Cold Steel knives are actually very good, somewhat better than their marketing. Sometimes the tests they subject knives to are ridiculous, the most ridiculous being the slicing up of a cut-resistant glove. They put the glove against a wood base, then, holding it against that base, commence with slicing it up like a watermelon. Clearly this isn't what the glove was intended to defeat and even a cheap Chinese beater will do the same.
That said, most knives made by reputable manufacturers are worth betting one's life on. The primary consideration is the lock, and yes, Buck makes a very hearty knife. Still, it's not a tactical, or fighting, knife. It opens slowly and generally resides in a leather sheath. And I wouldn't trust any linerlock unless it had a reinforcement like the Lake and Walker Knife Safety (LAWKS).
Cold Steel, Spyderco and Benchmade have very good locking systems. Cold Steel, in fact, has a new locking system out that seems to be even stronger than an axis lock. I'm carrying a Gunsite 5-incher most days and a Voyager 4-incher most others. If a cop ever searches me and asks me why I have a folder with a 5-inch blade, I'm going to tell him that my 6-inch Voyager sometimes sticks me in the back when I sit down!
