Cold steel SRK sk5 pros and cons....

[Jackson105]

The latest and cheapest SRK (SK-5 steel version) is a real disappointment to me.
I am fully satisfied with my SRK VG1 which is an excellent tool, very very reliable and functional. The knife is penetrating a car bonnet without (almost) any damage (except less than 2 mm lose of the tip after 8 attempts), is prying, stabbing, digging, batoning, splitting woods, cutting meat, opening cans without any problem, skinning as well…
I believed that the SK-5 version of SRK would be another reliable tool, as the SRK VG1, but I realized from the first moment that it is not.
I tested it: batoning and stabbing in a pine tree. Unfortunately the tip snapped in the VERY FIRST attempt…. it snapped instantly – a loss of 7 mm from the tip was the result.
Additionally to my opinion, in some blogs I have read comments like: “This knife will be a great choice for perhaps hunting and LIGHT wood work, but if you intend to use it as a “Survival” knife, where the blade might face some heavy stress, it WILL fail and you will die if it is your primary blade” as well as “Oh well, we see the death of another legendary American knife line”…

I have been using mine to chop down small trees. So far the biggest was about 8 inches in diameter. And I’m talking hardwood(white oak, red oak) not pine. Ive hammered it through pecan and hickory with heavy beating on the tip. I’ve stabbed into a piece of cedar and twisted repeatedly to make a hole. I have not seen any damage whatsoever to the SRK in SK5 All production knives will have a few defective examples.

 

[dogstar]

Did some testing with my SRK compact in SK-5, including prying and batoning. No issues.

 

[DangerZone98]

I have been using mine to chop down small trees. So far the biggest was about 8 inches in diameter. And I’m talking hardwood(white oak, red oak) not pine. Ive hammered it through pecan and hickory with heavy beating on the tip. I’ve stabbed into a piece of cedar and twisted repeatedly to make a hole. I have not seen any damage whatsoever to the SRK in SK5 All production knives will have a few defective examples.

Holy schmokes, that’s impressive. Looks like it punches above its weight class. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Smiling]

This thread makes me want to baton with my SK-5 Recon Tanto just for testing purposes
As if chopping and hacking stuff with it isn't enough

- if it fails I'm covered because I got Warcraft Tanto just for that purpose (I bought it to be replacement if Recon Tanto fails)

 

[dogstar]

This thread makes me want to baton with my SK-5 Recon Tanto just for testing purposes
As if chopping and hacking stuff with it isn't enough

- if it fails I'm covered because I got Warcraft Tanto just for that purpose (I bought it to be replacement if Recon Tanto fails)

It will not fail. No way.

 

[Smiling]

It will not fail. No way.

There's only one way to know

 

[k-shi]

With that rough coating on the SK-5 the SRK´s are cutting bad. Strip the coating and it will cut a lot better. The rest is just fine.

 

[Smiling]

With that rough coating on the SK-5 the SRK´s are cutting bad. Strip the coating and it will cut a lot better. The rest is just fine.

I wish it had smooth coating like Warcraft series does.

 

[DangerZone98]

I wish it had smooth coating like Warcraft series does.

Well, they gotta cut corners on our budget SK5 knives somewhere hahaha.

 

[Smiling]

Well, they gotta cut corners on our budget SK5 knives somewhere hahaha.

I know, I have the same coating on my SK-5 Recon Tanto and I did notice that it affects cutting performance.
But it's still an amazing knife for the price

 

[SALTY]

Paint remover and lots of elbow grease, emery cloth, steel wool, polishing compound ... and patience can get a nice finish and a nice look, with less patience, you can still get a better slicing knife, but one you will have to be more careful about maintenance with to avoid corrosion. Most of my experience with stripping the rough coating had been with Beckers where you can just remove the handle slabs; here, you would have to be very careful about masking off the handle and use a think gel-type paint remover - carefully.

 

[lonestar1979]

They make some of most reliable and best stuff for price,have couple old style voyagers and vaqueros,with just regular lockback,never had one fail,i still use these knives ,and beat the hell out of them.Good heat treat ,solid locks and mostly in normal price range for average consumer.I cant say the same things for most other manufacturers with sub optimal heat treats,overpriced latest supersteels that perform worse than proven stuff that are supported by pple that dont even use their knives.

 

[Smiling]

Paint remover and lots of elbow grease, emery cloth, steel wool, polishing compound ... and patience can get a nice finish and a nice look, with less patience, you can still get a better slicing knife, but one you will have to be more careful about maintenance with to avoid corrosion. Most of my experience with stripping the rough coating had been with Beckers where you can just remove the handle slabs; here, you would have to be very careful about masking off the handle and use a think gel-type paint remover - carefully.

Well, that process would be very painful.

Coating has been stripped off near the edge of my SK-5 Recon Tanto, and steel under coating isn't smooth. Steel is actually full of tiny ridges. Literally lines, all paralel and straight. It would take you a while to make a good job smoothing that out.

At the other hand - coating is here for a reason. It's also easier to have to oil just the edges than entire blade.

Is it possible to make smooth finish blade and smooth coating - yes, they've done it on Warcraft series.
But, Warcraft series costs around $150-$200-$300... depending on a model.

Here, we get a great performing and functional blade for around $50 so I'm OK with cutting some corners here and there.

Also, as you use the knife - coating will smooth out on it's own, and cutting performance will improve with time.

 

[DangerZone98]

I know, I have the same coating on my SK-5 Recon Tanto and I did notice that it affects cutting performance.
But it's still an amazing knife for the price

True. At the same time however, I wouldn’t mind losing a lil’ bit of cutting performance for bit more corrosion protection. That’s why I probably won’t remove my Recon Tanto coating anytime soon hehe.

 

[Smiling]

True. At the same time however, I wouldn’t mind losing a lil’ bit of cutting performance for bit more corrosion protection. That’s why I probably won’t remove my Recon Tanto coating anytime soon hehe.

It'll get removed on it's own with use so you don't have to worry

 

[JB1964]

I have one on order. I’ll post my thoughts after arrival and some use. The hollow grind should make the cutting performance decent, which is what I am hoping for.

The SRK made of SK5 Steel has a hollow grind? I thought SK5 had a saber grind.
What a grind does the SRK in San Mai and what grind does the SRK in 3V Steel have?

Have there been any changes in recent years?

 

[MolokaiRider]

The SRK made of SK5 Steel has a hollow grind? I thought SK5 had a saber grind.
What a grind does the SRK in San Mai and what grind does the SRK in 3V Steel have?

Have there been any changes in recent years?

I don’t know about the 3V version (other than I’d like one).

The two SK5 versions I have are both slightly hollow ground. Not as extreme hollowed like a Buck 119, but still noticeable.

 

[knarfeng]

The SRK made of SK5 Steel has a hollow grind? I thought SK5 had a saber grind.

Overall, the SK5 version of the SRK has a saber grind, but the section of the blade from the thick part down to the edge is hollow ground rather than a flat grind. The hollow grind gives it better slicing properties. Cold Steel produced an actual knife, rather than a pry bar vaguely sharpened on one edge. Apparently it makes feather sticks really well.

I've seen some YouTube reviews. The only reported failures have been a couple of tip failures caused by randomly stabbing [the side of] a frozen stump as hard as they could. (Stabbing wood which is not frozen does not seem to be an issue.) I've seen no problems batonning, frozen wood or regular. I'm not much of a survivalist, but I can't envision what survival situation would require randomly stabbing a stump. Especially a frozen one.

 

[DangerZone98]

They make some of most reliable and best stuff for price,have couple old style voyagers and vaqueros,with just regular lockback,never had one fail,i still use these knives ,and beat the hell out of them.Good heat treat ,solid locks and mostly in normal price range for average consumer.I cant say the same things for most other manufacturers with sub optimal heat treats,overpriced latest supersteels that perform worse than proven stuff that are supported by pple that dont even use their knives.

The new Voyagers are good too. Quite happy with my Voyager XL. One-handed deployment is a bit tricky though due to the large handle size.

 

[Bayou Bill]

Overall, the SK5 version of the SRK has a saber grind, but the section of the blade from the thick part down to the edge is hollow ground rather than a flat grind. The hollow grind gives it better slicing properties. Cold Steel produced an actual knife, rather than a pry bar vaguely sharpened on one edge. Apparently it makes feather sticks really well.

I've seen some YouTube reviews. The only reported failures have been a couple of tip failures caused by randomly stabbing [the side of] a frozen stump as hard as they could. (Stabbing wood which is not frozen does not seem to be an issue.) I've seen no problems batonning, frozen wood or regular. I'm not much of a survivalist, but I can't envision what survival situation would require randomly stabbing a stump. Especially a frozen one.

There's a video that Gideonstactical posted that reviews the 3v version. In the review, he mentions that he called Cold Steel and spoke to someone that said the sk5 will most likely be changed to a flat grind in the future. That was about 8 months ago. Curious to know if this ever happened as it seems like it would be one of those quiet changes companies make to a product.