finally got hold of these two chinese knives, the Navy K-502 and the SanRenMu 707. the navy isn’t so hot (i’ll explain below) but i was impressed with the sanrenmu.
the K-502 obviously has a lot of similarities with spyderco. it’s got the spydie hole albeit not round, and its got the gimping for the thumb. full flat ground, check. compression lock, check. it does sound a lot like a Paramilitary. but unlike the spyderco the clip is right-side, tip-down only, and the steel liners are not skeletonized (i.e. not made of drillium LOL). lockup is decent, just a tiny bit of up/down play. deployment is smooth, it’s got bronze washers. overall it’s pretty decent and gets all the basics right, but it falls short in refinement. the edges are a bit sharp, and disengaging the lock feels gritty. there are also machining marks all around the edges of the clip. there are also lots of machining marks on the less-visible parts on the blade.
the navy is simply not in the same quality level as sanrenmu but i’m sure with a little bit of time in the shop the rough edges can be polished off.
the locking system seems to be very solid though. theoretically the compression lock is stronger than a liner lock and the risk of accidentally releasing the lock is very low. when the knife is held normally, no part of your hand touches the lock. you can’t say the same thing for a liner lock…
i also prefer thumbholes over thumbstuds. i believe thumbholes can be deployed more RELIABLY UNDER STRESS than thumbstuds.
so in conclusion i think the overall design is good, but the execution is a bit lacking. still a good knife though.
