Joe Demko
Member
I have been known to have a fairly uncharitable attitude towards Cold Steel, mainly because of their overblown advertising and president. I do own several of their products, though, and put one to the test this past weekend.
I spent the weekend at a primitive skills workshop. We built shelters, made fire several different ways, made rope, and all that good survival type stuff. Oh...we slept on the ground, too. (and I still ache from it)
Anyway, we were to bring a water bottle, bandana, and a sheath knife or lockblade knife. I chose to bring a Cold Steel Tanto that I picked up for $70 NIB a few months ago. How did it stack up?
Firemaking- used it to turn a couple pieces of wood into a bow drill. The curve in the edge made whittling the drill portion of the apparatus very easy. Held its edge well. Can't strike sparks from it with a flint, but that is one of the tradeoffs of using stainless. No, I didn't mark it up trying since I knew in advance it wouldn't spark.
Coalburning a wooden bowl and spoon- the shape of the tanto point was actually a disadvantage for this. Something more rounded, like a spear point, would have made this chore easier.
Cordmaking- worked okay for harvesting dogbane.
Food processing- sliced up meat and other comestibles, wild or otherwise. The blade is a tad too thick to allow it to neatly make thin slices the way a kitchen knife does.
Shelter making- worked well enough for the debris shelters we constructed. Something a little heavier and better suited to chopping (like an ax or hatchet or kukri) would be the order of the day for contruction of more long-term shelter.
Sundry comments- the "skull crusher" pommel is a positive nuisance. I'd prefer something round or flat. I'd simply grind it off, but I like having the lanyard hole. The factory supplied leather sheath w/ velcro closure is no better than adequate and shows some indication that it wouldn't survive under prolonged use; something in kydex would be better.
Kewl factor- many of the other students and one of the instructors were intrigued by it and a couple people borrowed it during various parts of the seminar. They seemed loathe to give it back after using it for a bit.
The instructors used a variety of knives and none seemed disadvantaged by their choices. The head instructor used a Smith and Wesson liner lock folder, a knife which many here (including me) wouldn't hold in very high regard. It seemed to serve him quite well. A husband a wife team used little hand-made (they made them) neck knives. Another used a Schrade lock-blade of the same basic pattern as the Buck 110, but with a carbon steel blade for fire making utility. Only one used a big knife. He had a big-ass bowie of some type, I asked him the make, but he mumbled the answer and it sounded like he said "It's a Beck." Didn't look like the Becker (sp?) models I've seen, so I don't know what it was.
Now, I'm going to take another aspirin or two and get back to work.
I spent the weekend at a primitive skills workshop. We built shelters, made fire several different ways, made rope, and all that good survival type stuff. Oh...we slept on the ground, too. (and I still ache from it)
Anyway, we were to bring a water bottle, bandana, and a sheath knife or lockblade knife. I chose to bring a Cold Steel Tanto that I picked up for $70 NIB a few months ago. How did it stack up?
Firemaking- used it to turn a couple pieces of wood into a bow drill. The curve in the edge made whittling the drill portion of the apparatus very easy. Held its edge well. Can't strike sparks from it with a flint, but that is one of the tradeoffs of using stainless. No, I didn't mark it up trying since I knew in advance it wouldn't spark.
Coalburning a wooden bowl and spoon- the shape of the tanto point was actually a disadvantage for this. Something more rounded, like a spear point, would have made this chore easier.
Cordmaking- worked okay for harvesting dogbane.
Food processing- sliced up meat and other comestibles, wild or otherwise. The blade is a tad too thick to allow it to neatly make thin slices the way a kitchen knife does.
Shelter making- worked well enough for the debris shelters we constructed. Something a little heavier and better suited to chopping (like an ax or hatchet or kukri) would be the order of the day for contruction of more long-term shelter.
Sundry comments- the "skull crusher" pommel is a positive nuisance. I'd prefer something round or flat. I'd simply grind it off, but I like having the lanyard hole. The factory supplied leather sheath w/ velcro closure is no better than adequate and shows some indication that it wouldn't survive under prolonged use; something in kydex would be better.
Kewl factor- many of the other students and one of the instructors were intrigued by it and a couple people borrowed it during various parts of the seminar. They seemed loathe to give it back after using it for a bit.
The instructors used a variety of knives and none seemed disadvantaged by their choices. The head instructor used a Smith and Wesson liner lock folder, a knife which many here (including me) wouldn't hold in very high regard. It seemed to serve him quite well. A husband a wife team used little hand-made (they made them) neck knives. Another used a Schrade lock-blade of the same basic pattern as the Buck 110, but with a carbon steel blade for fire making utility. Only one used a big knife. He had a big-ass bowie of some type, I asked him the make, but he mumbled the answer and it sounded like he said "It's a Beck." Didn't look like the Becker (sp?) models I've seen, so I don't know what it was.
Now, I'm going to take another aspirin or two and get back to work.