This is one of those knives that's more than a little unusual, you won't find much else out there like it. The last knife I can remember that would come close to this design was the Camillus Cuda Maxx from about eight years ago, available in 5.5" and a limited run of 7" blade lengths.
This knife is still distinctly its own though, the overall pattern is very clean, just a single rod of thick, grippy G-10 (.530" thick) and a beautiful distal taper full flat ground AUS-8 blade (.15" bladestock). The edge and tip are about average thickness for a folder (.020" to .025" thick at the shoulder), but given the size of this knife it makes the blade (especially the tip) much more delicate than you would find on your average knife this size.
As a result this blade will excel at kitchen duty, which is half the reason I bought it. It's approaching the Spyderco Military in cutting ability, but the taper on the spine is a little less aggressive than Spyderco puts on their premium utility folder. Still, I find it incredible to think that any production company would put this profile on a blade of this size. Cold Steel may be many things, but they are definitely not out of touch with what makes a knife cut well.
On top of the amazing blade you have the Tri Ad lock, pretty much the best there is in regard to both strength and reliability. The knife locks open with no play in any direction, just like the 2011 Voyager series. The spring on this is stiffer than the 2011 Voyagers though, probably in large part to increase blade retention.
The clip works very well. At first the tip of seemed excessively close to the handle scale, I was sure I would never get my thick denim pocket seam underneath of it, but to my amazement it worked! The trick is that the tip is positioned directly overtop of a hole in the handle, so your pocket seam has lots of room to fit underneath the clip even though there definitely wouldn't be enough room without the hole. The really cool thing about this is that with the tip of the clip so close to the handle scale it will be much less likely to accidentally catch on things as you're going about your day, they even made the middle section of the clip twice as tall, so if the clip is sliding along a wall or large surface, the tip itself won't be digging in trying to catch on everything.
The jimping is nice, not overly aggressive and not excessive in quantity.
While I don't feel that the holes in the handle are necessary, and I would have preferred that they just use deep dimples instead, they do seem to make handling the knife easier so I will say that they are a positive aspect of the design.
Beautiful blade grind.
Thick and grippy G-10.
Birds of a feather.
Distal taper, and the thumb studs aren't too annoying.
Amazing clip (and the backspacer is aluminum).
This knife is still distinctly its own though, the overall pattern is very clean, just a single rod of thick, grippy G-10 (.530" thick) and a beautiful distal taper full flat ground AUS-8 blade (.15" bladestock). The edge and tip are about average thickness for a folder (.020" to .025" thick at the shoulder), but given the size of this knife it makes the blade (especially the tip) much more delicate than you would find on your average knife this size.
As a result this blade will excel at kitchen duty, which is half the reason I bought it. It's approaching the Spyderco Military in cutting ability, but the taper on the spine is a little less aggressive than Spyderco puts on their premium utility folder. Still, I find it incredible to think that any production company would put this profile on a blade of this size. Cold Steel may be many things, but they are definitely not out of touch with what makes a knife cut well.
On top of the amazing blade you have the Tri Ad lock, pretty much the best there is in regard to both strength and reliability. The knife locks open with no play in any direction, just like the 2011 Voyager series. The spring on this is stiffer than the 2011 Voyagers though, probably in large part to increase blade retention.
The clip works very well. At first the tip of seemed excessively close to the handle scale, I was sure I would never get my thick denim pocket seam underneath of it, but to my amazement it worked! The trick is that the tip is positioned directly overtop of a hole in the handle, so your pocket seam has lots of room to fit underneath the clip even though there definitely wouldn't be enough room without the hole. The really cool thing about this is that with the tip of the clip so close to the handle scale it will be much less likely to accidentally catch on things as you're going about your day, they even made the middle section of the clip twice as tall, so if the clip is sliding along a wall or large surface, the tip itself won't be digging in trying to catch on everything.
The jimping is nice, not overly aggressive and not excessive in quantity.
While I don't feel that the holes in the handle are necessary, and I would have preferred that they just use deep dimples instead, they do seem to make handling the knife easier so I will say that they are a positive aspect of the design.
Beautiful blade grind.
Thick and grippy G-10.
Birds of a feather.
Distal taper, and the thumb studs aren't too annoying.
Amazing clip (and the backspacer is aluminum).
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) that the blade seems to need a guard of some form, but apparently the G10 manages a safe grip on its own.
