Cold Steel Serrations

C

Confederate

Joined
Sep 5, 2005
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Just wondering if anyone's had any bad experiences with Cold Steel's serrations. Have you had situations in which the teeth have been clipped or badly damaged?

I noticed that early CS serration patterns didn't have quite so pointy teeth. The ones on the Voyagers/Vaqueros are very sharp—excellent for aggressive cutting of fibrous materials, but AUS8 and VG-1 may be subject to chipping. On their 440A blades, CS made the serrations stubbier and, I think, sturdier.

Here are some photos:

CSSerrations.jpg


The ones on the bottom have held up wonderfully, but I have seen some damage to the AUS8 blades and don't know whether I did it or whether the knife came from the factory like that.

CSSerrations_2.jpg


The serrations above are from my Gunsite I. Beautiful pattern, but I haven't used them on anything that could damage them. The 440A blades I've had seem very tough, and the blades wear well and get very sharp; however, their edge retention capabilities aren't as good as better steels. I also don't have the slightest idea of whether there's a discernible difference between AUS8 and VG-1.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

ColdSteelSerrations.jpg
 
Yeah, I broke some of the teeth on my voyager, few years ago. Took a stab at a vicious coke can, lost a couple, right there.
 
Coldsteel is absolute junk. If they knew as much about blades as they do about marketing they would be a great company. A close friend of mine ordered a Recon. It completely fell apart in 2 weeks. Where as I've had a gerber clipped to my belt for 2 years and its like new. Coldsteel and Lynn's (girlnamelol) warrior lifestyle are a joke. Too bad too, that Talwar folder is beautiful.
 
What kind of Recon are you talking about? Recon 1? Recon Scout? Recon Tanto? Also, how did it fall apart? Did pieces begin falling out of it? I had a Recon 1 for well over a year and then gave it to my sister when she wanted it. I tried going with other knives, but I couldn't help myself and bought another, and have been using it for a little more than a year now. I also bought a couple of the new models with the G10 handles, and though they're not as smooth and nice, they seem to hold up fine. I also routinely carry many of their other knives.

Yes, the Talwar and some of the other knives are gorgeous. CS has a special on where you can get two Konjos for $200. I ordered a couple and I have to say they're incredible lookers. The blade is like a mirror and the workmanship is astounding. I never would have paid the $399 each selling price they wanted, though.
 
Shinglowping said:
Coldsteel is absolute junk. If they knew as much about blades as they do about marketing they would be a great company. A close friend of mine ordered a Recon. It completely fell apart in 2 weeks. Where as I've had a gerber clipped to my belt for 2 years and its like new. Coldsteel and Lynn's (girlnamelol) warrior lifestyle are a joke. Too bad too, that Talwar folder is beautiful.
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Thank you for your unsolicited, off topic and completely anecdotal evidence, to support a non-existent argument. :rolleyes:
 
If you have that Croc Stick thingy for Cold Steel's four-tooth serrations, you make the angles thicker/stronger without altering their appearance. Doubt it will help against canned goods of evil, but I haven't had troubles with plastic or cutting roots out of rocky soil. Speaking of which, cutting in dirt only reaffirms one's appreciation of serrations, but makes unlined FRN stand out as a handle material (I'm assuming other people clean their knives when dirty, too).
 
It was a Recon 1 Tanto point semi serreted. Sorry for the unsolicited comment, I was just shocked at how fast it came apart. The bolts holding it together came loose and then one actually fell out. Now even in the locked position the blade has so much play it's scary to handle. Forgive my comment. i meant no offense.
 
Shinglowping said:
Coldsteel is absolute junk. If they knew as much about blades as they do about marketing they would be a great company. A close friend of mine ordered a Recon. It completely fell apart in 2 weeks. Where as I've had a gerber clipped to my belt for 2 years and its like new. Coldsteel and Lynn's (girlnamelol) warrior lifestyle are a joke. Too bad too, that Talwar folder is beautiful.
Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe anything you're saying considering I had the Recon 1 in Iraq and it took some sick amounts of abuse. At the same time you expect me to believe that your friend's Recon 1 fell apart in 2 weeks and didn't even bother returning it. As a matter of fact I just ordered the tanto half serrated Recon 1 ten minutes ago for my nephew.
 
I bought a Gunsite Voyager (half serrated) and a Large Voyager Tanto (full serrated) together off Ebay a couple of months back. Both are the old-style, with the plastic integral clips.
The Gunsite was new, still had white grease in the pivot area. The Tanto was well used, blade scratched, and several of the teeth had part of the points chipped off or blunted. But, I was able to get it back very sharp with a Spyderco SharpMaker. I was actually glad the Tanto Voyager was used, for that very reason: I knew I'd be picky about the Gunsite blade, but I've been pretty careless about the Tanto as to what I cut with it. But, I haven't had any more of the teeth chip or break. It's been a better knife than the Gunsite, because I actually use it.
 
Personally I haven't seen any damage to the very fine serrations on the Kitchen Classics block set I got for my in-laws. That being said they're "400-series stainless" whatever that is, but they hold a nice edge and haven't chipped at all in spite of having the deeper serrations.

Can't speak for their AUS-8 or VG-1 though...I don't buy serrated knives.
 
I wish I knew more about Cold Steel's 440A. I've used a Night Force (serrated) and some of the older Recon 1s, and if I didn't know that the blades were "junk," I never would have guessed it. The blade serration pattern is, as mentioned earlier, a bit more robust. I also have a very well used Night Force (plain edge) that I've used off and on for quite a while and so far it's dastardly sharp. I've had other 440A knives that haven't held up as well, edge wise, but Cold Steel must really harden it up somehow. You can take the serrated version and saw literally anything, and the serrations don't seem affected.

As for the Recon 1, the new models, Shinglowping may have gotten either a bum knife or even a counterfeit (I've seen a number of them on eBay). There have been so many favorable reviews of the Recon 1, both here and elsewhere on the Internet, that I can safely say they're not given to falling apart. And if one did, I'd send it back to Cold Steel.

Recon1s_3.jpg


The Recon 1, old (top) and new.
 
recon 1 is a tough knife from my experience,that can take quite an abuse, and i wouldn't see it "fall" apart in 2 weeks
 
My extra large Vaquero just arrived and the the thin "needles" on the serrations do look somewhat fragile. Of course I went ahead and tested it, by doing test cuts on water bottles. When through them with no trouble whatsoever. Impressive. But I'm still at a loss as to thoroughly sharpening the serrations. I know that CS recommend sharpmakers but will it also sharpen the needles?
 
I had about half the serrations tear out of my serrated Recon 1 folder some years ago. In the knife's defense, I used it really hard, as it was my first folder I bought when I turned 18 and didn't really know how to respect knives yet. I cut cans and stuff with it all the time. I really ruined the serrations when I cut the screen out of an old screen door. I had to retire it after that. More conventional serrations, like Spyderco, could have been saved, but those thin little teeth tore out really badly. Like I said, though, I was young and irresponsible with it.
 
I recall seeing a program a year or so ago about a guy out in the middle of nowhere. He got his leg trapped under a rock and another hiker arrived on the scene and decided to try to cut down a small sapling and use it as a lever. Neither of these two geniuses had a locking blade and neither, of course, had serrations. The second hiker did have a slipjoint knife, which he began using to saw at the sapling's base. It was raining at the time and the guy didn't know that the blade kept popping out and whapping him on the fingers. Soon the water and blood became so slippery that he gave up and decided to go get help.

One lesson I took from this was, don't buy slipjoints. Locking knives are what one should spend money for. Second, serrations don't hurt, especially if you have to cut seatbelts or thick, fibrous stuff in a hurry. Finally, if you're going outside, don't screw around with 3-inch folders; get one with a decent blade size.

I don't know whether the sapling would have worked as leverage or not. I do know that trying to cut through one with a slipjoint was a joke. And serrations wouldn't have hurt, either. I think the VG-1 steel might be a bit better than the previous AUS8, but I'm going to keep carrying serrations until I start losing the steel teeth. If it becomes a huge problem, I'll just carry a plain edge.
 
Confederate said:
One lesson I took from this was, don't buy slipjoints. Locking knives are what one should spend money for. .
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Confederate the lesson you should have learned is how to properly use a knife. When you need to take a sapling with a slip joint you cut notches and then break it. Also fixed blades solve that problem. Ernest Emerson said in article he wrote for one of the Handgunner Annuals last year that all locking mechanisms can fail so why are you so dead set on locks?
A slipjoint SAK Farmer would solve your presented issue much better than any high speed locking tactical knife. Saying that slip joints are not the thing to buy is ignorant, learning to use a knife correctly is much more important than a lock.
 
If I were going out hiking, I would carry my Satin Jack TAC. Hell, if people were a bit more open-minded, I'd carry it with me at all times. It would have handled that tree better than any folder.

I agree that carrying just a small slip-joint may prove inadequate in some situations.
 
Juramentado said:
I know that CS recommend sharpmakers but will it also sharpen the needles?
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It can sharpen the points, but isn't physically able to sharpen below them. There's a sharpener on this page that will handle the needles and teeth. For actual sharpening, though, the Sharpmaker works fine.
 
Shinglowping said:
It was a Recon 1 Tanto point semi serreted. Sorry for the unsolicited comment, I was just shocked at how fast it came apart. The bolts holding it together came loose and then one actually fell out. Now even in the locked position the blade has so much play it's scary to handle. Forgive my comment. i meant no offense.
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No problem, Shinglowping. As you are new, you haven't had to endure the endless 'brand' bashing that happens and sometimes this old codger has a short fuse, for which I apologize. :o

No harm, no fowl.
 
Glad to hear it. I'm not here to step on anyones toes. I was a big lover of coldsteel till this happedn. I'll resign to the fact it was a lemon and the rest are good. Thanks guys.
 
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