SanRenMu GB-763 - Darn near perfect EDC

[jekostas]

Alright, time for SanRenMu review number 2.  I'm reviewing the GB-763 knife this time, another one of SRM's "EDC" line, which are characterized by blades that fall in the 2.75" range.  This particular knife is special, as it uses SRM's version of the "Axis Lock".

First, some specs.

Blade Length   2.52" / 65mm
Open             6.14" / 156mm
Close             3.66" / 93mm
Weight           2.05oz / 58g

Nicked from the SRM website, I have measured the knife and they do jive - it's nice to see that SanRenMu actually makes a point of having the correct specs up (so many knife companies don't).  As with their other blades, the "Blade Length" measurement is actually a measurement of the sharpened cutting area, not the entire blade.  The only item not listed is the thickness of the blade, which is 2MM.



Design



Lock:  I'll start here, because I figure that's what most people would be interested in.  SanRenMu does use the "Axis Lock" moniker from Benchmade, and the lock is simliar in terms of spring usage, looks and the fact that the pin rotates (to minimize flat spots from wear), but there are a couple of notable differences.  The first, and probably the most important is the location of the stop pin for the blade.  It's set quite a bit more forward in the handle scales than just about any Benchmade that I've seen or handled, so there's a greater distance from the blade stop to the lock engage on the tang.  Secondly, the tang ramp for the lock pin is much more angled than a typical Benchmade lock.  This is good and bad - it should wear slower than an Axis lock would, but it might be tougher on the springs.  I've only had this knife for a week, I just don't know yet. 

In terms of lock design, the 763 actually looks less like an Axis lock and more like a modified Ultra-Lock from Cold Steel, but again, not exactly the same.  There are a number of different variations on this lock (Piston and Arc from Sog, Bearing from Spyderco, Ultra-Lock from Cold Steel, Rolling and Axis from Benchmade).  They're all slightly different in terms of mechanics, and again, the SRM version is slightly different than them all.  It'll be interesting to see how it holds up.

As it is, the lock is solid, engages securely, and opens and closes very smoothly.



Blade:  The blade is awesome.  Seriously, awesome.  Yes, it's somewhat on the thin side (as all SRM are that are in the "EDC" lineup) at 2MM, but I don't envision this knife being used in a way that the thinner blade would be a hindrance.  The style is a drop point skinner style with a very, very deep belly, and a short unsharpened swedge.  The blade is very deeply hollow ground leading to a very small edge angle.  The grind is symmetrical, clean, and extremely well done.  The blade is designed such that in hard use, the deep belly is positioned right under your thumb to get maximum usage - kudos for the excellent design.  There is a row of very effective jimping on the top of the spine, it really locks your thumb in quite nicely for control.
The thumbstud is typical SanRenMu - I didn't initially like the aggressive terracing, but it's grown on me as the friction you can get for opening is quite high.

Oh, and the strange blade stop and the finger choil makes for a nice bottle opener in a pinch.




Handle:  The handles are 50% lined G10, with a very nice texture and very grippy texture.  They look damned pretty too - when the light catches 'em right, it almost looks like carbon fiber.  The actual handle shape is relatively comfortable, even if it's somewhat blocky - it reminds of a number of Cold Steel (Mini-Lawman, Mini-AK) and Sog (Trident) designs in that way.  There is a quarter-length steel liner in the front half of the knife to support the locking system, and SRM took the time to jimp the exposed portion of the liners top and bottom.  It's sharp, effective, and gives a very high level of control - very nice.  This is something other companies *cough*BENCHMADE*cough* just don't do properly.  The handle design, combined with the excellent texturing of the handles scales affords a lot of grip - I've handled the knife wet, cold, with muddy hands and with gloves, and I never worried about dropping it.
There is a quarter-length steel insert in the back of the handle as well, and it's used two ways; it forms the baseplate for the clip to screw in to, as well as providing a very large lanyard hole.  Between the two steel plates, there's an FRN backspacer to provide some strength to the G10 handles.  The handle (and entire knife) can be disassembled, the pivot is a 2MM metric hex wrench, and the clip and handle screws are 1.5MM metric hex.


Clip:  I don't normally wax prophetic about clips, but the clip on this knife is awesome.  Seriously, awesome.  It's of the folded over design and thus buries very deeply in your pocket with only a small amount of the knife exposed.  It's pretty strong (but not overly so), it's profiled very nicely, and the clip combined with the textured handle scales provides excellent retention.  I probably wouldn't wear this knife on anything other than jeans or heavy khaki pants for fear of shredding the pocket material, but since I typically wear pocket knives with jeans it works perfectly for me.
The clip is also switchable for left or right carry, and combined with the ambidextrous nature of the lock and ambidextrous thumb studs, this knife is perfectly usable by either hand.

Fit and Finish:  Typically excellent.  Grinds were clean and even, the handle was perfectly shaped with no sharp edges or stripped screws, and the lockup was solid from day one.  The blade is perfectly centered in the lockup, and came razor sharp out of the box.  A lot, and I do mean a LOT of American knife companies could learn some stuff from SanRenMu in this department.

Usage

Opening/Lockup:  Excellent and excellent.  The knife opens and closes smoothly from the thumbstud, and doesn't require any wrist flick.  The knife can also be opened and closed using the "Benchmade flick" as well - holding back on the lock and using wrist action to flip it open.  The lockup is solid up and down and side to side.  Axis/Piston type locks are self-correcting for vertical blade play, so I expect this knife maintain an excellent lockup for a long time.  If the knife develops horizontal play, the pivot can be adjusted, though my copy came near perfect out of box.

Cutting Performance:  This knife is an absolute joy to use.  The deep hollow ground and skinning style blade absolutely flies through day to day cutting tasks - food prep, boxes, wire and rope cutting, packing opening, and the design of the handle and blade allows for great force to be put behind cuts.  The thinner blade really does make a difference here, and it makes the knifes excellent for EDC tasks.

Grip:  As stated, excellent.  The well designed handle, grippy scales and effective jimping make the knife easy to control.

Philosophy of Use:  This is a great EDC knife.  It's actually thinner than most Benchmade knives of similar size like the Mini-Griptilian and Mini-Barrage, and it's very light at 2.05 ounces - perfect for pocket carry.  This is actually a knife I'd probably take camping as well - with the excellent size, self-cleaning lock, light weight and large lanyard hole, it would be easy to attach a carabiner clip and put it on a backpack harness.

Price: Always a consideration.  This is actually one of the more expensive models in the SRM lineup (likely to do with machining the lock), but it still cost me only $12 shipped from exduct.  It's more expensive on eBay (closer to $20), but still more than worth it.  I'd probably pay 5 times the price I did, or even more - it's just that good.

SanRenMu just continually impresses me as a company, and I will be buying more from them (at least until they figure out they can charge a heckuva lot more for their products).  This knife is pretty well perfect.

[Threeme2189]

Great review!
And from what you wrote, that looks like a great knife too.
I really want one now 

[PyroJames]

Fantastic review! 

Another SRM knife that I must get now.

[J-sews]

Nice write up jekostas, very well put together. That GB-763 sounds like one hell of a lot of knife for the money

[Zack]

Its a great review and I'm sure its a great knife, but I can't get around the concept of blatantly copying a design or innovation.  I'll use the 710 as an example; its clearly a copy of a CRK Sebenza, but does Sanrenmu credit the person who designed the knife? No.  And, here they are using the Axis Lock name, which I'm pretty sure is trademarked in the advertising for their knife.  That simply doesn't sit well with me, and its hard for me to support a company the discredits knives and designers that I like and own.

I'm glad you like the knives and they seem to be wildly popular, but I will never own one.

[jekostas]

Its a great review and I'm sure its a great knife, but I can't get around the concept of blatantly copying a design or innovation.  I'll use the 710 as an example; its clearly a copy of a CRK Sebenza, but does Sanrenmu credit the person who designed the knife? No.  And, here they are using the Axis Lock name, which I'm pretty sure is trademarked in the advertising for their knife.  That simply doesn't sit well with me, and its hard for me to support a company the discredits knives and designers that I like and own.

I'm glad you like the knives and they seem to be wildly popular, but I will never own one.

If you want to take this stance, that's cool, but understand that it's pretty common with knives.  You couldn't for example, convince me that that the Gerber EVO isn't a blatant copy of the Kit Carson/CRKT M16, or the Ridge wasn't "inspired" by the Ed Halligan/CRKT K.I.S.S.  Or that the SOGZilla and Benchmade Pika II weren't designed to look like and compete directly against the Cara Cara.  Or the three hundred zillion or so copies that were made of the Buck 110 when it came out (like Ka-Bar and the more specifically, the Schrade LB7).  Or the copies that have been made of the original Ka-Bar Marine Fighting Knife.  Or Benchmade using the Spyderco opening hole for many of their HK and Red Line knives.

If you want to limit your purchasing to companies that have never copied design notes from another manufacturer... well, in terms of production knives I think you're down to Spyderco, and that's about it and I'm not even sure about that.  This particular argument arises on just about every SanRenMu thread I've seen - I'm not sure why this particular company invites so much wrath when so many others get a pass.

Actually, speaking of the 710, a prominent moderator and knifemaker from bladeforums examined it up against a small Sebenza and came to the conclusion that they were nothing alike - http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=761222

Essentially he said - different blade shape, different handle shape (and rivet placement), different materials, different weights, different sizes, different thumbstuds, different pivot, different manufacturing details like how the locks were machined, etc.  Yeah, it was obviously inspired by the Sebenza, but so are a number of other knife designs - the Bradley Alias comes to mind.

[Zack]

the copying is not really what I am worried or upset about.  Its the lack of credit given to the maker.  The SOGzilla is a blatant copy of the Endura/CaraCara, and they have recieved enough wrath about that.  I will also never own one.  I understand at the end of the day knife designs are going to overlap, its the evolution of design.  All I'm asking is give credit where credit is due.  When Spyderco uses a frame lock, they give credit to Reeves.  When they use a liner lock they give credit to Walker.  Yes the 710 is different from the Sebenza, but I would find it hard to believe that the "designer" of the 710 didn't put up a picture of the Sebenza and say "I'm going to make that knife"  I willl read the review of the 710 once BF goes live again, but also these are my thoughts, I don't expect for anyone to agree or disagree with me.

Using the term "Axis Lock" in advertising is clearly trademark infringement however, and I will not condone that.  Keep in mind I am not bashing SanRenMu or desire anything bad to come of them, but I do question their advertising and designs.

Edit: Just read the BF post, I agree on some aspects and disagree on others.  Yes, I'm sure there are minute differences, but when I look at the 710 all I see is a Classic Sebenza with a Regular Sebenza blade profile.  To each there own.  I'm glad you found a company you like, but I'll stick with my CRK's.

[jekostas]

Using the term "Axis Lock" in advertising is clearly trademark infringement however, and I will not condone that.  Keep in mind I am not bashing SanRenMu or desire anything bad to come of them, but I do question their advertising and designs.

Not really, no.  The actual mechanics of the lock are different.  No sane person is going to be confusing a SanRenMu knife with one made by Benchmade, nor is SanRenMu making an honest effort to copy any designs from Benchmade either - at its most basic, SRM clearly brands all of their knives with their own mark.  A perfectly reasonable argument can be made for "Fair Use", and no different from Benchmade using the round opening hole on their knives, or SOG changing the channel angle on their knives to call it an "Arc Lock".

As it stands, the term "Axis Lock" is in no way shape or form trademarked by Benchmade.  The terms trademarked are "AXIS" (in capitals) and "Genuine AXIS Mechanism".

As to SRM having designs like other companies... well, I don't know what to tell you there.  A lot of other knife companies do it - I am again, unsure as to why SanRenMu continually gets the stick for doing it when Gerber, Sog, Benchmade, Schrade, Ka-Bar, Bradley and a host of other companies (US-based and otherwise) do it as well.  None of those companies give any kind of credit for it either - CRKT and Gerber aren't crediting Michael Walker with inventing the Liner Lock every time they make a new knife that uses one, nor does Kershaw credit Chris Reeve when they create a frame lock.  Spyderco is the exception to the rule rather than the rule.

So... it comes down to - why is SanRenMu some how worse than Gerber when they clearly rip off the Kit Carson/CRKT M16 or the Petzl Spatha?  Or Bradley when they make a knife (the Alias) that looks at least as much like CRK Sebenza as the 710 (and based on price would be a MUCH close competitor)?  You can't tell me people rip on those companies as much as they do SRM - a cursory search of any major knife forum says otherwise.

[Zack]

All valid points...I guess it just comes down to personal preference.  Rather than having an imitation of something I would rather wait and save for the real thing.  I see the 710 as an imitation of the Sebenza, the 763 with an imitation Axis Lock, and there was another on here that was reviewed that looks like an imitation of a Buck/Strider collaboration.  I'm sure its a great knife and I'm not bashing it, but its just not for me.  As to all the others that were mentioned, there is a reason I don't own any of them, or hardly any products from those manufacturers.  Not saying they don't make great knives or have good designs in their own regard, but I would rather own something that at least gives credit for the design.  I might be weird in thinking that, but it wouldn't be the first time someone has called me that.

[cgk]

All valid points...I guess it just comes down to personal preference.  Rather than having an imitation of something I would rather wait and save for the real thing.  I see the 710 as an imitation of the Sebenza, the 763 with an imitation Axis Lock, and there was another on here that was reviewed that looks like an imitation of a Buck/Strider collaboration.  I'm sure its a great knife and I'm not bashing it, but its just not for me.  As to all the others that were mentioned, there is a reason I don't own any of them, or hardly any products from those manufacturers.  Not saying they don't make great knives or have good designs in their own regard, but I would rather own something that at least gives credit for the design.  I might be weird in thinking that, but it wouldn't be the first time someone has called me that.

Anyone recall which one that was? 

[Zack]

GB-704 its almost to the bottom of the current review page.

[sappyg]

Nice write up jekostas, very well put together. That GB-763 sounds like one hell of a lot of knife for the money

+1.... especially on the review itself... well done. again, this is another knife i was not aware of. it has some great styling cues with a lot of functionality. i especially like the hollow grind on the blade. it should be a serious cutter. thanks for the review jekostas.

[jekostas]

Zack - fair enough.  Personal preference is certainly a huge motivator in purchases.

Thanks all - I should say the one thing I've done with this knife is taken a diamond file and ground off the last 2MM of the blade before the handle - the little corner there caught my thumb on a sloppy opening and bit me pretty bad.  It's all good now, though (I'll put up a picture later).

[Freudian Frog]

THANKS. I HATE YOU.

Another SRM knife to add to my list of things to try.
Atleast these knives I can get without having to go hungry for a year.

[Andreas]

Great review. I was seriously surprised to see how cheap that thing is compared to the folders I'm used to seeing people post on this forum 
I'm not really into blade-only knives tough, or I'd grab one.

[jekostas]

THANKS. I HATE YOU.

Another SRM knife to add to my list of things to try.
Atleast these knives I can get without having to go hungry for a year.

You're welcome - I'm looking in to getting one of the "tool" knives from SRM next, one of the ones with a cord cutter and bottle opener/screwdriver/prybar that folds out of the back.

[DaveK]

OK - I'm convinced and want to try one of these.

Any idea where I get my paws on one?

[sawman]

Excellent review and it seems like a really neat little knife but I'm still not compelled to buy one.  I'm super particular when it comes to stand-alone folders (non-multitools) and would sooner go with a SAK, SpyderCo or SOG for my money 

[jekostas]

Excellent review and it seems like a really neat little knife but I'm still not compelled to buy one.  I'm super particular when it comes to stand-alone folders (non-multitools) and would sooner go with a SAK, SpyderCo or SOG for my money  

If you are that picky about your folders (and I am as well) you really should try a SanRenMu knife - the quality is simply outstanding, and easily on the level of a lot of the big name companies.  I say that as either an owner or user of a scary number of blades from CRKT, Buck, Kershaw, Leatherman, Spyderco (only knife I ever had to warranty because of a lock) and a number of others.

These aren't "good for the price" or "good for Chinese-made", they're simply good knives, and I appreciate good craftsmanship.  I mean, I would honestly say that the SRMs I currently own and use have better fit and finish than the Leatherman or CRKT folders in my collection, and a couple of SOGs as well.

[DaveK]

Well I have one on the way - so I'll let you know what I think when it arrives

[gunga]

Bumping an old thread.  Where is a good place to  get one of these?  I need to check one out...

[enki_ck]

Bumping an old thread.  Where is a good place to  get one of these?  I need to check one out...

Exduct.com has the largest selection and fastest shipping.

http://www.exduct.com/SRM-Knife-Gifts/763-SRM-Folding-Knife.html

Focalprice has the best prices, but shipping is very slow. Of the us sellers edcdepot has them but it's out of stock.

http://edcdepot.com/sanrenmugb-763weightlessedcfoldingknife.aspx

[DaveK]

I never did let anyone know what I thought.

It's a cracking little knife for the cash would be a good summary.

[Zed]

I never did let anyone know what I thought.

It's a cracking little knife for the cash would be a good summary.

dave where did you get yours from, ive got a 710 on its way and can get a few more models but not this one, cheers for any help mate 

[DaveK]

I honestly can't remember - could it have been DealXtreme?

[Zed]

I honestly can't remember - could it have been DealXtreme?

no worries dave ill ask the guy i got the 710 from and see if he can order me one in 

[jekostas]

I honestly can't remember - could it have been DealXtreme?

Dealextreme doesn't carry SanRenMu knives.

My first two choices would be www.exduct.com or www.manafont.com, though the latter doesn't carry all models.  EDCDepot carries some models in the US, but in limited numbers.

[Zed]

I honestly can't remember - could it have been DealXtreme?

Dealextreme doesn't carry SanRenMu knives.

My first two choices would be www.exduct.com or www.manafont.com, though the latter doesn't carry all models.  EDCDepot carries some models in the US, but in limited numbers.

cheers mate, i was hoping to find a uk dealer, ill try the guy in the uk im getting my 710 from as has a few more srm's 

[DaveK]

Yup - it was exduct.com - looks familiar now.