cold steel war head?

[BRASMAN]

OK Thanks. Both sides are ground so it is not Chisle ground.

 

[woutvl]

i hate it too.the knife doesn;t feel complete to me with a chisel grind

 

[Last Visible Canary]

the main weakness of it and the shanghai shadow is the thin stock thickness combined with a full hollow dagger grind. very thin in general.

Cold steels 1055 normally has terrible heat treatments, their machetes are butter soft, so you may get one like that in these models. I got a shanghai shadow and a warhead just because they were 28$ after shipping, and I bought another war head so I wont feel bad about grinding down the one I have.


The main benefit is that you can grind off one of the edges and have a very thin nice shop knife for a very low price


They are very fun with very good cutting geometry and dirt cheap, but they are inherently weak by design and come from a company with less then stellar heat treating qc on their low end knives.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

lol, I just went out and chopped a burnt cutting board with it. It chops supprisingly well. even though its very light for its size, its length and thin edge make it good at deep penetration on softer woods. I'm sure it would bind like crazy if you were able to sink it in past the halfway point of one of its grinds (since its hollow), but I dont think that would be a problem because of its light weight.

 

[Wabajack]

I plan on buying one because their pretty darn cheap and polishing the blade and adding some nice wooden handles, just some fun with a cheap knife.

Might turn out nicely.

 

[3Guardsmen]

Cold steels 1055 normally has terrible heat treatments, their machetes are butter soft, so you may get one like that in these models.

It was my understanding that the Machetes are made in South Africa and the new fighters are made in China, so my guess is that the heat treatment will not be the same between the fighters and the Machetes. I guess it depends a lot on who does a better heat treat, the Chinese or the South Africans. Personally, I'd trust neither for a great heat treat.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

some basic measurements -

stock thickness = .157"

thickness at ridge of the sharpened cutting bevel = .042"
right behind (towards center) the ridge of the sharpened cutting bevel = .040 "
the center of the hollow ground bevel = .058"
the center line where the two hollow ground sides meet = .137" (it doesnt lose much thickness as it goes from ricasso to tip)
and the thickness at the very tip at the ridge of the sharpened cutting bevel = .058"

I'm going to try to take one of the sides down to make it into more of a straight clip point pattern.

 

[BRASMAN]

I just ordered a couple of the Shanghai Shadows. They should be interesting to try out. Eventualy I will get another GI Tanto and a War Head. I have not done alot of cutting yet with the Tanto but it does not seem that soft to me.

 

[BRASMAN]

I plan on buying one because their pretty darn cheap and polishing the blade and adding some nice wooden handles, just some fun with a cheap knife.

Might turn out nicely.

I have the same plan on my next tanto.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

so... here is the warhead next to the shangai shadow and a pencil

and here is a picture of the pencil resting on the ridge of the center and the cutting edge bevel - the pencil isn't touching the table, and you can see the hollow grind curve.

Heres grind knife edit attempt number 1:

It worked okay for spreading butter... I whole heartedly beleive that any knife that has a dagger grind MUST be good at spreading butter. for the price, you can't beat it as a butter spreader...

 

[Last Visible Canary]

Grind edit number 2. I found that the gaurd on the spine was limiting when using it as a kitchen knife, and that the small choil surrounded by a square ricasso felt very akward when choking up on it. I would personally prefer it to be sans choil and have the edge go to the handle, but thats why I have kitchen knives And I'm sure that the original purpose of the double choils was for lashing purposes rather then to funtion as a "choil". It feels like it was made for throwing

Given the configuration that I ground it into, it does alright choking up on it for the purpose of kitchen work. The main 2 places where this knife falls short is that the edge is positioned closer to the handle then you would normally want for a kitchen knife, and the hollow grind leaves a very distrinct ridge between the main bevel and the cutting edge bevel. were I to want to use this more as a kitchen knife, I would flatten the ridge and make it more of a zero edge configuration, thinning it down from .042 to about .025. That being said, it does alright . It would do decently at general chopping and cutting tasks, with a long edge with lots of belly that lends itself to kitchen work. again, can't beat the price for a butter spreader.

That being said, In its original configuration I'm sure it would do well at whatever it was originally intended to do. I personally never intend to use it for such things (pig sticking etc), and Have always felt very unsafe using double edged blades while chopping and doing general cutting chores. They are cool, and at 25$ each I'm willing to buy them just because their cool - but as functional knives The designs are a little lacking for me. cheap means of easily modifiable knives though.

They definitely aren't heat treated like the machetes wich readily burr like they were made of clay, these actually resist grinding a little. I would say they are probably in the mid fifties, where as the machete's I've handled have been upper 40's to low 50's.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

It would be very cool if cold steel put out a series of single edged blades with similarly thin grinds in the same steel and heat treatment. If they put out a recon scout shaped blade with a thin high saber flat grind, it would sell like hotcakes. Wich I am told sell very well.

 

[Last Visible Canary]

lol, I just realized that my Busse combat Satin jack Tac will fit in the shanghai's sheath. So there ya go, 2 in one buy

 

[BRASMAN]

Interesting job on your knife. I like it and for $20 how can you go wrong.

 

[JGarth]

Canary,
Thanks, and very nice job on modify the Warhead.
JGarth

 

[BRASMAN]

I did some stuff today with my one of my Shanghi Shadows and it seemed to hold its edge fairly well after slicing some meat and then chopped some branches and a 2x4. It actually did well for every thing I would use a knife for and it is still sharp. The two areas it stinks in is Chopping (2x4) and throwing because the tip did bend some after about 7 times but I have never seen a double edged knife have a very strong tip. All in all it is a decent knife and I would think that the tip on the war head would be similar. It does very well at slicing.

 

[rzwieg]

Actually, a friend has an original thrower an it's a pretty decent general purpose blade. He's given it a beating for about fifteen years and it's still in very usable condition.

 

[G. Scott H.]

I just got my War Head today, and I definitely would be cautious about using one on hard targets. Those hollow ground sections are THIN! Overall, a pretty decent knife for $20, I just don't see myself battoning any 4x4's with it.

 

[BRASMAN]

I agree that thay are not much on the chopping 2x4s and nore would I try to stab concrete with it. I am amazed at how nice a knife they are for $20. I have used mine some more for regular type chores and it still has a nice edge. Most $20 stainless fixed blades I have had were dull after one or two uses.


Edit: I know the knife is made of Carbon and wish I saw more of it instead of cheap stainless.

 

[G. Scott H.]

Edit: I know the knife is made of Carbon and wish I saw more of it instead of cheap stainless.

Right on! I mean, decent 10xx series carbon is pretty affordable. I think it's mainly the fact that makers assume most buyers of cheaper knives are gonna want stainless because it's easier to maintain, etc. Kudos to CS for offering these "Fighter Series" knives in 1055.