Cold Steel Spartan vs. Cold Steel XL Voyager

POCEH KOCEB said:
Hi M Mikel_24 , mentioning the blade length, I'd assume you are in EU, one of the Scandinavian countries ?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the detailed description. I actually live in Spain. Anything under 4 inches of blade length (not to confuse with EDGE LENGTH, which is usually shorter) non auto... is legal TO OWN. Unless there is a reasonable cause, you are not allowed to CARRY anything, at all, period!. This means that if you go climbing, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, you are a construction worker and are actually working, etc... you will be fine. Otherwise you might get the knife confiscated to be retrieved once you pay whichever fine they apply to you.

However, I carry everyday a couple knives (a one hand opener, coincidentally today I carry a Code4) and a SAK in the backpack I use to carry the laptop back and forth to work. And I never got into any trouble. We don't get randomly searched often, so as long as you don't flash it arround and do stupid stuff with it, you will be fine. I have also gotten into buildings with metal detectors and bag scanners at the entrance (for work related stuff) and upon warning the security staff beforehand and leaving the "tools" in the backpak, I haven't gotten any trouble. I just recall one ocassion where the asked me to leave the Leatherman at the security check to pick it up later.

I also own a Spyderco Military, Police and REsilence, which are pretty close (or even a bit over) that 4" (100mm) of blade length limit.

The Talon and Matriarch, however... might be a tad difficult to justify a reasonable use for it if I am ever asked about it. I do own a Spyderco Spyderhawk (the latest orange model) but I only carry it when I am arroud ropes, boats, etc. Not the most utilitarian blade shape.

That's why the ProLite and/or Voyager models appeal more to me (also FRN or Grivory or whatever they use in the Voyager is going to be lighther).

How do you like and how do you maintain the serrations of the Cold Steel knives? Sharpmaker works fine for Spyderco and similar patterns but the Cold Steel ridges are much smaller.

Mikel
 
Hi again Mikel, I see you already have a good set of knives, good for you. Yes, Europe isn't the same as the one I left almost 30 years ago, I'm am beyond sad to note the following:
We don't get randomly searched often...
Click to expand...
Anyway, if you want a tanto knife I think the ProLite will fit your bill, it's less than 4" total blade length. You can probably remove the clip and fit a ring or some sort of carabineer,
and carry it in your laptop bag, without being noticeable... ?
How I take care of the serrations - well, the talon isn't cutting anything, I carry it as a weapon... My other serrations are maintained with some diamond files, you search for something like
"diamond files for serrations" and Google will spit tons of options, European stores and US. I use two types of files - round and triangle, if the serration isn't damaged much I simply sharpen
the flat back of it, this usually gives me razor sharp edge.
 
unfortunately cold steel and spyderco serrations are not the same at all and i would avoid them on cold steel knives while spyderco serrations perform much better, for example my spyderco police serrated cuts right through bubble wrap with no problems while my serrated cold steel vaquero would hang up and catch on the material and would not cut cleany through, and also cold steel serrations are known to break off very easily because of the thinner points compared to spyderco, stick to plain edge cold steels if possible
 
Last edited:
Mikel_24 said:
Thanks for the detailed description. I actually live in Spain. Anything under 4 inches of blade length (not to confuse with EDGE LENGTH, which is usually shorter) non auto... is legal TO OWN. Unless there is a reasonable cause, you are not allowed to CARRY anything, at all, period!. This means that if you go climbing, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, you are a construction worker and are actually working, etc... you will be fine. Otherwise you might get the knife confiscated to be retrieved once you pay whichever fine they apply to you.

However, I carry everyday a couple knives (a one hand opener, coincidentally today I carry a Code4) and a SAK in the backpack I use to carry the laptop back and forth to work. And I never got into any trouble. We don't get randomly searched often, so as long as you don't flash it arround and do stupid stuff with it, you will be fine. I have also gotten into buildings with metal detectors and bag scanners at the entrance (for work related stuff) and upon warning the security staff beforehand and leaving the "tools" in the backpak, I haven't gotten any trouble. I just recall one ocassion where the asked me to leave the Leatherman at the security check to pick it up later.

I also own a Spyderco Military, Police and REsilence, which are pretty close (or even a bit over) that 4" (100mm) of blade length limit.

The Talon and Matriarch, however... might be a tad difficult to justify a reasonable use for it if I am ever asked about it. I do own a Spyderco Spyderhawk (the latest orange model) but I only carry it when I am arroud ropes, boats, etc. Not the most utilitarian blade shape.

That's why the ProLite and/or Voyager models appeal more to me (also FRN or Grivory or whatever they use in the Voyager is going to be lighther).

How do you like and how do you maintain the serrations of the Cold Steel knives? Sharpmaker works fine for Spyderco and similar patterns but the Cold Steel ridges are much smaller.

Mikel
Click to expand...
Sorry you are dealing with such ridiculous restrictions and hope it doesn’t come here (any more than it already has).
 
Basically, a comparison between two large blade-patterns. The Voyager is a light-weight, EDC utility folder [XL-version has a lot-of-reach]. The Spartan is a large, fighting warblade, that can double as a needed EDC, if called upon to do so. In a self-defense scenario, both would cause devastating-injuries to an attacker, if you have time to deploy, either of them. Price-wise, the XL Voyager was around $100 USD on last inspection, and the Spartan was under $80 USD. I carry both: a large Voyager for daily EDC. The Spartan for back-up to my primary-arm; pistol or revolver.

0mx5BNjh.jpg


PnFzwDzh.jpg


For pure portability, go with the Voyager, for solid brute-force: The Spartan. For under $150 USD, you can pick-up both.
 
Last edited:
POCEH KOCEB said:
Hi again Mikel, I see you already have a good set of knives, good for you. Yes, Europe isn't the same as the one I left almost 30 years ago, I'm am beyond sad to note the following:
Click to expand...
Actuallly my statement might have been a bit over dramatic. Is not that we get searched on the spot for no reason. I have only gotten searched twice in my whole life (39). Both times during traffic stops to verify documents (drivers license, insurance, inspection, etc.) and being patted down. One of those times I was carrying a Leatherman AND a Spyderco Delica Wave. The police didn't like the Spyderco Delica so they confiscated it. A few months and 300€ later (that's the minimum you can get for carrying without a fair justification and at that time I didn't really have one) I retrieved my knife. At the time I was carrying my gf's car. Now I drive my van (VW T4 California, a camper van) so I got into the habit of emptying my pockets when I drive. Knife goes into a pocket in the back of the copilots seat. Being a camper vehicle they need to have a warrant to search it, moreover, if they ever get to search it, a knife in a camper is justified, along with the chef's, paring and assorted knives in the silverware drawer.

Another time we got stopped when we were heading to the mountains for a three day trip in a friends van (three seater in the front, no back seats). We had our (sorry) man purses hanging from the middle seat headhrest. They asked us if we were carrying any drugs of any kind to which we replied that none at all, since we didn't even smoke. The asked to have a look at the purses and... oh boy... there were about three different knives in EACH... 😆 😆 😆 .The police was beyond amused... What are you guys doing with SO MANY KNIVES?!?!?!? We told him the truth, that we were going to the mountains for a three day trip and we need to deal with food, ropes and random stuff. He just asked us to put all the hardware in the trunk with the rest of the gear and wished us a nice trip.

It is bad, but not THAT bad. Just don't act stupid.
JeremiahWeaver09 said:
unfortunately cold steel and spyderco serrations are not the same at all and i would avoid them on cold steel knives while spyderco serrations perform much better, for example my spyderco police serrated cuts right through bubble wrap with no problems while my serrated cold steel vaquero would hang up and catch on the material and would not cut cleany through, and also cold steel serrations are known to break off very easily because of the thinner points compared to spyderco, stick to plain edge cold steels if possible
Click to expand...
Thanks!

Triton said:
Sorry you are dealing with such ridiculous restrictions and hope it doesn’t come here (any more than it already has).
Click to expand...
See above... I wish I could carry whatever I wanted at any time but... well, we have to live with it. Today is a Benchmade Crooked River... not too discrete if you ask me, but my three egg sausage omelette deserves no less!

Mikel
 
Yes, I agree. Unfortunately I personally prefer tanto Voyager for number of reasons, one - longer blade.
Never wormed up to a AK knife... The gun is another story... :cool:
 
AK has great reach if you add an ergonomic fob, also still being hollow ground (even new GSM version) but a stout blade, nice pommel, and pocket ‘Dave’ (RIP CMFTW) and full blackout for discretion
 
AK has great reach if you add an ergonomic fob, also still being hollow ground (even new GSM version) but a stout blade, nice pommel, and pocket ‘Dave’ (RIP CMFTW)
POCEH KOCEB said:
I have fobs on most of my knives, RIP CM, l miss him, we had an exchange about how useful they are, particularly combined with wave feature.
Click to expand...
same here! And yes I also miss him, what a great man! Cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top