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.
I have a Bestech Pebble which is similar to that Xanadu. It’s a bit more expensive as well. One of my favorite knives. I haven’t searched many places for it but, it might be able to be found cheaper.
Thanks for summarizing this. Tedious to wander through all the videos. Seems like CH Knives has been scoring well on average, often hitting the upper end of the declared hardness range.
I’m on the fence with this one. It looks like Yon Xanadu got dinged for not using the steel they claim by LuvThemKnives. That’s my biggest issue with buying knives on aliexpress. If the knife is 8Cr13Mov or whatever, just say so. A company like Tonife has no problem listing 3Cr13Mov or 5Cr15Mov. As a result, I have no worries buying from them. In fact, their little 7Cr17Mov Squirrel is one of my favorite knives.
Was wondering if there are any deals like the gocomma knife that was selling for around $9.99 (around a year ago or so). I liked that knife and was wanting something budget like that.
most people doing edge retention tests only go for the higher steel grades. not a lot of low-end steel to compare to, like Sandvik, 440 or AUS6/AUS8. Spyderco S30V knives with 10-20% more durable edge retention seem to retail for at least 150USD, the Endura is 80USD and performs way worse than Ganzo D2 steel. DAMN.
that makes Ganzo’s D2 knives an outstanding deal. or Spyderco somewhat disappointing.
Thank you, sir.
I bought my first Rough Rider about 9 years ago, a 6-blade folding knife!!
The only problem with them are the shipping cost; they are chinese made, but sell/trade by american SMOKY MOUNTAIN knife works, and they do not sell to Italy…So I must buy them from Ebay/Amazon etc etc with a lot of shipping cost etcetc (no free shipping from China, sigh).
Maybe one day I will do a video review of my first Rough Rider Knife!
Thanks for the valuable suggestions! I had seen them, they are the same store where I got the Brother 1507!
My is “normal”, It is neither hard or soft, I would say that it is ok. The one thing apparently negative (so to speak) is that opening with one hand is almost impossible (for my little hands :person_facepalming: ). It’s a modern traditional (reminds me of the Gec style) so opening it with two hands is not a real problem.
Right now, “Knife center store” on Aliexpress has the best price of the whole web. I was really amazed by the quality. I expect to buy at least one more Brother knife, even if they cost a little more than I usually spend on Chinese knives.