- Joined
- Aug 8, 2013
- Messages
- 62
The first time I saw Cold Steel's Rajah II, I knew it was special. For those who simply enjoy a big knife clipped in their pocket, its hard to beat. Ever since picking up my Rajah, it has been on my side day in and day out and I have no plans yet for that to change. It has seen duty chopping brush on my property, removing saplings, de-limbing trees on camping trips, and opening the occasional envelope; and while its mostly impractical and not very refined, I just don't care. I wanted to share it with other and open it up for other Rajah owners to post their own photographs. This is a user knife, and i wanted to display it that way, so I intentionally left it in its "as is" condition.
Here are a couple close ups showing the seams between the back-spacer and handle scales.
Seams on the but end. Lanyard is also visible.
I think the handle provides excellent and comfortable grip. The texture provides something to hold on to, but can be used with bare hands without being abrasive.
I think the finger choils on the main grip and rear of the handle are excellent. For heavier use, the rear grip provides adequate leverage making serious cuts.
The pocket clip however is uncomfortable when gripping far back on the handle. As a clip however, it works quite well. It is not too hard on my pockets has decent rigidity, but loosens quickly when you grip it and are chopping with force. One application of blue lock tight has prevented any loosening since.
The handles are reinforced with steel liners which have been set into the scales. The back-spacer and lock bar running along the spine trap lint and dirt, so it tends to get gunked up, but I don't clean it often.
The Rajah of course employs Cold Steel's Tri-Ad lock. I have found it easy to use and have never experienced a failure. It engages positively with a snap and disengages easily when the lever is depressed. I have never accidentally disengaged it while gripping the knife.
I bought the Rajah instead of the Espada because of the Kukri-like recurve blade. Since, I've grown to truly appreciate the usefulness of the recurve. When gripping the rear of the handle, you can achieve incredible chopping power for a folding knife when striking with the belly. Single stroking 1 to 1.5 inch saplings is not a problem. The recurve really bites into materials like cardboard and paper, allowing for excellent control even with the big blade. The blade stock is fairly thick, but despite that, I find it manageable in terms of maintaining the edge. Working slowly on the edge of a stone and finishing with a leather strop yields phone book paper slicing results in the recurve portion of the blade. I have fought with rust however, which is evident in the photographs, and try to be proactive about drying the blade and keeping a film of vegetable oil on it.
And finally, I love the thumb plate/pocket snag. It makes for easy ambidextrous deployment and a very fast from-pocket deployment.
So there it is, I suppose that turned into a mini review, but I just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences with the Rajah with everyone and maybe learn others experiences as well. Thanks all.
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