I received my Cold Steel Rifleman's knife today.
*The sheath was nicely executed
*The blade was nicely executed
*The guard was nicely executed
*The wooden handle and pins were nicely executed.
But... somebody must have had a bad day, because the wood handle to brass guard connection was horrible!
It seems that these are not only being pinned through the tang, but also a liquid adhesive is put into the handle before the tang is slid into it. I surely don't mind that, but the entire joining area of the brass guard and wood handle was very sloppy. Excess glue was left all the way around the connection, and it simply blurred the look of what should have been a clean look at that connection point.
So, I performed the work that they had neglected to do.
In other words, I did some judicious sanding to remove the glue and to more evenly meet the brass and wood connection. I also re-polished the brass where I had to use the sandpaper on it to even it all out.
While I was at it, I then lightened up the wood stain color to better show the natural wood grain.
I rarely tamper with a product that I purchase, my liking to add the items into my collection as I received them. But, this was one of those rare times when I simply needed to apply a little bit of my TLC to get it to where I would like it...
Mission was accomplished, and I certainly like it much more now
I should have taken a before picture to better show what I was describing. The little bit of work I did to it, vastly improved it's appearance
Anyhow, she makes for a cool item to display...
Now there's only one more Cold Steel product that remains on my short list of products to get from them in the short term... that being their Cinquedea.
That said, I do wonder if they've now incorporated the liquid glue idea into the Cinquedea's handle as is done with their 1849 Rifleman's Knife? If so, I would have mixed feelings about that.
You see, with their Rifleman's Knife having a tang that gets slipped into a wood handle that then all gets pinned together, I see the glue as a reassuring step in strengthening an assembly method that is designed for permanence anyway. So, on the Rifleman's Knife, the glue does not bother me, since I was not going to be able to take the handle off anyway, (even without the glue), to give the tang an inspection and possible clean up of rust and such.
On the other hand, a knife like the Cold Steel 1917 Frontier Bowie, (which I own three of, 2 in 1085 & 1 in 1055), the handles are put on in a non permanent fashion, allowing for an easy take off for inspection and cleaning. All three of my Frontier Bowie knives had a tad bit of light surface rust on their tangs. The wood handles were easy to take off, and the light rusting was an easy chore to resolve.
I kept the 1055 Frontier Bowie and one of the 1085 Frontier Bowie' in as factory made form, but the third one I have, (in 1085 steel), I wanted to make my own by removing the bluing from it's blade and giving it a brushed polished look. The end result was a very cool look, and I think I may actually like it more in appearance than the blued, (although I go back and forth on that opinion, because the blued look on the Frontier Bowie looks pretty amazing too).
Anyhow, I think I would prefer the Cinquedea to remain assembled in a fashion that is not permanently glued together at the handle, allowing for that ease in disassembly for possible inspection & cleaning. I know the gluing method was not used on the CS Cinquedea before, but seeing it done on this new Rifleman's Knife and on the MAA Messer I mentioned earlier in a posting above, I do have to wonder if this is becoming a common step now on their products?
I have a 120'ish year old Nepalese Military Kukri that has it's handle being held on with nothing but a natural glue called Laha, (no pins, nuts, or peening involved at all), and it still seems to be holding on strong... so, I know glue in handle construction is nothing new. That being the case, I still would hope the Cinquedea is still being done without the gluing, especially after seeing and having to deal with the nasty mess they left behind for me to have to deal with on the Rifleman's Knife. One of the Cinquedea's most attractive features, (imo), is it's handle, and a bunch of sloppy hardened glue left on it by it's makers, would really be a bummer!
Here is the one Cold Steel 1917 Frontier Bowie knife in 1085 carbon steel that I removed the bluing from it's blade and gave a nice fine brushed finish. I also convexed it's cutting edge.
This is why I'm not allowed in the house proper with my largest blades .
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