- A true Jack of all Trades
High on the wish list of many potential customers, including me, aimed at Cold Steel has been "better steel and more down to earth designs in general".
That is less excesses and fewer blackened blades - less tacticool and more of utilitarian knives. The CS catalogue has not been a total void when it comes to practical knives, they keep popping up at regular intervals, but they haven't exactly dominated the range and then it was the constantly present issue of steelchoice.
What happened in 2015? Well, more or less overnight CS made it possible to get their line with a supreme steel and then comes a Finnish wolf and howled and now this! Talk about listen to their customers. By the way, you can still get all the spears, swords, sticks, and giant Espadas if you so prefer.
Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter
The Ultimate Hunter is almost a direct translation from Andrew Demkos customdesign "AD10" to a more productionfriendly format. An interesting aspect of these knives from CS and Demko is that they departs from the prevailing trend that produces a steady stream of titanhandled framelocks with ballbearings and flippers. Instead they bring robust knives with thumbstuds and lockbacks to the table.
A deceptively simple design
And when CS also releases their knives with such an advanced steel as CTS XHP they become a really competitive alternative. Their former bread and butter steel AUS 8A, even though not bad in their version, is a lesser steel no matter how you look at it.*
Blade
You can often decide a knives qualities just by looking at how the blade is shaped. This is such a case, no extravagances, no decorative elements or unnecessary details just pure function "knifebladeextraction" if you will.
The blade is a droppoint with an almost full flat grind. The tip is capable but not very aggressive. It's a compromise made to match the name "Hunter". If you gut animals it's always a good idea to avoid puncturing things and a very pointy tip can then be troublesome to handle.*
A flatground droppoint blade, well proven and functional
The blade stretches 3.5" lengthwise and is a tad over an inch wide before the belly. The thickness over it's neck is 0.13". It's a large blade without being excessive, wide but not to much and thick enough to be robust without transforming into a sharpened prybar.
The finish is a really well executed two-tone satin. It provides some luxuary at the same time as it is practical. Scratches doesn't show to much and it makes for low friction when cutting. If you ask me it's a real progress in comparison to all the black coated blades CS persists with.
A step up the ladder in the steel hierarchy - CTS HXP
Carpenters XHP is a real upgrade compared to earlier steel. Their fomer standard steel AUS 8A isn't a bad budget choice given it's proparly heat treated but, and it is a big but, it doesn't match the competitors and the pricerange. And besides the edgeholding capability isn't the best.
The factory edge on the Hunter was good but not extremely sharp. Previosly I have had mixed experiences with Cold Steel when it comes to initial sharpness. This one gets passing grade.
But why on earth have they made such a sloppy plungeline? As it is now the actual edge starts about 8 mm from the heel of the blade. It makes for a make shift choil for detailed work but that is completely unnecassary. If you grind the edge all the way to the heel you do not need a choil and as a bonus it's both easier to sharpen and you will get more edge length. A big miss on an otherwise very nicely done grind.
But what were they thinking here? Not pretty at all
The edge itself is rather robust, I don't know the exact angle, but it doesn't shine when it comes to cutting paper and other thin materials. Out of box it shaved hair but only with some force.
On the other hand it performs much better when it comes to other, sturdier materials. It slices cardboard with ease even after both two and three boxes and the egde bites really good in wood, both dried and saplings. Hard plastic and the like the blade just glides through.
Since I'm not actually a huntsman I haven't tested the names credibility in the field but used the knife in the kitchen. The bladeshape is actually rather allround given it's shape and sturdiness.
An ill hidden secret to cutting efficiancy is to make flat ground blades fairly wide so that the angle towards the edge isn't too steep. All kitchen knives are designed that way and Spyderco is a company that mastered it to perfection for folding knives. That idea is present even here and that makes for a decent cutter when it comes to fruit and greens and root vegetables despite the fact that it is much steel behind the edge. From looks alone I had expected more resistance and a more wedge like performance and was therefore pleasantly surprised.*
The closest I've come to handle meat is debone pork loin and cut up a chicken or two. And here is where the Ultimate Hunter really shines. The bladegeometry really works as intended. But of course the blade is too short to make perfect slices compared to a chefs knife but that's another issue.
Continued in part two...
High on the wish list of many potential customers, including me, aimed at Cold Steel has been "better steel and more down to earth designs in general".
That is less excesses and fewer blackened blades - less tacticool and more of utilitarian knives. The CS catalogue has not been a total void when it comes to practical knives, they keep popping up at regular intervals, but they haven't exactly dominated the range and then it was the constantly present issue of steelchoice.
What happened in 2015? Well, more or less overnight CS made it possible to get their line with a supreme steel and then comes a Finnish wolf and howled and now this! Talk about listen to their customers. By the way, you can still get all the spears, swords, sticks, and giant Espadas if you so prefer.
Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter
The Ultimate Hunter is almost a direct translation from Andrew Demkos customdesign "AD10" to a more productionfriendly format. An interesting aspect of these knives from CS and Demko is that they departs from the prevailing trend that produces a steady stream of titanhandled framelocks with ballbearings and flippers. Instead they bring robust knives with thumbstuds and lockbacks to the table.
A deceptively simple design
And when CS also releases their knives with such an advanced steel as CTS XHP they become a really competitive alternative. Their former bread and butter steel AUS 8A, even though not bad in their version, is a lesser steel no matter how you look at it.*
Blade
You can often decide a knives qualities just by looking at how the blade is shaped. This is such a case, no extravagances, no decorative elements or unnecessary details just pure function "knifebladeextraction" if you will.
The blade is a droppoint with an almost full flat grind. The tip is capable but not very aggressive. It's a compromise made to match the name "Hunter". If you gut animals it's always a good idea to avoid puncturing things and a very pointy tip can then be troublesome to handle.*
A flatground droppoint blade, well proven and functional
The blade stretches 3.5" lengthwise and is a tad over an inch wide before the belly. The thickness over it's neck is 0.13". It's a large blade without being excessive, wide but not to much and thick enough to be robust without transforming into a sharpened prybar.
The finish is a really well executed two-tone satin. It provides some luxuary at the same time as it is practical. Scratches doesn't show to much and it makes for low friction when cutting. If you ask me it's a real progress in comparison to all the black coated blades CS persists with.
A step up the ladder in the steel hierarchy - CTS HXP
Carpenters XHP is a real upgrade compared to earlier steel. Their fomer standard steel AUS 8A isn't a bad budget choice given it's proparly heat treated but, and it is a big but, it doesn't match the competitors and the pricerange. And besides the edgeholding capability isn't the best.
The factory edge on the Hunter was good but not extremely sharp. Previosly I have had mixed experiences with Cold Steel when it comes to initial sharpness. This one gets passing grade.
But why on earth have they made such a sloppy plungeline? As it is now the actual edge starts about 8 mm from the heel of the blade. It makes for a make shift choil for detailed work but that is completely unnecassary. If you grind the edge all the way to the heel you do not need a choil and as a bonus it's both easier to sharpen and you will get more edge length. A big miss on an otherwise very nicely done grind.
But what were they thinking here? Not pretty at all
The edge itself is rather robust, I don't know the exact angle, but it doesn't shine when it comes to cutting paper and other thin materials. Out of box it shaved hair but only with some force.
On the other hand it performs much better when it comes to other, sturdier materials. It slices cardboard with ease even after both two and three boxes and the egde bites really good in wood, both dried and saplings. Hard plastic and the like the blade just glides through.
Since I'm not actually a huntsman I haven't tested the names credibility in the field but used the knife in the kitchen. The bladeshape is actually rather allround given it's shape and sturdiness.
An ill hidden secret to cutting efficiancy is to make flat ground blades fairly wide so that the angle towards the edge isn't too steep. All kitchen knives are designed that way and Spyderco is a company that mastered it to perfection for folding knives. That idea is present even here and that makes for a decent cutter when it comes to fruit and greens and root vegetables despite the fact that it is much steel behind the edge. From looks alone I had expected more resistance and a more wedge like performance and was therefore pleasantly surprised.*
The closest I've come to handle meat is debone pork loin and cut up a chicken or two. And here is where the Ultimate Hunter really shines. The bladegeometry really works as intended. But of course the blade is too short to make perfect slices compared to a chefs knife but that's another issue.
Continued in part two...