Sanrenmu steel

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davek14

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May 30, 2009
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Sanrenmu

(OP ducks)

OK, so I've heard about Sanrenmu on here for a couple years, specifically that the 710 was a great, cheap, knife. So I bite the bullet and send for one, and also for a few 148's.

After the fact I do a search or two and I find the subject of Sanrenmu a bit (ahem) controversial.

There are many things to be said about stuff from China and many levels of copying styles and the thing is that in this thread I really don't want to talk about any of that.

To tell you the truth, this has me thinking more about it all. We blue collar schmoes get burnt by Chinese outsourcing and then line up for cheap stuff at Wal-Mart. However, for the moment I am going to be a "guy" and I am going to compartmentalize. For the moment I am going to use the knives and decide if they are "good". I am here to ask opinions on the steel.

Sanrenmu's are 8cr13MOV. I have always heard that was a lot like AUS8. I have also seen here and there on the forum that some don't find 8cr13MOV to be as good as AUS8. I like AUS8 in a user and I have found it to vary, depending on heat treat I suppose, from satisfactory to pretty good. The only experience I have with 8cr13MOV is in a Kershaw I bought my (grown up) son. I can't rate it *that* well since I don't use it but I'm usually the one sharpening it :rolleyes: and it seems pretty decent.

So, how about some comments on Sanrenmu's 8cr13MOV **only**. How do you feel 8cr13MOV compares to AUS8? And how does Sanremu's version and heat treat compare?
 
I would say AUS8 is a fair comparison. I can't speak to Sanrenmu knives but I've heard the same factory does many of the Spyderco line (e.g. Tenacious family) and I own several of them. A good steel IMO and fairly easy to sharpen. I believe it's usually tempered in the RC56 to RC58 range. You don't quite get the edge retention of your higher end blades but it's not bad at all for a "budget" steel.
 
I know you made it a point to ask us to exclude any comments about the brand itself, but I think you have the wrong impression. They don't make ripoffs of any knives, they just use the designs. They don't try to pass them off as the real deal, and they in no way take business from the owner's designs. I have noticed that most people feel OK towards these companies. It's the people that are making direct counterfeit knives that everyone is against, and rightly so.

I owned a 710 a long time ago, and it was fair. Its about what you would expect, easy to sharpen, holds an edge much better then 440a, but a little bit less then AUS8. You can get them to take a very sharp edge though.
 
My Ontario AUS8 holds an edge and sharpens easier than my Sanrenmu/Spyderco 8CR. That could be the blade grinds though, but it is a difference.

The big steel difference is the liners. In both my Tenascious and my 913P the liners are spongey feeling and it opens with with a soft clunk. Honestly, I think their liners are pretty low quality. We're not talking Buck wear out fast, but I've had my Sanrenmu 913P for less time than my OKC Utilitac II and used it about 99% less, but the Sanrenmu liner shows more wear than the OKC. I've also seen pictures of broken Tenascious liners before, though admittedly with out context. The flimsy feeling liners are why I won't buy anymore Sanremu made products knowingly though.
 
egally08 said:
I know you made it a point to ask us to exclude any comments about the brand itself, but I think you have the wrong impression. They don't make ripoffs of any knives, they just use the designs. They don't try to pass them off as the real deal, and they in no way take business from the owner's designs. I have noticed that most people feel OK towards these companies. It's the people that are making direct counterfeit knives that everyone is against, and rightly so.

I owned a 710 a long time ago, and it was fair. Its about what you would expect, easy to sharpen, holds an edge much better then 440a, but a little bit less then AUS8. You can get them to take a very sharp edge though.
Click to expand...

Actually they sell unlicensed axis locks, the 710 is definitely CRK'ish, the 913P is based on a mix of two Benchmade designs they no longer have the rights to, and it's no longer on their site but they used to sell an aluminum scaled knife that was blatantly shaped like a Strider.
 
I doubt that the average user would be able to tell the difference between AUS8 and 8cr13MOV. Both will take a very fine edge and the SRM steel makes a fine 'user' steel.
 
I've had my 710 for about a year, I use it multiple times a week, usually for food prep. The steel holds an edge for a reasonably long time and sharpens up real easy. I've seen people have issues with rust, but that hasn't been my experience either. Perfectly adequate steel in a user. I also haven't experienced issues with lock deformation, but my two Sanrenmu's are both frame locks, I can't attest for how well their liner locks hold up.
 
I don't bother with any knife with steel less than 440c. I don't care how cheap it is. Life is too short to carry crap steel.
 
Boy howdy. I forgot how quickly things moved in General Discussion. Get busy one day and you are on page five.

Thanks for all the answers. I've used the knife for a few days and it does seem to be about like a workingman's AUS8, not bad. It'll take me a week or three to totally rate edge retention.

Today I had the pocket clip catch on something and bend all to heck. I had access to torx wrenches so it's all fixed now but it did seem to bend a bit easy.

I haven't carried a modern folder for a while and it's kind of "meh", so my compartmentalizing might be to eventually set this knife aside and not use it much. I do really like the hollow grind.

I got a couple 148's also and they are slipjoints. I like them although they are ugly as homemade sin.

 
Before I really got into good knives I collected all the different CRKT drifter and SRM 707 models and they were all relatively decent for ~$15-20 knives, I couldn't sharpen knives back then so I took them to a local shop for professional sharpening and they would last about 6 months between needing sharpening (they as in I had 4 of them I rotated out once they were dull) so that would mean each one lasted about 6 weeks before its edge was totally destroyed and ready to be sharpened again. That's with no touch ups or even a strop or anything. I don't know how it compares to anything else cause once I bought a better knife I started to touch it up myself and them eventually learned to sharpen but I'd always thought it was pretty similar to AUS-8A, the only 8Cr13MoV knife I have left is my Byrd Hawkbill and it holds its edge great but it's not really comparable to other blades cause of its SE HB blade.
 
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