Time for another knife review from your fearless buddy. Well, I wouldn't say fearless; I'm afraid of ninjas. Those are some weird, mysterious fellows. Anyway, today I'm reviewing the Cold Steel Long Hunter. It's been described as a kitchen knife mixed with a Kabar; whatever you call it, the end result is a good camping knife that has many other uses. The Long Hunter weighs 6.8 ounces, which is great considering it's a fixed blade with a 7" blade. The item number is 36PS. The Long Hunter is made in Taiwan, and it's available in stores for around $25. On with the specifications and details...
Handle Details: The Handle on the Long Hunter is black polypropylene -hard plastic. It's got a smooth wood grain, but it's for show only. The handle is pretty slippery, even when bone dry. There's no lanyard hole, but you can drill one yourself. There are grooves on each side for finger placement, and for that purpose they're adequate. There's no guard, but a small hump in the blade gives you a pretty low percentage of slipping forward and cutting yourself. The handle itself is just over 4-1/4" long and 3/4" thick. It's slightly squared in shape, which is a tad uncomfortable for extended use. This is the "kitchen knife" complaint; it's adequate. But it's just so... adequate. No finger grooves, no lanyard hole, no guard, no palm swell. It's just... adequate.
Blade Details: The Long Hunter has a 7" blade; the same length as a standard Kabar. It's 1/8" thick and 1-1/4" wide; a nice skinning size. It's also flat ground. Big props to Cold Steel for this. The blade is made of 4116 Krupp stainless steel, which I've determined to be somewhere near 420HC or hard AUS-6. It's a nice "user" steel and will hold an edge for a respectable amount of time (considering the price). The blade came shaving sharp right out of the box. The blade shape is a drop point, "kitchen knife" type. There's no jimping, but the blade itself extends far enough below the handle that it makes an okay guard. Just okay. I wouldn't go stabbing things with this unless absolutely necessary. This isn't a full tang knife; an X-ray taken at my job shows the blade tang ending at almost the halfway mark in the handle.
The Sheath: So this is the sheath. A black nylon fold-over deal, 10-1/2" long. It has a nylon belt loop sewn in the back and it will accomodate a belt up to 1-3/4" wide. Rivets and stitching, along with the spacer, hold the sheath together. Those of you who own the Finn Bear, Finn Wolf, Canadian Belt Knife, or Roach Belly will be familiar with this sheath; the Long Hunter's is the same thing, just longer. It does its job just fine. It holds the knife in with friction; no snaps or buttons here. When the knife is fully inserted the sheath, 2" of the handle is sticking out. This is a bit long for belt carry, at least for me.
In my opinion, the Long Hunter is a good multi-purpose fixed blade. It's a good kitchen knife, skinning knife, and even light-to-medium-duty camping knife. It would be nice for self-defense as some have mentioned, but the sheath prevents a quick draw in that respect. If you're in the market for a well-made belt knife, give the Long Hunter a shot.
Some have commented that the Long Hunter and Western Hunter are simply copies of the older Old Hickory 1095 kitchen knives, so I've done some testing with the knives and I'll be posting the results soon. While the Old Hickorys are classic, reliable knives, they're not perfect as evidenced by my trials. Comparison and testing here... http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=626955
Here's a link to a YouTube review of the Long Hunter by Nutnfancy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWGqebVdziU
And a link to Cold Steel's page for the Long Hunter... http://www.coldsteel.com/wehulohu.html
Handle Details: The Handle on the Long Hunter is black polypropylene -hard plastic. It's got a smooth wood grain, but it's for show only. The handle is pretty slippery, even when bone dry. There's no lanyard hole, but you can drill one yourself. There are grooves on each side for finger placement, and for that purpose they're adequate. There's no guard, but a small hump in the blade gives you a pretty low percentage of slipping forward and cutting yourself. The handle itself is just over 4-1/4" long and 3/4" thick. It's slightly squared in shape, which is a tad uncomfortable for extended use. This is the "kitchen knife" complaint; it's adequate. But it's just so... adequate. No finger grooves, no lanyard hole, no guard, no palm swell. It's just... adequate.
Blade Details: The Long Hunter has a 7" blade; the same length as a standard Kabar. It's 1/8" thick and 1-1/4" wide; a nice skinning size. It's also flat ground. Big props to Cold Steel for this. The blade is made of 4116 Krupp stainless steel, which I've determined to be somewhere near 420HC or hard AUS-6. It's a nice "user" steel and will hold an edge for a respectable amount of time (considering the price). The blade came shaving sharp right out of the box. The blade shape is a drop point, "kitchen knife" type. There's no jimping, but the blade itself extends far enough below the handle that it makes an okay guard. Just okay. I wouldn't go stabbing things with this unless absolutely necessary. This isn't a full tang knife; an X-ray taken at my job shows the blade tang ending at almost the halfway mark in the handle.
The Sheath: So this is the sheath. A black nylon fold-over deal, 10-1/2" long. It has a nylon belt loop sewn in the back and it will accomodate a belt up to 1-3/4" wide. Rivets and stitching, along with the spacer, hold the sheath together. Those of you who own the Finn Bear, Finn Wolf, Canadian Belt Knife, or Roach Belly will be familiar with this sheath; the Long Hunter's is the same thing, just longer. It does its job just fine. It holds the knife in with friction; no snaps or buttons here. When the knife is fully inserted the sheath, 2" of the handle is sticking out. This is a bit long for belt carry, at least for me.
In my opinion, the Long Hunter is a good multi-purpose fixed blade. It's a good kitchen knife, skinning knife, and even light-to-medium-duty camping knife. It would be nice for self-defense as some have mentioned, but the sheath prevents a quick draw in that respect. If you're in the market for a well-made belt knife, give the Long Hunter a shot.
Some have commented that the Long Hunter and Western Hunter are simply copies of the older Old Hickory 1095 kitchen knives, so I've done some testing with the knives and I'll be posting the results soon. While the Old Hickorys are classic, reliable knives, they're not perfect as evidenced by my trials. Comparison and testing here... http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=626955
Here's a link to a YouTube review of the Long Hunter by Nutnfancy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWGqebVdziU
And a link to Cold Steel's page for the Long Hunter... http://www.coldsteel.com/wehulohu.html
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