Cold Steel Kudu Review

I've had mine for two years now. Reprofiled it at 15 DPS. Great slicer, and a joy to use in the kitchen.

Best slicer after an Opinel. And very sturdy for the weight. I also replaced the ring with a loop of paracord.

If only Cold Steel would make a scaled down version. At about 70% of the length that would make this a much more people friendly knife in my environment and then I could reallly EDC it.
 
The Kudu is seriously under appreciated knife around these parts. I do things with my Kudu that I would never dream of doing with my "better" knives. Sometimes I think the best knives are the ones you can beat on the most. If that is the case the Kudu is the winner hands down.
30 degrees inclusive seems to be optimum for this blade.
Thanks for the review.
 
philwar said:
It's true. Things get so silly sometimes that I feel embarassed to carry it, 'cause really, it's too cheap for the likes of me. :rolleyes: Fact is, it does almost anything you can want or expect from a folder, and it does all those things well. I have thousands of dollars worth of folders, and this one is all I've ever needed so far in life. It's a fair bet I'll never need more.

Have I just confessed to being certifiably insane? :confused: What sane reason is there to want a Yuna or a custom Demko if I already own a Kudu?
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Better edge retention, being made in the USA, faster opening, and showing off to friends :)


BTW the opening mechanism on mine is really rough.....so yeah I don't like mine much......
 
Edge retention doesn't justify hundreds of dollars in cost to me.
I wont touch the USA thing out of respect to my American friends.
Opening is a ratcheting action, "rough" is part of the design.
 
Due to some ham handed sharpening and rebeveling, I'm going to get a new one pretty soon. From all the testing and sharpening and rough use, the edge of the old one had thickened up to 0.045 inches behind the edge. This is thicker than the spine of a couple of knives I've made for myself. I tried to regrind/thin the edge, but it doesn't look good. I may still clean it up and see what happens before going ahead with the replacement.
 
I thinned the edge on mine on a belt sander and it's a laser now. I use mine any time I might ding up or damage one of my other knives. It's pretty much the perfect beater.
 
Hi all,
I was just wondering, why a company like Cold Steel would copy the Okapi knife that has been around for more than a century......and this without any consultation with Okapi Industries!!??:mad:

Extract from Cold Steel website: "In South Africa, an inexpensive ring lock folder is sold everywhere. It's a good design, but it's constructed from sub-standard materials, is poorly made, and is horribly overpriced. And yet, millions of these knives are sold there each year. Well, we thought we could do better, in the quality of materials, cutting performance, and in price"

Cold Steel claim that the Okapi, which is the South African original is ".....horribly overpriced.", but it retails for between ZAR45.00 to ZAR50.00 ($5.00 to $6.50) where as the Kudu retails for about ZAR125.00 ($15.625) in South Africa. This is 3 times the price, so which knife is overpriced.

As far as quality is concerned, Okapi use SAE 1055 for their blades and a material that can be describes as a paper micarta for the handles. Yes this might not be as good quality as the kudu, but SAE 1055 makes a good serviceable blade, and I challenge anyone to brake the handle with normal use.

Has Cold Steel become so big that they can blatantly rip off smaller knifemaking companies:confused:
 
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Sounds as good of quality to me. CS has "drawn heavy inspiration" *cough* from a LOT of different knife makers over the years--large and small. This is nothing new. :o
 
It's actually nothing new for many knife makers, out of all the inovations, probably 2/3 are copies or attempts to improve on something.
 
sodak said:
It's actually nothing new for many knife makers, out of all the inovations, probably 2/3 are copies or attempts to improve on something.
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This is fair. I am a knife maker myself, and I think to a certain degree we all copy someone else’s design. What gets to me though is how Cold Steel blatantly rips the Okapi off, and tries to degrade a knife that has been around for a long time and is loved by many. Is Cold Steel not strong enough to stand on their own feet (quality) without degrading others? If I for example copy a Loveless design, which many have done, and I use the latest hi-tech materials around, I don't put a statement on my web site ripping Mr Loveless off.
It's just not ethical!!!
 
So in 100 years, no company but Okapi has made a knife of this design, except Cold Steel?
 
sdknives.sa said:
This is fair. I am a knife maker myself, and I think to a certain degree we all copy someone else’s design. What gets to me though is how Cold Steel blatantly rips the Okapi off, and tries to degrade a knife that has been around for a long time and is loved by many. Is Cold Steel not strong enough to stand on their own feet (quality) without degrading others? If I for example copy a Loveless design, which many have done, and I use the latest hi-tech materials around, I don't put a statement on my web site ripping Mr Loveless off.
It's just not ethical!!!
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I agree that they shouldn't degrade others, CS has a very aggressive marketing style, but sometime in bad taste, IMO. I do enjoy their products for their own value, I don't really listen to marketing hype. Sometimes trying their style has also interested me enough to go out and buy the "original", or as original as I can get.

Nor do I blame you for copying Loveless and putting your own twist on it, more power to you! I wish someone would:

1. Make a FFG mora out of a super steel (pick one, I don't care).
2. Make an opinel out of a steel that holds it's edge more than 3 cuts (I know that's an exaggeration, but still...). Since these are light use, M2 HSS at 66 HRC would be great, or ZDP 189, or something else that can be hardened WAY up there...

Market it however you like, I'll buy it! :D
 
Ripping off designs? Just out of curiosity who did case rip off for the basic jackknife or trapper or single blade lockback, or did gec, canal street, queens cutlery, shatt and morgan or moore maker all rip each other off for the canoe or tear drop jack?
 
me2 said:
So in 100 years, no company but Okapi has made a knife of this design, except Cold Steel?
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Just to clarify my position. It's not so much about them copying the Okapi knife, but more about the way they lash out at Okapi in their marketing.

There is a place in the market for every knifemaker, be it factory or custom made. I am a part time knife maker, and my knives are not of the same quality as some of the big names in the industry. But there is a place in the market for my knives, and the same goes for Okapi or any other knife out there. I will be highly upset if someone goes around degrading my knives assuming they are not the same quality as theirs. I'm sure this opinion will be shared by other knife makers.
 
Just got the new Kudu in last week. The edge will shave my arm, barely, all along the length, and the edge is quite even. The angle is quite high, possibly as high as 25 degrees per side. I'll solve that soon enough, but first I have some experimenting to do.
 
I have an Okapi, and I can't get a good edge on it. It's got a beautiful wooden handle good size, sharp as the kudu.
 
There are a lot of traditional, that is non tactical, pocket knives out there that have terrific construction could steal and carry well. Most of them are under $100, some of them are under $10. I recommend looking at Ruff Ryder and kissing crane knives.
They have some innovative designs,such as a 4inch grandaddy Barlow, or a one hand opening Trapper.
 
I've always wondered about an Okapi, but have not had the opportunity to get one. The clip point blade is a little oddly shaped to me, but I am much more familiar with the Buck Folding Hunter (Model 110 I think) style clip point.
 
Gingerman said:
I have an Okapi, and I can't get a good edge on it. It's got a beautiful wooden handle good size, sharp as the kudu.
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me2 said:
I've always wondered about an Okapi, but have not had the opportunity to get one. The clip point blade is a little oddly shaped to me, but I am much more familiar with the Buck Folding Hunter (Model 110 I think) style clip point.
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Just be aware, there are a lot of fake Okapis on the market.
 
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