Need info on Knife blade material from china!

Sanrenmu, Enlan, Ganzo are fine. The standard 8cr/9cr steel is fine. I wouldn't buy from other manufacturers since it could be more of a gamble. For $10-$15 the ones I have were a good deal. The 710 is a good knife.
 
My personal opinions:

8cr13mov: Good budget steel. Takes a nice edge. No complaints.

Sanrenmu: The best Chinese knife manufacturer. Have a few of their knives, no problems, good stuff.
Enlan: Good designs but QC problems. I have an EL-02 and the lock tends to jam and require two hands to unjam.
Navy: Good designs but QC problems. I have a Navy knife with a liner lock that doesn't fully engage.

Don't know about the rest.

Toshi
 
Karda said:
The thing about buying items from of Chinese origin is:

1) They are not bound by consumer protection laws, you roll the dice and take your chances with any purchase.

2)They often mis-state materials used, quality of workmanship, origin of materials and a myriad of other things in an effort to get your money sent to them. Getting your money back from them is often difficult or impossible.

3) They often have wide variance in quality control or none at all.

4) They often have no after sales service and no warranty, even if they say they do.

As for the counterfeit end of the deal..... everyone should take time to watch this: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1080398-Counterfeits-The-Truth-of-the-matter
Click to expand...

1) Consumer protection laws don't offer much advantage for American made products. As far as knives go, they mostly just make sure you know country of origin. Regardless country of origin, you roll the dice and take your chances with any purchase.

2) I can take you to a major American made brand website right now, collect web posts in their sub forum here, and show you how that manufacturer isn't exactly forthcoming about what steels are being used. While this is generally a bad thing for consumers, things like this happen in manufacturing. Specs change, suppliers change, etc. And knife nuts are rather accommodating lot when it comes to pet brands. But to act like non-Chinese manufacturers are immune to misstating materials, lapses in quality, etc is not true.

3) Wide variance in QC seems pretty common for a few US made American brands. A few seem particularly notable in this regard. In contrast, one of the striking things about a brand like Sanrenmu is how extremely consistent they seem to be.

4) I'm not aware of many Chinese exclusive brands that make warranty claims. Particularly since these brands are essentially grey market items, having no official US distribution channels. Even so, there is at least one vendor that offers good after sales service, and was willing to replace a mistaken order without compensation.

In the end, you're stuck with the same things as always when determining what might be a good purchase: word of mouth. Which is why brands like Sanrenmu have become so well respected.
 
Over the last couple of weeks I've been trying out a Harnds Blazer and a Harnds Viper. Both are of a standard that is a bit higher than the other Chinese knives.
The Blazer is a very large folder, the Viper a more "dressy" kind with dark tan scales. Both feature 9Cr18MoV blades that are razor sharp and smooth to open, cost for both $40 and they don't claim to be anything other than what they are - damned nice knives at a very good price.
 
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