CS Laredo Bowie- handle material?

Frankki

Frankki

Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
1,557
Good day all,

I might get a good deal on a Laredo Bowie (I know, Cold Steel, don't kill me) but a quick question first:

The handle is something called "faux cocobolo", what might this be now? From pics, it looks like it might be laminated wood, is this correct? Any insight on the durability?

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
In all likelihood, this is a cheap softwood, stained, laminated and stabilized with a high pressure epoxy treatment. Natural Cocobolo sawdust is toxic, so a "Faux Cocobolo" is often used to protect the health of the workers. It should be durable, and moderately attractive, but:

Considering the type of people who carried the original "Bowie" knives, i.e. pimps, cutthroats, barroom brawling thugs and other city "gentlemen" IMHO, the ideal handle material would be Mother-or Pearl. :D
 
i have one , it looks like wood but i was told it's not real wood. i hope we find out.
 
Ben Dover said:
Considering the type of people who carried the original "Bowie" knives, i.e. pimps, cutthroats, barroom brawling thugs and other city "gentlemen" IMHO, the ideal handle material would be Mother-or Pearl. :D
Click to expand...

To quote your famous General Patton: "Only a pimp in a New Orleans whorehouse or a tin-horn gambler would carry a pearl-handled pistol." Substitute knife for pistol, same thing. :D

No, more seriously, I'd like to see what this whole Bowie knife thing is about and the CS Laredo might be a good starter, methinks.
 
i got into bowies while studing american history, the bowie was back up for a single shot gun. it all took off from there.
 
i have one here that i'm making a loveless style handle for. i can ask the owner what the handle was like since he removed it. i'll post a reply when i find out
 
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=599110

I just got a Laredo myself (p#@* on anybody who wants to criticize me for it) and I got a killer deal on it. Whatever the handle material is is fine by me as I'm not a big fan of the corners on coffin handles and will be sanding them down and wrapping it with racket grip tape.

The link above is to another thread showing the tang system that CS uses. I knew it wasn't a full tang knife so I'm not too disappointed that they use a half tang with a wire to a nut. However I sure wish they would've used a threaded rat tail.

Oh well, it's not like I'm going to be chopping trees or two by fours. Actually I'm going to be using it for my bowie training mostly just cutting the air.
 
Yup, I had already found out that the Laredo does not have a full tang. A bit of a shame really, that size blade could have one. Don't know what it would do to the balance, which I hear is pretty good on this knife.

However, I don't intend to chop 6" logs with that knife, or with any knife for that matter. There are ways to get along without that. :)
 
What's wrong with CS? They offer some very nice knives, like SRK, Trailmaster.....don't see them any different then say, Gerber or CRK&T...
 
We have a couple of these bowies in the carbon v and we are sending one back because the blade has rusted from sitting in the showcase for 2 or more years and yes I know that we should have taken better care of it.
 
bitter1 said:
We have a couple of these bowies in the carbon v and we are sending one back because the blade has rusted from sitting in the showcase for 2 or more years and yes I know that we should have taken better care of it.
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And, this rust is the factory's fault, how?
 
Always easier to blame something(one) else than take responsibility for your own actions.
 
I just picked up a factory second and love it. I will be doing some chopping with it, not alot, but enough to hopefully tell me how sturdy the handle is. But like others, I do plan on sharpening it up and leaving it once I'm convinced it will handle a little stress...
 
The Laredos handle more than a little stress just fine. I've tested both Carbon V and SK-5 models - normal usage testing as in cutting, thrusting, and chopping.
 
Could the handle be Pakkawood, as in the faux wood grips for 1911s used throughout the gun industry? I've seen several grip sets online and at gun shows made from Pakkawood and labeled as finished in the style of "cocobolo."
 
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i don't think you can go wrong what ever the handle is made of. it seems like a lot of knife for 100.00. is the carbon v better than the sk-5 ?
 
The SK-5 performs well enough, but given a choice, I'll take the no longer made Carbon V.
 
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