Nice comparison pictures. You can see the size of the 4 Max Scout and the AD10 compared the the Voyager, which I own.
Are the lanyards for looks or function? I am thinking that it helps with the knife withdrawal and I might give it a try.
Your right, a little bit of both. They do help; when I'm pulling the knife from the pocket. It also personalizes my carry a little bit.
Carrying my new Air Lite today for the first time. I had to bend the end of the clip out a little to make it catch on my pants better. The g10 is less rough than my last Recon 1 g10 I bought about a year and a half ago. I believe this new smoother g10 May represent a general improvement in Cold Steel folders with these handles. Pivot was adjusted a bit and the lockup is now solid. The triad lock is also easier to disengage, which I noticed on my Recon 1 and Lawman that I bought most recently as opposed the the stiffer locks on my earlier models. Maybe this is another generalized improvement for Cold Steel. I m also still carrying my Hold Out 3 loose in my pocket. I ve been carrying this little knife daily for the last several weeks. I using this knife for work much like some use their Grik or Tuff Lite. This is a great knife.
New Cold Steel landed today; the ubiquitous Rajah 3. Over-built quality at a super-reasonable price-point. This one came super-sharp, ask-me how I know. Raj gave me a get-acquainted nick! All set-up, oiled, and ready to go. Sorry, I didn't grab one-of-these a long time-ago!
Good thing you got the Aus10a version! From my limited steel knowledge, I’d say that’s a little better than the CTS-BD1 version, haha.
As far as I'm concerned DZ, AUS-10A is the perfect-alloy for a knife at this price-point. This one is a shade smaller that the large Voyager. Almost equal in weight, with the Rajah being 4/10ths of an ounce more, for what-its-worth. As an added-bonus, I received three-extra screws for the left-side carry-clip. My AD-10 was shipped to me, missing one of the center scale screws by the lanyard. I removed the two stainless torx, and replaced all three with the extra black set. Same thread-pattern, and depth: looks really cool, and different. I never liked that empty screw hole. I'm wondering how the Rajah, stacks-up next to the Spartan? I know, that the Spartan has a bigger grip. Plus; it comes-in at 7.5 ounces. Maybe, I'm comparing 'apples and oranges'. I can't wait to get the 'Raj' into the rotation, for a better impression, and review.
Just got this XL in aus-10 in the other day. Got it sharpened up and it feels really good on the stones and the edges came up nicely. I will see how it goes on some yard material in a bit. Overall the action is great for a triad lock. Very smooth out of the box and this is much improved from some older triad models.
I noticed this on some other recent CS acquisitions, including the 4-Max Scout, AD-10, and today's carry, an updated AUS-10 Rajah III. Seems like this might be a line-wide change? I never minded the stiffer locks (they always break in), but I also don't mind how smooth they are right out of the box these days. Please shift to flat plunge lines next, Cold Steel!
There may be something to that. This year I have also purchased 2 4Max Scouts, XL Vaquero, and a tanto Air Lite and all of them had excellent action on the lock. Now I have had some triad locks in the past that were born smooth but for most of them they needed some breaking in and some needed to be taken apart and filed and smoothed. I never really minded triad locks that stuck when new because I knew I could fix it. I sort liked the challenge of it given the price point of the older knives. Whatever factory is building these newer models have stepped up their game.
Ive been pretty much abusing my new rajah 3 at work (landscaping and gardening) The knife is a amazing and Im loving the aus10a steel.
