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look what my cold steel recon did

johnwaynesandw

johnwaynesandw

Joined
Mar 18, 2005
Messages
2,753
Well I just got this recon off ebay because it had the older sheath like my srk I had when I was younger. Any way I had the day off and after cutting the grass I wanted to check out the recon. I had a sign someone put up in my yard and wanted to cut it in half well heres some pics
http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7214244532.jpg&s=x11

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7214273176.jpg&s=x11

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7214300651.jpg&s=x11

well after this I wanted to see how the edge held up and it was razor sharp still. So does this mean I may have gotten a decent Cold steel knife? After getting the knife I saw it was a 2nd by the 2 on the handle. The seller did not say that in the listing and refunded me $15 because I told him I felt That I paid a little over price for a second, so after all said and done with shipping it was $33. After chopping the lumber in two I cleaned the blade and it looked almost new again. I realy like the way the carbon v takes an edge(fast to boot)Thanks for any thought, John
 
I've found the Carbon V Cold Steel knives to be decent performers (in the big picture), very good for the street price.
 
I have a similar story. I have an Ontario Spec Plus Marine Combat knife.

http://www.knivesplus.com/QN-SP1-Ontario.HTML

They seem to have a fairly bad reputation on here. However, I found many things likable about it.

1. Sheath was surprisingly good quality, seems like it'll hold up for years no problem.

2. I really like the handle. It's a good size and the swell in the middle makes it comfortable to hold. My first knife to use this material (Kraton I think) and it too feels excellent in my hand. The overall weight is good. Feels solid but not so heavy as to make your arm tired when doing some serious chopping.

3. The blade steel seems pretty durable. It came rather sharp, and so far I haven't sharpened it yet at all. Chopping wood, taking off branches, slicing up cardboard, poking holes into walls, chopping through shoes, cutting cucumber and carrots and other foods....it's handled all this with ease without me once sharpening it. The blade is still just a ssharp as the day I got it, the only noticable change it how dirty and worn off the black coating is.

Really, this seems to meet every fixed blade need I had. I got it on sale for 28$ plus tax. If I see them around 30$ at that store I'd be inclined to pick up another. It's solid, comfortable and has met all my performance expectations.
 
That ontario looks pretty sweet, I might have to pick one of those up. I am not sure why so many people dislike cold steel I think thay have a great knife for the price.(at least the fixed blades). I was cooking some chicken this after noon and thought I would give the recon a go and see how well it cuts meat, well I thought that it would be pretty bad a cutting the chicken, but I was wrong. It sliced through it like my J.A. knives. the main blade with the belly is a nice slicer, and the secondary blade is thicker, I am guessing for strenght. John
 
I have one ontario that I have had a while and it has been on heck of a great knife. I have pried a metal door open ( that the white scuff marks on the blade). The only repair I have ever had to do was to retip the knife after prying on the door. here are some pics
http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7217053565.jpg&s=x11

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=3/7217072131.jpg&s=x11

I need to get someone to make a sheath for it. the one in the pic is the one that just protects the blade when its in the truck. John
 
I'll take some photos of my actual blade sometime this evening. But I'd be comfortable prying with mine, it feels strong enough. If it did happen to get damaged, could always pick up another for the mere sum of 30$. :)
 
Cold Steel fixed blades are great knives for the price. Their blade coatings aren't the greatest, but the steel is good. I like their machetes also. If there are quality issues with Cold Steel, I have yet to experience it.
 
buckg said:
Cold Steel fixed blades are great knives for the price. Their blade coatings aren't the greatest, but the steel is good. I like their machetes also. If there are quality issues with Cold Steel, I have yet to experience it.
Click to expand...

Why do you say their coating isn't the greatest? I mean what do you not like about it? I think its pretty good, and holds up fairly nice from what I have seen, which is not very much from cold steel. Is there any way to date Cold steel knives? Thanks John
 
Their fixed-blades are just fine.
The folders they sell are way overpriced, for the most part, and they tend to rip off others' designs and features, which leads many people (those who know and care) to boycott CS.
 
puukkoman said:
Their fixed-blades are just fine.
The folders they sell are way overpriced, for the most part, and they tend to rip off others' designs and features, which leads many people (those who know and care) to boycott CS.
Click to expand...

I must admit that I never paid that much attention to Cold steel before, but I am againt companies that rip off others designs. Was the recon one of those that was ripped off ? Does this mean that I supported CS if I bought it from someone off e bay? :confused: I would not want to support any company that rips off others, That just bad tast. I may need to start looking out for things like that. Thanks for your help, John
 
Oh, there has been a running arguement as to whether Cold Steel rips off other's designs.

As regards profiles and shapes, it's really difficult to say a design is any makers. Most blade shapes and profiles, as well as the handles, have been seen at some point in history.

Cold Steel does like to follow a trend (sometimes going for an emerging trend) in knives.

As for technology, there was the axis conundrom (Cold Steel (CS) didn't win the bid for a patent for their version, so pays BM) and currently there is discussion over their thumb disc that can be used to "wave" a knife open.

I'd say CS follows hard business practices (a common style, btw) that some people do not like; but, as of now, I don't believe they "rip off" others and I don't believe anyone can actually prove otherwise.
 
johnwaynesandw said:
Why do you say their coating isn't the greatest? I mean what do you not like about it? I think its pretty good, and holds up fairly nice from what I have seen, which is not very much from cold steel. Is there any way to date Cold steel knives? Thanks John
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not saying that the blade coating isn't good for it's price range. I'm just saying that it's not as good as some of the more high end knives. The blade coating on my CS Night Force came off cutting card board. Cold Steel markets their knives as being better than everybody else's knives. As far as their blade coatings go, I think there are better coatings out there if you're willing to pay for it. That said, I don't have a Cold Steel knife that I don't like or have been disappointed with.
 
I carry a cold steel Kobun on my boot every day. And I love it. It is thin, light weight and extremely sturdy. Performance that can't be beat for the price.
 
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