I like where Cold Steel is going.....BUT.

Screwdriver

Screwdriver

Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
1,785
I cannot stand the pant-destroying texture on some of the knives. I had a large Voyager with the FRN clip years ago and that was a near perfect knife. Even with the FRN clip, it never fell out of my pocket. The trend of CS designing overly aggressive patterns on their handles seems excessive and I don't see a benefit. I look at knives from other companies and no one seems to complain about a lack of grip. Some companies will add a flat area under the clip contact area, yet still maintain an aggressive pattern for slippery conditions.

What annoys me is looking at my new American Lawman....The knife is near perfect. CS added a great steel and got rid of the aggressive G10 pattern.

I really want a new large Voyager in BD1, but the last gen one I had was horrible. It tore up my pants and would grab so tight that it impeeded pulling the knife out. And forget using it in pants made of lighter material.


Anyhow....this is just my opinion, as I know some people love the texture of the grips.
 
yep. cold steels clip designs are the worst combined with their scale textures. great knives but clips and textures are terrible. people end up sanding under the clip or bending the clip etc etc.

would be nice if cold steel caught on and did something about it, but its been going on for awhile and nada, so..........

someone will come along to tell us we just need to mod our knives and to quit whining and they like their shredded pockets and using two hands to remove their knife from their pocket and two hands to put it back clipped on the pocket, etc....:)
 
The good news is that the clips don't bend much without keeping the shape. Within a month the clip should be bent to the point where there is no contact with your pants any longer. What eats your pants today will soon be a clip with no retention and falling from your pocket tomorrow.
 
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Call me crazy, but I like the grip and the clips too. Seeing how the majority of their knives have the stigma of being a tactical knife, I'd much prefer a very aggressive grip just to make sure I'd keep hold of it in a high stress situation. Their mini recon, mini ak47 (now discontinued), Broken Skull, American lawman, and Code 4 are 5 knives (there are more) that aren't textured as aggressively, and are also some of the most EDC friendly of the group, so I have no qualms, since I don't EDC giant folders, but that's me.

As for the clip, my mini recon 1 hasn't gone ANYWHERE, and I'm constantly bumping and rubbing into things, and that's a big plus for me. I've had knives from other brands pop out of my pocket, I've almost lost my Delica twice because it's come flying out and I didn't notice. I've also had knives come out of my pocket and flop onto the floor, and then people look at you. Regardless, that's my personal opinion. I have cold steels that are almost impossible to get in and out of pocket, and I have others that are a little tough, but can still be done with 1 hand and the clips don't move all day.
 
Cold Steel should make a smooth spot for the clip to rest on their polymer scales just like Spyderco does...
 
AF said:
Cold Steel should make a smooth spot for the clip to rest on their polymer scales just like Spyderco does...
Click to expand...

That is what I am saying. I don't hear of issues with Spydercos, Benchmades, Kershaw etc. being lost because of bad retention. Cold Steel could do the same and still have an aggressive grip pattern. It solves both concerns without adding any issues.
 
I am getting tired of lightly sanding (under the clip) every time I purchase a Cold steel folder. I carry/lightly use most of my med/lg folders, but I don't carry most of my XLs because I don't feel like sanding them too. I am afraid I will noticeably marr the handle, or clip, and hurt their "LNIB" resale values.
 
wroughndt said:
The good news is that the clips don't bend much without keeping the shape. Within a month the clip should be bent to the point where there is no contact with your pants any longer. What eats your pants today will soon be a clip with no retention and falling from your pocket tomorrow.
Click to expand...

hows that good news?:)
 
wroughndt said:
The good news is that the clips don't bend much without keeping the shape. Within a month the clip should be bent to the point where there is no contact with your pants any longer. What eats your pants today will soon be a clip with no retention and falling from your pocket tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Cold Steel's clips have plenty of spring-back. Are you clipping your knives to your car's sun visor? This sounds like haters propaganda.
 
Actually, since 2015 CS has started to use smoother G-10 scale. And their new plastic(it is what it is) handle models such as Finn Wolf and Prolite have smoother texture with longer straight reversible clip which is easier to get in/out of pocket. In fact, the rough "cross" texture is only ever used on their voyager series.
Using pocket clip on the smoother G-10 models such as the American Lawman and the Holdout is basically the same as Spyderco Paramilitary 2/Manix 2 and how come i dont see the same complain there...
 
hkyew said:
Actually, since 2015 CS has started to use smoother G-10 scale. And their new plastic(it is what it is) handle models such as Finn Wolf and Prolite have smoother texture with longer straight reversible clip which is easier to get in/out of pocket. In fact, the rough "cross" texture is only ever used on their voyager series.
Using pocket clip on the smoother G-10 models such as the American Lawman and the Holdout is basically the same as Spyderco Paramilitary 2/Manix 2 and how come i dont see the same complain there...
Click to expand...

That's why I mentioned my new American Lawman. Love the new G10 texture. I was hoping that they would of done that to the AK-47 and Recon 1 when they moved to the new steels.
 
Had to tweak the clips on both my Lawman and Recon 1, not a big problem. Loctite the screws if you take them off to do that.
 
hermit dave said:
Cold Steel's clips have plenty of spring-back. Are you clipping your knives to your car's sun visor? This sounds like haters propaganda.
Click to expand...
Not a hater at all. I am a huge fan of Cold Steel knives but I have had terrible luck with the pocket clips. They don't seem to have the same amount of spring to them that other makers have.
 
Cold Steel, because screw your pants. :D

The clip on my dad's Recon has messed up the pockets on two pairs of his pants now, and he doesn't even carry it every day.
But he does like knowing it will never fall out of his pocket, ever.
 
jbmonkey said:
yep. cold steels clip designs are the worst combined with their scale textures. great knives but clips and textures are terrible. people end up sanding under the clip or bending the clip etc etc.

would be nice if cold steel caught on and did something about it, but its been going on for awhile and nada, so..........

someone will come along to tell us we just need to mod our knives and to quit whining and they like their shredded pockets and using two hands to remove their knife from their pocket and two hands to put it back clipped on the pocket, etc....:)
Click to expand...


In addition to that, they have some lame pocket clip designs.
 
In my experience, most of the newer stuff, such as the Colossus, Code 4 and Swift, don't have the pocket clip problems like most of the older knives do.

I don't have any problems with them, it is something I have gotten used to over the years.
 
I must admit, they really should use thinner, heat treated spring steel. I'm guessing they use 304-2B sheet stainless, which is springy, but doesn't have the memory of true spring steel.
 
I wish the clips were straight, sometimes the clip placement and shape just puzzles me on some of CS's folders. It seems like they're almost an afterthought sometimes?

That being said, I love the super grippy G10 they use. I'll tell you this, all the G10 folders I own with less aggressive G10 that I've EDC'd have some pretty smoothed out G10. I want as much grip as possible, I make my living with my hands and would much rather avoid a "slip". Seriously, I can replace pants for much cheaper than any hospital bill. Now this is just me and I perfectly understand everyone is different.

I will leave everyone with this though- If you didn't want a heavy duty, super grippy, extra tuff folder then why pick Cold Steel? Plenty of companies out there make more (for lack of a better term) "white collar friendly" folders. Please don't push to turn Cold Steel into Spyderco. Spyderco is my other favorite knife company but I'd much rather keep it that they both do something a little different.
 
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