AD10 is Driving me insane.

T

Trailer_Ape

Joined
Jun 22, 2017
Messages
271
Over all I am happy with the knife. The grind is a little uneven. I don't mean the edge. I mean if you follow the flat portion, near the spine until you reach the point where the grind begins then flip it over, you can see they are not completely symmetric. Meh, sub $200 production knife. Also, I wish the tip of the blade was centered better in the handle. If Twosuns can get it in the center, seems like CS should be able to.

Ergos are on point. OMG does this knife feel great in the hand. It is perfectly balanced, for me, perfect size, everything. It is also quite sharp. I am actually impressed and I have an EdgePro Apex. It is not mirror, but EASILY shaves and I am wearing a bandaid.

The problem. It is one of the SLOWEST drawing knives I have every carried. The clip is horrible. I guess the upside is - I could be passed out and no one could steal it out of my pocket with waking me up.

I have searched a little. Seen that some folks cut them down. Others are running Pops Custom Deep Carry clips and one person modified a Blur clip to work. I have emailed Pops to see if he can offer anything that would accomplish what I am trying to do.

I am not concerned with deep carry, never cared how much knife sticks out of my pocket. I like to be able to jam my thumb deep into my pocket so that it is almost already on the thumb stud. Doing that causes the knife to tilt slightly on the draw. Because of how stiff and wide the clip is, that tilt pretty much locks up the whole op and the knife flat refuses to come out of my pocket. In order to get a fairly smooth presentation, I have to slide my thumb down the center of the scale until the web of my thumb bottoms out on the pommel then pull the knife STRAIGHT out (still can get stuck but less likely). Unfortunately, this gives me a grip so wonky that I pretty much have to let go and re grab the knife. Basically - kind of a throw draw it into a decent grip.

I am giving it a couple more days to see if I can get used to it. Also waiting to hear about other clip options before I just box it up and put it away (or try to return it). I hate the idea of a knife that feels so great in the hand BUT takes all day to get there.

I even made a make shift lanyard to see if that would help. Still a very difficult drawing knife.

Kinda bummed.
 
In my experience, Cold Steel folders tend to have very tight, stiff pocket clips. I remove them and bend slightly outward. I'm looking at my AD-10 right now... the clip is bent outward so I can just see a bit of daylight between it and the handle scale.

The grinds on mine are on the money, BTW, and I'm really impressed --more like amazed-- with the value this knife offers at the $130 I paid for it. I just recently started trying Cold Steel knives after reading reviews on knives like the AD-10. I had never really considered buying any of their products, except maybe a Trailmaster, in the past.

I received my first couple of their knives just as the company's sale was announced and, after seeing them, I quickly ordered the other models I was interested in. Every one of them has come out of the box extremely sharp. The AD-10 is my favorite!
 
The AD-10 is one of the all time greatest “bang for the buck” knives ever made.

I don’t have an issue because the G10 is smooth, but as others have said just bend it a little. Take a flat head screwdriver and wrap a paper towel or thin cloth around the tip and just apply gentle pressure and keep going back to check fit in your pocket periodically. Very easy process.
 
Roy Batty said:
The AD-10 is one of the all time greatest “bang for the buck” knives ever made.

I don’t have an issue because the G10 is smooth, but as others have said just bend it a little. Take a flat head screwdriver and wrap a paper towel or thin cloth around the tip and just apply gentle pressure and keep going back to check fit in your pocket periodically. Very easy process.
Click to expand...

Personally, I'd remove the clip to bend it. It's a very wide, very beefy clip and it's held on by just two tiny T6 screws, although what Roy suggested probably isn't any more strain than normal use...
 
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desmobob said:
Personally, I'd remove the clip to bend it. It's a very wide, very beefy clip and it's held on my just two tiny T6 screws, although what Roy suggested probably isn't any more strain than normal use...
Click to expand...

This was what I was thinking - I had stuck my finger under it and pulled up, just a little to see how willing the clip would be to change. Ended up folding my finger nail backwards (sucked). Made me think taking it off first could save some problems.

So..... I will remove it, hold it still in a vice and see if I can get it looser.

I always cut a mark on the caps of my water bottle. Makes mine easy to identify, when it is on the counter next to other bottles of water. I did this with my AD10, using the same pressure I normally do and had to, immediately, back off on the force being applied as I started to cut THROUGH the cap. This knife cuts far better than my last edc. Hopefully the clip adjustment remedies the only (real) draw back.

Thanks for the help, guys! I will let ya know if it works out.

Crazy that some of y'all got in at $120. Right after KC shipped mine for (167) they jumped to 182.
 
desmobob said:
They're still out there for $129.99... get 'em while you can!
Click to expand...

Not that I could find. Then again, I typically won't buy from Amazon or Ebay due to how many fakes get pushed. I found that out, when I was shopping for my Trijicon RMR (type II LED adjustable)

Cheapest I could find the AD10 for was $167.99. I just took a quick look around, too, and didn't see any that cheap. Kind of happy, to be honest, I feel pretty hosed if I found one for 40bux less than I paid.
 
Trailer_Ape said:
This was what I was thinking - I had stuck my finger under it and pulled up, just a little to see how willing the clip would be to change. Ended up folding my finger nail backwards (sucked). Made me think taking it off first could save some problems.

So..... I will remove it, hold it still in a vice and see if I can get it looser.

I always cut a mark on the caps of my water bottle. Makes mine easy to identify, when it is on the counter next to other bottles of water. I did this with my AD10, using the same pressure I normally do and had to, immediately, back off on the force being applied as I started to cut THROUGH the cap. This knife cuts far better than my last edc. Hopefully the clip adjustment remedies the only (real) draw back.

Thanks for the help, guys! I will let ya know if it works out.

Crazy that some of y'all got in at $120. Right after KC shipped mine for (167) they jumped to 182.
Click to expand...

I got mine for $100, no box, no left side clip, hollow ground 1st run! It's a tank but slices with the best of them. Edge grind is good but not perfect.

My 4 max scout came with a not so good edge. Overground at the heel and pretty obtuse the rest of the way. I resharpened and lowered the angles and it's great now. My 2nd 4 max has a much better edge grind, but it's a backup in the event I ever break my user, but I doubt I will. For $83 I couldn't not afford to have a 2nd.

And I have 3 srks in sk5. Swedge grinds and edges vary on all 3, and one is a tick shorter than the other 2, but not a big deal for $35 a piece. Amazing knife at regular price imo!
 
desmobob said:
Personally, I'd remove the clip to bend it. It's a very wide, very beefy clip and it's held on by just two tiny T6 screws, although what Roy suggested probably isn't any more strain than normal use...
Click to expand...
I take my CS clips off and clamp them in a vise, then tweak them out a bit, rather than trying to do that with the clip still attached on the knife.
 
This is where you bend. Get a screwdriver in there like this, and bend the left side up toward the butt of the handle.

k8mGaqp_d.jpg
 
If you don't mind the clip not resting on the scale you can just bend it. If that bothers you, I'd suggest shrinking the clip. Slim it down to weaker the spring. Simple mod with belt sander or Dremel.
 
Another thing that helps is to bend the very tip of the clip up a little bit. Some of mine were below horizontal in relation to the handle scale, making it hard to get started over pocket fabric. Don't go too far with it, or you may find it snags on things you might come up against, pulling it out of your pocket. Just the slightest touch "open" works for me.
 
I got it!!!!

Took it off, covered it to avoid scratches, squeezed it into my vice, gave it just a little loving nudge and now it is damn near perfect.

Not as fast as my Blur, not as fast as my 710, but no longer an all day process trying to retrieve it. Plus, those knives have had WAY more pocket time. Once I have spent some EDC time with this one, im sure I will find a rhythm.

Thanks for all your help, the one truly annoying factor has now been eliminated :)
 
if you like the ad10, you may also like his little brother the cold steel ultimate hunter, its similar in blade shape and appearance but lighter and smaller
 
One of the reason I tent to leave CS clips strong is how many other clips I have destroyed snagging them on things. I've ruined about 3 spyderco, a few CRKT and Bucks.

I'm a big guy. Sitting in chairs with arms is the main culprit.
 
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