Broken Skull IV thoughts and pics!!! (Pics in 2nd post)

M

mastiffhound

Joined
Dec 27, 2013
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I got my Broken Skull IV (BSIV) in blue yesterday so my thoughts are based on one day. My thoughts on the BSIV probably won't change unless I somehow have it implode or magically fly apart.

Looks-

It's a good looking knife, a little new school mixed with old school. The blue is darker than on my Endura, which to me is a plus. The billboard lettering is large, "Broken Skull" is larger than the lettering on the Recon 1. It's not something I like but I'm not too concerned with it. It does have CTS XHP on the other side along with the usual company and country.

The DLC is even and so is the grind. I've been lucky, all of my Cold Steel folders have had even grinds. I can't find any machining marks anywhere. The the edge looks clean and the point looks, well, really pointy. I know some might think this is blasphemous, but the BSIV reminds me a lot of my Spyderco folders in fit and finish.

Sharpness-

The BSIV came extremely sharp, leaping hair sharp. The point is even smaller than on my PM2, you could pick a splinter out with ease. As I mentioned before the grind was as perfect as my eye could see.

Handling/Feel in Hand-

It's thin, even thinner than an Endura. It might create hot spots for those with, well for lack of a better term, white collar hands. The back is fine but the opening side scale edges are thin, it's ok for me but it could start to dig into a softer hand and fingers. All this being said, it feels as good in my hand as an Endura. The G10 is slightly more grippy than my PM2s, something I like. The lock is sticky, when I press down I get a loud audible "click", not a problem for me as I know it'll break in.

One thing that I was pleasantly surprised about was the jimping/cut outs at the end of the lack bar. CS left them sharp for once, and you can actually get some traction. The BSIV balances 1 and 3/8ths" from the top of the scale. The BSIV also has less flex than my Endura for those that were worried about it being too thin and liner-less. It flexes very little and only if I put quite a bit of pressure on the scales. The clip did need adjusted/bent, it was stupid tight as always with CS.

Final Thoughts and a couple specs-

I'm happy with the BSIV, it met my expectations and then some. Before I forget, it came in at 3.0 oz even! That beats my Endura by .4oz and the BSIV has a longer and thicker blade! Blade length came in at 4 and 1/16", I couldn't find my calipers so this is strictly a ruler measure. When you put it all together the BSIV is going to be hard to beat as far as price, fit, finish, and materials.

For some reason the comparison pics wouldn't load with the text so I had to put them in the 2nd post.
 
Thank you for taking the time to do that. This one looks like an excellent choice for a large EDC blade.
 
you've been lucky indeed in the grind department, all of my Cold Steels I've ever owned had uneven grind, that's 30+

In another word, I've never got a single CS that has an even grind, go figures, I don't think it's possible.
 
Neomentat said:
you've been lucky indeed in the grind department, all of my Cold Steels I've ever owned had uneven grind, that's 30+

In another word, I've never got a single CS that has an even grind, go figures, I don't think it's possible.
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I think some dealers buy sub grade seconds, and others buy premium. Some dealers I have bought from, always have excellent fit and finish Cold Steel knives, and other dealers always have uneven grinds, etc. The super low price dealers tend to be the latter. With that, the Coyote American Lawman I got on clearance from [a store] was dead on in the grind and f&f Dept. But the normal price is a little on the higher side of web based dealers.

I have no way of proving this though, just my own observation.
 
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ursamajor said:
I think some dealers buy sub grade seconds, and others buy premium. Some dealers I have bought from, always have excellent fit and finish Cold Steel knives, and other dealers always have uneven grinds, etc. The super low price dealers tend to be the latter. With that, the Coyote American Lawman I got on clearance from [a store] was dead on in the grind and f&f Dept. But the normal price is a little on the higher side of web based dealers.

I have no way of proving this though, just my own observation.
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I only own one, recon 1 xhp clip point, perfect grind geometry and angles...on par with my spydercos, maybe a hair less than my sebenza but pretty close.
 
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I own several from Cold Steel. All of the grinds seem to be even, and the fit and finish is very close to my Spydercos and perhaps better than my Benchmades.
 
Thanks for this great thread!

On fit and finish - Cold Steel has almost always in my experience offered perfect, even grinds and perfect or near perfect fit and finish, better than the aforementioned companies.
 
I didn't want to but I pre ordered a blue. Like putting meat in front of a shark.
 
I love some of the designs cold steel puts out but I really wish they would do away with the huge writing on the blade and give us the option to not have the coating on every single model. This knife is definitely something i would try especially at that price point but it might be my first candidate for stripping the coating so it doesn't say "broken skull" in big crazy letters that anyone can see from across the room. I want that knife in a clean, classy version I guess.
 
Cool knife.

Regarding even grinds and F&F, if I had to choose only one aspect that CS has impressed me with, it's F&F/build quality and that includes even grinds.

Neomentat, you own 30+ and not one even grind? That's pretty bad luck!
 
I love the looks and idea of the knife but that Broken Skull writing is a put off for me.
 
whp said:
I own several from Cold Steel. All of the grinds seem to be even, and the fit and finish is very close to my Spydercos and perhaps better than my Benchmades.
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Fit and finish is on part with all my spydercos and definitely better than my mini ritter grip was before I sold it. I really hope they start making some of these knives with a stonewashed blade...you'd think it would be cheaper than adding DLC--they could easily sell them for the exact same price. Maybe the XHP is more prone to rust and they don't think it'll hold up as well with a stone wash or something?
 
coldmrk said:
I love some of the designs cold steel puts out but I really wish they would do away with the huge writing on the blade and give us the option to not have the coating on every single model. This knife is definitely something i would try especially at that price point but it might be my first candidate for stripping the coating so it doesn't say "broken skull" in big crazy letters that anyone can see from across the room. I want that knife in a clean, classy version I guess.
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The Coating isn't on every single model. The UH is satin finished, as is the Talwar. The Voyager is not coated either. Nor are the Ti-Lites or Code 4's
 
I bought 2 of those brown lawman both had uneven grind. Mind you I'm talking about the secondary grind to form the edge, when you turn t over and look at the back of the tip you can see the two secondary grinds are not at the same angle. I have had plenty of spyderco and benchmade with this same problem.

ursamajor said:
I think some dealers buy sub grade seconds, and others buy premium. Some dealers I have bought from, always have excellent fit and finish Cold Steel knives, and other dealers always have uneven grinds, etc. The super low price dealers tend to be the latter. With that, the Coyote American Lawman I got on clearance from [a store] was dead on in the grind and f&f Dept. But the normal price is a little on the higher side of web based dealers.

I have no way of proving this though, just my own observation.
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Oh. I thought you were talking about the hollow grind. Yeah, I've had that. Like you said, it is across every brand (save Rowen).

I just set the edge as I want it on the Waterstone
 
Great Pictures! The blue is darker than I expected it to be going from the first official pictures were.

I have one on the way, along with the Colossus I.
 
Thanks for posting!!
My dad and I want to get a couple...
I was dead set against the blue, but to see a user picture of it, it's growing on me... :)
 
GCG199 said:
Great Pictures! The blue is darker than I expected it to be going from the first official pictures were.

I have one on the way, along with the Colossus I.
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Looking forward to pics and commentary when they arrive. Will be grabbing a Skull, just have to pick a colour.
 
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