So i know how crazy everyone is about the Ganzo knives, and I wanted to take the chance to do a quick review on the Fura S35VN knives at gearbest.
Plus I just set up a imgur account to try to fix the damage that the other company (the one whose name we must not say) has done. Next step is to start transferring hundreds upon hundred of pictures over to imgur.
Fura S35vn Knives @ Gearbest
http://bit.ly/2usVFg6 (Affiliate link)
So I saw these S35vn knives that Fura is making and at first thought… it’s a trap! Then I started to think about the quality that Ganzo is putting out, and how nice the steel is on the Y-start D2 knives is for the money and decided I had to be the guinea pig and try these out. Ended up at my door in about 12 days and was packaged in a small tin case with a plastic viewing window.
This thing is a small knife! But also very heavy for such a small thing. My scale is missing… probably stolen by drug dealers, so I can’t say exactly what the weight is on this.
Construction:
This knife is as simple as it gets. No pocket clip. No lanyard hole, no keychain ring. Just a knife. The knife uses a double ball/detent system to hold the blade in the closed and open position. There is a small lockbar milled into the frame that contains the ball and provides tension for the knife. It opens with a pill shaped thumbhole and has a cutout so that you can reach into it. There is a stop pin on the blade that connect with the frame to keep the knife from over extending. It is an open pillar construction with 2 torx screws holding the knife together, one of them being the pivot.
My Youtube Review:
Performance:
So I pulled this little gem out of the box and flipped it open and it was nice and smooth. It looks like 1 phosphor bronze washer and one nylon. I was unable to shake the knife open no matter how hard I tried. The ball and detent held it closed with ridiculous amounts of shaking. I took the knife to some carboard and it instantly bound up! Panic envelopes me that this was going to be a disaster. I took the knife to my arm hair and it shaved the hair off easily. Took it to paper and it cut. Then I brought it to a receipt and is did not cut that. I looked at the knife closely and noticed that the bevel was extremely steep. I put it against a flat surface and the angle was imposing. That explains the poor performance with cardboard. The steep bevel was binding up the cardboard and not allowing the sharp edge to slice.
So after some whining, and more whining I decided to reprofile the edge. This thing is s35vn steel (allegedly) and it would benefit from a nice thinned out edge. So I busted out the DMT and Eze-lap diamond stones and started with the extra coarse. I easily took about 10 degree away from the bevel angle over the course of about 2 hours. Slowly and methodically checking it with a sharpie marker as I went. I can say that this is a very tough steel! This was not an easy task at all! So after about so hours my new established angle finally met up with the edge and created a new apex. It took a wicked wire edge! I then quickly (about 20 minutes) worked my way through my fine and ultra fine diamond stones to refine the edge. Having the shallower bevel made it a little easier to sharpen as the bevel was now big enough to rest firmly on the stone as I sharpened. After the ultra-fine I took the knife to my arm and had a nice bald spot to show for it! I then pulled out the strop and went from black compound, to green, and then finally with a .5 micron diamond paste. It now had a nice fine edge with no burr, and grabbed at my nail like my best knives.
I was happy!
I took it to cardboard and the performance difference was huge! I was able to cut through entire 12-20” piece of thick corrugated coardboard without it binding. I took it to paper and it sliced nicely. It was still a little shy around receipt paper though, but I think that is due to their still being alot of meat around the edge that was tearing the receipt paper rather than letting the edge cut.
So I cut about 40-50 linear feet of cardboard and the edge was just as good as when I started. I did not I did have one spot on the edge where I had a rough spot, but I think it was due to my sharpening skills more than anything. When I tried to slice cut I noticed it, but did not notice it with push cuts.
I’ve done quite a bit of edge testing with knives and 40-50 feet of cardboard will dull all but the best of steels. The only steels I’ve had go over 50 feet of cardboard are D2, CTS-XHP, VG10 (spyderco), s35vn, 690co. So I am satisfied to say that my results for Fura’s S35VN are in line with my previous tests. Most cheaper steels like 440C and 8CR13MOV will only do about 30-50 feet of cardboard before they lose that edge.
My Opinions:
This is a tough knife to review. There are no S35VN knives on the market under $60. This little guy comes in around $25. Firstly I will say this knife would be greatly improved with a lanyard ring. A small paracord lanyard would really make this more comfortable to hold onto. I really don’t think the handle is titanium. It just feels too heavy. I suppose that it is stainless steel with a titanium coating.
I’ve dealt with this double detent locking system with some SRM knives. You have to be super careful because one little smack and it can close on you. So treat this knife accordingly. But it does hold the blade firmly in place while the knife is closed.
It opens smoothly and you can open and close it with one hand.
Aside from cutting cardboard I also did some meal prep for a few days, and used it to cut zip ties and let it spend a little time in the garden pruning tomato plants. It cuts nicely and has maintained a good edge for me. I am happy with the quality of the steel and heat treat.
I think if Fura expands on this line and makes some larger knives with a frame/liner lock they would be wildly successful if they can keep the price low.
These Fura Knives ride nicely in the watch pocket of your jeans by the way. They also drop easily into the console of a car and other small places like your pen drawer at your work desk.
This knife is in no way, shape, or form going to compete with a small spyderco. But for half the price they are not a bad little investment. That is with the huge caveat that if you want to use it for fine tasks your going to have to spend some time reprofiling that edge and thinning it out.
Would I buy this again?
Yes. This is a handy little knife to stash away, and I’m happy with the cutting performance after I reprofiled the edge.