i have been meaning to post some thought to this but have been busy, i own this CTD rough use knife WOW , shocking it cut that strap so easily after chopping ! for a tough blade it cant be to hard - the whole hard vs tough tend to cancel each other (continued below ...
that is a nice looking knife i hate to buy it on looks alone but there are a couple out there that are very nice - and why spend a mint.
i will post more later but i seen the video and had to respond - also the knife is a EXCELLENT BACK SCRATCHER ! lol
This knive really falls under the value for dollar - i got it from CTD. they are actually pretty good for my one order experience but shipping was steep ! dunno why
also as an option , kinda excited here because i am waiting on this
Never fear, I just took the plunge and ordered a couple. I'm hoping that they are not labeled "BUCK", and just come clean. Mostly, I'm hoping that they are of decent quality.
hig, that's a good find - best price out there for one piece, I think.
Vectrex, like I always say - there's no "I" in "team". Most dealer sites on Aliexpress indicate 440 steel for that blade, which is encouraging, but you know how specs can be.
Yes, understood, but with all variables considered, hardness (at least within the boundaries of Chinese knives) is probably more important to me than whether it's 420 or some variant of 440. I have a D2 knife, supposedly in the 62 RH range, that I've never had to sharpen - and I hope I never have to.
I like my smaller knives to be harder and my bigger knives to be softer. With medium range steels, the harder steel tends to be too brittle for my liking. Essentially... harder != better.... depends very much on the usage. I will post some pics this weekend, what an abused EL01 will look like.
There is a seller on ebay that showed pics of his L01s on a hardness tester - ranged from 58-59 if I recall correctly. Not outrageously hard, but probably as hard as you're likely to find on these SRM/Bee/Enlan etc. knives. I'd probably take them all like that, if I could.
Those photos are from the Enlan website. Sanrenmu and Enlan use the same steel and Bee is a brand name used by Enlan. Ganzo claim to use 440C but I suspect it is a Chinese equivalent since, as far as I know, they do not make 440C and I can't imagine them importing steel to make budget knives.
Feel free to shoot me down in flames if you know better.
No flame-thrower here... Here's an excerpt from jekostas steel primer:
440A/440B/440C: Stainless cutlery steels, not often used any more. Roughly correspond to .4%/.6%/.8% in carbon content, with 440C making a very reliable knife blade. When you see a steel labelled as "440 stainless", it will generally be some form of 440A steel. Gerber's "mystery steel" is 440A stainless steel
AUS-4/AUS-6/AUS-8/AUS-10: Japanese-developed stainless steels made to compete with the 440 series. The number in the steel denotes the amount of carbon present in 1/10th of a percentages. Was considered a high-end steel a decade ago, but AUS-8 is the only variation that continues to see regular usage, mostly from Cold Steel knives.
3Cr13, 5Cr13Mo, 8Cr13MoV: Chinese-developed stainless steels, developed to be comparable to the Japanese AUS series. Becoming very popular. 8Cr13MoV is a solid, midrange steel that combines good edge retention, high toughness, and easy sharpenability with moderate corrosion resistance. Used by many knifemakers, including Spyderco, Kershaw, CRKT, SanRenMu, Bee, etc.
I suspect what the Chinese call "440C" may be one of the *Cr**MoV steels, by way of backward progression. At least, that may be the best case scenario.
You're both right. Ganzo uses 9Cr18MoV, which is slightly different than 8Cr13MoV. It's supposedly a better steel from a chemical formulation perspective, but how hard or soft the steel is in the end depends entirely on how Ganzo heat-treated it. I've found that the Chinese makers tend to heat treat their steels a little bit softer for their own knives than for OEM customers, as it makes for faster machining and thus lower cost.
I just got the SRM 603 from MF today. It's a small and simple knife but very nice to use. One hand's easily once you set the tension right. Very nice curve to the blade (bends back around to give it that extra pressure when cutting) and extremely good ergonomics for a small pocketable piece. Only $6 but makes the list.
I also have the 962, but frankly I don't like it. Cannot one hand (ie thumb) flick with the "hole" or one hand close with the axis lock (which seems a gimmick to me). The micarta looks interesting but grips worse than g10 and slippery as polished wood when wet.
Bee knives (at least the two I just got) are very slick in general, that extra 10% over SRM makes them worth it for show, but maybe not much better in actual use.
I ordered one from PriceAngels.com. If they are a Sanrenmu "Strike Civil" http://sanrenmu.com/en/fixed/product/18.php then the steel should be 8Cr13MoV which is not a bad midrange steel. And we still don't know how long is the tang.
If it hasn't been mentioned here yet, the SRM/Sanrenmu 9 series knives have been discontinued and are destined to become cheap collectors items (baby that 962 if you have one).
I'm sitting on about 50 new knives since I've started this thread. Several are duplicates to be used while others might sit around in the display cabinet to play with or light duty use. I'm still waiting on several more (colt, browning, cold steel, condor tool, Schrade, more srm's and Navy's, an original Camillus Becker bk9 and several more. When I get them all together, I'll do a huge review. Most of my buying decisions have been based on the positive reviews from others, so there will be little new info for me to add. It should make for a nice photo compilation and basis for comparison. I’ll hold my observations for now. Thanks to discoverybargain.com screwing me over with lies of false shipments and incorrect inventory levels, several knives have had to be reordered through other vendors and I'm still trying to find some SRM 9 series that have just become discontinued. They were available a month ago from other vendors when I ordered through discoverybargain, but now I might be SOL thanks to a crooked company that should be bombarded into a crater by the USAF.
I'm looking forward to hearing about the Buck but reports I've read elsewhere shows it to be a very descent knife for the price. One thing is for sure. With the quality of cheap knives on the rise, it almost doesn’t make sense to buy much more expensive originals unless you're a collector or need one for special purposes not found elsewhere. Expert reviews confirm this time and time again.
When I lived in San Francisco, I used to attend a Japanese cutlery exhibition once a year. Most examples were priceless relics that made large audiences weep and gasp as we were allowed to walk in a huge single file line to get a glimpse of the swords that built much of their proud heritage. The pieces were transported in nitrogen purged containers, taken out for an hour to be show and then immediately returned to the storage container and purged once again with nitrogen. Although the finest hand made Damascus swords are beautiful works of art and built to an incredible standard... and carry with them a rich history, I've always wanted to handle one to compare with a $150 knock-off. Sadly, they simply wont allow it.
Even the real Buck Vanguard specs indicate a 420 steel blade, so how bad can the knockoffs be unless the finish or heat treatment is really lousy? The copies are said to be 440C (they probably mean *Cr**Mov) but I find this more doubtful given the lower grade steel of the original.
Navy knives with G10 handles are all about the same in quality. The drill detents aren't perfect but after you've handled them for a few hours, you cant notice the color difference or imperfection any more. When they are made, the material removed by the drill bit makes the plastic more shinny than the rest of the handle. Once the knife is handled, the coloration all becomes the same from oils in your skin, etc. Also, lighting plays a huge factor when photographing these pieces. Overall, these are an absolute steal for the money, have a distinctive look and feel, and quality rivaling SRM. I took some photos with flash on and flash off but couldnt quite capture what the handles really look like - the way the dimples contrast with the rest of the handle. It looks much better in person.
Here's an excerpt from jekostas steel primer:
