Ganzo G729-GY Folding Pocket Knife 440C Stainless Steel Blade Ergonomic G10 Anti-Slip Handle with Clip Hunting Fishing Camping Folder Axis Lock Outdoor EDC Knife (Grey)

I bought this to get some experience with the overall shape and blade style (it's obviously heavily "inspired" by the Spyderco Para2). I wanted to see if it would work for me before spending $$ on the real deal. I was also curious about an axis-style lock as I hadn't used one before (Spoiler: I did get a Para2...I used it in my photos for comparison purposes). Despite all the positive reviews, I wasn't expecting much for $20 but I was quite pleasantly surprised.The blade edge was sharp-ish out of the box, but in a few minutes with my sharpener I was able to get it sharp enough to shave hair (and I did, just because I could!). The tip was like a needle out of the box and I didn't have to do anything to improve it. That was a few months ago and I haven't had to touch it up yet.The handle material is not bad at all. It grips well enough in my hand, but also slides easily into my pocket.The spring in the axis lock feels little stiff to me but also very very solid. I'm certainly not worried about it accidentally unlocking on me. It's possible this is normal...I haven't used an axis lock before.While the fit and finish are not perfect, it's certainly acceptable for use as an EDC knife. Anything I observed on my example is really at the "I'm being picky" level, and is only worth noting in direct comparison to more expensive products. I've had more expensive knives that seemed to be lower quality.The things I have noticed (at this price point I hesitate to call them "problems"):1. The worst thing (in my opinion) is that the thumb jimping on the top of the blade is not great. It's just too smooth to really dig in. There is no jimping at all on the bottom of the blade in the indent for the index finger. (See images)2. The blade either scratches easily or came scratched from the factory. The scratches are strictly cosmetic. Not a concern for me since it's a tool and will be used as such, but I can see some people being bothered by it.3. The blade pivot is a bit stiff out of the box. I have some light lubricant that I will try, and I suspect that will help.4. The pocket clip cannot be moved for tip-down carry. Again, not a problem for me but some people might not like it.Overall, I'm very impressed with this as a "budget" EDC knife. It's good enough that I still carry it sometimes as a "beater" and I don't feel like I'm missing out on much. It's probably 80% of the Spyderco at a much lower price. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone, and I may buy more to keep in my toolbox or give as gifts.

I own now total 6 of these Ganzo 729 models. 2 in green and 4 in cadet grey (aka "confederate grey").The grey model is actually the old West Point military blueish grey, the Confederates adapted then as they uniform colour. Light slate grey is as well very close to cadet grey.Actually cadet grey is one of the colours which is best for hiding dust, dirt and mud. I chose that colour because I live in an hot but very dusty climate so and black handle looks very soon dirty due to the white dust particles sticking to it. So this colour will look clean all the time and it has till date. It never looks dirty. Second best would be the very nice indeed green colour which hides as well dust well but since it is a bit darker, the white dust particles will be seen more on the green model. I would not go for the black or orange handle in an dusty environment - they will look dirty all the time. People buy the orange one in order to find it if they loose it. Put on these an orange lanyard and your get the same effect.This is an Paramilitary 2 homage which is basically an soldiers knife for the field kitchen and so as it has an blade geometry for cutting and stabbing. This is not an hunting or combat knife however in an pinch this is an excellent stabber. I have never seen such an nice stabber.The blade edge is only 3" long of usefull cutting edge without the sharpening choil. So the blade lenght is to short for an combat knife since for that you want to have at least 5" and better 5.5" as a minimum. Not even the Military 1 came close to that with it's 4" blade (real 3.7" cutting edge or so).Blade geometry makes the cutting sharpness. This Ganzo 729 has the same blade geometry as the original Spyderco Paramilitary 2: Whole flat grind, 17.5 degrees sharpening angle of the edge, distal taper to the front, but has 3.3mm spine thickness instead of 3.7mm. So this is potentially an better slicer. This blade geometry is for slicing and stabbing - not for prying, hunting and not so much for combat. The leaf shape blade geometry forces the tip and blade in an stabbing situation towards the cutting edge slightly down becoming the cut ever broader towards the handle. That means at retracting the knife from the stab it is extremely easi since the larger cutting slit was already created by the blade. The stabb is broad and lends room for bleed out. I stabbed my dog (Chihuahua) with this after an snake bite. I pointed between the ribs upwards to reach the lungs area. The stab was so easy I did not even notice it was in up to the sharpening choil. In a reflex I retracted the nife and did not even notice any effort. The knife went is as in butter and out even unnoticeable. That sold me to this blade geometry and I new there where some engineers behind the design of this blade (at least on the original Spyderco). The dog just threw slightly his head towards the stab area and was dead within 15 seconds dark blood gushing out of the broad cut. The knife had went in till the spanish choil. Amazing.I confirm this Ganzo 729 blade has an sharpening angle of 17.5 degrees since I painted the edge with an marker and set the fixed angle sharpener to following:>>Rightangle AnglemeterLeg "b" = 17 cm (real 15 cm + 2 cm for elongation of broadness of blade on the holder)Height of the sharping stone (original Ceramic Stein) = 1.2 cma = 6.6 cm real - 1.2 cm height of the sharping stone = 17.6 Degrees sharpening angle.<<With an online right angle Triangle calculator and measuring your fixed angle knife sharpener you can determine exactly or roughly the sharpening angle of your knife. On the Ganzo 729 they maintained the sharpening angle of the original Spyderco which is as well 17.5 degrees.I have several DuraTech (chinese tool company) knives with an flat grind as well but it's sharpening angle is around 23 degrees. I need about 3 times as much of pressure and effort with the DuraTech as with this flatter edge angle of the Ganzo 729.I find these Ganzo 729 better as the original Spyderco PM2's due to the axis lock (or McHenry-Williams lock). Ganzo improved the McHenry-Williams lock by allowing a few Millimeters of more foreward travel as things wear out over time on the backface of the blade. The strong Omega Springs will push the axis rod more towards the blade and since it can travel still more foreward, it can autoadjust for wear and tear as the Tri-Ad Lock by riding more onto the face of the back of the blade which is geometrically inclined. So the chinese or Ganzo indeed improve the McHenry-Williams lock to an "Autoadjust Axis Lock". Like that this blade will never see any up and down wobble like I see on one of my DuraTech which has an axis lock as well but way weaker omega Springs. The reason Ganzo does so strong omega Springs is becauso they shall push the axis bar reliably towards the back of the blade to make up for wear and tear over time converting this avesome McHenry-Williams lock into an "Autoadjustable Axis Lock". As soon I have seen that, (not many if any seem to have noticed this), I chose this brand for my EDC and particularly this 729, PM2 model. The DuraTech has a little up and down play of the blade under pressure. That is a problem of blade back geometry and weaker omega Springs. So Ganzo wins hands down.Handles are full liner full tang metal to the end. Separator spacers seem to be as well stainless steel since on one video they react to an magnet. I did not disassemble this knife.Scales are G10.Washers seem to be on one side nylon and on the other side metal some sort of copper-bronze-brass. The 12$ DuraTech I described here has 2 brass washers - what's up Ganzo, why not use as well 2 copper washers? That DuraTech is free fall closing which this Ganzo never will do nor any other Ganzos. But the DuraTech has under pressure slight blade play left and right - this Ganzo and all Ganzos not at all.So you loose on these the play factor for reliability and firm blade position as well as solid lock up. I take that any time over the play factor.You will not open this with one hand. This is not an knife to endless open and close front of your buddies but an knife to open it when you need it.Doing a little Kali with this on an whole cattle leg shows the potential of this knife as an defensive knife.This will cut your attacker and surely stab 'em badly. However blade length is not sufficient for an combat knife. However in these times of firearms ever more restricted and controlled this knife will be for many the only defensive tool they have on them when things get dire. If you continuously swing this in an X, - or | form in front of you and snap stab between the moves, you most likely will hold any attacker on distance and defend yourself somewhat sucessfull in an unfortunate situation. This knife can lend as well as defense against wild street dogs who attack people on the walkway. Today more wild animals will run wild and lose since lefties do not let them be killed and thus they will become a danger over time for people.However DuraTech can sell their knives for 12$ (8Cr13MoV) and thus Ganzo could sell these well for 15$ as well. 440C steel is inexpensively cheap these days and so there is no reason to charge 20$ for these. 15$ would be a fair price for these Ganzo 729 models and other Ganzos as well.The chinese produce these for sure for about 4$ each, use slave labor of their moslem minorities and thus could sell these well for 10$. Some ukrainian knives in 440C steel I have sold a few weeks ago for 7$ on sale (440C, G10, etc). These knives are produced majorly in an stamping procedure as you can see on the handle. So on deep sale these could be offered for around 8$ as well.Walmart offers their recent model of the Ozark Trail for 5$ in D2 (not full tang though) - that tells you a lot of the production costs this kind of knives have in China. That means the Walmart knife costs to produce only around 2$ if not 1$.Over 20$ for these is to high of an price. A fair price would be around 14.99$ where they have already an earning of around 300%.