Cold Steel’s cheap knives are actually pretty dang good

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DangerZone98

Joined
Dec 7, 2019
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Specifically I have the Outdoorsman Lite and Canadian Belt Knife. For what you pay, the former makes a decent utility/kitchen knife and the latter is a competent fruit peeler. In terms of quality, these guys are decent alternatives to Moras if you don’t like the scandi grind or overall design. I wouldn’t designate them as hard-use or marathon cutting blades, not by a longshot, but they’ll do the occasional knife job just fine. No problems with 4116 or 4034 rolling, chipping, or anything like that.

If the new 4034 knives were priced more appropriately, I can see more people picking them up. At this rate though, it’s tough to pick a 4034 Trailmaster over a similarly priced BK9 or ESEE 6.
 
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I always wondered what percentage of buyers actually use the "super steels" enough to tell the difference in everyday use. I have used their serrated kitchen knives for years and been more than happy with them. Tactical Knives especially, do you need a "Super Steel" to cut flesh/clothing. Yea I have several MT's in SM and 3v(I like the Nightfall Series for the tactical dark so there is one excuse lol).
 
Their properly heat treated "cheap steel" knives and locking systems made me move to CS folders for general use knives. I was also impressed with the AUS8A CS Marauder I had to get another one for a lot of reasons I was impressed by it.
 
Roguer said:
Their properly heat treated "cheap steel" knives and locking systems made me move to CS folders for general use knives. I was also impressed with the AUS8A CS Marauder I had to get another one for a lot of reasons I was impressed by it.
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How’s the aus8a on the Marauder? I personally would have preferred a carbon steel for a big knife, but if it works just fine, then great.
 
DangerZone98 said:
How’s the aus8a on the Marauder? I personally would have preferred a carbon steel for a big knife, but if it works just fine, then great.
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It seems to be working ok, the original model I used more carefully because it was a hollow ground blade. It made a great camp knife for food processioning and the curved blade made a great trout opener.

The saber grind version has done some decent work for me. I'm not doing heavy jobs, like I do with my 5160 blades or even my SP-10 Raider Bowie. When I mean heavy others call it knife abuse, what I call medium people call heavy use I find. I like the CS Marauder for its swiss army knife multi-tool capability, its SS blade lets it be used in the winter with out fear of the melting snow in its sheath. (I wipe it dry and let the sheath dry when done with them). And its sheath lets one carry it more safely than a standard sheath. Plus it being SS with no coating it also is good for food prep.

The only other large SS knife I have the OKC Woodsman in a 420HC type of steel. That one I hard used just to test it and that blade did fine with no damage. Note, I hard used it on a knotty pine piece of wood that didn't give but the blade was fine with it. And a few other woody tests. But right now that one went in to my kitchen as its a super heavy duty knife there that cuts every thing with ease.

I don't Steel vs Stone test type my SS knives. Or intentional bone breaking (That's just me, and some one showed a chipped CS marauder that was done on a deer, don't know what model it was.). But I've had to resharpen my 5160 OKC SP-53 from a nick or two when my little brother used it to hack a lower deer legs off at the bone and not at the joint... Bones can vary like some wood when it comes to cracking them open or breaking them.

The CS Marauder in its "Cheap Steel" lets me have a decent good large SS knife with a sheath that is safer than most out of the box I can wear on the belt over bad terrain. Also for winter general use and water borne canoe stuff. It seems a good wood processor, as I said the way its profiled making the most out of its steel while keeping it at a nice light weight for a big knife, its just a great all round knife one can wear on the belt.

Yes I do have carbon steel large knives mostly, but the few large SS knives I find I use more a bit more as they have no coating and are easy to clean for task to task. My CS marauder has proven to be a great general purpose large blade, just wish they didn't stone scrape it, but that's just me.
 
Roguer said:
It seems to be working ok, the original model I used more carefully because it was a hollow ground blade. It made a great camp knife for food processioning and the curved blade made a great trout opener.

The saber grind version has done some decent work for me. I'm not doing heavy jobs, like I do with my 5160 blades or even my SP-10 Raider Bowie. When I mean heavy others call it knife abuse, what I call medium people call heavy use I find. I like the CS Marauder for its swiss army knife multi-tool capability, its SS blade lets it be used in the winter with out fear of the melting snow in its sheath. (I wipe it dry and let the sheath dry when done with them). And its sheath lets one carry it more safely than a standard sheath. Plus it being SS with no coating it also is good for food prep.

The only other large SS knife I have the OKC Woodsman in a 420HC type of steel. That one I hard used just to test it and that blade did fine with no damage. Note, I hard used it on a knotty pine piece of wood that didn't give but the blade was fine with it. And a few other woody tests. But right now that one went in to my kitchen as its a super heavy duty knife there that cuts every thing with ease.

I don't Steel vs Stone test type my SS knives. Or intentional bone breaking (That's just me, and some one showed a chipped CS marauder that was done on a deer, don't know what model it was.). But I've had to resharpen my 5160 OKC SP-53 from a nick or two when my little brother used it to hack a lower deer legs off at the bone and not at the joint... Bones can vary like some wood when it comes to cracking them open or breaking them.

The CS Marauder in its "Cheap Steel" lets me have a decent good large SS knife with a sheath that is safer than most out of the box I can wear on the belt over bad terrain. Also for winter general use and water borne canoe stuff. It seems a good wood processor, as I said the way its profiled making the most out of its steel while keeping it at a nice light weight for a big knife, its just a great all round knife one can wear on the belt.

Yes I do have carbon steel large knives mostly, but the few large SS knives I find I use more a bit more as they have no coating and are easy to clean for task to task. My CS marauder has proven to be a great general purpose large blade, just wish they didn't stone scrape it, but that's just me.
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Looks like you got a lot of bang for the buck from your knife. Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been curious about owning a Marauder.
 
I've got a Cold Steel bread knife that was cheaper than lunch for my teenage twins. It's absolutely the best bread knife I've ever owned.
 
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