Enlan EL-02B test

[old4570]

A bit of History !
A long time ago ( decade or more ) I started buying Cheap Chinese Knives . One of those brands was Enlan . And a lot of people used to crow about this brand and how good it was !
Ok , it looks good , it feels good , it's bolted together good , ...........
Butt ! It just lacked one thing I was looking for ......... Edge retention .
After a while I began to notice how much sharpening I was doing compared to when I was using my US made knives ( R3 Remington for example ) . And it slowly dawned on me that these cheap chinese knives just had little in the way of edge holding . So my D2 saga began ! ( That's another story )

It has been quite a while since I have purchased an Enlan knife , because of our past history . The EL-02 is the knife I wanted a long time ago and now I have one .
Aaaaw! I was ho-humming , about this one . The EL-02 or just about any other D2 knife out there . Did I make a poor choice ?
You would think that a knife company would learn too cook powdered steel in 5 or 10 years ? ( one would think that )
The knife was very sharp to start . ( Very )
I felt the edge dull with every slice of the rope !!!!
Impressed by how poor the factory edge was I am . ( 50 slice fail ) If I had stopped at 10 or 20 slices , the edge may have failed the paper slice test .
On a happy note , the factory bevel was complete rubbish ! So there could be some cause and effect other than badly cooked steel ? ( Could )
The edge is wet stone grinder - re ground !

I had to butcher the screw to get the blade off , those 3 offset holes for screw removal are STUPID ! Who does DS like that ? ( Ok - Enlan ) It's not trick , it's just a PITA !
Knife will be retested shortly .. Will it fail at 50 ? That is the million dollar question .

Sunday 9 Jan 2022 = One of the nicest days in a long time . ( Weather ) Or the lack of Humidity , nasty humidity at that !

Also , with the terrible factory bevel re ground , we actually get some performance .
Yes , the Enlan EL-02B fails with a rolled edge at 250 slices .
A 250 slice fail ( rolled edge ) is so - Not embarrassing !
For 8cr13mov , it is acceptable .
So , the factory edge failing at 50 slices was due to the terrible factory grind (?)
In anyways , we are talking 5 fold increase in performance with a freshly ground edge . ( ? ) That's a lot !
It was a lot of work cleaning the edge .
Both sides were FUBAR .. One side toward the belly and tip and the other side towards the handle from around the middle of the blade .. Effectively making 100% of the blade FUBAR . Which might go towards explaining the really poor performance .

 

[fishface5]

I appreciate the effort you put into this! I have a couple of these as beaters, not bad for that purpose

 

[old4570]

I dont know how many I have ?
But I will have to do a Enlan Challenge one day ...

Re grind them all and see what they do ...

 

[Chronovore]

Enlan appears to be made by Sanrenmu, who also makes the Land, Ruike, and Real Steel knives.

A steel doesn't have to be powdered to be good. While 8Cr13Mov is mediocre, it can be okay at the right price. The Sanrenmu-made knives in 12C27 and 14C28N offer decent edge retention for the money.

I'd watch an Enlan Challenge.

 

[old4570]

CrMov .... Just depends on how it is cooked !
I have CrMov that runs with D2 , or is actually better than your average D2 ...
A lot of the early Chinese CrMov were soft with little edge retention .
But after a decade of cooking CrMov , they are hopefully becoming much better at it .
So how those early knives compare ?

 

[Chronovore]

CrMov .... Just depends on how it is cooked !
I have CrMov that runs with D2 , or is actually better than your average D2 ...
A lot of the early Chinese CrMov were soft with little edge retention .
But after a decade of cooking CrMov , they are hopefully becoming much better at it .
So how those early knives compare ?

Heat treatment is a big deal but a lot depends on which CrMov it is. For instance, 3Cr13 is always going to be bad. I've never gotten good edge retention from 5Cr15. In my experience, 7Cr17Mov and 8Cr13Mov can overlap on edge performance depending on the heat treatment. Generally, 8Cr13Mov will hold a better working edge while 7Cr17Mov has notably better corrosion resistance. This series really starts to stand out at 9Cr18Mov, where much higher edge retention becomes possible and the corrosion resistance is excellent. The less common 10Cr15CoMov is effectively Chinese VG-10, which is also capable of good edge retention.

As far as "running with D2", that's entirely possible with 9Cr or 10Cr versus Chinese D2. In fact, the 9Cr18Mov with WE's exceptional heat treatment in the Civivi and Sencut knives will readily out-cut some of the budget D2 out there. However, the absolute worst Chinese D2 I've had still holds a better edge than the best 8Cr13Mov I've had. (Chinese D2 is definitely D2 but usually fails to match the performance of other D2 in more expensive knives from brands like Benchmade or Spyderco. Speculation on why includes issues with mass heat treatment and possible variance in vanadium levels on the source material.)

One unfortunate issue is that a lot of the "D2" in random brands from AliExpress, the Eafengrow knives on Amazon, etc.; isn't D2. They are often rebranded knives that carry a "D2" stamp because that's what the rebrander thinks will sell. Usually, those knives are actually 8Cr13Mov or a lower-numbered member of that series. That has further clouded the issue with experiences that are "as good as D2". In some cases, the comparison knife is actually 3Cr13!.

 

[jeffsenpai]

Wow, thanks for this post. The Enlans were some of the first knives I began collecting years ago. I actually ended up buying the pivot tool that has the three holes so I could tighten and take apart the knives.