Thoughts and Experiences with Kunwu Tao Models

Published: 1 year ago

I think this was about as succinct as I could get with everything I wanted to talk about.

My experiences with these knives weren’t the greatest and I wanted to talk about them and my thoughts.

I bought both knives at the same time, but the S-Tao was a preorder and came a month or so after, and with different steel, so were not part of the same “batch”.

My troubles with the X-Tao:

Extra omega springs were rusty & corroded

Installed omega springs were the same

Poor plunge grind on the blade guarantees a smile when you sharpen

Thumb paddles are permanently affixed

Wire clip is susceptible to mangling if caught; not easily repairable

Spine of the blade NEEDS jimping

Crossbar lock “wings” cause troubles with some closing techniques

Most importantly: the Elmax blade is WAY too soft

That blade worries me. Part of the reason the knife is interesting is due to the blade steel. Elmax isn’t in quite as high demand as M390, so it’s more expensive to use. Their site states it’s 60-62 HRC. My reprofile experience with the steel felt much softer than that, and didn’t take much time at all to reprofile to 15 degrees and loses it’s edge faster than I think it should. I also scratched the surface of the blade with light pressure from the applicator needle of my corrosion inhibitor; something that shouldn’t happen to properly hardened blade steel outside maybe European kitchen knives that target 55-57 HRC.

The S-Tao did remedy many issues I had with the X-tao. No omega springs to be messed up, better plunge grind on the blade, thumb holes rather than stationary paddles and the spine has jimping.

It still has the wire pocket clip with a lot of flex which I don’t like.

The Vanax steel that they switched to also claims an HRC of 60-62. While I didn’t scratch the surface with an applicator needle this time, it was still way too easy to reprofile and loses it’s edge faster than I’d like for the steel.

It’s 0 for 2 on the heat treat for different steels on these guys for me. They’re now using another steel PM60. It’s claim to performance is like REX45 and REX121, where they can get VERY hard, but they tend to have larger carbides, so it’ll feel more like tool steel like D2 when cutting.

I get the impression that they want to catch eyes using these exotic steels, as that works wonders for Spyderco; but I’m not convinced they know enough of what they’re doing to properly get these treated, but they’re charging the money like those who do (I cover that further in the video).
sovrn