understand & I’m thankful I didn’t run into any of the “surprises” you did. That sux.
As for the FH11…. I very closely compared them again & had to go back to my post above to edit it.
I was much to hard on the FH11…. it is a great knife. I do think the GoComma is a bit better… but it is certainly not the runaway I first stated in my post above. Heck… if you get right down to it it is only my opinion.
And we both know how “opinions” go.
I don’t really plan on doing any reprofiling on either GoComma blade. The smaller knife is hollow ground & it is fine as is for me. The FH11 looking knife is flat ground with a nice distal taper, a good edge, & sharp as a razor.
When I do finally dull one to where it needs resharpening I’ll report back. :+1:
Received an MTech MT-20-69, ordered off eBay, had a coupon and got it for right at $10, shipped. Long blade, surprisingly sharp, right out of the box. Reason I bought the knife was the thick blade, about 1/4” thick at the spine.
Weak point is the handle, seems kinda plasticy, with a feel of that rubberized coating that always gets sticky with time, and ends up having to be scrubbed off.
As I said previously, the Gocomma knife in question looks great and seems to be using real materials in the handle. Given that, and the fact that you can get it shipped free for under $10, they have to be cutting a corner somewhere. As I suspected, it is likely in the steel.
I did some asking around. Not much is known about this company and I actually had some people upset with me for bringing it up on the premium knife forum. From what I can gather, Gocomma is a rebrander and doesn’t actually make the knives. Some of their stuff in that price range seems to be made from 3Cr13Mov but I couldn’t get solid confirmation. If that is correct, 3Cr13Mov is less good than budget standards like AUS-8 or 8Cr13Mov. It is easy to sharpen to a good edge but it won’t hold that edge anywhere near as well. An easy comparison is the Kershaw Hotwire, which uses 3Cr13Mov and sells for around $10. Kerhsaw does a good job with heat treatment but the blade is softer than their $20-30 knives in 8Cr13Mov. The FH11 is one of the least expensive knives available in real D2 and tends to be over $25.
That said, advertising a knife as D2 gets people excited. Advertising as 3Cr13Mov does not. Often, companies using a steel like 3Cr13Mov just call it “stainless steel”. That’s fine. Calling it D2 is downright deceptive. Gocomma is not the only company to do this sort of thing. It’s wrong when anyone does it.
I completely understand what you are saying. BUT, as I have already stated; the GoComma is holding the edge & holding it very well.
It has in fact already exceeded any 3Cr13Mov or AUS-8 blades I have had experience with and is still hair popping sharp.
I totally agree that false advertising is deceptive as well as downright dishonest…. no matter who does it.
I am certainly not a knife ‘expert’… but I am far from a gullible newbie. After using & testing a blade for a while I can tell by it’s edge holding ability if it is a crap steel blade or if the blade is one of a decent steel.
The two GoComma blades I am referring to are not crap steel.
They are advertised as D2. At this point I cannot say if that is true or not. But I can say they are holding their edge. They are holding their edge so well that I am not dissapointed whatever the steel may be.
I don’t know yet, at this point; if that will hold up batch to batch either. But I just had a few more delivered that were bought 2 months after the first one, so I will be finding out.
I am working on getting the blade steel identified. If that pans out I’ll sure post the results.
Sorry you got scolded on a “premium knife forum”. . Was it BF?
Of course it was Blade Forums. How did you guess? There is a lot to like about BF but there are issues.
Like I said, 3Cr13Mov wasn’t a solid confirmation. That’s just a steel the company has used often and it was the prime suspect in a number of conversations I had about it. (This post gave me homework because I really liked the looks of one of those Gocommas.) At that price, it could be one of the other XCrYMov steels or something in the 440 series. The upper limit here is probably 8Cr13Mov or 440C but that might be a stretch. To give you an idea, Kershaw does well with 8Cr13Mov and Ganzo uses 440C in some of its knives. Of course, other factors that matter here are heat treatment and blade geometry. The latter looks good based on the pictures so that’s something.
Now here is the fun part. We know the Ganzo FH11 is real D2 and should have a hardness safely over 60. If you don’t mind damaging a knife, here are two fun ways to test the Gocomma:
1. You could do a scratch test, Gocomma versus Ganzo and Ganzo versus Gocomma. I’m willing to bet the Gocomma is softer.
2. You could do a corrosion test. D2 holds a great edge but doesn’t have the best corrosion resistance. Some of the possible imposters will outlast D2.
Barring that, I’d say accept that it is some other kind of steel and just have fun with it.
…. Just a ’lucky guess’ on my part about it being BF.
I haven’t been active there for a while… I was spending to much $$$ & had to take a break. :person_facepalming: I have been anonymously lurking some though. I figured if I don’t sign in I can’t buy.
It is a great place, but don’t go there & post anything controversial unless you can take the heat…. because it most likely will get very hot. .
What’s your ’handle’ over there? I looked for the thread you were chastised on but could not find it.
EDIT: Nevermind Cosmodragoon, I found your thread on BF. Those guys don’t have any more idea what steel is used in these 2 GoCommas than you or I do at this point. Just a bunch of opinions & guesses.
And when you asked about them on BF you left out the very important facts I mentioned about their edge holding ability to this point.
I spelled it out for them though. We’ll get to the bottom of it sooner or later. Edit over.
My handle on BF is same as here.
As far as whether it is really D2 or not…. I am gonna get to the bottom of it sooner or later, even if I have to do a heads up test; FH11 vs GoComma. If I do that I am gonna take it to my buddies shop who is a maker & let him be the judge. That way there is no bias from me….
An like I said:
“The two GoComma blades I am referring to are not crap steel.
They are advertised as D2. At this point I cannot say if that is true or not. But I can say they are holding their edge. They are holding their edge so well that I am not dissapointed whatever the steel may be.”
So, however it turns out; for the price paid… I am more than happy.
I’ll do those two things/tests you mentioned also above & see what happens.
I don’t know anything about them, but I have heard that some big scrap metal yards have some sort of hand held scope that somehow tells the composition of metal. I thought about checking around & seeing if I can find one that does and seeing if I can get them to check it…. if in fact they do work.
I also received my GoComma flipper!
The pocket clip might need some bending for jeans other than that it’s a pretty good flipper! Thanks teacher for recommending it!
I was at Academy Sports today picking up a new revolver for the wife. Walking towards the front door I saw a bargain bin full of pocket knives. Most not my style or some brand I never heard of. One caught my attention though. This little Gerber. A Kettlebell they call it. Didn’t remember seeing it in my pocket knife searching on the web. Figured I’d pick it up for $4.99. I’ll take it apart tonight and get it all cleaned and lubricated. Kind of reminds me of the CRKT Pilar.
No problem. Hope you find one. I normally don’t browse through Academy. The things I normally buy are kind of expensive there unless I can catch a sale. I almost walked right past it without looking. It was the only Gerber in there. I dug around trying to find another few but that was the only one I could find. Figured someone already picked through it and overlooked that one.
A basic test for steels. With a Smithy.
Is/was the “spark test”
Different blends of steel have different type/shape/colour of sparks.
I did a little out of interest around 55/60 yrs ago with my Blacksmith mate.
made my horse shoes for me. from bar steel.
There used to be a graph on it. I had one.
I don’t know that it would be specific for these modern steels/alloys though.
But maybe somebody could check.
I’m goin’ to bed. 11.50 pm.
PS.
Really… When it comes down to it in these “cheap” knives.
As long as YOU. are happy with it’s looks, feel, and it cuts good enuff for you.
What the F—-.
Does the rest reallyyyyy Matter?.
It’s Ganzo kukri. They has it in their official site but can’t find where to buy so easily, just like ganzo axe that I saw them but miss my chance to buy.
Yeah, I quit like it. Considered it’s budget price.
Sheath is fine. Nylon sheath with mian strap, leg strap and small pouch with diamond sharpener(I don’t think I’ll use it for this kukri) and ferro rod. The nylon strap is quite thin for my liking but should be usable.
!!
!!
There is a lot to like about BF but there are issues.
