Review New knife acquisition: Cold Steel’s quintessential large hard-use folder

I love everything about the Spartan except the the thick, grooved 'Flintstones' handle. A G-10 handle would be incredible. A smoother, thinner FRN handle would be good enough for me to immediately buy the Spartan.
The Junkyard dog was a great value knife (at the time) that was ruined by it's big, ugly pocket clip.
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mwhich50 said:
I love everything about the Spartan except the the thick, grooved 'Flintstones' handle. A G-10 handle would be incredible. A smoother, thinner FRN handle would be good enough for me to immediately buy the Spartan.
The Junkyard dog was a great value knife (at the time) that was ruined by it's big, ugly pocket clip.
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The handle actually grew on me the past few days, haha. It just molds around my paws so well. But I do agree with you that a G10 version would be great. A higher end Spartan would sound nice actually, with an S35VN blade and G10 scales.
 
I have the Spartan and it's cool but I wish it came in a serrated version as well. I'd buy it in a second. I'd also like to see the Rajah II in a serrated version. I'd certainly get it although I already have the current version.
 
Another thought triggered by the picture of the Rajah III above. The Rajah II is an actual folding kukri as is my Rajah I. I don't know what the point of the Rajah III is [no pun intended]
 
Larry Turko said:
Another thought triggered by the picture of the Rajah III above. The Rajah II is an actual folding kukri as is my Rajah I. I don't know what the point of the Rajah III is [no pun intended]
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I always understood the Rajah 3 as Cold Steel’s compact translation of the khukuri. Like a Glock 19 to the Rajah 2’s Glock 17. While you lose most of the original big version’s chopping power, you still have that recurve which “grabs” on to material as you slash, great for cutting rope. It’s probably better to think of it as a recurve knife rather than a folding kukri, haha. Personally, I love my Rajah 3. It’s a damn fine low-cost utility knife.

I’d definitely love to get a Rajah 2 someday before it meets the fate of the Talwar. Looks like a fun what-the-heck knife.
 
Larry Turko said:
I have the Spartan and it's cool but I wish it came in a serrated version as well. I'd buy it in a second. I'd also like to see the Rajah II in a serrated version. I'd certainly get it although I already have the current version.
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There’s a good chance Cold Steel might do this. They recently came up with serrated versions of the Kobun and the Marauder.
 
DangerZone98 said:
The handle actually grew on me the past few days, haha. It just molds around my paws so well. But I do agree with you that a G10 version would be great. A higher end Spartan would sound nice actually, with an S35VN blade and G10 scales.
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I always used to say I wished the Voyager came with g10 scales and xhp (now s35vn) steel. But then I realized it would compete with the iconic Recon 1.
I think Cold Steel might like to keep a bit of separation in their models. Or not.
 
whp said:
I always used to say I wished the Voyager came with g10 scales and xhp (now s35vn) steel. But then I realized it would compete with the iconic Recon 1.
I think Cold Steel might like to keep a bit of separation in their models. Or not.
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True. They have a fairly good balance of mid-tier and upper-tier knives. You’ve got the Voyager series and Tuff Lite series on one hand and the AD knives and 4-Max on the other.
 
I gave a friend my Spartan Aus8 several years ago. Eventually I got another in Aus10. Authough I wouldn't call it quintessential, the Spartan has been in the line-up for a long time. It's clearly a rugged, well-made and popular knife.
Cold Steel uses 2 different sizes of thumb plates. The larger plate especially benefits from shrinking it down, rounding the front corners more and beveling the underside. Otherwise it can be too grabby upon release and the blade can hang up when half-way open.
I noticed something interesting about the Spartan recently. It makes a loud clunk when the blade stops in the closed position. That's because it doesn't use a pin to stop the blade when closed like most (all?) other CS Tri-Ad locks. The blade ricasso contacts the lock bar.
 
After a few cycles of deploying and closing, lock disengagement finally hit that sweet spot. It’s still WAAAY heavier than a Spyderco back lock mind you, but the Spartan closes easier nowadays. Really satisfying now. Either that, or my grip strength improved over the quarantine (press X to doubt).

For first time Tri-Ad lock buyers, this is something to consider. CS back locks in general will be heavier than the other back locks on the market. Nothing to worry about. My folders eventually “broke in” with use.

However, if lock disengagement is practically impossible even for Brock Lesnar, have your knife exchanged. Never happened to me before though.
 
fishface5 said:
Nice write-up! Regarding the tight pocket clip, other solutions are to bend the clip to be a bit looser, or to install a thin spacer around the screws between the handle and clip; either will prevent further unwanted loosening of the screws.
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Neither of these are ideal. The best way is to thin the clip. The clip is a flat spring. flat spring force varies with the cube of thickness. So if you want half the spring force, you need to reduce thickness 20%. 0.8^3 = 0.5. Take a dremel and thin the clip back so it won't show. Thin the straight part, don't worry about curves. Don't overheat it. If it discolors, you overheated. go slow and measure thickness often.
 
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