Sanrenmu -question, not hate

Shorttime

Shorttime

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Yeah, we've all been around about the resemblance between Sanrenmu's knives and some other manufacturer's.

I'm not here to hate or encourage hate, like the title says.

What I want to know is: what manufacturer can their quality be compared to?
 
Do you mean other Chinese manufacturers? In that case, maybe Ganzo or Enlan? In my (admittedly limited) experience, a lot can depend on the various models and the quality control of the specific batch when it comes to these knives.
 
Scurvy092 said:
Smith and Wesson?
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Some of the lower end, yup you're right on the money. Others are closer to byrd or any other brand who srm makes or made knives for.

Like 'em or hate 'em srm is a massive knife maker.
 
I have a 710 and I would consider it better than my old zytel CRKT M16... at least, the 710 has not developed any blade play with use and takes a razor edge easily, so it's doing better than the CRKT right there. Plus it cost me $5.
 
Shorttime said:
Yeah, we've all been around about the resemblance between Sanrenmu's knives and some other manufacturer's.

I'm not here to hate or encourage hate, like the title says.

What I want to know is: what manufacturer can their quality be compared to?
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You'll probably find them to have quality very similar (or identical) to Benchmade's now-extinct Red Class knives, Spyderco's Byrd / Tenacious lines, Kershaw's made-in-china models, the entire CRKT 2012 catalogue, and so on.

As jbmonkey said, Sanrenmu has actually made many of the american-branded chinese-manufactured blades that have hit the market in the past few years. Sanrenmu's website used to feature a list of folks who contracted them to manufacture knives in the past. IIRC, Spyderco's Tenacious and a few of Benchmade's red class series were among them.

My understanding is that, in spite of whatever major american brand name a knife is stamped with, if the steel is listed as 8cr13MoV, 9cr13MoV, 3cr13MoV, or many of the other chinese pot-metal steels, chances are more than fair that the knives were manufactured in the exact same facilities as Bee/Enaln/Sanrenmu/Ganzo/Navy knives.
 
Sanrenmu and Mantis knives have too much in common I would go as for as to say same crap different name or made in the same factory.
 
The quality is like other good Chinese companies, or good American brands made in China (which SRM is usually the contractor for). I do not believe that their quality makes them comparable to $50 American knives as some people seem to think, but the quality is excellent for the price, and as good as it needs to be for its function. You can get a more premium product from Japan or America (which most of my knives are), but I've been very happy with the good quality Chinese knives. You'll have an ugly machine mark here and a slight misalignment there, but they make excellent beater knives that function as well as knives costing much more. And they're far removed from that Chinese crap you hear horror stories about (the ones you find at gas stations or Big 5 with paper thin liners that collapse on your fingers). I'd strongly recommend the Sanrenmu 763 and Enlan EL-01 from my experience.
 
Folks here are sometimes scared to say just how good SRM knives are. It may be an uncomfortable truth for red blooded American knife nuts to admit that they exhibit better quality and materials than many well respected US made knives that cost several times more. But they do.

Where I have fault with SRM knives is with some of the designs. A few of which I've found goofy (even if well known copied designs). But I can find no serious argument that they are lacking in quality or materials.
 
MadMullet said:
Sanrenmu and Mantis knives have too much in common I would go as for as to say same crap different name or made in the same factory.
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FWIW, I find this a pretty axe grindy response that has no bearing in reality. While it's no secret that SRM and Mantis brands evoke lots of foot stamping tantrums on this forum for a variety of reasons, I have observed no actual deficits in quality in either brand. And while it's quite possible SRM manufactures some Mantis knives, and some SRM knives look to be copies of Mantis knives, the copies do not appear to have been simple rebranding. IOW, any connection is purely speculative at this point.
 
I am actually thinking of picking up one of these to see what all the rabble is about. They look ok to me.
 
bad_juju said:
I am actually thinking of picking up one of these to see what all the rabble is about. They look ok to me.
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I have to say, I was very impressed with the quality of the Ganzo G704 I bought. As far as I can tell, it actually is made of 440C like they claim, the axis lock does actually work, and it is pretty well made for 14$. Used it as my only knife on a ten day camping trip a week and a bit ago and it didn't let me down at all. I strongly recommend starting with one of those, if you're looking to sample a couple of these Chinese brands.

I did buy an assortment of Enlan and Sanrenmu knives as well (a couple of Enlan axis locks and an SRM 710), but, except for the 710, they were really no better quality than you'd expect for under 15$, and I honestly wouldn't recommend them. The 710 works just fine, though.
 
shecky said:
FWIW, I find this a pretty axe grindy response that has no bearing in reality. While it's no secret that SRM and Mantis brands evoke lots of foot stamping tantrums on this forum for a variety of reasons, I have observed no actual deficits in quality in either brand. And while it's quite possible SRM manufactures some Mantis knives, and some SRM knives look to be copies of Mantis knives, the copies do not appear to have been simple rebranding. IOW, any connection is purely speculative at this point.
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I'd say Sanrenmu is generally considered the far more respectable company than Mantis, which is really saying something considering that there are a fair number of people who hate Sanrenmu.
 
I believe Sanrenmu has been in the game since 1988. Since then, the company has attracted business from many of the industry leaders in the knife manufacturing realm. I think this, in itself, says a lot for the company. That said, I don't own any SRM knives but I've had a few specimens branded under another label and have not been unsatisfied at the price-point.
 
So, if I have owned a Kershaw or CRKT that was made in china, I've probably owned a knife that was made by SRM. Is that about right?
 
I received a Sanrenmu 710 yesterday - my first of that genre - and its not a bad knife at all for $10 shipped from China. Seems like decent construction, and the kind of knife that you could use for a long time if you took care of it. You can tell its a cheap knife, but I think you get a lot more bang for the buck with a Sanrenmu than with many or most spendier knives. Is a Spyderco Techno 18x "better"? The Techno has 18x the cool factor (design, materials, etc.), but I would say its about equal in utility. So I'm groovy with this genre, and think its not a bad knife for some poor sod who is trying to scratch out a living on minimum wage, or the collector/user to add as a sub-set to his arsenal.
 
Smokinape said:
When the shipping costs more than the knife it might not be a quality knife, just sayin'...
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So a Tenacious is a better knife than an Enlan from the same factory because Spyderco and the retailer added enough markup to reduce the percentage cost of shipping? Presumably this has some sort of hardening effect on the steel or..???
 
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