Ganzo G704: The Little POS That Could (lots of pics)

jill jackson said:
The big name manufacturers took the technology over to China, for the dirt cheap labor, is it any wonder there's knockoffs that are decent, coming from there?
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I've never seen these knives in person and used to get really upset about people buying made in China knives. Then one day as I'm posting on my made in China Gateway computer and answering a call from a made in China I -phone on my made in China American branded phone something hit me. :eek:
It was a sorta, what came first the chicken or the egg kinda thought . ;)
 
skyhorse said:
I've never seen these knives in person and used to get really upset about people buying made in China knives. Then one day as I'm posting on my made in China Gateway computer and answering a call from a made in China I -phone on my made in China American branded phone something hit me. :eek:
It was a sorta, what came first the chicken or the egg kinda thought . ;)
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The USA companies took it over there, long ago for everything nearly and we voted for cheap goods by buying it, so it's just how it is isn't it? ;) I had a clerk in a sporting goods store rant about how he didn't buy anything from China. Another guy told him oh yeah, your cap is made in China and the shoes you're wearing. Hahaha....
 
jill jackson said:
The USA companies took it over there, long ago for everything nearly and we voted for cheap goods by buying it, so it's just how it is isn't it? ;) I had a clerk in a sporting goods store rant about how he didn't buy anything from China. Another guy told him oh yeah, your cap is made in China and the shoes you're wearing. Hahaha....
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That is the real irony. Unless you amish and literally make every single thing you use on a daily basis (and even then many of amish have adopted some newer technology out of necessity) its nearly impossible to avoid chinese made goods. I really get shocked at how many people who think an american owned company automatically means USA made product. I dont mind if people have pride in their country and want to help the economy by buying american. I only really have a problem when people simply dismiss something as crap if its made in an foreign country. Especially asian manufacturing.
 
Just received mine:















The edge was however quite blunt out of the box, but i fixed that with the help of a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound.
The steel is not extremely hard to sharpen (my guess it's hardness is around 58-59 HRC), but it takes a good 30 degrees inclusive edge that is single layer toilet paper slicing sharp.
The knife also had just a hair of bladeplay, but some adjusting of the pivot- and stoppin screws and it was gone.
A few drops of 5 weight Nano-Oil and it cycles very smoothly as well.



 
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kwackster said:
Just received mine:

The edge was however quite blunt out of the box, but i fixed that with the help of a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound.
The steel is not extremely hard to sharpen (my guess it's hardness is around 58-59 HRC), but it takes a good 30 degrees inclusive edge that is single layer toilet paper slicing sharp.
The knife also had just a hair of bladeplay, but some adjusting of the pivot- and stoppin screws and it was gone.
A few drops of 5 weight Nano-Oil and it cycles very smoothly as well.
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That is a wicked edge man. Everything about the knife looks good other than the so-so looking clip. I might pick one up myself. Just curious though, is it using Teflon washers or phosphorus bronze?
 
No matter how well the knife holds up I have a hard time supporting a company that steals designs and makes them on the cheap.
 
^ now that benchmade hk clone i agree is a rip off from the word go !
 
RayzorSharp said:
That is a wicked edge man. Everything about the knife looks good other than the so-so looking clip. I might pick one up myself. Just curious though, is it using Teflon washers or phosphorus bronze?
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The knife uses simple white nylon washers which do their job perfectly fine, but i'm still thinking of exchanging them for phosphor bronze ones.

Had this knife with me today in the woods, and i used it for several hours whittling twigs and various softer green woods, so no hard use or anything like that.
When i left home the edge was treetopping to hairwhittling sharp, and when it got home the edge still shaved the hair on my lower leg at skin level.
The blade is however a bit thick behind the edge (1.16 mm) and the G-10 needs a bit more rounding here and there to avoid hot spots.

Of course the knife is a clone of the Benchmade 14205, but since that company can also be blamed for certain copyright infringements i really don't care for them.
Besides, the model is out of production for years and can't be bought in stores anymore, at least not where i live.
Who i do feel sorry for is it's designer Mike Snody, so my plan was to contact him to get his Paypal, then i can send him the same amount as i paid for the knife.
 
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I like the idea of donating to Snody.

My G704 is smoothing out nicely (and lockup is improving), but I too am considering finding some bronze washers for it.

In fact, I just decided to swap it with my 0350 for a trip to help out at my dad's autobody joint. It'll see the hardest use it's been subjected to yet. Should be interesting.
 
o4tg said:
I too am considering finding some bronze washers for it.
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I don't think nylon washers is a big deal if the pivot screw is well adjusted and oiled right.
The Kershaw Salvo uses nylon washers and it flies. I'm actually a little puzzled by Kershaw throwing nylon washers in that knife though. Many of their Chinese blades are using phosphor bronze (or a combination of phosphor bronze and nylon), and the more expensive American made Salvo isn't equipped with it. Did they not think we would know? :o Oh well, I hear that blade is discontinued.
 
kwackster said:
The edge was however quite blunt out of the box, but i fixed that with the help of a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound.
The steel is not extremely hard to sharpen (my guess it's hardness is around 58-59 HRC), but it takes a good 30 degrees inclusive edge that is single layer toilet paper slicing sharp.
The knife also had just a hair of bladeplay, but some adjusting of the pivot- and stoppin screws and it was gone.
A few drops of 5 weight Nano-Oil and it cycles very smoothly as well.

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What knife is the one on the right in the picture comparison with 3 blades?

Very impressive edge by the way. Do you have a method for removing those small marks as well? Maybe a couple of runs on a leather strop or something without any compounds?
 
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The thick bladed knife on the right is a Buck Strider 881TB mini tanto (first production run in BG-42 steel)

I do indeed have ways for removing those small marks/scratches visible in the edge, but that wasn't my aim for with this knife.
Here i wanted to have the bite that 15 micron diamond compound on a Paper Wheel provides, so after that i only removed the tiny burr with 1 micron diamond compound on a second Paper Wheel.
To remove the small visible scratches completely i would have to use a grit progression of 15, 6, 3, 1, and 0.25 micron on my other Paper Wheels, something i might do on various harder steels like ZDP-189 and Super Blue, but not on this softer Chinese 440C/9Cr13MoV steel.
 
kwackster said:
The thick bladed knife on the right is a Buck Strider 881TB mini tanto (first production run in BG-42 steel)

I do indeed have ways for removing those small marks/scratches visible in the edge, but that wasn't my aim for with this knife.
Here i wanted to have the bite that 15 micron diamond compound on a Paper Wheel provides, so after that i only removed the tiny burr with 1 micron diamond compound on a second Paper Wheel.
To remove the small visible scratches completely i would have to use a grit progression of 15, 6, 3, 1, and 0.25 micron on my other Paper Wheels, something i might do on various harder steels like ZDP-189 and Super Blue, but not on this softer Chinese 440C/9Cr13MoV steel.
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Is that the mini version? Couldn't find much info on it, beyond "2-7/8" tanto point blade 6-7/8"" -- but it looks larger than that? Anyhow, what thickness is it? Looks like 5mm+.

Sounds like paper wheels are pretty awesome. You got that polished edge with 15 microns only, or did you use something else as well?
 


Quick comparison pics of the 3 knives, from top to bottom: Ganzo 704, Buck Strider 881, Spyderco Southard.
The blade thickness of the Buck Strider is 4.51 mm.

The factory edge on this Ganzo was first reprofiled a bit with a standard Paper Wheel using 220 grit SiC, then refined with the 15 micron Wheel, and finally deburred with the 1 micron Wheel.
Nothing more was done to this edge.

Paper Wheels in the original configuration with SiC grit & aluminum oxide already work very well (it would have been perfectly sufficient for the Ganzo), but i have found that especially on high (vanadium) carbide steels using the Wheels with various diamond compounds provides for a sharper edge that also lasts longer.
(based on customer feedback from guys who really use their knives)
 
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This Russian dude really hammers on his Ganzo 704, and in the end he manages to make the lock fail with heavy spine whacks.
However he still is impressed with the knife, claiming that a Benchmade Adamas suffered more damage from the same treatment.
The video is in Russian with English subtitles.


[youtube]7T0EIAjQ61Y[/youtube]
 
I've seen the video too as well as the Adamas. I still think the Adamas held up better in terms of strength because the lock didn't fail.
I just got my G704 a few days ago and got the chance to EDC it for a day or two and I'm very impressed with the quality.
The weight is comparable to the RAT-1 so nothing to really complain about.
 
Curiosity got the better of me.

The 704 arrived today. And I'm impressed.

It's now a project knife.
Acid stone wash.

I'll post pics when its done.
 
Does anyone else's pivot rotate? I have no blade play, but my pivot rotates about 90 degrees. It's nice and tight so I don't know what the heck the deal is.
 
mmarkh said:
No matter how well the knife holds up I have a hard time supporting a company that steals designs and makes them on the cheap.
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But at the same time I have a hard time feeling sorry for companies that have a few skeletons in their closet. If I were to really get deep into knife maker politics and boycott every brand that made a decision I didnt like, agree with or was just flat out wrong there wouldnt be a whole lot left to buy. Its hard to get down on one misstep of a company while I own knives from many companies and makers with checkered pasts. I can think of at least 3 or 4 BIG names that I could never buy again if I let their business practices reflect what I will buy.

o4tg said:
Does anyone else's pivot rotate? I have no blade play, but my pivot rotates about 90 degrees. It's nice and tight so I don't know what the heck the deal is.
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How do you mean? there are many pivots that will rotate depending on certain variables. Is this a pivot that you know for sure is designed not to rotate?
 
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