Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter for 2015 in CTS XHP steel and G10

Gary W. Graley said:
The blade takes a really nice sharp edge, the hairs literally pops offs off the arm! As you can kinda see, I'm just lightly moving the knife across my arm, pretty much tree top cutting the hairs.
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That's pretty Darned Sharp! Good video too. :)
Isn't this the same knife that Jim mentions in his thread about knife steel that Jim say has an HRC of 63.5? :cool:
 
Thanks and yes I believe Jim found it to be at that hardness, but not sure it's stated that way from Cold Steel.
G2
 
Have you used this knife hard yet? It looks like it would be a good hard use folder. I may have to try one. Thanks for the review. Kevin :thumbup:
 
Well, the definition of hard use can certainly vary by degrees, but I have whittled on some hard seasoned oak wood, cut up numerous boxes, all without any problem or any visible edge damage or need of sharpening or touch up. So, for me, this is just a stand by you type of folder and steel, still happy with it and it's still in my pocket, which says a lot for it as most know that I do get and move knives quite often ;)

G2
 
Great. Thanks for the info. I may just have to give one a try. Kevin :thumbup:
 
Sorry wasn't more detailed, but didn't run a testing regiment on it, just using it as an EDC so it gets what it gets.

One thing more on the lock, I know CS comes off as high handed to a lot of people, tooting their own horn but it is their horn and it does get heard ;) and for the most part the knives I've had from them stand up to what they have said their knives can do. With the more recent testing by Mr Demko, that helps a great deal to see just what CS knives can do, at least mechanically wise.

Short story on locks, some people might think a spine whack test is not critical, how often would you have a knife used where it was struck from the spine of the blade? Well I had one folder, not a CS, it was a fairly new larger liner lock knife. It appeared to lock up just fine, a couple of winters ago I was out gathering up some fire wood and there was a chunk of ice on the log, so I grabbed my folder, flipped open the blade and went to just knock the bit of ice off the log. To my surprise, the lock gave way and the blade started to go shut! I was stunned as I wasn't even hitting it hard at all, just a gentle smack to try and free that bit of ice. I thought, well maybe it didn't lockup initially, so I opened it more forcefully and tried it again, and the lock again gave way and the blade was heading toward my fingers...that was it for that knife.

With the Tri-Ad locking system I feel much more confident in using the knife. Again, it was not something that I would do often but felt that the light hitting the knife should have withstood that, but, it didn't.

And no, I'll not mention the knife in question since it might have just been a fluke example from the factory, but it certainly made me wary of using it ever again.
G2
 
I have a mint custom Andrew Demko American Lawman and it is AWESOME. The Tri-Ad lock has lots of interest now even to some who did not like Cold Steel. I have talked to Andrew Demko a few times and he is a 1st class guy. I like the looks of the UH and may have to try one out. I turned down $1000 for my custom so that is how much I think about Demko and his knives! Thanks for your help. Kevin :thumbup:
 
It's a great looking knife Gary. I've owned two of the earlier versions of the Ultimate Hunter, and they are a very substantial and solid knife.
The early versions had rubber scales which gave incredible grip, but were also kind of a pain getting in and out of pocket. I've owned roughly 10 various CS knives over the years and I have never had a complaint with any of them. Their videos on the other hand leave a lot to be desired, but LT knows a lot more about marketing than I do, and it certainly seems to work
 
Thanks guys, with the G10 handle it has some light texture so it's not too hard to remove from the pocket. The lanyard I have on there, I know some don't care for lanyards for whatever reason, I find it quite handy to be able to reach down while sitting and grab the cord and pull the knife out of the pocket, makes it a lot easier that way, plus it has safety features if you want to not lose the knife during use or you can loop the lanyard around a belt loop or your belt to prevent loss if you happen to be heading into some strenuous movement that may cause a knife to find it's way out of your pocket, or to prevent a would be thief from pulling it out of your pocket in a crowded area.

And I would recommend doing the clip tip mod, certainly an easy enough thing to do and helps greatly in fitting the clip down over the edge of your pocket.
G2
 
This morning I took the knife apart, I wanted to do the following;

clear up the bevels on the clip
polished up the flat where it said Ultimate Hunter
rounded off the end of the spring bar and polished that out
clean and re lube all the pivot points with fluorinated grease

I noticed that the pivot point of the lock bar is drilled out oval shape, allowing movement to help the lock do it's thing.

All back together and very smooth opening and solid lockup, plus a smoother unlocking action as well. Smoothing the end of the lock bar doesn't weaken any part of the lock mech, just cuts down the resistance for when you go to press down to release the lock bar.

A really nice knife!
G2

Edited to add this image from Cold Steel, shows the TriAd lock system, here you can see the spring bar that applies tension on the lock bar, it's that sharp corner that makes contact with the lock bar that I "Slightly" rounded and smoothed off, so that there isn't any sharp edges or pointy corners that might bite into the lock bar as you go to unlock the blade.

while it isn't an Ultimate Hunter pictured, the mechanics are the same...

Tri-ad.jpg
 
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Thanks and you're welcome. Just today a fellow compared his knife to mine and said 'this would be better' he was referring to the fact that there was no notch before the edge, nothing to catch on, as his had a small notch. He complained that while cutting through some heavy plastic that we cover our machines with, the blade would inevitably snag on the plastic and not just cut smoothly, even though his knife was razor sharp. I explained that's one of the reasons I like this knife so much, nothing to catch on at all. I offered to grind in an angle on that notch to help alleviate some of the nuisance but he will think about it and maybe have me do that for him. On knives like the Sebenza, they have an angle so material will ride up and onto the edge and not catch as much, which does help, so I would carefully grind in a slight angle and sharpen it too so the material would ride up and out.
G2
 
That looks great Gary, love what you did with the point. I've been thinking of picking one of these up as a dedicated "woods" folder. What you did with the point adds value.
 
Gary, just saw this and thanks for the review. Sounds like a good one and that XHP steel seems like a great cutter. 1.6% carbon and 16% chrome. If Rc is over 60 that thing should stay sharp for a very long time.
 
Cobalt said:
Gary, just saw this and thanks for the review. Sounds like a good one and that XHP steel seems like a great cutter. 1.6% carbon and 16% chrome. If Rc is over 60 that thing should stay sharp for a very long time.
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From what I've heard they're running the Ultimate Hunter at 62-64, so it should be up there with Elmax or even M390. That said, I only know of 1 that was hardness tested (Mr. Ankerson's) and the Cold Steel rep neither confirmed nor denied the higher hardness on this model.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
From what I've heard they're running the Ultimate Hunter at 62-64, so it should be up there with Elmax or even M390. That said, I only know of 1 that was hardness tested (Mr. Ankerson's) and the Cold Steel rep neither confirmed nor denied the higher hardness on this model.
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Ok, if it is true that they run that hard, I might have to get one now for sure. DANG!!!!
 
Cobalt said:
Ok, if it is true that they run that hard, I might have to get one now for sure. DANG!!!!
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Ankerson tested his at 63.5. If the norm is anywhere near that I think this bad boy isn't far from the Manix 2 in S110V as far as bang for your buck. I honestly like the looks of this handle much better than the Manix. Looks more comfortable for extended cutting sessions.
 
That is a huge departure for CS from the usual AUS8. I really like the direction CS is going with this steel and using 3V on their bigger blades. They are moving on to some really good stuff.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
Ankerson tested his at 63.5. If the norm is anywhere near that I think this bad boy isn't far from the Manix 2 in S110V as far as bang for your buck. I honestly like the looks of this handle much better than the Manix. Looks more comfortable for extended cutting sessions.
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Demko design, it's extremely comfortable.
 
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