Cold Steel Serrations

R

Rob64

Joined
Oct 22, 2001
Messages
41
I am considering a Cold Steel Medium Voyager (3" blade) in either the clip point or tanto blade style. I'm undecided about whether to get the plain or part serrated blade. (I am not considering fully serrated.) In inspecting these knives at shows and dealers I have found both the plain and serrated portions of the blades to be wickedly sharp. CS has some of the sharpest out-of-the-box knives that I have seen. I remember reading posts on this forum in which some folks did not particularly like the CS serrations. I believe that some of this was due to the difficulty of sharpening the serrations due to the unique design of close spacing separated by shallow arcs. Is there any other reason why the CS serrations are not very popular? The serrated portion of the blade appears to me to be just as beveled and sharp as the plain portion. Which of the voyager configurations do you recommend? Thanks.
 
The small size of the CS serrations does indeed give people fits, but there are now sharpeners available specifically designed for them.

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I have used my Vaquero Grande, which is fully serrated, very hard, hacking away at tough vines and small branches. All I had to do to keep the serrations working like new was to steel them on the back of the blade, not on the serrations themselves.
 
Although I have not seen it myself (I have owned somewhere around a dozen Cold Steel folders with serrations), I have read posts of the serrations on Cold Steel folders being somewhat fragile, and prone to breakage with hard use.

...But man, they are VERY Sharp "out of the box"!.:).
 
I've got Voyagers from the 3" medium all the way up to the XL 5" versions-both clip and tanto point. All of mine are plain edge. This is mainly aesthetics on my part as I just don't like the way the Cold Steel serrations look. This may sound silly, but they look too "ginsu-like" to me. I prefer the larger serrations like those found on Spyderco knives. That said, I still end up carrying my Voyagers more than my Spyderco knives. Right now I'm carrying my 3" tanto in my left front pocket with the clip removed, my 3" clip point clipped to my right front pocket, and my 4" tanto in my right jacket pocket. No matter which style of blade you choose, you can't go wrong with the Voyagers! Great value for what you pay for them. If you are looking for a good price on them, check out www.wholesalehunter.com . So far they have the best prices I have found on the web. Be sure and let us know which one you get and how you like it!

Flinx
 
I am probably the biggest "Honest" CS fan there is; I cut my teeth on CS and am still looking for the urban shiv for the sake of just owning it. I know Lynn can be really stuck on it sometimes; but all his knives are the sharpest crap I have ever pulled out of a Box. CS is my favorite production blade other than Randall; I want 3 of those;

But alas; I too wasnt fond of the look of CS serrations. I too prefer the Spydie look; But honesty here prevails again. The first serrated edge knife that I ever attempted to shave with was the HAI HACHO (did I spell that rite?)at a gun show in NC.

That damn blade touched my skin; hair popped away like Britney Spear's Vinegarinity, blood swelled up around the piercing holes from those ugly serrations and ran down my wrist. No it wasnt that bad a cut or that deep at all; I didnt even feel it.

That convinced me. I like both CS blade styles. My Spydie Tri-sharp keeps the all going strong....

The only thing I dont like is the way Lynn says SERR-ee--aa--tions!!
makes my skin crawl like the hai hacho did.......
 
I got an El Hombre as a present last Christmas that was fully serrated. I say "was" because it is not anymore. When I first got it I thought it was great. I called it my "pocket chainsaw" because the damned thing would cut through anything! I used it for about 2 weeks or so, without a second thought to what I cut with it. I was looking at it one day and was amazed to see lots of the serrated teeth knocked completely off!!

I thought if they were that fragile, I'd be better off without 'em... So, I scraped off all the serrations on a round file set at the same angle as my sharpmaker. The file knocked them all off evenly with no problems. Then I just sharpened as normal with the sharpmaker. You can still see the beginnings of the grooves of the serrations, but the edge is all smooth, and razor sharp! I like the knife much better now.

My advice would be to get the plain edged version of whatever CS knife you are considering. (If you plan on using it hard) If you plan on babying it and not cutting much with it, get the ginsu version.

The plain edged models are the sharpest factory knives I have ever seen (out of the box). The only other ones that come close are my Spyderco knives.
 
Get the plain edge for now. I am no fan of serrations but I do see they have a legit use. The catch is: I hate combo edges! First, half of the time the serrations (we need a short form of that word) are on the wrong side of the blade. Then the ser'ed part is too small on small blades. By too small, I mean that there are not enough ser's to make use of the advantages of ser's. Just when they start to work and tear into the material, they run out on you. And my favorite part, the plain edge section is now so small that sharpening becomes an exercise in frustration. You need to be careful not to hurt the ser's but all those short strokes on the plain edge can be very annoying. You spend more time aligning the stone to the edge.

From the fact that you do not want a full ser'ed blade, go with the plain edge. If you need ser's later on, buy a fully ser'ed blade when and if you need it. This also brings up the idea of why carry multiple knives. Plain edge for use around non-knife people and basic cutting and ser's for use with fibrous items.

PS I just love my own 3" plain edge Voyager!
 
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