Cold Steel XL Espada: That's bleedin' HUGE!

There is no such thing as a "guaranteed one shot kill" short of completely destroying the heart. There was one guy who took a shotgun blast to the head when he was 12. It litterally destroyed a quarter of his brain. Today he leads a completely normal life, due to reconstructive surgery. His brain even works at full capacity. Even if you do obliterate the heart, there is nothing that says the guy will go down right away, either.
 
"At first thought, carrying a “pocket sword” as big and heavy as the Espada may seem impractical. However, after much experimentation, we have found this is not the case. Even the biggest model can be carried discreetly and unobtrusively in the front pocket of most pants ..."

LOL... this reminds me an old movie joke:

"Is this a gun in your pocket or you are happy to see me;-)..."
 
i dont know if you all know this but cold steel offers a free mag and dvd. its actually rlly sweet, and the mag has a full sized picture of the espada. and wholy crap its beautiful
 
I carried a 6 1/2 inch Stanley razor utility cutter in my back pocket for years when I was installing flooring for a living...never bothered me sizewise. I think this would be great carried in the tool pocket on carpenter jeans...which I wear 90% of the time. May have to look into one of these....
 
I'd be interested if they had a larger version.
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It's Cold Steel. They will.
As several people have already pointed out, this is in the Navaja tradition. Except with okay steel for wonder steel prices.
WOH I did not see that this thread had four pages.
 
I go for 'Big is better' if it is practical so for all of us who are trying to ' conquer entire nations at the point of a sword' the ESPADA (EXTRA LARGE) is the one. Impulse buying has brought me into possession of a CS Scimitar and a Gunsite Folder, each of which carry surprisingly well. The Scimitar would be devastating in a fight, which I do very little of and the 'tanto' blade of the GF is not one I find very useful on a day to day basis. Believe me I like the looks of all of these and the feel of the ones I have but none of them would be my 'go to' knife out of my collection.
 
When I was at the CS booth at SHOT my coworkers and I got to play with the Espada XL...good lord is it as huge as the photos make it to be! It has a true two-handed grip for crying out loud!

My one worry is...I asked all of the folks at the booth if they could tell me if the aluminum bolsters were hardened in any way and they couldn't give me an answer! I think anyone who has ever picked up one of their triple actions knows how soft the handle on that puppy is. They may have mirror polished the bolsters, but how long will it be before they get chewed to hell?
 
Cotherion said:
I got a Voyager Clip point XX2 recently. 6 inch blade in PE. Don't know what possessed me, couldn't let a cheap one (new) escape me in EBay. First thing my wife told me when she saw it is "Why would anyone need something like that!"

The Espada is really way too big to be practical. If you flipped this in public to cut some boxes or apples then it'll be a free trip to the lockup in my country.
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Well, maybe your misfortune is a good reason to buy one :D. Seriously... I can't think of a use for one, at this point. Maybe I will, and I'm glad someone is producing these things, because if someone can find a good use for one, I'll be very entertained!
Zero
 
People tend to underestimate what is possible to conceal. Many moons ago in my callow youth I lived in a rough neighborhood, in a state with no CCW. With some creative scissor & sewing work on my right front pants pocket, I rigged a way to carry a fixed blade with 6.5" blade in my pants pocket. It was not bad at all, and I am only 5'7", 140 lbs.

I wouldn't try it now, at least without a MNC (mall ninja carry) permit, but it seemed like a good idea back then.
 
I like big sharp pointy things :) While not a huge fan of Lynn, this blade would likely make me very happy :D

Has anyone picked one up yet?
 
Zero_Time said:
Well, maybe your misfortune is a good reason to buy one :D. Seriously... I can't think of a use for one, at this point. Maybe I will, and I'm glad someone is producing these things, because if someone can find a good use for one, I'll be very entertained!
Zero
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Well, obviously you've never been attacked by the undead (damn amateurs around here)! :D
 
DemkoKnives said:
The 7.5" Espada has a very very strong lock. When I worked on the design I was very worried about lock failure. Tests on my custom samples went very well. The lock held 475lbs 4" from pivot this equals 1900 pound inchs of torque. The knife was 99% unaffected by this. I then racked it to 500lbs, this broke the blade. The handle and all parts were still in good working order. I should mention the handle was .250 g-10 (no liners) and 440c blade 59Rc. (The production materials are different but exact same design)
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:) Thanx for the info.

I have always wanted a large knife in the Navaja tradition and will be seriously looking into the XL Espada.

However, I know I won't be paying MSRP for it. And knowing about what I will be paying I also know that I couldn't get a custom maker to even consider making something similar for the money.

Will I carry it? If I like it I will. In some situations it might be a viable alternative to the 8" Bowie I already carry. I have the 6" Tilite, the XXL Voyager and the Vaquero Grande. I carry the Tilite every day and carried the
other two as a set for about a year. I set up the clip on the VG for my left front pocket and the XXLV was in my right front.

Demko, one of the things I'm hoping to determine is if you could back cut with the Espada's new lock. Static weight is okay, but that isn't a test of the shock loading with the back of the point. Spyderco says that their Chinook can take the shock of back cutting with a witik style slapping motion. Would you have any opinion on the Espada and back cutting?
 
The swedge isn't sharpened on the Espada. You could sharpen it yourself, but it being a folder and all, I don't think it would be a very good idea... Imagine what could happen when you grab the knife while it is folded and you wrap your hand around the sharpened swedge.
 
Cold Steel seems like its always trying to push the envelope, but i agree it is ridiculous. I mean if they want to do something big like that maybe they can collaborate on a design like the one on the Benchmade LFK, Ya know?
 
Are there jurisdictions where fixed blade carry is illegal but no limits on folder blade length? That would be the only reason for a folder with giant blade.
 
Tonie Nichols,
The lock can take spine whacks very well, I don't think it would ever fell in a back cut motion. However I would not do that with any folder, if I could help it, no matter what lock it uses.
 
DemkoKnives said:
Tonie Nichols,
The lock can take spine whacks very well, I don't think it would ever fell in a back cut motion. However I would not do that with any folder, if I could help it, no matter what lock it uses.
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I'm also thinking of it as a ripping up with the back of the tip. It's amazing how many folks don't think of that. I've caught several guys like that sparring. You drop the tip of the blade to open the high line and as they start to come in you come up from underneath with that Bowie point and take their hand.

Thank you sir. I appreciate the response.
 
I carried the CS Voyager XL with the 5 in blade for two years... and that thing is like a pocket bowie! 7 1/2 inches... I don't think my pockets are that deep.
 
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