Question regarding the Shanghai Worrier dagger

Halbschaf next time you could order it to your hotel address in Alaska or some friend over there.
Worst case I could order it in California and mail it to you in Germany. But I don't know how much cost that would add (guessing $30) and in what mood the Customs beamten are.
:-)
 
Jens Schuetz said:
Halbschaf next time you could order it to your hotel address in Alaska or some friend over there.
Worst case I could order it in California and mail it to you in Germany. But I don't know how much cost that would add (guessing $30) and in what mood the Customs beamten are.
:-)
Click to expand...

Hello Jens
Unfortunately it may take a while visiting Alaska next time.
Thanks a lot for your second proposal, but I'm not sure if it will functionate without any problems, and at the end it may be more expensive as here in Germany.
So I will pay the higher price, hoping the knife will be according to my expectations.
It also looks like a smatchet, and such kind of knife would be a good idea carrying while hiking, imho.
Thanks again
Holger
 
Both the Smatchet and the Shanghai Warrior are great knives .
The Smatchet has a bigger(circumference) handle and blade than the Warrior.

The CS Smatchet is a very tough tool in my experience.
Although the blade is 2.8mm thick, the tip showed itself very sturdy.
Prying pinewood with the tip was no problem.

Both are great blades to have.
 
For what it seems to be made, attack/defense, it will be more than strong enough.

No doubt about that.
 
noviomagus said:
For what it seems to be made, attack/defense, it will be more than strong enough.

No doubt about that.
Click to expand...

Ok, maybe it's a good idea to buy both knives.
The reason why I didn't buy the cs machete is, that I have had my doubts regarding the low blade thickness in case of using it for stabbing.
 
Ah, yes.
I understand.

Forget about the " a knife must have a 6mm spine to be strong enough to stab ".

This is not the case at all.
The Cold Steel Smatchet and also the Cold Steel Bowie machete are both more than sturdy/stiff enough to stab into wood, let alone softer targets.
I have tested this on wood quite a few times.
The only thing I am going to change in the Smatchet , is the handle tickness/size.The ergonomics are great though.
Just a bit too much in circumference for my taste.So I'm gonna take the sandpaper to the polypropylene handle(precisely the belly of the handle) the make it a bit more convenient for my hand.
It is 10.5cm at the thickest part in circumference, and I want it to be 9.5cm or 10 cm at most.

But overall the CS Smatchet is awesome.In my opinion.As is the Cold Steel Warrior.
The Smatchet is really a kind of a short sword, and the same length as the Spartans had with their Xiphos during the Greco-Persian wars...
 
noviomagus said:
Ah, yes.
I understand.

Forget about the " a knife must have a 6mm spine to be strong enough to stab ".

This is not the case at all.
The Cold Steel Smatchet and also the Cold Steel Bowie machete are both more than sturdy/stiff enough to stab into wood, let alone softer targets.
I have tested this on wood quite a few times.
The only thing I am going to change in the Smatchet , is the handle tickness/size.The ergonomics are great though.
Just a bit too much in circumference for my taste.So I'm gonna take the sandpaper to the polypropylene handle(precisely the belly of the handle) the make it a bit more convenient for my hand.
It is 10.5cm at the thickest part in circumference, and I want it to be 9.5cm or 10 cm at most.

But overall the CS Smatchet is awesome.In my opinion.As is the Cold Steel Warrior.
The Smatchet is really a kind of a short sword, and the same length as the Spartans had with their Xiphos during the Greco-Persian wars...
Click to expand...
So I'm wondering why most blades are of such oversized thickness. Would you say that the cs smatchet machete as well is stiff enough to use it as a boar hunter?
The geometry seems to be great for this issue.
 
The CS Smatchet is excellent for boar hunting I would say.

I have stabbed the tip of the Smatchet into pine wood and twisted it out of it.
It just didn't bend at all (the tip).
The CS Bowie machete bend only at the very tip.
put a file against the tip, and file away that needle like tip 2 to 3 mm), and the tip is sturdy as well.

Why do many knives have the 6mm thickness?
A feeling of security I think.And some still break at that 6mm thickness (1095 steel , heat treat...)

Most machetes are not thick at all. Though many are easy to bend. But others are pretty stiff as well.
And they are tough.
The 2mm blade of the CS Kukri machete is maybe a little more flexible at the mid the blade.

I have had the CS Laredo Bowie.
And it looks great.
But for toughness and function, I would pick Cold Steel's cheaper versions.
Like the Smatchet or Bowie machete.
1055 steel is excellent.
And the handles are good too.

3 mm penetrates better/easier than 6 mm.
Especially with the sharpened upper 1/3th of the back of the blade.
 
noviomagus said:
The CS Smatchet is excellent for boar hunting I would say.

I have stabbed the tip of the Smatchet into pine wood and twisted it out of it.
It just didn't bend at all (the tip).
The CS Bowie machete bend only at the very tip.
put a file against the tip, and file away that needle like tip 2 to 3 mm), and the tip is sturdy as well.

Why do many knives have the 6mm thickness?
A feeling of security I think.And some still break at that 6mm thickness (1095 steel , heat treat...)

Most machetes are not thick at all. Though many are easy to bend. But others are pretty stiff as well.
And they are tough.
The 2mm blade of the CS Kukri machete is maybe a little more flexible at the mid the blade.

I have had the CS Laredo Bowie.
And it looks great.
But for toughness and function, I would pick Cold Steel's cheaper versions.
Like the Smatchet or Bowie machete.
1055 steel is excellent.
And the handles are good too.

3 mm penetrates better/easier than 6 mm.
Especially with the sharpened upper 1/3th of the back of the blade.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your interesting answers.
I'm really sure now that the Smatchet machete will be the next thing I'm going to buy.
Seems to be an awesome tool.
Yes, often the more primitive things are the more solid ones.
Some times ago me as well have been very interested in the Laredo Bowie, as it's very beautiful and seems to be extremely
effective. But as it is built with a wire tang, I have my doubts regarding the strength, although it has thick blade.
 
Exactly that .
I have read about it , that the wire tang handle broke.
It isn't a very sturdy construction.
Not near as sturdy as the machetes Cold Steel makes anyway.

It's not that more expensive is better.
You only have to look at the Mora , the humble Mora that outperforms knives many times more expensive.

And if it is a Bowie design you want.
The CS Bowie machete is an awesome blade as well.
It is light in hand, meaning very fast, you can slash and stab with it as any other expensive Bowie.
Not less, maybe better,even.
You can get it razor sharp as well.
And no worries about breaking it.
 
noviomagus said:
I have read about it , that the wire tang handle broke.
Click to expand...

That's interesting to me, as I have never seen a single cable tang fail in all the time I've been here at Cold Steel.

I've been behind the scenes on every test video for the last 6 years, and have seen our in-house testing and QC.
We've subjected our knives to insane abuse over the years and I've seen blades bent and broken and handles subjected to so much abuse that they crack and split, but I've never seen a cable tang fail.

This question comes up every now and then, but I have yet to see photographic evidence of a broken cable tang.
I don't doubt it's possible. I believe with enough patience any of us could abuse anything to breaking point, but I've never seen it.

One image circulates - showing a broken handle and a disassembled tang from a gentleman who hammered the pommel of his knife onto a tree stump until he split the wood on his knife handle, then took the tang apart to see how it works - but that's the only thing I've ever seen.

I can only speak from my own experience, but I have a lot of faith in the Laredo and it's construction
 
Yes it was the handle that split.
Not the wire that broke.
I expressed myself not quite right.

And it was a Russian guy, I think.. that it happened to.

But I read about others having had this experience too, the handle splitting.
I do have more faith in the Bowie machete to be honest.

And I have had the Laredo Bowie.
Gave it away to a friend.

I don't care much for more expensive knives.
But that's me.

Anyway, my last Cold Steel Bowie machete had a somewhat harder handle material than the other CS Bowie machetes that I have.
As well as that the sticker has gone.
Has Cold Steel gone to a bit different handle material than the others?
Or is it just this one that I have.
 
noviomagus said:
Yes it was the handle that split. Not the wire that broke.
Click to expand...

If it's the same guy I saw he was hammering a tree stump with the pommel. Beating things against a tree till they break doesn't prove how strong anything is - other than the tree ;)

[/QUOTE]my last Cold Steel Bowie machete had a somewhat harder handle material than the other CS Bowie machetes that I have.
Has Cold Steel gone to a bit different handle material than the others? Or is it just this one that I have.[/QUOTE]

The Bowie Machete was discontinued for a long time, and then re-released a few years ago. the material may have changed between the two runs. I'm not sure.
I'll see if I can find out for you
 
noviomagus said:
Exactly that .
I have read about it , that the wire tang handle broke.
It isn't a very sturdy construction.
Not near as sturdy as the machetes Cold Steel makes anyway.

It's not that more expensive is better.
You only have to look at the Mora , the humble Mora that outperforms knives many times more expensive.

And if it is a Bowie design you want.
The CS Bowie machete is an awesome blade as well.
It is light in hand, meaning very fast, you can slash and stab with it as any other expensive Bowie.
Not less, maybe better,even.
You can get it razor sharp as well.
And no worries about breaking it.
Click to expand...

Yes, I also saw the bowie machete with interest, but it doesn't have a guard, good enough to protect the hand from slipping into the blade when stabbing, in my opinion. I would have a better feeling with the Smatchet machete.
 
Cold Steel Knives said:
If it's the same guy I saw he was hammering a tree stump with the pommel. Beating things against a tree till they break doesn't prove how strong anything is - other than the tree ;)
Click to expand...

Mmm yeah :rolleyes:.
you got to have a toughness near that of a cold chisel to withstand some of those knife tests.



The Bowie Machete was discontinued for a long time, and then re-released a few years ago. the material may have changed between the two runs. I'm not sure.
I'll see if I can find out for you
Click to expand...
Those other CS Bowie machetes I have are also quite recently bought.
I have never bought any Bowie machetes years ago from the other run,a couple of years ago.

This last Bowie machete handle is a little harder, close to that of the Shanghai Shadow/Warrior handle scales.
Which I do like though.

As I liked the Warhead.
Would be nice if that one came out again.
(But that is probably asked ten times before)
 
I wouldn't worry about that, it has a guard, not big , but large enough to not slip the hand onto the edge of the blade.
This was never a problem when I stabbed the Bowie machete into wood to test it.
Wood is much more of a blade stopper than softer targets so to say.

Have you seen some of the classic folding knives of the Italian mafia.
They don't have a guard at all.
And they were not used for peeling potatoes.

The Smatchet is a good choice though.I would pick that one too if having to choose.
The Bowie is lighter.
Funny thing.
I have had two of my friends(non-knife guys but sharp observing minds) let these knives hold and wanted to know their preference.
They both chose the Bowie machete.
And it was pretty instant, without too much thinking.
One find the Bowie machete more stable in the hand,opposed to the Smatchet 'wanting to move all the time'.Probably had to do with being a little more blade heavy of the Smatchet than the Bowie machete.The Smatchet is still very agile for its size.
It is always quite interesting what view non-knife people have on your knives .

By the way.
I stabbed a Mora Companion into a telephone book 800 pages deep.
Without any chance of slipping.
And that Mora has a tiny guard.

Didn't the Finnish troops in WWII use their Puukko's on the enemy?
That knife has often no guard at all...
 
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WOW that Shanghai Warrior is nice! Want.

I've been putting my knife buying on hold for a while; the weak Canadian dollar means that my knife addiction has become a very expensive hobby. With shipping it would cost me at least $80 CAN for one when I paid only $35 with shipping for my Shanghai Shadow!
 
noviomagus said:
I wouldn't worry about that, it has a guard, not big , but large enough to not slip the hand onto the edge of the blade.
This was never a problem when I stabbed the Bowie machete into wood to test it.
Wood is much more of a blade stopper than softer targets so to say.

Have you seen some of the classic folding knives of the Italian mafia.
They don't have a guard at all.
And they were not used for peeling potatoes.

The Smatchet is a good choice though.I would pick that one too if having to choose.
The Bowie is lighter.
Funny thing.
I have had two of my friends(non-knife guys but sharp observing minds) let these knives hold and wanted to know their preference.
They both chose the Bowie machete.
And it was pretty instant, without too much thinking.
One find the Bowie machete more stable in the hand,opposed to the Smatchet 'wanting to move all the time'.Probably had to do with being a little more blade heavy of the Smatchet than the Bowie machete.The Smatchet is still very agile for its size.
It is always quite interesting what view non-knife people have on your knives .

By the way.
I stabbed a Mora Companion into a telephone book 800 pages deep.
Without any chance of slipping.
And that Mora has a tiny guard.

Didn't the Finnish troops in WWII use their Puukko's on the enemy?
That knife has often no guard at all...
Click to expand...
Maybe you're right, and the handle of the bowie machete is sure enough. By thinking about it, this bowie can get my favourite. The blade shape looks similar to the Natchez bowie, imho.
By the way, the Finnish hand surgery is the best of the world, and that has a reason ☺
 
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