Eafengrow EF221 Tactical Folding Knife with Secure Lock and Durable Stainless Steel Blade

alpha charlie: Pros- Very well-machined, excellent fit & finish on all surfaces, sharp, good fidget knife, lock is solid

Cons- Big and Heavy, probably not D2, axis lock is very stiff.

Bottom Line- A well made budget knife, Probably too heavy for EDC, blade seems soft on whetstone...

I got this knife because i like axis locks and hadn't tried out any of the Chinese designs and there was a coupon. Opening it up the first thing I noticed was that it is heavy and very well made. Steel does not however seem like D2. It's much too easy to sharpen. I'm guessing it's 8Cr13MoV or similar. Axis lock is stiff enough that you have to pinch both ends of it.

It's a cool beater knife for $20 but if you want real D2 in Eafengrow, stick to the CH knives they resell.

United States on Aug 01, 2021

Kindle Customer: I had my reservations about this knife. Mainly, the materials that it uses. But here is everything you need to know:

Pros:
This is a beautiful looking knife that was built for hard use. The blade stock is thick. The blade finish was nicely done. The blade came pretty sharp. I was able to add a hair shaving edge pretty easily. The "Axis" style lock works well. There were no scratches on the G10 or blade. It was easy to disassemble and reassemble. The blade profiles were even. All parts were clean and no rust. Blade centering was right on.

Cons:
This folding pocket knife is not light, the liners could be milled to reduce overall weight. The pocket clip only attaches one way, but it's the most common carry way. The clip is a bit long and super tight and needs a good adjustment. The edges around the "Axis" lock need to be more rounded for comfort. The overall thickness is a bit thick due to the thickness of the liners and G10. Could use better bearings.

Conclusion:
Great budget EDC. Good features. Sharp blade. Good looking. Fun to play with. Would buy again, looking at other knives by this brand.

United States on Apr 06, 2020

MPITA: Really nice knife. There doesn't seem to be much info about this knife - it doesn't even show up on some of Eafengrow's other sites. Hard to tell if it's an old knife getting phased out or a new knife. At first I thought it was like the EF3. But it's not. The EF3 is a mid-sized knife with a 3.5 inch blade, an Axis type lock and thumb studs to open the blade. While the EF221 looks similar with its Axis lock and similar shaped blade, it's a bigger knife with a 4 inch blade. There are also milled-in fullers, or grooves instead of thumb studs to open the blade. IMO it's a cleaner design without the thumb studs. Yup - this from guy who owns several of the knives famous for Axis locks and thumb studs. The blade arrived sharp. No need to 'touch it up' with a sharpener.

Update:
I've had this knife for a couple days now and I'm impressed. I didn't expect a lot for for the price, but fit and finish are very good, I really like the jade G10 scales combined with the light silver satin metal finish (wish they made an EF221 with digicam scales - I'd buy 2).
Bottom line - it's a big, beefy, well-made knife that looks like it should have cost a lot more than it...

United States on Jan 30, 2018