Just copy and pasting a SR1 mini impressions write up that i posted on the Australian Forum since a few people have asked questions about it here on BF.
"Gents, felt i better chuck together a small impressions on the new SR1, and i'll keep this one short since i tend to ramble on. First impressions are it's a dam solid, it feels the way my 4max feels but in a smaller package, although not small by any stretch. It's a 4inch blade, S35VN steel, dual oversized thumbstuds with a pyramid design so it's easy on your thumb. Fit and finish on my example was very good, centered, pretty even sharpening job from the factory and drops freely when actuating the lock bar. But hey lets not have rose colored glasses on, no 2 knives are made equal so i guess i got lucky with fit & finish, pretty much at the mercy of the guy sharpening on the day when it comes to edge bevels.
For a big knife it's actually not as heavy as i thought, it's got a good amount of heft but can still be carried in pocket. Pocket clip is stiff as heck and you definitely won't lose it accidentally, might need to give it a slight bend to make it perfect tho, i do this on most my Cold Steels as they come with pretty strong tension most times. Also the forward finger choil feels great to choke up on the knife as Lou7 mentioned already. Time for some pics and i'll carry on. PS. There are more than 10 pics in this post, but i did a little trickery to get it all in the same post, didn't want to split them between posts cos it breaks the continuity, and my OCD.
The lighting in my man cave is shocking, sorry if colors are a bit dull.
Very solid hardware on this thing, has nested steel liners along the Tri-ad lock and stop pin as well as very thick G-10 like most their models. I'm sure we all know how strong the Tri-ad lock it so i won't elaborate.
Really like the blade profile on this one, if anyone isn't aware this is basically a folding version of their famous SRK fixed blade.
What's a review without some side by side shots with some other well known blades.
Blade stock comparison, she sure has some serious meat at the spine...
But she just kept on asking...
I'm not going to wear rose colored glasses in this test, so i'll be honest, yeah it split the apple pretty smoothly but when it hits the thick spine it acts a bit like an axe forcing the apple apart like most beefy blades. The saber grind is thick behind the edge but it's not too shallow so it actually slices well for a big boy, and lets not forget this knife isn't pretending to be a replacement for your opinel, paramilitary or SAK blades. It's purpose built to be a solid camp style knife. But i'll say it did a lot better than i thought it would, after i re-profile it to 19 degrees per side i'm sure it'll also improve. Knives like this, the XM-18's/24's and a lot of ZT's will act very similar in these kinds of cuts.
Pretty impressed with how it shaves the apple once the apple is split in half since i don't have to push the whole spine through. For medium depth slicing it's pretty good. And surprisingly it doesn't feel too hard to peel an apple with it.
So, i'll leave it here then. Overall i think i love it, i've wanted a heavy duty un-coated blade with the Tri-ad lock to pair with my other rotations for a long time. I like to have one beefy knife and one slim slicer at all times. Looking forward to reporting on how Cold Steels S35VN heat treat holds up too. Thanks for looking."
"Gents, felt i better chuck together a small impressions on the new SR1, and i'll keep this one short since i tend to ramble on. First impressions are it's a dam solid, it feels the way my 4max feels but in a smaller package, although not small by any stretch. It's a 4inch blade, S35VN steel, dual oversized thumbstuds with a pyramid design so it's easy on your thumb. Fit and finish on my example was very good, centered, pretty even sharpening job from the factory and drops freely when actuating the lock bar. But hey lets not have rose colored glasses on, no 2 knives are made equal so i guess i got lucky with fit & finish, pretty much at the mercy of the guy sharpening on the day when it comes to edge bevels.
For a big knife it's actually not as heavy as i thought, it's got a good amount of heft but can still be carried in pocket. Pocket clip is stiff as heck and you definitely won't lose it accidentally, might need to give it a slight bend to make it perfect tho, i do this on most my Cold Steels as they come with pretty strong tension most times. Also the forward finger choil feels great to choke up on the knife as Lou7 mentioned already. Time for some pics and i'll carry on. PS. There are more than 10 pics in this post, but i did a little trickery to get it all in the same post, didn't want to split them between posts cos it breaks the continuity, and my OCD.
The lighting in my man cave is shocking, sorry if colors are a bit dull.
Very solid hardware on this thing, has nested steel liners along the Tri-ad lock and stop pin as well as very thick G-10 like most their models. I'm sure we all know how strong the Tri-ad lock it so i won't elaborate.
Really like the blade profile on this one, if anyone isn't aware this is basically a folding version of their famous SRK fixed blade.
What's a review without some side by side shots with some other well known blades.
Blade stock comparison, she sure has some serious meat at the spine...
But she just kept on asking...
I'm not going to wear rose colored glasses in this test, so i'll be honest, yeah it split the apple pretty smoothly but when it hits the thick spine it acts a bit like an axe forcing the apple apart like most beefy blades. The saber grind is thick behind the edge but it's not too shallow so it actually slices well for a big boy, and lets not forget this knife isn't pretending to be a replacement for your opinel, paramilitary or SAK blades. It's purpose built to be a solid camp style knife. But i'll say it did a lot better than i thought it would, after i re-profile it to 19 degrees per side i'm sure it'll also improve. Knives like this, the XM-18's/24's and a lot of ZT's will act very similar in these kinds of cuts.
Pretty impressed with how it shaves the apple once the apple is split in half since i don't have to push the whole spine through. For medium depth slicing it's pretty good. And surprisingly it doesn't feel too hard to peel an apple with it.
So, i'll leave it here then. Overall i think i love it, i've wanted a heavy duty un-coated blade with the Tri-ad lock to pair with my other rotations for a long time. I like to have one beefy knife and one slim slicer at all times. Looking forward to reporting on how Cold Steels S35VN heat treat holds up too. Thanks for looking."
