TwoSun TS88 No Screw Tenon-and-Mortise Knife - Thoughts?

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HiPlainsGrifter

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Jan 20, 2006
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I saw this knife a couple places online. It advertises "No Screw Tenon-and-Mortise Work" and sports some pretty decent specs. It isn't super cheap which leads me to believe it might be nice. Do any of you have any experience with this knife? Is it a skillful act of knife craftsmanship or just a crappy gas station special from China? - inquiring minds want to know.

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It's probably thick behind the edge. It has geometry of a nail.
What you gonna do with that?
Id save my money
 
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HiPlainsGrifter said:
I saw this knife on and It advertises "No Screw Tenon-and-Mortise Work" and sports some pretty decent specs. It isn't super cheap which leads me to believe it might be nice. Do any of you have any experience with this knife? Is it a skillful act of knife craftsmanship or just a crappy gas station special from China? - inquiring minds want to know.

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Hey, man. You're going to want to lose those links. Non-supporting vendors.

The knife is a Two Sun TS88, if anyone has one. Seems interesting. Reminiscent (?) of that recent Snecx design.
 
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when i look for twosun - its only the the "bay" or the "river" - and that tells me all i need to know
 
Wouldn't pay that much for a twosun. They don't cost more than half that at most. Tc4 titanium and d2 usually. Very low budget materials. M390 doesn't mark that price up that much. And for that price you can get some really nice knives that are worth a damn.

I don't think it's a gas station knife at all.
 
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TwoSun makes very good knives and they are still one of the best values available in knives. If you have not handled and used one, then you don't know how good and your opinion is sheer speculation and supposition. The prices have been increasing on them.

I have the TS88 on order now and look forward to receiving it. It is interesting how it uses no screws and mortise and tenon in assembly. I am curious. I paid $84 shipped.

I have about 12 TwoSun knives and they are nearly all very good knives with good workmanship, fit, and finish. They are not copies or theft of designs the best that I can determine or I would not buy them. There have been a few small issues like wire edges not being removed and a lot of shipping oil that has to be cleaned off of them. But, I have found fewer issues in general compared to a lot of other big name knives that I have purchased. Their D2 knives are D2 based on my experience in using and sharpening them. I don't have any in M390, so I don't know about it.
 
I've been looking at TwoSun for a bit now, and all the reviews I've seen have been positive. I'll likely pick up something from them at some point to check it out for myself, but I'll admit I'm having trouble getting over the "China" thing for whatever reason. The TS88 is interesting for sure.
 
Sorry about the links. I wasn't aware of that rule.

Another nice (weird feature) is the fact that "The groove of knife blade can insert the 6mm tritium tube".

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I guess in the groove in the blade that is closest to the pivot, the groove is deep enough to accept a tritium tube.

Man, this knife is so weird, I kinda want one.

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Here's a video review:

I don't know much about Two Sun. I had this tanto awhile back and it looked nice, but the out of the box grind was duller than an accountant convention. Fit and finish was: Meh.

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I just watched a review online and the no screw thing looks like a gimmick to me. It's just another version of the CRKT Home Front but it uses cam lock style pins including the pivot pin which leaves no way of adjusting
the pivot. It needs a tiny tool to pop the back spacer out then you have to pop a shim clip out that holds the pivot secure and that look hard. It's like reinventing the wheel:confused: Aside from that I like the look and would jump on one for $50 bucks so I could practice some heat ano on the ti scales.
 
I'm guessing they were trying to copy Snex idea on tooless design.
 
mpm0097 said:
Didn't Scharz have a knife that was a dovetail construction? Is it like that?
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TJ Schwartz designed the Koenig Knives Zenaida, which I kick myself over once a month for never having bought. It was a screwless frame lock design that used a large dovetail joint and an additional small frame lock to hold the frame together. Fewer parts and quite different than this. This is definitely more reminiscent of the Snecx.
 
HiPlainsGrifter said:
Sorry about the links. I wasn't aware of that rule.

Another nice (weird feature) is the fact that "The groove of knife blade can insert the 6mm tritium tube".

41Wyvi7qQML.jpg


I guess in the groove in the blade that is closest to the pivot, the groove is deep enough to accept a tritium tube.

Man, this knife is so weird, I kinda want one.
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DON'T DO IT!! It'll make you sterile!:p
 
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I picked up some early TwoSun knives and wasn't overly impressed. The D2 steel tested out as the more generic global D2 (Asian) standard and not the D2 as defined by ASTM. Fit and finish were just OK. Designs seemed original but not awesome.

I've seen TwoSun and CH share designs. I've seen TwoSun and CH knives with no logo at all, or the logo of some unknown third party. I've seen CH clone at least one knife, a Zieba design.

For me there are too many smoking guns here. I'm willing to accept the fact that some TwoSun knives are original'ish designs but I also think they manufacture clones under other names, sometimes CH, sometimes no name at all. That and the fact that they're only available on the Bay, the River or Liarexpress and that's enough for me to take a hard pass and spend my knife dollars elsewhere. There's just too many great choices in high-value knives to possibly support a cloner.

Your mileage may vary.
 
Thanks Mo2 Mo2 and Hackenslash Hackenslash for good info and posts. I depend on Bladeforums for stuff like this since my aging brain can't remember all the details of these companies.
 
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What a surprise I'm shocked. Really?

I mean they use same backdrops, same ruler, same photographer to take pictures of these two sun knives as all your other hommage line, pleasure doing business with you, welcome to China, products.
 
Mo2 said:
So over the weekend twosun just sold a knife design to a cloner to sell. Making the original designer not getting paid for his design. Apparently they are made in the same factory and either the cloner stole the design or twosun allowed them. Doesn't really matter.... As clones are made in the twosun factory.

https://instagram.com/vitesse_design_?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=lvkktw2ybfo3
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So, the issue with TwoSun is that they don't make knives, and therefore have to contract with small Chinese factories to have them made? And since we're dealing with Tso's Fabrications (I made that name up) and not something like the Irwin/Vise-Grip plant, TwoSun can't stop Tso from selling rejects/overruns/whatever without TwoSun's name on them once good old Tso has the production specs in hand?

Then a designer like Vitesse says "dammit, TwoSun, get your IP protection in order or I'll have to quit selling designs to you".
 
Taxmantoo said:
So, the issue with TwoSun is that they don't make knives, and therefore have to contract with small Chinese factories to have them made? And since we're dealing with Tso's Fabrications (I made that name up) and not something like the Irwin/Vise-Grip plant, TwoSun can't stop Tso from selling rejects/overruns/whatever without TwoSun's name on them once good old Tso has the production specs in hand?

Then a designer like Vitesse says "dammit, TwoSun, get your IP protection in order or I'll have to quit selling designs to you".
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Twosun makes the knives.
 
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