Anybody own a Spartan?

nephron

nephron

Joined
Aug 3, 2017
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I have gone back and forth on purchasing one for a while now. The handle is unique, not sure if that is a good thing or bad for most people. I now its just personal preference but was hoping for any thoughts from an actual owner of one. Its coming soon. Anybody have an idea of the mfg. date?

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I've owned a Spartan for a couple of years, it's been a good knife. Hard-to-wrong for the price-point. I have medium-sized hands, so the grip is not a problem. The Spartan is more of a martial-weapon, than an EDC in my opinion. But will serve well as an EDC. It's large, but carries easily for me. Cold Steel started using Carpenter Tool Steel around late-2017. Mine is in AUS-10A steel. Both alloys are decent, with a slight edge to the CTS.

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Zephyr One/Zero said:
I've owned a Spartan for a couple of years, it's been a good knife. Hard-to-wrong for the price-point. I have medium-sized hands, so the grip is not a problem. The Spartan is more of a martial-weapon, than an EDC in my opinion. But will serve well as an EDC. It's large, but carries easily for me. Cold Steel started using Carpenter Tool Steel around late-2017. Mine is in AUS-10A steel. Both alloys are decent, with a slight edge to the CTS.

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Thanks! You reminded me about their catalogs mentioning 2017, looks like 2015 was the first year of the BD1. I agree the BD1 is no great improvement over the AUS 10A.
 
The handle definitely locks your hand in, and the blade is a nice shape. It’s a chonky boy though… not something you can easily EDC. It’s sort of a novelty item for most part, but I don’t doubt it can do some hard work if called upon.
 
I used to own one. I like the look and it's a beast of a blade, but even as a fan of big, heavy folders I found it to be essentially unpocketable. For my money, based on the CS knives I've owned, the Frenzy, the 4-Max Scout, and maybe the large Espada scratch a similar itch while still being pocketable. (The Frenzy is so slim and light for its size that it even carries well in gym shorts.) I'd take the 4-Max Scout over the Spartan all day.
 
I bought one when they first came out and have several now. Just collect. I have found in several newer ones the handle can have some sharper places which a dremel can easily smooth out. IMO I like the handle very user friendly and unique and locks in your hand. The blade shape is a lot. The design, again IMO, desires a lot. I would like to see it with different blade designs like the voyager. I would get one now when there seems to be plenty around and the price is really low. A good one to play around with for sure.
 
gatorsnake said:
I bought one when they first came out and have several now. Just collect. I have found in several newer ones the handle can have some sharper places which a dremel can easily smooth out. IMO I like the handle very user friendly and unique and locks in your hand. The blade shape is a lot. The design, again IMO, desires a lot. I would like to see it with different blade designs like the voyager. I would get one now when there seems to be plenty around and the price is really low. A good one to play around with for sure.
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The Spartan with a Tanto blade would be pretty cool. Another knife with a great handle is the Colossus. That would have been awesome with a Tanto blade too. The blades on these two knives would have had more blade height similar to the Warcraft Tanto blades.
 
nephron said:
Should have it early next week, I will know then if that funky handle works for me or not. Thanks for all of the responses so far.
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Hey man. Looks like you pulled the trigger already, but I’d love to share my thoughts if that’s cool. Heck we’re all knife nuts here.

Personally, I love the Spartan. It looks like an impractical novelty, but it works in real world use. Opening boxes, cutting rope, stuff like that. A food prepper it is not.

I have to be realistic when I say that I don’t carry it too often because of the size and weight. When it comes to the big boys, my personal sweet spot is the Recon 1. Something like the Para 3 is even easier to carry. The Spartan has its days though, and opening it is way more satisfying than deploying any of my other blades. It’s a total beast in the world of EDC saturated by deep carry clips and sub-three-inch blades.

It’s not for everyone, but it’s absolutely beautiful.
 
I've been looking at this knife for a while. I just don't know what to make of it. There's someone here that makes g10 scales for it. Some thing about it I don't like
 
Vlade said:
I've been looking at this knife for a while. I just don't know what to make of it. There's someone here that makes g10 scales for it. Some thing about it I don't like
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I would guess maybe the handle shape, it is definitely different, I could see a love/hate thing going on with it. Love it or hate it I sure miss the ingenuity of the old Cold Steel. I don't like them all but appreciate the effort put into them, truly a unique time it was.
 
I love the way the handle wraps around your hand, which is a unique feature. Also the imposing size and the intimidating look of the knife. It is certainly not for the shy people :). Perhaps its weakness is that it is too bulky.

As others pointed out, it deserves a version with G-10 handle. It is a pitty that, because of the shape of the handle, neither the 4´´nor the 5.5´´blades would be suitable for this knife.

I think it is clearly SD oriented. Anecdotally, Lynn Thompson has recounted that a friend of him was stabbed multiple times before settling the dispute with a single slash from his Spartan. I don´t remember the details, but probably many of you have heard about this.
 
Definitely a brute, but since my EDC much of the time is a 5.5" Voyager it is not a problem. The handle fits my hand well, but if you have sausage fingers/ham hands I could see this not being ideal. Lucky me! It looked much thicker until I compared it to the Voyager XL, not a huge difference. Definitely a keeper and going into the rotation but not as often as some others. Damn for $45 what a bargain, I have recently gotten into Spyderco, nice knives but the cost makes practically all Cold Steel's seem a bargain. Very different philosophies for sure, but Spyderco is still run by the original family, I like Ford's partially for that reason too. Just an old fart I guess.

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nephron said:
Definitely a brute, but since my EDC much of the time is a 5.5" Voyager it is not a problem. The handle fits my hand well, but if you have sausage fingers/ham hands I could see this not being ideal. Lucky me! It looked much thicker until I compared it to the Voyager XL, not a huge difference. Definitely a keeper and going into the rotation but not as often as some others. Damn for $45 what a bargain, I have recently gotten into Spyderco, nice knives but the cost makes practically all Cold Steel's seem a bargain. Very different philosophies for sure, but Spyderco is still run by the original family, I like Ford's partially for that reason too. Just an old fart I guess.

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Wow. I have the clip point Voyager XL, but that giant tanto looks impressive.
 
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