Bush Ranger S35VN / G-10 folder , tremendous value on sale !

Buffalohump said:
Very nice images.... I was keen on this one myself for some time. That handle looks the ticket ergonomically. How is it in terms of weight and bulk in the pocket?
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Yup, the handle is great and helps stave off fatigue better than many knives (that are also great) with flat slabs of G10 and little contouring slightly rounded corners.

As for the weight and bulk, it really isn't noticeable to me unless wearing loose shorts or slacks made with thinner materials (I usually wear jeans or similar work pants). The clip is a real biter, but that's nothing new for Cold Steel. It will probably take some getting used to if you normally carry a Delica, but if you're accustomed to Cold Steel or other large folders then it shouldn't be much of an adjustment.
 
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I agree with old man willy, on his observations about the Bush Ranger. My first-impression was that its significantly smaller, than I'm used to. Which is not a minus. Its very comfortable in the hand. Easy to set-up for my orientation. Everything was perfect right out-of-the-box. Blade was perfectly centered, and razor-sharp! The triad-lock worked to perfection, and lock-up was solid. The Bush Ranger is most-likely Cold Steel's ultimate; legacy darkhorse model, in my opinion. For the price, its a hard model to overlook, and is a perfect EDC blade. Too bad, that Cold Steel doesn't offer this model in an XL-sizing. It would be a nice rival to the 4 Max Scout. I had the Ranger as my EDC, during my daily-recon.

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jbmonkey said:
no, Mike Wallace.....he's here as mod of the Demko forum now......

worked for cold steel designing and testing, I think...and now with Demko. I'll let Mike give the correct titles and details...
Demko Knives MWallace Demko Knives MWallace
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Yes everything you wrote is correct. I had over a decade in the old Cold Steel R&D shop with Andrew Demko designing and prototyping.
 
Fyi, a helpful BF members directed me to some properly sized phosphor-bronze washers:

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My Bush Ranger came with a single Teflon washer on one side of the pivot and 2 teflon washers on the other. I replaced all 3 with PB.

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I couldn't help my astonishment at the level of blade rap against the spring and back spacer. I had not previously noticed that in use: the edge seemed to stay sharp and I did not notice the serious edge damage that should accompany such contact with hard, abrasive materials. I'm hoping that re-assembly magically moves the edge away from contact, but I'm not holding my breath. Has anyone else noticed the same on their Bush Ranger?

*Edit: after reviewing Mike Wallace's posts below, I determined that my sloppy modifications to the choil/ricasso caused the blade rap. My BR did not come this way from the factory. See posts below for elaboration.*

Also, I found it noteworthy that my Large Voyager had a single PB and Teflon washer on each side of the pivot. The washers were larger in diameter than the BR washers so i did not replace them.

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On second thought, I don't see why I couldn't replace the Voyager washers. The replacements have a slightly smaller overall diameter, but they still fit over the pivot. If i replace them such that I have 4 washers of equivalent size, can anyone foresee an issue?

Also, my Talwar (Old Steel) and Voyager have the same size and configuration of washers (1 Teflon and 1 PB on either side of the pivot).
 
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oldmanwilly said:
Fyi, a helpful BF members directed me to some properly sized phosphor-bronze washers:

YgFzJij.jpeg


My Bush Ranger came with a single Teflon washer on one side of the pivot and 2 teflon washers on the other. I replaced all 3 with PB.

wdBEgFL.jpeg


I couldn't help my astonishment at the level of blade rap against the spring and back spacer. I had not previously noticed that in use: the edge seemed to stay sharp and I did not notice the serious edge damage that should accompany such contact with hard, abrasive materials. I'm hoping that re-assembly magically moves the edge away from contact, but I'm not holding my breath. Has anyone else noticed the same on their Bush Ranger?

Also, I found it noteworthy that my Large Voyager had a single PB and Teflon washer on each side of the pivot. The washers were larger in diameter than the BR washers so i did not replace them.

JZSeU41.jpeg

7pLf7Rd.jpeg


On second thought, I don't see why I couldn't replace the Voyager washers. The replacements have a slightly smaller overall diameter, but they still fit over the pivot. If i replace them such that I have 4 washers of equivalent size, can anyone foresee an issue?

Also, my Talwar (Old Steel) and Voyager have the same size and configuration of washers (1 Teflon and 1 PB on either side of the pivot).
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Is the internal blade stop pin tight? By the picture it doesn’t look like it’s touching the blade and preventing it from hitting the spring and backspacer. The area where the blade choil touches the pin looks chewed up. While open (unassabled) cut s strip of paper and put it between the blade edge and the spring and backspacer. Reassemble, and with the blade closed, try and pull the paper out. It should slide out easily if it’s right. I’m curious to see if it’s ok when all the pins are aligned properly.
 
Demko Knives MWallace said:
Is the internal blade stop pin tight? By the picture it doesn’t look like it’s touching the blade and preventing it from hitting the spring and backspacer. The area where the blade choil touches the pin looks chewed up. While open (unassabled) cut s strip of paper and put it between the blade edge and the spring and backspacer. Reassemble, and with the blade closed, try and pull the paper out. It should slide out easily if it’s right. I’m curious to see if it’s ok when all the pins are aligned properly.
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My Bush Ranger came with a little blade rap as well, as the edge was contacting the bend in the lock spring. After a light sharpening, it hasn’t had any since.

Are the PB washers working better for you oldmanwilly oldmanwilly ?
 
Demko Knives MWallace said:
Is the internal blade stop pin tight? By the picture it doesn’t look like it’s touching the blade and preventing it from hitting the spring and backspacer. The area where the blade choil touches the pin looks chewed up. While open (unassabled) cut s strip of paper and put it between the blade edge and the spring and backspacer. Reassemble, and with the blade closed, try and pull the paper out. It should slide out easily if it’s right. I’m curious to see if it’s ok when all the pins are aligned properly.
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Ya know what, I'm pretty sure I caused the blade rap. I filed down the sharp shoulders on the ricasso, then filed a bit deeper to create a small, functional finger choil. I reckon I filed too deep without even thinking about contact with the stop pin.

Before:
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After:

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I should have known better than to file down deeper without checking, but generally never think about blade rap unless I'm filing down the kick on a slipjoint. I'll try that paper trick but I'm guessing the rap will still be there.

I wonder if I could afix something to the stop pin to push the blade back away from the spring.

Silver lining: I have no further reservations about beating on this thing. It's a great knife and I'll repeat what others have said: it's probably now my favorite folder from CS. I guess now I need to get a spare.

Centermass said:
Are the PB washers working better for you oldmanwilly oldmanwilly ?
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I'm not yet sure if they're working better as I've only just replaced them and haven't used it much since. They certainly aren't any worse than the teflon washers.
 
DocJD said:
I can't detect any evidence of sharpened edge, blade contact on mine .

But, I've not used this knife very much , so far .

But thanks for the heads-up . Something to be aware of . :cool:
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Glad to know yours doesn't have it, but recall that the blade rap on mine is self inflicted. It's a great knife and I'm going to continue to use the hell out of it.
 
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oldmanwilly said:
Glad to know yours doesn't have it, but recall that the blade rap on mine is at least 99% self inflicted. It's a great knife and I'm going to continue to use the hell out of it.
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Thanks for sharing the details .:cool:

(Structural mods are always risky . I'm usually too chicken to try ...except on cheap machetes ! :p)

Might save someone some trouble .
 
oldmanwilly said:
DocJD DocJD yep, I want to make sure folks don't get the wrong impression. After Mike Wallace chimed in I realized I was to blame. I only wanted to make some cosmetic changes but took it too far. So it goes, at least I didn't dig up a balrog (this time).
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buy another one and use that one for parts......that's how we all learn from doing things and seeing what went wrong...or if we are lucky...watching others do things and seeing what went wrong.🤣
 
Because I just can't leave well enough alone, I've come up with a brilliant work around. I need a new stop pin with a larger diameter in order to cure the blade rap. I don't even know where to begin looking for a replacement because I don't even know what terms to search for. But wouldn't ya know it, the threaded inserts (barrel nut?) for the ends of the clip screws just happen to be the same diameter as the stop pin.

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And it fits like a glove, AND it perfectly cures my self imposed blade rap. Plus I figure (hope) I can get by with just 2 clip screws.

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Perfect fix, right? Nope, the threaded barrel is longer than the stop pin and the recesses in the G10 for the stop pin are not deep enough, so the scales won't fit back into place.

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So now I have another dilemma:

1. Do I file down the threaded barrel to fit the existing holes in the G10, thereby permanently sacrificing the threaded barrel? OR

2. Do I drill the stop pin holes a bit deeper and risk permanently removing the possibility that the original stop pin will fit again?

I'm leaning towards #2 as the stop pin is pretty well useless at this point. Does anyone have any thoughts from a different perspective?
 
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