What's your Cold Steel EDC today?

Today I was back to the 5.5 Tanto Voyager. It makes a great all around do anything tool and defense weapon. And if I somehow destroy or lose it no big deal.

Tomorrow I am thinking Frenzy. I believe i finally have it tuned and working properly. Easily the lowest quality cold steel I have ever received, and I bought it straight from the source. It was basically junk.. The Frenzy is a knife I really want to like, it is so close to perfect, but the forward curved blade seems to rob it of some utility. I am probably missing something.
Maybe (bad) luck of the draw ? I have a recent one and it is standard Cold Steel good quality.
 
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That s a nice little knife. I just wonder why the company decided to make the 3 inch blade with AUS10 rather than s35vn.
As much as I like the 4" Recon1, if Im going to carry a smaller knife in AUS10, I ll carry my Airlite.
Currently carrying my 4" Voyager, AUS10, to work around the yard today.
 
That s a nice little knife. I just wonder why the company decided to make the 3 inch blade with AUS10 rather than s35vn.
As much as I like the 4" Recon1, if Im going to carry a smaller knife in AUS10, I ll carry my Airlite.
Currently carrying my 4" Voyager, AUS10, to work around the yard today.

Speaking of the Mini Recon and Air Lite, what I don't get is why the Mini has those little scallops in the scales when they're not really needed (the stud is far enough away) while the Air Lite needs them but doesn't have them. They should either add them to the Air Lite, or better yet, make that "finger groove" more rounded to provide more clearance and make it more comfortable.

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Today I was back to the 5.5 Tanto Voyager. It makes a great all around do anything tool and defense weapon. And if I somehow destroy or lose it no big deal.

Tomorrow I am thinking Frenzy. I believe i finally have it tuned and working properly. Easily the lowest quality cold steel I have ever received, and I bought it straight from the source. It was basically junk.. The Frenzy is a knife I really want to like, it is so close to perfect, but the forward curved blade seems to rob it of some utility. I am probably missing something.
Got one a couple of years ago, excellent in all respects. I checked out the blade shape before buying.
 
Speaking of the Mini Recon and Air Lite, what I don't get is why the Mini has those little scallops in the scales when they're not really needed (the stud is far enough away) while the Air Lite needs them but doesn't have them. They should either add them to the Air Lite, or better yet, make that "finger groove" more rounded to provide more clearance and make it more comfortable.
I would guess to more closely mimic the full size. Having now carried mine for a few days, I find I do appreciate the scallop. It does improve access to the stud. Adding one to the Air Lite handle design seems reasonable.

Since it's new, I'm still carrying the mini-recon 1, now with proper edge. The thickness immediately above the primary edge bevel runs about 0.040"; so I decided on a compound edge. I thinned the shoulders using a 15 dps setting, then used 20 dps for the cutting edge. Since it came with a considerably coarser edge angle than 20, and with that blade thickness, it took a bit to remove that much metal, even using the extra-coarse DMT stone. But I'm happy with it now.

With a proper edge on it, now I'll see how it works for me. I do like a bit of thickness behind the edge for every day usage. For me, "great slicer" is an overrated aspect for an EDC. I don't slice a lot of cardboard and I don't use a pocket knife for food prep. So "slicing" is seldom necessary.

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The XL Voyager I like for the same reasons. What did you think was low quality about the Frenzy? I’ve been close to buying one.
I have never seen anyone else report on a bad Frenzy. Just the opposite. I believe that mine was just a rare lemon. Read on if you care to know more....

My Frenzy was purchased from Cold Steel over their Christmas sale. It came completely off center and the locking mechanism made multiple tactile and audible clacks and pops every time it opened or closed. I should have immediately sent it back but I figured it was so bad that the cause would have to be obvious and I would just fix it. Like, it was bad enough that I expected an extra grip screw rattling around inside or some visibly obvious defect I could correct.

By the time I realized my error 2020 was turning the world to infectious ash, the Cold Steel that had sold me the knife was gone, and GSM wasn't answering their phones.

So I was forced to work at it, taking it apart and polishing and screwing with it. Opening and closing it thousands of times. I did something with the washers to get it centered,, but don't recall what.. Today it is centered and smooth and entirely acceptable.

It is also, in my opinion, an incredible EDC choice. It carries so well for its size. If it interests you then buy it.
 
Recently got a Lawman,so that I my EDC.
I have somewhat smallish hands and most of the folders from CS are too big,but the Lawman is perfect.
Lovely blade shape for skinning little critters and general cutting,good edge holding as well.
Also,I dont have to worry about the blade folding on my fingers like most others.:thumbsup:
 
I would guess to more closely mimic the full size. Having now carried mine for a few days, I find I do appreciate the scallop. It does improve access to the stud. Adding one to the Air Lite handle design seems reasonable.

Since it's new, I'm still carrying the mini-recon 1, now with proper edge. The thickness immediately above the primary edge bevel runs about 0.040"; so I decided on a compound edge. I thinned the shoulders using a 15 dps setting, then used 20 dps for the cutting edge. Since it came with a considerably coarser edge angle than 20, and with that blade thickness, it took a bit to remove that much metal, even using the extra-coarse DMT stone. But I'm happy with it now.

With a proper edge on it, now I'll see how it works for me. I do like a bit of thickness behind the edge for every day usage. For me, "great slicer" is an overrated aspect for an EDC. I don't slice a lot of cardboard and I don't use a pocket knife for food prep. So "slicing" is seldom necessary.

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I've been eyeing these. Do you feel thinning the edge is completely necessary? I don't have the skill or tools to do it and it look factory, like you did.

Does the knife feel small? A 3" blade length is borderline for me, but the 4" bigger brothers are too big for me.
I'm picky with blade length.
 
I've been eyeing these. Do you feel thinning the edge is completely necessary? I don't have the skill or tools to do it and it look factory, like you did.

Does the knife feel small? A 3" blade length is borderline for me, but the 4" bigger brothers are too big for me.
I'm picky with blade length

It will still cut without thinning the edge. It did want the edge cleaned up, though. It felt kind of jagged to me, as if they stopped after the coarse abrasive level and skipped the fine grit step. AUS10 does not require diamond stones. It does want at least an aluminum oxide stone, though. It has chromium carbides, which are harder than natural stones. A Norton India Stone would work.

Blade length is a judgment call. I tend to prefer a 3" blade. For me 3" is the right size for the tasks I perform with a knife on a daily basis. Opening boxes and clamshell packaging. Trimming flash off of plastic. Small cutting chores. A larger blade feels unhandy to me, which is unfortunate, because I love large blades for their beauty.

As for the handle length, I have medium sized hands and wear medium sized gloves. I get a full grip on the handle with all four fingers, which was something I was looking for. I have several nice 3" bladed knives that I seldom carry because the handles leave a finger hanging. But if you have large hands, you may need to look at something else if you want a full four finger grip.

Edited to add:
One additional thing I did. I used a razor knife to cut striations that run lengthwise along the edge of the handle. This gives me a better grip when opening the blade. The thermoplastic handle is plenty strong and has steel liners to boot. And the flat surfaces are grippy enough. But the edges are smooth and I found a tendency for my hands to slip a bit when opening the blade if they were slippery. The striations fixed that.
 
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