Two Sun knives, affordable EDC?

What do you think of these Two Sun knives?

  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .
afishhunter said:
$40 is above my price range.

I'm unwealthy. :(
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Barefootdog said:
Then you won't be buying many American made knives under $40......and i know you won't by buying one of the quality of the TwoSun TS27 titanium I referenced above.

Got you eye on anything US made you think is interesting in the under $40 price range? I'd be willing to take a look at it.
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There are some great options for US Made knives for less than $40. Kershaw has the Link and the Dividend, both available in GFN handles for less than $40 if you shop around. Buck Bantams are decent knives for less than $20. The Select line of the Buck Vantage is usually less than $30. I think the Buck Spitfire is a decent knife for a good price.

There are lots of choices in US made knives if you're willing to look and shop. There's no need to buy into an imported knife with a questionable past.

There are some great imports in your price range that are from legit companies, like the Kizer Tangram line.
 
Hackenslash said:
There are some great options for US Made knives for less than $40. Kershaw has the Link and the Dividend, both available in GFN handles for less than $40 if you shop around. Buck Bantams are decent knives for less than $20. The Select line of the Buck Vantage is usually less than $30. I think the Buck Spitfire is a decent knife for a good price.
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The Buck 110LT (3.4 ounces, if you're worried about weight) is around $30 with standard 420HC and black FRN handle.
For $39 you can get a SK Blades "Smoke Jumper" 110 LT with red handle and CPM-154 blade steel.
Copper and Clad also have a 110LT with your choice of drop point or clip point blade for under $35, as well.

All of the 100 series Buck are made in Idaho.
 
If you are wondering about steel composition, you can send it to me. I’ll pay for shipping back. I’m also curious about these Chinese knockoffs. I have an expensive tool at work (I’m an engineer) that will shoot the steel with radiation or something (non destructive) and determine composition. It works well. I’ve tried it on some benchmades. I’d be more interested in the Chinese m390 claims. Of course composition says nothing about heat treat.
 
burtjasonr said:
I have an expensive tool at work (I’m an engineer) that will shoot the steel with radiation or something
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Sorry but what? That comes across really weird. That's like me saying "I'm an electrician and I have one of those machines for measuring that does stuff with an outlet to see if there is electricity coming out!" , it sounds super unprofessional and I don't want to come across rude, but...you're asking as a new member for somebody to send you a knife to test it out and phrase it like that? Just some food for thought.
 
I assume you are referring to industrial radiography, which is essentially industrial X-ray, which is used to check internal structures/integrity, which doesn't give really information on composition, grain structure at most. If you want test composition, you don't do it with radiography, it only gives images. But maybe you're referring to something other than radiography.
 
it most definitely tells me steel type. It’s what we use it for. I’ve used it one time. It’s not what I do for a living (so the electrician analogy is invalid). I simply have access to it. I’m not going to cater to bOOn. But I’ll give you the name and model of the machine on Tuesday when I go back to work just so you don’t think I’m some kind of thief (of Chinese knives, ha ha).
 
I think he’s probably talking about X-Ray Flouresence spectrometry. It can tell you if the relative components of a steel are in place, so long as you have good blanks and spot-on calibration. I imagine he’s using a hand-held or benchtop unit by PANalytical or Bruker which are ok for “indications” of composition but not definitive. Even if all the correct Cr, Mo, V etc, are present and accounted for, XRF still can’t tell you if they’re put together the right way. That requires destructive, smelting tests.
 
Two sun has done this test with the same xray gun. They posted it on there Instagram. Legit k110 aka d2.

Iirc someone tried ch d2 and turned out to be 8cr13mov... But they made it right for him. Unsure how many other blades were not d2 from ch though.

Ch has since also done the same on there ig. They posted the XLR gun results with a pass too.
 
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burtjasonr said:
it most definitely tells me steel type. It’s what we use it for. I’ve used it one time. It’s not what I do for a living (so the electrician analogy is invalid). I simply have access to it. I’m not going to cater to bOOn. But I’ll give you the name and model of the machine on Tuesday when I go back to work just so you don’t think I’m some kind of thief (of Chinese knives, ha ha).
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Well I don't know what you do for a living, you said you are an engineer and have access to a tool at work, so what am I supposed to think exactly? If you had said "I'm a [insert field of engineering] engineer, and we use a [insert machine type/name] at work for [insert use], I'd be curious to test it out for anybody willing to lend me a knife I'd appreciate it and will post results once I get it done". If you feel offended, I apologize.
 
burtjasonr said:
If you are wondering about steel composition, you can send it to me. I’ll pay for shipping back. I’m also curious about these Chinese knockoffs. I have an expensive tool at work (I’m an engineer) that will shoot the steel with radiation or something (non destructive) and determine composition. It works well. I’ve tried it on some benchmades. I’d be more interested in the Chinese m390 claims. Of course composition says nothing about heat treat.
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The technical term "or something" doesn't inspire confidence. Do come back and post what you mean, preferably with pics.
 
I've had a couple of the Twosun knives and they're actually incredibly well made at the price point. I had one that had some overly strong detent however. The others have been smooth. They run on captive ceramic bearings, actual titanium framelock, for around $70. Gave all of them but one away, Ive used that one heavily at work and doesn't show signs up a poor heat treat. No edge chipping or rolling, and holding an edge for a while.

I could disassemble and take detailed pictures if anyone cares that much.
 
I just got my first TwoSun knife, one of the Night Morning designs, and it's actually one of the best actions of all knives I own. It's properly fall shutty action. Clip kinda sucks, and the detent is a little lighter than I would prefer (I like stiff detents), but it's really well made.
 
b00n is correct, I have a X Met 7500 PMI. I doubt it is precisely calibrated. If I could figure out how to post pictures, I would. I purchased a few Chinese knives and tested them, and here are the results:
1. Chinese knockoff of Lionsteel TRE from ebay, $90. Claims to be M390. It most certainly is NOT made from m390. This was my intention - to distinguish between blatant lies and an honest attempt at real reverse engineering. Somewhere along the distribution line, someone flat-out lied. To make matters worse, the driver for the torx screws is classic chinese quality: The torx bit is too small and the screw strips the driver bit. It doesn't work.
2. Steel Will Modus: looks like legitimate D2. I like this knife. Good steel, great price, great form factor.
3. Eafengrow (ZT 456 clone): claims to be D2. Hardly any vanadium carbides compared to the Steel Will. Perhaps they replaced vanadium with some other carbide. I don't know. Given the price, I doubt it.
4. Just to spot check calibration, I tested a Chris Reeve Inkosi (pretty sure they can afford real S35VN), and a benchmade 940-1 with S90V. Both show correct vanadium.

Don't worry about shipping knives. I understand the skepticism. Theft is my pet peeve also. In fact, I would typically rather catch the thief than get my property back. I have enough data for my own satisfaction. I don't think I will be buying any more Chinese knives unless it is a trusted brand, has multiple tests (Cedric Ada, etc.). I simply cannot afford to trust Chinese-based merchants. I guess that Japanese code of honor never found its way to China.

Anyone have a Zero Tolerance with 20CV yet? I'm hesitant to get ZT with S35V.
 
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I'm actually considering the TS52. I've read good things and I've been looking at grabbing a sort of folding dagger for awhile.
 
Taxmantoo said:
As those who saw my introductory post may remember, I was in the market for a sub-$50 EDC flipper when I first stumbled upon this site a couple of weeks ago.
My first thought was a Ruike P108, or the similarly styled TwoSun TS-21, if I could get the Two Sun for about the cost of the Ruike. I was also interested in the TS-16, but figured I wouldn't find one for under $50.

I decided I liked the plainer looks and better materials of the TwoSun and decided against Ruike. I didn't know what a Sebenza was at the time, I just found myself drawn towards the more "Chi-benza" looking of the two.

After two weeks of shopping the "e on the bay" (search terms TwoSun D2), I ended up spending my $40 on the following (well, make that $200, so much for the old budget):

TS-31


TS-34


TS-16B


TS-21 (the one I was supposed to be bidding on in the first place was the 4th one I actually bought, pictured here are a 21 and a 34 that have apparently been 'flame colorized')


TS-39


And, last but definitely least, the miniature TS-81, a millimeter under 2" and a couple grams under 2 oz.


All are ball bearing flippers, D2 steel, or "Chinese D2", with TC4 titanium (similar to 6V4Al) frames, all except the TS-81 are 3 3/8-3 7/8" and 4-5oz with steel lock inserts.

It looks like the owner of TwoSun was probably registered here a few years ago as TwoSun. 3 of my purchases appear to be his designs, the TS-16 and TS-39 appear to have been penned by somebody going by the name Night Mourning Design, and I don't know what to say about the TS-81, other than CH Knives seems to have a model exactly identical to it, and Ping (owner of CH) is supposed to be friends with Mr "TwoSun".

I'll post personal pics in this thread when I have knives to take pics of.
Don't expect photography of the quality already shown here.
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Do any of y'all have experience with the TS20? I'm hesitant about what I've read but I'm still very interested so does anyone kno of any other knives of similar design from other knife makers?
 
just out of curiosity how low was the vanadium in the eafengrow? like 0.2% or?
 
and what's the homepage of TwoSun Knives?
would like to look up specs like size weight steel
 
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