Multiple questions, including if anyone has tried Colt Carbon Steel traditionals

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Bob6794

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Apr 21, 2013
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I have some new sharpening equipment on the way so I want to add a new knife to go with the tools, so I have a few questions which I can't find the answers to through google so far.

1) Has anyone tried the new Colt carbon steel traditional knives, if so how are they? Particularly the steel, was it better than the 440a in the Rough Riders? I am not expecting much, just wanted another stepping stone before going with what will likely be a Case/Queen/GEC/etc latter down the line, I just don't want to wreck havoc on a new knife getting my sharpening skills in order (Rough Rider is awesome but I love the carbon steel in my opinel which sparked this question).

2) How does the smaller sodbuster design (case sodbuster jr, queen country cousin) compare to the canoe pattern in terms of feel and comfort for the knife? Looking at specs they look pretty similar and my Rough Rider Canoe which is currently my favorite knife and has been since I received it but the sodbuster pattern looks like it has a shot at knocking it off it's throne, so I am curious as to how other peoples impression of it are.

3) As for the sodbuster's I am looking at Rough Rider and Queen mainly (sadly not so much Case due to the tip design, I am not a fan of it). I am curious is the Queen is worth the extra money even to test the pattern and to try out the D2 steel from the get go, as I am still debating this as I am looking at roughly a $25 higher price over the Rough Rider (I am not questioning if it's worth the money, it know it is. I am curious if it is wise to get it first to test out pattern when your on a budget.).And is a DMT Diamond Course good enough to reprofile the d2 blade competently, it's one of the stones I am getting with the DMT Aligner that's on the way.

4) I heard that some of the Utica's lower priced knives used carbon steel on the main blade and stainless on the secondary such as the stockmans. Does anyone know if the Utica KutMaster Catskill Muskrat have both blades made of carbon steel or a mixed? (It be just enough to push me over to getting the Case CV Pen knife over this if it was mixed steels, otherwise I wouldn't normally care to much at this price.)

In case anyone is curious the knives I currently narrowed it down to are Rough Rider Stockman/Sodbuster, Colt Carbon Steel Canoe, Queen Country Cousin, Utica KutMaster Catskill Muskrat, Case CV Pen Knife, Case CV Canoe (longshot as I rather wait on it before investing $45 in a knife when I own that pattern), possibly a backup Rough Rider Armor Hide Canoe (current favorite, though if it had the same steel as the carbon steel Opinel it be almost perfect).

All the patterns I mentioned I don't own except the Canoe so I be testing them out. For the most part I like the idea of testing patterns out with Rough Riders but the more expensive Case/Utica/Queen usually had something else going for it that I felt the price premium was low enough that I felt comfortable.
 
They are making only a few different models, just type in Colt Carbon Steel into google and they pop right up. Personally I just type in colt carbon steel knife and go to one of the first results which is a reputable knife seller and select "Colt" brand and just type carbon in the search within the brand. Though if you pick one up, do me a favor and post a review, these things seem to be new and I can't find any information on them.

So far there is the Canoe, Trapper, Large Moose, Bow Trapper. Though they use G10 handles and titanium coated blades. Be warn they have a couple different series which look similar so make sure it says carbon steel blades, the model numbers seem to be CT 607, CT608, CT609, CT610 from what I can tell.
 
For those of you who care:

These Colt knives have Titanium coated blades to prevent rust - and preclude patinas!

Which, I take it, kind of defeats a significant portion of the interest in carbon steel knives by many posters on this forum.

Colt pocket knives with titanium coated stainless blades and black smooth bone covers have been available for a while now.

I have tried them, (the stainless ones), and for my modifying and whittling purposes, they are as good at taking and keeping an edge as any old or new 1095 steel knives that I have tried.

This includes: Boker, Case CV, Schrade, Kissing Crane (German), Queen, Western (Boulder), Pre WWII Remington, Robeson, Camillus, some old Sheffield products.

The one older knife that has carbon blades and in my opinion does keep a better edge than others is a really old Joseph Rodgers Sleeveboard, that was in desperate shape when I got it, (I think it had been lost in a manure pile or something!). I rebuilt it, and those pitted blades are really something for edge keeping.
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I have not had the privilege of trying a GEC product yet. Hopefully soon.
 
Mr. Chips, I know that there are more than a couple of tinkerers in this subforum, given the cheaper price, I wonder if the finish could easily be removed. Regardless, I'm interested in these knives, and have been very impressed with the quality of the Colt knives. I saw the description of these the other day, but thought I was misreading it, or it was a typo, it's good to hear, they're experimenting with carbon. In regard to question 3, the RR are a fantastic, and inexpensive way to test a pattern before splurging on it, RR's Sodbuster is quite nice looking, they have a locking and slipjoint model, maybe more.
 
Nice to hear people seem to be happy with the Colt slipjoints, I have only handled their modern folders and every one I have handled felt like it was sub-par in quality. So I now am definitely thinking about picking one up to test out since people seem to have had the opposite experience.
 
whetrock said:
Mr. Chips, I know that there are more than a couple of tinkerers in this subforum, given the cheaper price, I wonder if the finish could easily be removed. Regardless, I'm interested in these knives, and have been very impressed with the quality of the Colt knives. I saw the description of these the other day, but thought I was misreading it, or it was a typo, it's good to hear, they're experimenting with carbon. In regard to question 3, the RR are a fantastic, and inexpensive way to test a pattern before splurging on it, RR's Sodbuster is quite nice looking, they have a locking and slipjoint model, maybe more.
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I think it would be easy to get rid of the Titanium on sandpaper - even a belt sander, which I use to modify Colt and Rough Rider pocket knives all the time

Here is a Marble's Large Whittler that I tricked up and use a lot
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And here is a Modified Rough Rider Half Hawk that makes a fantastic whittlin' knife too

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The DMT diamonds will get D2 steel into shape very nicely, it's what I use and before this I was dismayed with my attempts to sharpen/profile D2.

RR's Small Sodbuster is a pointy and a small sized Sodbuster, a very good carry, it also comes as a liner lock. Queen's Country Cousin is my preference over CASE (better made, better steel, better handle, blade shape)
 
Bob6794 said:
Nice to hear people seem to be happy with the Colt slipjoints, I have only handled their modern folders and every one I have handled felt like it was sub-par in quality. So I now am definitely thinking about picking one up to test out since people seem to have had the opposite experience.
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I only have one, the teardrop jack. It's really nice, great F&F, solid pulls w/half stop.
 
Guess I will have to pick one of these up and take a good look at it. Glad to hear the reviews are mostly positive.
 
A little late to the game, but yes, I have found the Colt CT608 Carbon Steel Trapper to be a surprisingly good knife. Here is a pic after it's done some work. Note that I did sharpen it after getting it on an KME with Gold diamonds.





I did a bit more write up on it over in the Traditional folder on here.

I've been happily surprised with a few of the traditional patterns from Colt recently in their 440A line as well. Enough so that I just ordered the Colt linerlock in D2. I'm not really a modern knife kind of guy for the most part, but if they did the carbon steel well, and in my knife's case they did, I'm truly interested to see what they do with D2.
 
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