Cold Steel Recon 1 in S35VN review!

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Dec 7, 2019
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I only picked up this hobby of knife collecting (and occasional usage) recently and figured the Recon 1 would be an excellent Cold Steel pocketknife to start with. Here are some pics for this knife review.

https://imgur.com/gallery/fYZTJuJ
https://imgur.com/gallery/OaWSNd9

The Blade
The tanto hollow grind came sharp out of the box, making smooth clean cuts on paper. As the factory edge was more than serviceable, I didn’t see the need to sharpen it right away. This ole box cutter will probably see more use before I take it to the rods.

I like the saber grind towards the tip of the knife. In theory, this should lend the knife more strength for piercing wood (although this is obviously not recommended with any knife). Short of any crazy hard use applications for YouTube videos, the tip should be more than robust enough for EDC purposes.

The Handle
Normally, I’m not a fan of contoured handles on knives or gun grips, but in this case the Recon 1’s scales were done surprisingly well. I have medium to large sized hands, and the scales fit my paws just fine in the forward grip. For the reverse grip, the rounded butt serves as an excellent platform for the thumb, and this gives you a very positive hold as well.

I wouldn’t really call the following cons so much as nitpicks as none of them are dealbreakers by any means. First, the jimping towards the middle of the scales offer little to no traction. I would have preferred the smaller nicks like the ones found on Spyderco knives. Second, the pocketclip does come stiff out of the box. My two-minute remedy for this is to loosen the clip’s screws just a bit. This saves your pants pocket and makes drawing the knife easier.

It would have been great to have a dedicated finger choil for more control, but the raised “platform” between the blade and the first finger cutout can also serve as a post for the index finger to wrap around with. It’s not terribly comfortable for long carving or whittling sessions, but it works!

Overall Fit and Finish
I noticed some minor problems here for the other Cold Steel folders I got after the Recon 1, but I didn’t find any with this one. The blade grind and tip are even, blade centering is near perfect, and there are no abnormal hot spots sticking out of the handle. If this is representative of majority of the Recon 1’s out there, kudos then.

Deployment and Lockup
Deployment is smooth without making the user feel like losing control. For slow rolling the thumb stud, it works like a charm. The detent provides some protection against accidentally opening the blade.

Lockup on this particular unit is solid. No bladeplay forward, back, or side to side.

Ease of Carry
In my experience, the knife was surprisingly pleasant to carry. The weight (about 5 ounces) was not bothersome at all as I went about day to day chores. While the pocketclip isn’t deep carry, not a whole lot of knife is sticking out and it works for me. To my knowledge, I believe aftermarket deep carry clips are available for certain Cold Steel models.

That’s it, that’s the review! Still fairly new to this, so feel free to drop some comments or make some suggestions. If you have any experience with the Recon 1 (positive or negative), I’d love to hear about them as well.
 
I have the Recon 1 (clip, spear, & Tanto) all SV35N with the DLC coating. They are great heavy duty knives. The spear is probably the best all a rounder, but the tanto is an absolute beast. The Lawman is a great EDC with a drop point. Same steel and finish.
 
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