Is the Cold Steel Luzon (medium) a bad knife?

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Llamaaaa

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May 6, 2021
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I really like the design of the Cold Steel Luzon. The medium size is affordable and covers the 4-inch knife length that i was looking for. However, I have seen very mixed reviews about it that make me tied on buying it or not. Can someone who has experience with this knife give an overview? Thank you.
 
I also have handled one. Meh. The handle wasn't shaped well. Too many swells. The pocket clip is one of the worst designs in pocket clip history. There are probably replacements out there. As a big fan of the tri-ad lock, the locking liner lock felt kinda "cheap" for lack of a better word.

Not sure if this style fits you but this one felt better in my hand. Better steel and handle material for $2 more.
https://www.bladehq.com/item--Real-Steel-G5-Metamorph-Imperial--122308

I would pass on recommending this too even tho it's only $38ish.

PS. I'm a big CS fan as a owner of multiple Ultimate Hunters, Recons, and a Code 4.
 
I've got a 4" Luzon. Wouldn't call it a "bad" knife but it is "cheaply" made and, generally speaking, you get what you pay for.

I also have a 4" Ti-lite, which is similar in size to the Luzon, that you may want to take a look at too.

I'm not a big Cold Steel fan. I've bought/sold more of them in the past than I own now. However, in addition to the Luzon & Ti-lite, I still have a 4" Hold Out 2 and a Code 4. Just sold a 3" Hold Out 3 and an Urban Edge.

The Code 4 is the best of bunch in terms of the quality of build and materials and, of course, it costs more (about 2x's the price of a Luzon or Ti-lite) but it's worth the price.
 
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I've got a 4" Luzon, and its not a knife for somebody who isn't afraid to do some tinkering. I also have a large Luzon and it works perfectly in all aspects. I expected the smaller one to be just as good....but......Out of the box it was not so great. The detent was way too aggressive, making the blade very hard to open. The lock face was rough and the liner lock had a weird edge on it, making it difficult to operate. The thumb studs were useless. The flipper tab was polished smooth and it was quite slippery, making it hard to use. The clip had a small hook on the inside of the bottom end, making it nearly impossible to extract from your pocket. All these thing combined to make the knife quite unsatisfactory.
That being said, its not hard to address and correct these issues. I took it apart, polished the lock face with a fine stone, stoned the detent down somewhat and made a small detent ramp on the blade, fixed the liner lock issues, filed a bit of jimping where needed, and generally cleaned things up. The knife can now be easily popped open with the flipper tab, but the thumb studs are still nearly useless, the geometry just isn't right. Five minutes with a bit of sand paper fixed the pocket clip issues, and it works fine once that hook is softened up. The lock, once the burrs on the edge are removed, is fine and operates perfectly. The blade does cut well even though the steel is not the latest and greatest, but it is after all $40 knife. It takes a good edge, is easy to sharpen, and seems to have decent geometry.
Overall, if you want a knife that you take out of the box and use, this isn't it. If you don't mind doing a little bit of work on it, it can be made so much better...
 
I own the large and med. I think the steel isn't the greatest as stated, but the med. was excellent in function out of the box. The lg. however has a very week detent but that is my only gripe about it. Kind of a silly blade length and would have liked one that is about 4.5" in b.l. and a bit wider or taller up and down. At least AUS8a U.S. steel or Japanese made steel. stay safe
 
I have the large version, and it is one of my favorite CS knives. So I bought a medium, and promptly returned it. The knife was very difficult to flick open as compared to the large, which opens with ease. I didn't like anything about it, but I ended up buying a second large Luzon just in case.
 
Impulse bought the medium Luzon on a sale. I’m positively surprised. It’s a fun little flipper. Regarding the liner lock I have a theory that the additional sliding safety may well provide some extra stability too, because I’m guessing a common failure mechanism of liner locks is buckling, and this extra sliding thing may well stabilise the liner and reduce its buckling length.

Cons: made in China (I think), not super excited about the clip,

Pros: price, fun to play with, probably pretty strong for a liner lock due to the safety thingy stabilising the liner laterally.
 
it is what it is. for the price point and on sale it's not a bad knife. if one likes really nice stuff, high end stuff with incredible fit and finish, look elsewhere.

design wise I like it far more than the build quality. it's a well thought out shape and setup and stock thickness etc. pretty sure it's a Mike Wallace designed knife when he worked for cold steel with Andrew and Lynn.

a higher grade produced model in Taiwan, with better materials and fit and finish, I feel would make this a great knife.

edit part, dangit got duped into an old thread...sorry....

I already typed it all out, so I'm leaving it....
 
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lol. Bumping an old thread, naughty me. And now I did it again, good lord! 😉

I don’t see the problem though. I was writing for anyone looking at the medium Luzon, not specifically for TS.
 
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baxtrom said:
Impulse bought the medium Luzon on a sale. I’m positively surprised. It’s a fun little flipper. Regarding the liner lock I have a theory that the additional sliding safety may well provide some extra stability too, because I’m guessing a common failure mechanism of liner locks is buckling, and this extra sliding thing may well stabilise the liner and reduce its buckling length.

Cons: made in China (I think), not super excited about the clip,

Pros: price, fun to play with, probably pretty strong for a liner lock due to the safety thingy stabilising the liner laterally.
Click to expand...
Now that the thread is active, might as well keep it.

I have both the large and the Med Luzon.
The sliding lock definitely strengthens the lock by shortening the unsupported length of the liner. Another ingenious Demko lock improvement.

That saiid, on the Medium I find that just the liner lock is difficult to disengage. They appear to have not polished the blade side of the lock very highly. So it catches. (They may have actually done that on purpose.)
Like the clip.
Like the flipper action. Also like that it does not have bearings or springs.
Like their choice of blade steel. I prefer AUS 8 (8Cr13MoV) to AUS 10 on a blade which is designed to see impacts. (Let's be straight, here. The Luzon was designed for fighting, not for EDC. You can use it for EDC, but that's not the primary purpose of the design.)

Overall, I like the design, and am very impressed with the "leaf lock". Wish they would have made both in Taiwan.
 
knarfeng said:
Also like that it does not have bearings or springs.
Click to expand...

Actually I think it has bearings. From LuvThemKnives youtube channel

Luzon-bearings.jpg
 
Yes it does have bearings, but if you buy one you'll need to take it apart to clean / lube them a bit. They don't seem to work real well right out of the box.
 
I don't have a Luzon , but do have several other liner lock Cold Steel with the secondary slide lock .

Not terrible , but just disappointing compared to the many fine Tri-ad Lock models I own (and carry) .

The one Atlas Lock I have , the Mayhem, is much better than expected ...so far .

Much of what makes Cold Steel worth buying over others, is the Tri-ad and Atlas lock systems , IMO .
 
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