Should I get a Tuff Lite?

B

bryan123

Joined
Feb 7, 2017
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264
Hi,

The thought of buying a Tuff Lite or Tuff Lite Mini has crossed my mind from time to time but I never pulled the trigger.

I like to keep my collection small and under control, and I thought that the Tuff Lites would be redundant since I already own a Dragonfly, a Roadie and a Three Rivers Nomad, which are similarly sized and with better steel.

Now that Cold Steel has been sold I'm thinking about picking up a Tuff Lite, maybe before it's too late. It would be nice for Cold Steel to be represented in my collection, and the Tuff Lites are the only CS offerings that ever really appealed to me.

What do you think? Thanks.
 
I say with everything being unknown with the sale and where things are going in the future get whatever models you want now while you can. You can always sell or offload them at a later date if they aren't what you want or expected...
 
If you can handle them first, do so. They are great for carrying in the Levi watch pocket, if you don't carry a pocket watch.
The mini is SMALL. TO ME VERY hard to open and use, almost impossible as a matter of fact.
The tuff lite is still small not ultra small and very usable, boxes, string, tape most day to day tasks.
They are also easy open, lock tight, easy to use.
It certainly has it's place for everyday use.
 
I really like the Full sized Tuff Lites, especially the brighter color options. They have great ergonomics, and are super easy to sharpen with a straight edge and medium quality steel. However, if you are going to be around sand, and there is a chance of it getting in your knife, do not buy one! I am not sure whether it is all Tri-ad equipped knives or the Tuff Lite specifically, but sand can get in there and the knife will lock OPEN and be impossible to fold shut. I had this happen multiple times when I was living by the beach and sand would find it's way into my pocket, where the Tuff Lite was. This happened with a tiny, tiny amount of sand. Once I rinsed the knife out thoroughly, it would go back to normal operation. I never had this problem with any other folding knife with different lockin mechanisms.
 
I have had a CS Tuff Lite for several years. It was very sharp out of the box, and is easy to re-sharpen if needed. It is one of my EDC knives. Yeah, I carry at least two knives because 2=1 , 1=none.
 
bryan123 said:
Now that Cold Steel has been sold I'm thinking about picking up a Tuff Lite, maybe before it's too late. It would be nice for Cold Steel to be represented in my collection, and the Tuff Lites are the only CS offerings that ever really appealed to me.

What do you think? Thanks.
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for about 30-ish bucks, yeah, I'd grab one if I thought I wanted one
 
The answer to should I get a Tuff Lite is always yes, IMO. They're cheap, strong, small in the pocket and big in the hand, and altogether superior to every small Spyderco model I own (which is a whole bunch of them). They make great whittling knives too, at least for me. A Tuff Lite did this, for example:

NaC8OCS.jpg
 
Jordan@DLT said:
Great knife, I have a full size model in black that is my most used knife by far, I bought it on a whim for a travel knife and found its absolutely fantastic. Frankly in my opinion its the best knife under $60 you can get.
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Yep.

I had one...gave it to a friend of mine. It's been his main work knife for some time.

A few years back, another friend of mine was entering an adventure race. A knife (fixed blade or folding with lock) was required equipment, and she did not own one. I met her for coffee and brought a selection of small fixed blades and folders. She chose the Tuff Lite, as it was light, had a sturdy lock, and seemed like it would work if need be. She completed the race just fine. :)
 
It is an awesome, handy little knife. Great ergos and a useful blade shape. I would love one in S35VN and G10!
 
its a very underrated knife, for the price its one of the best around in my opinion. its also very easy to touch up on the spyderco sharpmaker, i gave a tuff lite to one of my friends who is a non knife guy and he used it at work to cut some kind of metallic wire and while the knife edge had a couple small chips in it it was still very sharp and the sharpmaker was able to get it back to razor sharp very easily. in fact i have to say, all of the cold steel budget offerings that ive tried lately have been very good. other cold steel budget knives i would recommend are the kiridashi, bush ranger lite, double safe hunter, and the ranch boss, the are all in the $30 range

here is my tuff lite and kiridashi
kiridashi.jpg
 
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evilgreg said:
The answer to should I get a Tuff Lite is always yes, IMO. They're cheap, strong, small in the pocket and big in the hand, and altogether superior to every small Spyderco model I own (which is a whole bunch of them). They make great whittling knives too, at least for me. A Tuff Lite did this, for example:

NaC8OCS.jpg
Click to expand...
I grabbed one for $25 before Christmas based on remembering your carvings. I doubt I can do anything like that too easily but I plan to give it a shot soon...
 
I got one recently for $30, as a result of buying a CS 4-Max Scout (needed to get the total to $99+ for free shipping ;)). It is a little knife but ergo is great, definitely feels more hand-filling and better than Spyderco Dragonfly. AUS8A steel is certainly not the best in the market but with only $30 what you can get? I don't know how small the mini is but I definitely do not want to go any smaller than the full size tuff lite.
xzjvAOh.jpg
 
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OP here. I did indeed get one. Initial impression is very nice! Triad lock is impressive, no blade play and disengages easily enough for one hand closure. Larger than my Dragonfly and LTC Nomad but still legal in Boston at 2.5 inches total blade length. Very sharp and slicier than the Nomad but not as slicy as the thinner stocked Dragonfly. Curious to see how the AUS8A compares to the fancier steels on the other two more expensive knives (VG-10 and CMP 154).

Thanks
 
Richard338 said:
I grabbed one for $25 before Christmas based on remembering your carvings. I doubt I can do anything like that too easily but I plan to give it a shot soon...
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That's actually a super easy project that doesn't really require any artistic talent. Unlike some of my other favorite whimsy projects (e.g. ball-in-a-ball, chains, etc.) it involves removing very little wood, assuming you have a cube of appropriate wood to start with (something easy to carve with even grain like basswood or yellow cedar is a good place to start). You just carve a roundish shape like this into each of the six sides:

x8iYTkL.jpg


It doesn't require removing that much wood at all before you'll break through to the other side around the bars of the box, and you just keep going until all the sides are free. I like it as a starter project for people because it doesn't take forever to finish.
 
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