Ordered a CS American Lawman - what's your experience as an EDC.

I don't use mine very much, but it is flippin' sharp.

Old picture from when I was working
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For me it was a great knife. Useful blade shape, good materials and construction quality and in general would be one of my favourite CS designs.
But I sold it quite quickly. I hate coated blades. I thought if everything else is very good I won't mind that flaw, but I hated it even more for ruining this nice design. But if you can live with a coating, you will probably like the knife very much.
 
It is an excellent knife and a great value. Tough, relatively light, great ergos, great steel. It's not the most gorgeous looking blade, but I find myself carrying it a lot when I know I'm actually going to be using a knife. I think that says a lot for a folder.
 
Top choice. Easily fits into my "if I could only have one" category. Mine is in CTS-XHP (DLC coated, which I like). The Tri-Ad lock is one of the strongest and safest locking mechanisms available. I appreciate the flat configuration, easy pocket carry with or without the clip. You might have to adjust the clip -- CS clips are typically very tight. I took mine off and tweaked it gently in a vise so it would slip over the pocket seam of my jeans.
 
Great EDC knife once you dump the crappy factory clip & replace it with a deep carry clip from Pops Custom Clips on Etsy.
 
In all honesty, I have never seen one in real life.

But, on paper it strikes me as one of Cold Steel’s best designs. I just wish I could find one locally just to pick up and handle. Our local CS dealer never has it in stock.
 
Light, strong, great feel in hand. And gives more confidence for use in heavy work than my other favorite edc, the PM2. And when you can buy one for 2/3 s the price of a PM2, well?
Before I got the American Lawman with xhp steel, I really didn't t like black coated blades. The Lawman is so good, now I don t mind black blades. And my backup with s35vn steel has a more user friendly lock release.
A great user.
I used pliers to loosen the clip a bit.
 
I had one when they first came out. It was alright but unusable for me. Too much choil - kept catching on everything I was cutting.

It only worked if I choked up into the choil, and I’m not cutting aluminum and plastic impregnated cardboard right up against my finger. Stuff is too sharp.
 
sabre cat said:
In all honesty, I have never seen one in real life.

But, on paper it strikes me as one of Cold Steel’s best designs. I just wish I could find one locally just to pick up and handle. Our local CS dealer never has it in stock.
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I never paid attention to Cold Steel until about 6-7 years ago I was in my local store and handled the Lawman and the Recon 1. Wasn't t crazy about the black blades then, but the ergonomics and apparent strength were so good, I ended up getting one of both a week or two later.
The Lawman is a real bargain for the price.
Sometimes you just need to make a leap of faith.
 
I like the older, thicker scales better. I also had good experiences with the AUS8A steel they were using. It was easy to strip off the paint and expose a stonewashed blade.

The newer versions have upgraded steels and DLC, which is ok but not really needed other than aesthetics. I do not like the thinner scales as much as the older versions.

I also don’t like the weak detent for a back lock. I can flip it open pretty easy.

Not a bad blade overall, and works great as an EDC that can tackle a wide variety of stuff.
 
It's only my NO. 1 favorite EDC in my collection...
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I got it expecting a beefy, tactical, tough folder from Cold Steel. Was initially disappointed that it was so thin and short overall (I prefer longer knives). After carrying one day I realized that it was the perfect EDC... Oh, and it's still tough as hell, just not what I expected. Like others said, they dialed down features of it over the years. I have one of the newer ones that you'll get. Slim, tough, versatile, reliable
 
I hated mine out of the box. G10 is mega rough, the roughest folding knife handle I've ever felt and it rips up your pants thanks to the super tight pocket clip. It's not just a tight pocket clip, it's unresaonably tight to the point where it feels like a manufacturing error. But it's not, all CS knives have really tight clips in my experience. After bending out the clip with pliers and sandpapering the scales under the clip it works fine.
 
mongomondo said:
I hated mine out of the box. G10 is mega rough, the roughest folding knife handle I've ever felt and it rips up your pants thanks to the super tight pocket clip. It's not just a tight pocket clip, it's unresaonably tight to the point where it feels like a manufacturing error. But it's not, all CS knives have really tight clips in my experience. After bending out the clip with pliers and sandpapering the scales under the clip it works fine.
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They upgraded the G10 scales like a year ago. The scales are now smoother than the ones on my Spyderco Manix 2 XL.
 
Great knife but I got rid of mine. The handle was a little thin for my liking. My big hands much prefer the CS Ultimate Hunter (.62 vs .39 for the Lawman).

If you like thin handles knives, it is a great choice. I like a thicker handle myself.
 
DocT said:
I think I'd rather have a Code 4 overall.
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That was my thought as well. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the lawman; it's a fantastic knife, but it just didn't fit my hand. Felt clumsy at best.

I've seen the same said about other knives that I loved though. More a user issue than a design problem.
 
The only thing that worries me is the closed height, looks pretty wide. I usually go for a more slender in pocket knife. It is thin tho which is more significant in a pocket.

Thinking of also getting my first ever lanyard, don't even know how to tie one.

My friends are all anti-lanyard.
 
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