WE Knife Co. 703

Popsickle

Popsickle

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This is a phenomenal pocket knife for the price. $100 gets you contoured g10, ceramic bearings and detent ball, 3D machined titanium backspacer and clip, and a d2 blade. Action is extremely smooth, detent is just right, and the pocket clip retention is just about perfect. I also don't mind the proprietary hardware.... they send you the tool with the knife as well as a padded zipper case.

All that being said..... am I the only one who thinks this would have been perfect with a stainless blade? M390 preferably but I would absolutely settle for s35vn. My experience with d2 is limited, so please let me know if I'm way off base here.


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I have a 617 and a 701, both of these have D2 blades also.

I have had no problems at all with rust or corrosion so far.

I think that they got the heat treat right.
 
The amazing price is most likely because they used a cheaper steel, importing M390 or S35vn into China would raise the price to levels that would not seem so amazing.
 
I have a 703, and I absolutely love it. I have no problem at all with D2, especiallly since my knife has a black wash finished blade. My kids have fidget spinners, my 703 is my fidget flipper!
 
The price difference between D2 and M390 is significant. For $100, D2 is a great working steel.
 
KingMC said:
The amazing price is most likely because they used a cheaper steel, importing M390 or S35vn into China would raise the price to levels that would not seem so amazing.
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Actually even when We makes a m390 blade paired with an integral one piece handle the price is under $300. That is still a killer deal compared to the competition. Either way d2 i feel is a darn good steel and the quality of the execution to makes the $100 for this knife makes it a really appealing product. Especially when people are willing to spend $200-1000 on d2 knives.
 
The 703 is a great knife for the price. So is the 617, which is very similar. I recently picked up a 703 but haven't had a chance to use it much yet. I have used the 617 outdoors a few times (D2 blade, like the 703) and it holds up pretty well. I make sure to wipe off the blade before putting it away and haven't seen any issues with rust or the like. I think even the satin D2 blades WE does has a bit of a coating to help protect them from the elements somewhat.
 
D2 is excellent IMO. Sharpens easily and keeps a good edge. It will stain eventually just keep it nominally dry and you wont have an issue.
 
Popsickle said:
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This is a phenomenal pocket knife for the price. $100 gets you contoured g10, ceramic bearings and detent ball, 3D machined titanium backspacer and clip, and a d2 blade. Action is extremely smooth, detent is just right, and the pocket clip retention is just about perfect. I also don't mind the proprietary hardware.... they send you the tool with the knife as well as a padded zipper case.

All that being said..... am I the only one who thinks this would have been perfect with a stainless blade? M390 preferably but I would absolutely settle for s35vn. My experience with d2 is limited, so please let me know if I'm way off base here.


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Click to expand...
Hows the flipping on it compare to a zt 450, 452 or something similar? I heard the detent was not as firm, less of a snap out...
 
D2 is an above average budget steel, im really glad they used D2 for the price over 8cr or aus8 etc. sometimes it can be difficult to sharpen, in which case diamonds or SiC stones would speed up the process, depending on the hrc.

i like this one the best of the budget options... BUT... i dont want a budget knife, i want this same design but instead of g10 to be done in Carbon Fiber. D2 blade will still be fine but something better would be preferred for that option. of course it wouldnt be a budget knife at all at this point.
 
lemonslush said:
Hows the flipping on it compare to a zt 450, 452 or something similar? I heard the detent was not as firm, less of a snap out...
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The detent is much lighter than a ZT but I wouldn't call it too light. The action is very smooth and snappy. I prefer it to my ZT.... and I always loved the firm detent they had.
 
Mo2 said:
D2 is an above average budget steel, im really glad they used D2 for the price over 8cr or aus8 etc. sometimes it can be difficult to sharpen, in which case diamonds or SiC stones would speed up the process, depending on the hrc.

i like this one the best of the budget options... BUT... i dont want a budget knife, i want this same design but instead of g10 to be done in Carbon Fiber. D2 blade will still be fine but something better would be preferred for that option. of course it wouldnt be a budget knife at all at this point.
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I love the contoured g10 but would prefer S35vn or higher blade steel rather than new handle material. judging by the price of the mass drop we knife...... I don't see how this would be a problem and kee the same price point
 
KingMC said:
The amazing price is most likely because they used a cheaper steel, importing M390 or S35vn into China would raise the price to levels that would not seem so amazing.
Click to expand...
M390 is imported into America, isn't it? How would shipping it to China be that much more expensive? I know it's sort of comparing apples to oranges but the Bradford Guardian 3 sells for around the same price with M390. The extra expense of shipping the finished knife to American customers should be offset by much less expensive Chinese labor.
I'm not saying the WE 703 isn't a nice knife or anything. Just that using a higher quality steel shouldn't raise the price that much. The real difference is they have a higher profit margin using D2 at the same price point.
 
Popsickle said:
I love the contoured g10 but would prefer S35vn or higher blade steel rather than new handle material. judging by the price of the mass drop we knife...... I don't see how this would be a problem and kee the same price point
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s35vn would bring the price up quite a bit. so no it wouldnt be a budget knife then.

RamZar said:
WE will offer the budget line with both D2 and VG-10. VG-10 fills the need of those who prefer a stainless steel in an EDC folder.
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i understand the need of those who want a more stainless blade material, but i dislike vg-10 a lot. in any case, D2 is a great steel even for steel snobs. it does not rust easy and WE even coats those blades in oil from the factory.

dryflytrout said:
M390 is imported into America, isn't it? How would shipping it to China be that much more expensive? I know it's sort of comparing apples to oranges but the Bradford Guardian 3 sells for around the same price with M390. The extra expense of shipping the finished knife to American customers should be offset by much less expensive Chinese labor.
I'm not saying the WE 703 isn't a nice knife or anything. Just that using a higher quality steel shouldn't raise the price that much. The real difference is they have a higher profit margin using D2 at the same price point.
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yes the m390 is imported from America. nothing you can do about the price for it. yes chinese labor is cheaper... but its used more for there premium line of knives.

profit margins are dependent on how many they can make/sell. for instance the massdrop/ferium forge knife is affordable ONLY because they were able to guarantee alot of them sold. iirc they sold just under 3000 of them (give or take 500). thats how they hit the price point of 125. the rest of the we knives are not produced in that amount, they are small run's. i assume the budget offerings are produced in higher batch counts using budget materials.
 
dryflytrout said:
I'm not saying the WE 703 isn't a nice knife or anything. Just that using a higher quality steel shouldn't raise the price that much. The real difference is they have a higher profit margin using D2 at the same price point.
Click to expand...

You are assuming a few things:
1. With the materials used for the 703 currently that they are actually making a large profit.
2. With an upgrade in the steel that they would accept a lesser profit margin
3. Price increases would only be tied to how much the materials cost

M390 is much harder to work with so manufacturing costs would increase, and since M390 is also known as a premium steel and WE could easily increase the cost above what just the upgraded materials would add pulling a greater profit than with D2.

Benchmade makes a griptilian in CPM-20CV steel, made in the same country as the knives are, yet the price increase is around $60 street value just for the nicer steel, which is on par with M390. Something tells me that WE would have a similar increase in price for their 703 if they upgraded to M390, and considering the current price point that increase would be over 50% of the base price.
 
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