I fully disclose up front that I am in no way an authority on knives. Having said that whenever I research knives I find that Cold Steel seems to make knives to specs I'm looking for and no one else does. For example my ideal edc is a 4 in blade folding knife with a pocket clip with a strong locking mechanism for security. I'm not a huge guy (6'1") but I find that I can carry a 4 inch folder and not even notice its there so I can't find a reason to go smaller. Above 4-4.5 inches for a folder seems to be overkill because anything requiring more size seems like it should be a fixed blade task.
I find Lynn Thompson to carry himself as a bit of a carnival act but the bottom line is the knives are well made and competitively priced. I typically edc a Recon-1 (although I wish they made it without the black coating also) or a Voyager.
I looked for alternatives recently and CRKT locks don't seem as strong and all the blades I could find were sub-4 inch blades. Kershaw was the same deal. Gerber and Buck had some options that were close like the Omni Hunter, but it's allot heavier and there's no pocket clip. I am a fan of the CQC-15 which is close to 4 inches but I wish it wasn't a liner lock, and I can't justify more then one at a time since they're so pricey.
Am I just missing a bunch of knives that are out there?
The internet has made so much hype regarding lock strength and blade steel that many people will miss out on many great knives because of it. I use a byrd rescue harder in a year than most people will use in a lifetime and haven't lost fingers or needed to smash the spine of the knife until the lock failed either.
cold steel is getting better with their new products,especially the 2011 voyagers....they make practical folders that get the job done.I prefer to use a knife with a tri ad lock every day at work and put hard use on it and don't have to worry about lock failure.
see above: I am a commercial fisherman. I have used the byrd rescue mentioned above to cut, saw, pry, scrape, chop and dig, taken it scuba diving, the internals are covered in rust, it has been covered in ice during the winter, soaked with seawater and mud, and the lock has never failed unless I have accidentally disengaged it. It is only a back lock. Go figure.
I have a hard time thinking of the Spyderco "Mainx 2" as hard use, there's a review here on this forum somewhere where they expose it's delicate lock, as well delicate....
The Manix 2 is often misrepresented as hard use, or even as a defensive weapon(I've seen that done repeatedly at the Spyderco forum)which it very definitely is not, yet it does incorporate that almost paper thin tip doesn't it? Spyderco clearly intended this knife to be percieved of as a weapon, the tip thin to facilitate piercing. I can also dredge up countless advertisments billboarding it's locking mechanism as hard use, which is dubious, at best! For light duty utility it's generally fine, though even there it can be of questionable utility as in my experience that too thin tip is often left behind somewhere along the cutting trail.
Uhh you don't know what you are talking about. A manix was used in a self defense situation documented here on bladeforums. The lock didn't fail. the tip didn't snap off.
what is hard use to you? what do you do for a living? what do you use knives for?
spydercos are for slicing cheese,making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and food prep.
cold steels are for everyday hard use and self defense.
LOL read more post less...
Not including the manix, I can cite a first generation endura and a military as being used successfully in self defense scenarios with lethal results.
Comparing the functionality of the paper thin Manix 2 tip to those of a Cold Steel American Lawman, or Recon1 Tanto, is certain to end in failure for the Spyderco.
uh, doing what? I've stabbed into metal cans with regular lockback knives of dubious quality and not had any real damage to the tip or had the lock fail on me. last time I counted I still have all ten fingers.
The only thing cold steel excels in is the strength of their lock. the rest is just average quality and below average materials. you're buying marketing hype in the end really. any well built strong lock isn't going to let you down. why do you need your knife to hang 500 pounds in the wrong direction anyway?
high priced knives with mid grade materials...AUS-8 is a fine steel for a knife in the sub $60 range. You won't find the range of variety in blade steels that Spyderco puts into regular production knives.
Certainly, anything can be made into a weapon, however I'm not about to bet my life on the Manix 2 as one, I've seen that lock fail, you're in a pile of the deep stuff, if you happen to lose a pair of fingers due to the collapse of that blade in a life or death encounter...
I have never read of any self defense encounter where a failing lock caused the person to lose fingers. It is internet myth. Don't believe everything you read on the interwebz.
The Manix 2 is the topic at hand, it's tip is paper thin, go handle one and see for youself. It's utility is highly suspect...
By whom, aside from you of course? What are your qualifications for being an expert on what constitutes a hard use knife?
The video of the manix lock failing was done in a backyard "test" and was hardly a real world situation. Can the lock fail? Of course it can. You can make pretty much any lock fail if you try hard enough. The test of the manix was not real world just like this is hardly realistic and just destructive abuse of a knife:
Actually, as it turns out, I was wrong. The lock can indeed fail a spine whack test. I clamped my standard one in a vise and went to town on it with a tonfa, and it failed that test. Actually, it failed quite miserably. I inspected the knife, and the ball bearing has actually come loose from the lock, preventing the knife from closing sometimes. Also, it now has some blade wobble. I grant you, I pounded on the knife fairly hard. But the axis lock knife I tested in a similar fashion didn't have a lock failure (the handle broke, but the lock was fine).
Seems that Spyderco rep didn't really know what he was talking about. I can say I won't be touting the lock as being anywhere close to as strong as an AXIS, which means it's not even close to a Triad lock.
in 25 years of owning knives I have never encountered a situation where I would have to beat on the spine of a folding knife with a tonfa baton. It is idiotic to think that is anything beyond gross abuse.
Now, to the OP's question- If you like Cold Steel, by all means buy them. But don't buy the internet hype of losing fingers because you have a backlock or the other idiocy spewed by people on the internet. Use your knives, learn their limitations for yourself and enjoy the hobby.
the only post that was a "hater" post was yours from what I read:
