Sanrenmu 681 (aka 6040's predecessor)

[@dalecarpenter8828]

These are cool little knives ! They have a liner lock spring ! Never saw that before ! Very good price !!!

[@pbcb561]

Thanks for comparing the 2, I couldn't figure out what was different. But...I have the 6040 BUC-PH and it is identical to your 681 except the logo is larger and it has the 6040 model number on the other side of the blade. I got mine from Fasttech last year. Now here's what's crazy....the new 9165 is a full size version of this knife at least in terms of blade shape. It is a slipjoint but it has a pin you can insert through the handle and through a hole in the backspring to lock the blade. The hole in the backspring is in the same location as the hole in your 681. My 6040 has that hole too, which doesn't seem to serve any purpose. But maybe they thought about doing the pin lock way back when they made the 681 but it never happened. Thanks for pointing that out, I had never noticed the hole.

[@jefftsai1879]

The 9165 is on my radar. It's a very attractive blade and I'd like to get my hands on one. I think you're right. They were probably planning to do that and they finally did. Sanrenmu's new offerings are really attractive as well as the new ganzos. The chinese-produced knives are stealing the show nowadays. I haven't purchased a north american/european knife for over a year now.

[@marcschweitzer]

Interesting! Thanks!