Testing Ganzo's 440C, and their G729

Cutting test of a Ganzo that I have had for a while. Hoping to try their new knives in D2 and compare.

This knife was bought from gearbest, link below

Now for a little review on this bright orange wonder.

I bought this knife, originally since it was an oddity. To me, it made me laugh to have a bright coloured knife, patterned after a very popular Spyderco Knife {Paramilitary 2, but you probably guessed that) as well as having a distinct Benchmade Lock, an axis Lock.
I have since bought a Manix 2 and Griptilian with the round hole opening, so evidently, it is a design idea that I enjoy.

This knife is extremely fun to fidget with. Swinging it open is a dream, and flicking it is as much fun as any flipper. I have always had a bit of a fear of an axis Lock closing on me. The choil on this knife made me feel much more secure, especially since I was new to Ganzo as a company.

Compared to my Manix 2, this knife was certainly heavier. The g10 and liners did, however, make this knife much more comfy to hold. The lock, I found to be much easier to open than the Spyderco Caged Ball Bearing Lock. I have not yet tested the CTSBD1 on my Manix, so I cannot really tell what has the better blade steel.

Compared to my 550-1 Griptillian, there are quite a few differences. My Griptillian's 20CV steel of course out performs the 440C. Interestingly though, I actually found the action better on the Ganzo. Much smoother opining and closing. I also found the Ganzo (or the paramilitary) blade shape to be superior. It has a nicer grind (full flat grind) and the choil is nice for using. I even found it hurt my hand less than the griptialian. I did prefer the looks of the griptilian, though I wish it had a full flat grind, or at least a higher grind.

My cons for this knife though, are a few as well. The choil doesn't have any gimping. I didn't know this was important until I tried another choilled knife. Gimping is really nice on a choil...
My other major issue was the lock up. When I first bought this knife, the axis lock did not engage very far. It was really easy to accidentally close this knife with any bit of shock to the spine. Dropping it on carptet made it close up on itself. After using this knife more, it did eventually break in enough that the lock up was more secure, although having that at the start was enough to make me leery of the locking mechanism.

Overall, this was a good little cheap knife, that let me see what a paramilitary 2 was like to handle, and gave me my first taste at what an axis lock could do. It looks quite good too, especially in a simple black (bright orange really isn't my favourite colour) The steel seems to be doing good, and seems to be better than most chinese 8cr13 or 8cr14 steels. Hopefully I can do some more testing and give you more of an idea of where it ranks compared to other steels.

[piperaztech]

Keep it going! Basic performance tests are hard to come by, especially on budget knives. I've always been convinced 440C was a good steel, especially on less expensive blades. Supposed to recieve a Ganzo F720 in the mail tomorrow.

[bele]

Great job! I'm looking in 12c27 from sanrenmu.. what are your thoughts on it? Did you ever finish that test?