With all this Cold-Steel hooplah going on today, can anyone suggest one?

I

:IV:

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I like small/medium knives and when I look at their catalog it sort of seems like the knives are made for... Well, I have no idea who. Hunters and Bushmen? Military-folk?

How about a good mid-size EDC knife that won't scare the neighbors, with a handle that looks somewhat conventional and a nice strong blade?

That sounds about right.

My only sort of... mini-beef is the fact that a lot of their knives constitute AUS-8. While that isn't a bad steel, I just don't see justifying buying AUS-8 at a $50 pricerange. $30 yes, $40 maybe. $50, nah. Especially when the Delica (VG-10) is sitting at around $55 at the moment.

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Mini-Lawman looks kind of cool, any opinions on it? It's still AUS-8, though... for $50. Eh...
 
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My opinion: the Mini Lawman is great EDC knife -- maybe an underappreciated one. Small, light but with a solid lock-up and grippy scales (maybe too grippy). And AUS-8 is OK by me. It gets sharp and can be made sharp with little effort.
 
CRKT. As the de-facto Cricket advocate, I'll put in a vote for their offerings. The Carson M-## range offers a variety of handle colors and blade types, and can be found from dealers for $40-$60 dollars. Their catalog also includes a wide variety of EDC folders, many with non-black blades.

You're right. Cold Steel makes big, hard, folders for knuckle draggers and wannabe knuckle draggers who like the idea that their knife can handle treatment that would make many "proper use of a knife" advocates cringe.

I passed up Cold Steel in favor of a Timberline Delta 18.
 
The mini-Lawman will destroy your pockets if you don't mod the scales. It's also very thick for the size. Strong lock, but god knows what you'd be doing with a knife that size that you would need that lockup strength. Climbing trees maybe.

Also, Cold Steel doesn't exactly excel in knives that "won't scare your neighbors". Some very functional designs like the Recons and Voyagers but low-key is just not what that company does.
 
like em sharp said:
Also, Cold Steel doesn't exactly excel in knives that "won't scare your neighbors". Some very functional designs like the Recons and Voyagers but low-key is just not what that company does.
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This. Honestly, if I was going to get a CS folder, and I wasn't going to get a Voyager, I'd get one of their ridiculous ones, like a Rajah or Espada or one of the other giant folders. Just for fun.
 
like em sharp said:
Strong lock, but god knows what you'd be doing with a knife that size that you would need that lockup strength.
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About 12 years ago I had a CRKT lock fail while I was cutting up a cardboard appliance box. Cut my fingers pretty good, deffinately could have used stitches but no insurance at the time. Doesn't have to be a heavy task for a lock to fail, so I'll take an over engineered lock on a small knife any day.
 
spareparts said:
About 12 years ago I had a CRKT lock fail while I was cutting up a cardboard appliance box. Cut my fingers pretty good, deffinately could have used stitches but no insurance at the time. Doesn't have to be a heavy task for a lock to fail, so I'll take an over engineered lock on a small knife any day.
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I'd love to know how a knife closed on your fingers cutting cardboard, because the force on the blade should be opposite to the direction that the knife could close.
 
>insert knife into cardboard
>attempt to remove it while the blade is stuck between the cut edges

"Damnit, it's jammed!"
>you pull too hard getting it out
>lock fails
>fingers get cut
 
Get the Mini Lawman.
My dad got one and it hasn't left his pocket very often since.
You can easily get rid of the black coating to make it look less "scary" to non-knife people as well.:)

Solid lock, decent steel, not too pricey.
Get it.:thumbup:
 
like em sharp said:
I'd love to know how a knife closed on your fingers cutting cardboard, because the force on the blade should be opposite to the direction that the knife could close.
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Yeah, it was something like what IV described. It somehow got hung up on the serrations or thumb stud (it's been a while so I don't recall exactly), a little jerky upward shove, lock failed, blade closed on the back of the fingers, then that wierd moment where you think you might be able to see bone or cartlidge before the blood gushes. Needless to say, I've never been able to trust the company since.
 
IMO, the 2011 Voyagers are their best value knives....$30 to $40 is worth every penney for what you get out of these knives....they did a dam* good job with the voyagers.
 
I really like cold steals aus 8. My sharpening skills are mediocre at best but I can get my ak-47 back to hair popping sharp with no effort at all. Also there knives do look a lot better once you scrape that nasty black coating off.
 
Ditto on the Voyagers, I EDC'd a medium for a few years and it's very light and handy, get the clip point non serrated if you don't want to draw unwanted attention, more effective utility style than a tanto point IMO anyway. You can easily get them for way lower than retail too.
 
to be honest, i hated the mini lawman! the clip position is horrible and the finger grooves werent comfortable at all. i would highly suggest the mini ak over the mini lawman.

i ended up modifying mine by removing the coating and sanding down one of the finger grooves... but even then, i couldnt find a solution for the pocket clip issue and i ended up trading the thing.

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I love my recon scout for camping ~ and yes ~ the newer steel is just fine ~ I've spent many hours batoning fire wood with it and it's fine.
 
The Voyager series is hard to beat for general use EDC knives also the Lawman and mini Lawman have a great and very ergonomic overall profile and for the more "tactical " and " hard use " crowd you have the Recon 1 and as of 2012 the mini and micro Recon.
 
Med-Large Voyagers, and Vaqueros
Mini Lawman, Lawman
Recon 1s, mini-recons, micro recons,
AK47 and mini-AK47
Small Espadas
Hold outs
They're all good knives for EDC.
 
:IV: said:
>insert knife into cardboard
>attempt to remove it while the blade is stuck between the cut edges

"Damnit, it's jammed!"
>you pull too hard getting it out
>lock failscut
>fingers get cut
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This. I had a few close calls over the years using a SAK to cut cardboard before I started carrying a locking folder everywhere. Much safer with a lock, especially a reliable one. Back in my SAK days I would go for a utility knife if any serious cardboard had to be cut.
 
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Danbo said:
Nope, can't recommend any Cold Steal knives. :thumbdn:
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Even that old TM you had tucked away seomwhere? The old Carbon V stuff wasn't that bad, was it? (wait, oh yeah! that makes perfect sense, you can't recommend any "current" cold steel prodcuts.)

by the way I looked for you at the show in Vegas sir, it was hard as hell to find anybody everyone was wearing camoflage and tac packs I couldn't tell anyone apart. :D
 
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