Cold Steel Cinquedea

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Panzerschwein

Panzerschwein

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Hey guys. :)

Looks like Cold Steel has a new knife out:

http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/88CDEA/CINQUEDEA.aspx

88cdea_cinquedea_medium.png

It's called a "Cinquedea" and is a big giant dagger thing with a massively wide 14 1/2" blade that was popular in the Renaissance period in Italy as a personal defense weapon. What a wicked thing! Could you imagine getting stabbed up to the hilt with this thing? The wound cavity would be enormous. It also comes with a cool looking leather scabbard.

This seems to be like a great home defense or car defense blade. I really want one, it looks so cool. Seems to be made with really high quality high carbon steel, so it should sharpen up beautifully. These are on pre-order on the Knife Center website for $139.95. I'm thinking about picking one up.

What do you guys think?
 
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Cooldill

I remember seeing photos of a couple of Cinquedea knives made by Bill Moran and they were similarly massive in their blade dimensions; almost resembling a short sword. Both were pure artistry in steel.
 
This seems to be like a great home defense or car defense blade.
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Like any dagger, I'd have to wonder what the edge geometry is like. If it can only effectively be used for stabbing, and edge geometry would make it too blunt for slashing/cutting, I'd pass if its use as a weapon is the primary consideration. I wouldn't want to pick a knife for defense that couldn't slash open a serious wound.
 
Whether it would be useful as a defensive knife (or MORE useful than other styles) would certainly seem to depend on your style of training.

If you're trained to fight the way that knife was designed to be used, then sure -- assuming that that kind of fighting looks a lot like self-defense inside a car. If for more formal dueling and formal sword-fighting as practiced by Italian high society during the Renaissance period, maybe not so much.

As a general untrained hack-and-slash "get off me" weapon ... I think I'd leave it on a nice display rack up on the wall.
 
Doesn't pretty much every state's knife law start out with a "dirk or dagger" being prohibited?


Would this be legal to carry/posses as anything other than art or as a period piece?
 
Doesn't pretty much every state's knife law start out with a "dirk or dagger" being prohibited?
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Not since Knife Rights has gotten that foolishness repealed in many states over the past decade.
 
The grip looks way too small and slick. I would guess it would twist easily in your hand. I also assume it would be out of balance and front heavy depending on blade thickness. But then again one might not have to worry about that since it would seem to have no purpose anyway. I would never buy it without holding it first.
 
Wellll, if your goal as a company is to make knives people will purchase they're probably making a useful knife from that standpoint. As to actual defensive use, not within your or my styles.
 
A good faithful rendering of an Italian Renaissance Cinqueda, and as with all Cold Steel products, functional as well. Practical, not so much. The name refers to the blade being five fingers wide at the top, and it was a rehash of the Roman Pugio, done with the over-the-top flourish of the period.
 
If you want one, go for it. If I wanted a big, heavy dagger, I'd lean more toward the original styles of the Roman pugios. The Romans didn't mess around when it came to daggers that were probably going to be used.

Now if you're wanting a double-edged knife, here's my style: the "Old Hickory" Sticking Knife. It can be modded into a much prettier dagger, but I would just want to mod the handle for a better grip, make a simple sheath, and call it done.

Of course, I'm a guy whose idea of a big knife to reach for usually means a well-used machete. My favorites tend to be cane knives and bolos. Machetes, by the way, tend to be quick in the hand yet hit pretty hard. Not what I'd want for defense inside a vehicle, however. For defense behind the wheel -- against someone reaching in through the window -- I like the Spyderco ARK that hangs from my neck. Small, useful on a daily basis, yet effective at bad breath distance. It's always with me.

All my best,
Dirty Bob
 
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Probably the same type of knife used to murder Giuliano Medici. like OJ Simpson, the assassins managed to cut themselves in the stabbing frenzy.

I have wanted one of these, with its broad blade, any inflicted stabbing wound would be horrible.
 
Looks like one of the least useful things CS has made or copied.
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I don't see that it's useful at all. I sure wouldn't spend that kind of money for something with only one thing it can do, which is be a wallhanger.
 
A short sword of the Cinquedea type was carried by the Númenoreans in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, and is mentioned in the notes to The Disaster of the Gladden Fields (Unfinished Tales):

Then in haste he [Isildur] cast off all his armour and weapons, save a short sword at his belt, and plunged into the water.

This was of a kind called eket: a short stabbing sword with a broad blade, pointed and two-edged, from a foot to one and a half feet long.
 
Ignoring the role as a defensive tool, it is great when any company offers a quality historical reproduction. Any knife nut would pay much much more for a real period piece, but most can only afford a period correct reproduction (and most of us can't afford that). It is wonderful that Cold Steel is making this available for folks that want it.
 
@hso, great input. Thanks for putting the positive on it....and I agree with your take. Cold Steel went "out of the box".....not too dissimilar to the Dodge Viper.
 
No one should try to justify a historical reproduction as a defensive tool. They're a less costly alternative to the real thing for people interested in historical weapons. Same for armor, swords, etc. There are endless examples of odd and interesting historical weapons that were not as practical as others that spanned much longer times in use. Nothing to get hung up over. It is always desirable though that they be of real usable quality, but that's for authenticity, not defensive use. If you can't afford that quality and just want a wall hanger then that's what you can afford. No shame in it, but if you can and want a usable quality "wall hanger" there's nothing to condemn in it, just don't try to justify it as an "essential part of the defensive tool box".
 
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