Greetings all. This is a brief review of the Cold Steel Triple Action knife. I know that many people--including those on this forum--have had bad experiences and I wanted to share a few thoughts.
I recently picked up one of these knives for my collection of unusual pocket knives. A few things are immediately obvious. This is not a hard use knife. This is not a utility knife. This knife is not intended for 'flipping' like a balisong. Many of the critiques have stated something to the effect that after three weeks of flipping this knife, some part of the handle/folding mechanism failed. I am not surprised. The handle is made of very light aluminum--the whole knife weights 3.6oz. Also, the pivots are clearly not designed for this sort of action.
If you want a hard use knife because you are going into the back-country and will have a single knife, then take your Emerson, your Spyderco Endura or your trusty Buck knife---or your KaBar. The CS Triple is not the thing!
On the other hand, I like this knife as for a collection of production knives. The blade is well made and nicely ground. The workmanship is good at this price. The design is innovative--I happen to like the 'Jacob's Ladder' mechanism as a novelty. As has been noted here, it is unclear exactly what the blade steel is. The retailer's material says AUS10, the CS website says AUS8. Hmm.
A real quality of this handle/mechanism is that it will not open by accident and it is a 'lock' that cannot fail unless the entire handle fails. I will note however, that this is not so much the point with this knife. I would not consider any double edged knife to be a utility knife that is to be subjected to the kinds of strain that can make a lock fail.
In conclusion, I purchased this knife with some trepidation because of the poor opinion that many folks have of this knife. I am not, in general, a fan of CS but I must admit that this knife is good for what it is--a novel design for a double edged folder, a rare beast. I bought mine for about $66 on e-Bay. I would not feel the same if I had paid anything close to the retail price, of course.
I recently picked up one of these knives for my collection of unusual pocket knives. A few things are immediately obvious. This is not a hard use knife. This is not a utility knife. This knife is not intended for 'flipping' like a balisong. Many of the critiques have stated something to the effect that after three weeks of flipping this knife, some part of the handle/folding mechanism failed. I am not surprised. The handle is made of very light aluminum--the whole knife weights 3.6oz. Also, the pivots are clearly not designed for this sort of action.
If you want a hard use knife because you are going into the back-country and will have a single knife, then take your Emerson, your Spyderco Endura or your trusty Buck knife---or your KaBar. The CS Triple is not the thing!
On the other hand, I like this knife as for a collection of production knives. The blade is well made and nicely ground. The workmanship is good at this price. The design is innovative--I happen to like the 'Jacob's Ladder' mechanism as a novelty. As has been noted here, it is unclear exactly what the blade steel is. The retailer's material says AUS10, the CS website says AUS8. Hmm.
A real quality of this handle/mechanism is that it will not open by accident and it is a 'lock' that cannot fail unless the entire handle fails. I will note however, that this is not so much the point with this knife. I would not consider any double edged knife to be a utility knife that is to be subjected to the kinds of strain that can make a lock fail.
In conclusion, I purchased this knife with some trepidation because of the poor opinion that many folks have of this knife. I am not, in general, a fan of CS but I must admit that this knife is good for what it is--a novel design for a double edged folder, a rare beast. I bought mine for about $66 on e-Bay. I would not feel the same if I had paid anything close to the retail price, of course.
