Review Ganzo G8012-DY

Review Ganzo G8012-DY

Introduction

How many and how many quality knives can be found among quality chinese  brands and how much we have enjoyed over the years... but, if you look, there are infinitely fewer knives to choose than folder knives. One of the dreams of many people has always been to imagine Ganzo or Sanrenmu (for example) to make a knife, to see a quality knife made by brands that make good folder knives. That dream has come.

A while ago, Ganzo released its G801, but for some reason did not reach the usual stores where we bought, it was difficult to get. However, that has changed with the G8012...

Exterior design and appearance

First of all to clarify that the old G801 and this G8012 have enormous similarities, but they are not the same, in the new version they have changed things like a point less pronounced (less penetrating but stronger), or the detail of the clip for the whetstone in the sheath, the rest are the same.

Overview

Focusing on the new G8012, the first thing to note is that there are 4 different models in terms of color choice, which affects both the handle and the cover. The colors to choose are: G8012-OR (orange and black), G8012-LG (green), G8012-DY (brown sand color) and G8012-BK (black). Certainly it is a very attractive knife and it does not look bad in any color, but my favorites are in green and brown sand, the latter the one chosen for the review of the knife.

There is no doubt that when you look at it, it reminds you of the Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate, the shape and the handle, both in shape and materials, without doubt a factor in its success.

What we have at hand is a bushcraft knife, with a blade with classic drop point morphology and partial flat grind in 7Cr17Mov steel and a good spine thickness near the tip, which has a great curvature near of it allowing even more material at this tip, resulting in "little" penetration but a lot of strength, perfect for levering wood for example. The blade sharpening has been quite good, surprising even because with that thickness there is a certain "wedge" effect on the paper.

Blade detail

 Impressive thickness at the tip

As for the handle, it is made in ABS with rubbery feel and is very anatomical, with a good guard to prevent us from reaching the blade and a jimping in the handle itself, something soft, but we will not find a jimping on the spine of the blade for a forward grip. What we are going to have is an uncoating little zone and something more hollow prepared to use the "firesteel" (ferrocerium or flint). By the way the green lines of the handle are fluorescent in the dark if light has been applied before.

Handle detail

 Detail of handle texture

One of the things i really like about the knife is that it's bigger than all the others we can find. For example, Cima 1 is probably the best-selling chinese knife of recent times, and it is certainly a good knife, but one of the problems i saw was that it was something small, and that is that no knife of all i have seen reach the 10 cm of blade, remaining in 9.x maximum, however this reaches the 11.5 cm.

Since we are talking about your measurements, let's see them in detail (weights measured in my digital scale):

Total length	Blade length	Blade thickness	Weight with sheath	Weight of the knife
24.5 cm	11.5 cm	Sobre 5 mm	351 gr	207 gr

And now, let's analyze the sheath because it is also quite special:

Surely it is the most complete (i do not say the highest quality) sheath that can now be bought in any Chinese knife, the material is in gummy ABS and will match the color of the knife handle you have chosen.

Sheath 1

Sheath 2

Sheath 3

Sheath 4

Sheath 5

We have some extras like a drainage hole, set aside for the "firesteel" (built-in), another for the sharpening stone (it also brings it) fastened with a velcro tape (in the old G801 it did not have that tape on the stone) and A belt-cutter, which can be used to cut rope without having to get the knife

Diamond stone detail

Belt cutters with Screws

Built-in "Firesteel"

Comparative

I think you can see very well the dimensions of the knife when compared with the Cima 1...

In sheaths

Face to face...

Handling and use

As we said in the previous section, the steel is a 7Cr17Mov, with a good heat treatment, which makes enough use of the characteristics of said steel.

It feels good in the hand, feels powerful, and as an improvement, i think i should have put a jimping on the blade other than the handle. Also the black area of the handle is not gummy, which is where the jimping is, so the touch is plastic without gummy feel.

Detail of the handle jimping

The knife is quite strong, in fact the blade is one of the strongest i have seen because it has a thickness of about 5 mm with a very strong tip and the grinding is partial flat, stronger than a full flat because there is more material. I have watched "battoning" to satiety and levering wood with the tip without any problem.

Spine thickness detail

Here i want to stop at one point: the knife is not an full tang. If the blade is very strong, not being full tang we might think that its weakness may be in the handle, but i have seen the spike and is quite wide, quite strong, although at the end of it there is a welded piece to screw it to the external “glass breaker" of the knob, which is plastic. I think that piece should be made of metal, both to get a better tightening so that it can receive better the hits that we give with it. Anyway, i have not seen any G8012 still break, neither by the blade nor by the handle although the tests have been hard.

Detail of the glass breaker

Regarding the holster, the knife is kept fairly safe inside even without the velcro hook (see video) and, with a very good sharpening. I cut a nylon rope under pressure with incredible ease.

Final veredict

I will summarize it first: for the price, if i compare it with the other quality knives of chinese brands, it is without a doubt one of the best options out there.

For that price, you will not find a lot better in my opinion. A very strong blade, probably the strongest due to its thickness and morphology characteristics, a very pleasant handle to use, a very complete sheath. If it was already a success the G801 being difficult to find, with the G8012 there are no excuses.

Visually it is more impressive than the other knives i have purchased previously, it is very attractive.

It is true that the welding of the spike next to the hard plastic "glass breaker" are the less good things of the knife, but looking at it globally, it seems to me a piece that should not be missing in our collection.

The best

- It has a very good appearance, a design that you like.

- You see a strong knife, with one of the strongest and largest blades you can find in a quality chinese brand

- Good price, I have no doubt that it is one of the best knives for the price you can buy.

- A sheath with the color of the knife with several extras, very complete.

- Measures higher than the other knives that are sold, which i appreciate.

The worst

- That welding in the spike, i would have preferred that it did not exist and directly screw the spike to the "glass breaker".

- The "glass breaker" is made of hard plastic, it should be made of metal to have more strength and to be stronger by screwing on the spike.

- It would be nice to have a jimping on the blade other than the handle.

Moving

Where to buy

Fasttech

Product link: Ganzo G8012-DY