ALL THINGS BUDGET KNIVES

That’s correct. Surprisingly the mini is the smoothest out of the box.

But…what about the traditional knives??
They are beautiful!!
I really like the coupple of Whinchester and the…?? Which brand is the next down the Winchester coke bottle handle’s?
Are they “chinese” replica or old made american made? (no matter for me, just to know about).
Thank you!!!

They are U.S. made there is a Winchester Banana Trapper Lockback then the Winchester Large Coke Bottle and below that is a Case Coke Bottle.
Nice large blades.

Oh dear…I was hoping they were from China…so I could afford them :smiling_imp: :frowning:
The Case have a very nice full flat blade. I hame so jealous :smiley:
Thank you very much sir!

For China made traditionals you could try this:

I love the easy money series :wink:

I’m curious to try a folding knife from Aliexpress. I liked my CRKT M16, until I lost it. Great knife and exactly the right size. Bigger knives start to scare people around here. I would like something with a better grade of steel.

Ganzo seems to make good knives and the D2 is legit. All of them seem slightly bigger than what I’d like.
What are all those clones like? Good for show, but crap quality?
Any brands you would recommend, besides Ganzo and Sanrenmu?

Ganzo came out with a smaller version of the FH11, the F11S. I know it’s smaller but I don’t have the specs right here in front of me.

FH11S with D2 blade
Total length: 184 mm
Blade length: 78 mm
Blade thickness: 2.9 mm
Weight: 82 g

FH51 has almost same dimensions Total length 185 mm Blade 81 mm, 87g.

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.