Cold Steel Recon 1, Emerson CQC-7 or Benchmade 553?

I own a few of each brand you mentioned. In my experience the Cold Steel is a winner.
The AUS8 blade has been excellent. It has out performed the 154CM in the other 2 brands. Granted I have not had to cut anyone out of a burning helo yet, but on daily tasks it has been excellent. I literally cut 150+ linear yards of cardboard and the knife was still sharp. I've come to the unscientific conclusion that whatever the HT used on that model of Cold Steel knife, it has better edge retention than the American Lawman as well.
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RevDevil said:
I own a few of each brand you mentioned. In my experience the Cold Steel is a winner.
The AUS8 blade has been excellent. It has out performed the 154CM in the other 2 brands. Granted I have not had to cut anyone out of a burning helo yet, but on daily tasks it has been excellent. I literally cut 150+ linear yards of cardboard and the knife was still sharp. I've come to the unscientific conclusion that whatever the HT used on that model of Cold Steel knife, it has better edge retention than the American Lawman as well.
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Interesting, especially the last part comparing it to the AUS-8 on another CS model. If you ever have a chance to get the hardness on the Recon tested, I'd be very curious to see the results.
 
It's not a tanto but the Benchmade 746 is a sweet knife, it's about the same size is really comfortable in hand, well balanced, ergonomic, and flat out SLICES! You can find it for around $100
 
neuron said:
Interesting, especially the last part comparing it to the AUS-8 on another CS model. If you ever have a chance to get the hardness on the Recon tested, I'd be very curious to see the results.
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It blew me away. I bought the AL and the R1 at the same time, it was the same knife order. Both had slightly uneven bevels so I reprofiled both. I cut the same cardboard with each knife. I had a load of single, double, and quadriuple walled corrugated cardboard. I made around 180+ cuts with each knife through the double walled cardboard with each knife. The R1 held an edge much better, I had to resharpen the AL after that because it was butter knife dull. The R1 held up nice, it's only been resharpened twice, the AL has seen the sharpener ar least 5 times and is currently due for another visit. Ankerson corroborated my suspicions, I'm guessing he saw a similar result. I do not doubt that the RC is higher on the R1, by at least a full point or 2.
 
I have the recon 1 tanto and Emerson Cqc7.
Cold Steel recon 1 tanto is surprisingly light for it's size, and the lock up is really good. It snaps open loudly, and has a rather 'cushioned' sound when you close it. Edge retention is good, but very easy to sharpen. The teflon coating wears out very easily but it only affect the looks of the knife.
Emerson Cqc7 has the wave feature which allows you to deploy the knife as soon as it is out of your pocket. You'll also need time to learn how to sharpen the chisel grind. Edge retention is much better than recon 1 tanto. Titanium liner lock is really strong, but it is sticky, even after using it for 3 months. Others say that it is normal for titanium to be sticky against steel, but my benchmade 913 nitrous stryker's lock is perfect. One thing i like about the Cqc7 is that it can be dismantled easily. However there is one major downside of the Cqc7 for me- it opens in my pocket when i'm runnng or jumping because the pivot losen very easily... although you can always use some thread glue, so no issue.
So, both knives can handle heavy duty tasks. But if you want speed, get the Emerson Cqc7. It's hard to find one btw. If you're just a civillian like me, recon 1 would be an excellent knife since you don't need the wave. The recon 1's handle has better egronomics than the Cqc7 too.
 
I'm going to say the BM. All my benchmades have come sharp, and in all reality the chances that you are going to break the knife are very slim. My mini grip has held up to lots(including light batoning) and kept on ticking. I'm in the minority that cant stand the triad lock, for me it is a pain (literally on the spartan at least) to close and if youre not careful can close on you like a bear trap. Sure it can hold an ungodly amount of weight but axis locks are incredibly strong as well by the nature of their design and are far more user friendly IMHO. As far as the emerson goes if the grind doesnt suit you dont get it.

Thats just my two cents. Figure out what aspects of the knife design mean more to you and go for it.
 
GMAHN said:
The one thing that no one has mentioned yet and the one thing that I would find most important for a defensive knife is how fast you can deploy it. In my experience the recon 1 with its triad lock is more difficult to open quickly than either of the other two options.
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This is also a good point. The fact that the recon 1 it is more difficult for one hand operation is really the only thing stopping me from buying it, besides the teflon coating that without a doubt will wear off with usage.
 
The CS has a thumbstud, how do you figure it is more difficult to open with one hand? If you scrape off the coating the blade has a nice stonewashed finish too.
 
InfamousOne said:
I was refering to closing the knife.
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I guess I'm weird, I don't tend to flick my knives open. It causes premature wear on the knife and shortens the serviceable life of your cutting tool. Yes, I've seen the vidiots on youtube with the "Look at me open this Benchmade super fast WooOOooOO Weee!". Not impressed. If I am going to use my knife, I draw as little attention to myself as needed. Why would I want to be the center of attention under those circumstances anyway? As far as closing the knife, I use controlled and purposeful movement to deploy and retract my knife blade. WIth enough practice, you can deploy any knife as well as retract it with speed and precision. The tools don't make the man in this case.
 
RevDevil said:
I guess I'm weird, I don't tend to flick my knives open. It causes premature wear on the knife and shortens the serviceable life of your cutting tool. Yes, I've seen the vidiots on youtube with the "Look at me open this Benchmade super fast WooOOooOO Weee!". Not impressed. If I am going to use my knife, I draw as little attention to myself as needed. Why would I want to be the center of attention under those circumstances anyway? As far as closing the knife, I use controlled and purposeful movement to deploy and retract my knife blade. WIth enough practice, you can deploy any knife as well as retract it with speed and precision. The tools don't make the man in this case.
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Exactly my feelings as well -- I've never understood the appeal of flicking either. :thumbup:
 
RevDevil said:
I guess I'm weird, I don't tend to flick my knives open. It causes premature wear on the knife and shortens the serviceable life of your cutting tool. Yes, I've seen the vidiots on youtube with the "Look at me open this Benchmade super fast WooOOooOO Weee!". Not impressed. If I am going to use my knife, I draw as little attention to myself as needed. Why would I want to be the center of attention under those circumstances anyway? As far as closing the knife, I use controlled and purposeful movement to deploy and retract my knife blade. WIth enough practice, you can deploy any knife as well as retract it with speed and precision. The tools don't make the man in this case.
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neuron said:
Exactly my feelings as well -- I've never understood the appeal of flicking either. :thumbup:
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Oh yes. I do practice deployment but I go for reliability rather than extreme speed. I try to keep as much skin on the knife and no jerky movements that might cause to throw my knife away.
 
RevDevil said:
The CS has a thumbstud, how do you figure it is more difficult to open with one hand? If you scrape off the coating the blade has a nice stonewashed finish too.
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The tension of the triad lock needs to be overcome when you open the blade and this causes the knife to be more difficult to open quickly than either the emerson or the benchmade.
 
GMAHN said:
The tension of the triad lock needs to be overcome when you open the blade and this causes the knife to be more difficult to open quickly than either the emerson or the benchmade.
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I wonder how much harder it really is. A difference of ounces?
 
InfamousOne said:
This is just common sense. I just prefer carrying a knife I can open and close with one hand. Maybe it's just me.
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The Recon isn't at all difficult to close with one hand, so I don't think you have anything to worry about there.
 
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