As much as I would like say I have dozens of cool knives like this one, I don’t. So, when I got this knife a while back I felt a bit like a kid at Christmas. 🙂
For starters, the knife blade is seven inches long, a bit too large to carry around on the streets in most states but definitely a good length for long term survival if you ask me. It’s a full tang blade–I wouldn’t do with less–and is made of 1055 carbon steel. Here’s the nerdy explanation:
“1055 steel is right on the border between a medium and a high carbon steel, with a carbon content between 0.50%-0.60% and with manganese between 0.60%-0.90% as the only other component. The carbon content and lean alloy make this a shallow hardening steel with a quenched hardness between Rc 60-64 depending on exact carbon content. These combination of factors make this one of the toughest steels available because, when quenched, it produces a near saturated lathe martensite with no excess carbides, avoiding the brittleness of higher carbon materials. This steel is particularly suited to applications where strength and impact resistance is valued above all other considerations and will produce blades of almost legendary toughness.”
Basically, it’s a good mixture of toughness so you won’t damage it yet softness so it can actually be sharpened by hand.
The knife is heavy, heavier than I expected. That said, it does seem to be well balanced as I didn’t feel like I would be exhausted using it for any length of time. I should say that the handle, though sturdy, would be obnoxious to grasp. Some reviews I say suggested wrapping it with paracord; since I’ve done this in the past with success I’ll probably try it with this knife as well. Even so the knife is quite sharp, sharp enough to cut a piece of paper right out of the box.
Now, I’m sure the knife connisours among us could find reasons why some other blade is better and since knives are a bit like firearms, everybody has their favorites. That said, how could you pass up a knife that says you can “convert [it] into a spear or war club?” I sure couldn’t!
Overall, I choose to buy this knife not only because of the Cold Steel name but because the reviews were, for the most part, stellar. And the best part? The price is low! At about $25 I don’t think I could find a better quality SHTF knife anywhere.
Leave a Reply