Cold SteelRecon 1 4" S35VN Razor-Sharp Blade 5.375" G-10 Handle Tactical Folding Knife w/Tri-Ad Lock, Ambidextrous Pocket/Belt Clip

I was blown away by feel of the knife in my hand: there's a nice tactile feel to the G10 material and the deep relief cuts in the handle invite fingers to wrap naturally and tightly in exactly the right place. I have only a tiny collection of knives, but I'm skeptical I will find a handle that feels more inviting and secure to hold.Its sculpted handle and angular blade and overall darkness make it look menacing.I found it easy to open, but not with one hand. The act of releasing the locking mechanism to refold the knife requires a significant and surprising amount of force. This makes the lock mechanism very safe against accidental re-folding - a significant positive quality that deserves to be considered in choosing this knife. I really like it; but I was a little surprised by it. There may be certain young or old individuals who are challenged by its stiffness and will need help re-folding it.The steel alloy of this knife is S35VN, a vanadium alloy powder metallurgy steel with high hardness and great edge retention. This alloy not quite as corrosion resistant as magnacut, a close relative popular in high-end knives. The black coating on the blade, though, obviates the corrosion issue. The alloy is also more brittle (less tough) than some other high end knife alloy steels such as magnacut. The quality of toughness is somewhat more important for a survival knife that will be struck hard with other objects in normal course of work. Toughness will likely not be very important until the knife is dropped and lands tip-first on a rock or until it is used to hack away at something else that is pretty hard. I've not tested it in these scenarios, just giving my understanding as an engineer and a viewer of many YouTube videos on the subject.I tried shaving hair off my arm with this knife right out of the box. In this very informal test I found it to be of comparable sharpness to other good knives; but not literally "razor sharp."

After around a year, this knife is still my EDC. My only complaint about it is the pocket clip, but you can easily bend the clip and then it fits great. Can’t tell it’s there when I carry it, very light for the size. The grip is also perfect for wet conditions.

Very good knife. I plan on ordering several more for gifts. I.have a nice Bench Made and the Cold Steel knivesAre as good as if not better. Every body ought to have one.

Can’t go wrong with Cold Steel, looks great, fits in your pocket nicely and is razor sharp

I got this knife 13 months ago and it's pretty good. Comes with a extra pocket clip for left handers. Mine came with a uneven grind and not very sharp. But after Sharpening it up well its a razor. I got the spear point because it's stronger than a clip point.Cons:Slow to open for most folders even after a year. Somewhat hard to close too.Came dull with even edgePros:Durable, very rust resistant I've never gotten rust on this and I've used it for fishing alot but I also oil the blade once a week. One of the sharpest knives I have. It gets sharper than my carbon steel mora robust. The grip is nice and is kind of like a guard so you don't have to worry have cutting your hand doing stab work. Very tight blade.The lock tite on the blade screw finally loosened a month ago so I used clear nail polish on the screw threads to prevent the screw from getting loose after tightening. The only concern I'd had have for this knife is s35 is a a very strong and hard steel. But because of how hard it is its more likely to break than softer steel. But if you use it like a knife this will probably last you the rest of your life. I recommend.

excellent product

The media could not be loaded. If this knife cost maybe 30-50% more it would still be a good knife, but I probably would have rated it at four stars, because it has a couple features that aren't perfect. For example, the handle is linerless G10 with a G10 backspacer, and the only metal is part is the lock along the spine. Paired with a 4" blade, it makes the knife have an odd balance that feels squirrely in the hand, because all the handle's weight is at the top. The knife feels like it wants to roll out of the hand, and I think a little more weight at the butt end would improve the balance. Another thing I don't love about the knife is that the that the shape of the handle--specifically the big index finger choil--can get in the way of the sweeping thumb motion needed to smoothly deploy the blade. It's possible, but not very easy, to flick the blade open, so one really needs to keep contact with the thumb stud and push the blade open until it locks. Unless I'm opening a $500 Sabenza, I prefer to be able to snap open the blade with a flick of the thumb, and if I do have to push the thumb stud all the way through its pivot arc to get the blade open I don't want to catch my thumb on the handle so that the blade only deploys halfway. It appears that thumb stud is designed to be of equal height (width?) to the scales when the blade is closed, but I'd rather have a slightly taller (wider?) thumb stud to ensure more reliable deployment.So the knife isn't perfect, but I still gave it five stars, because for the price of about $100 (and I paid even less on sale), it's excellent. Incredibly well built especially for the weight, still relatively light for its large size; it rides well in the pocket; and after a several months of moderate use, the blade has needed only some touch up sharpening and the DLC coating, or whatever CS coated the blade with, has only a few small scratches. Of course it goes without saying that the Tri-Ad Lock is like a bank vault, but one word of warning: when the knife was new the lock was so stiff I had to push down the roxker with all the force my thumb could muster and wiggle the blade with my off hand to disengage the lock. But after several dozen times of opening and closing the blade, the lock loosened up enough that I can easily depress the lock and shake the blade about 25% closed.I still need two hands to get it all the way closed, but I wouldn't want a drop shut Recon. This isn't a sleek "gentleman's knife" that you slip into a suit pocket and pull out in a board meeting, this is a beefy folder meant for heavy work. And if that's the kind of knife you need, for the price, it would be hard to best the Recon 1.

Absolute beast, first ever expensive knife I got, did not disappoint