Cold Steel Broken Skull I (Orange)

Factory edge was sharp, symmetrical, and centered. After I realized this knife *perfectly* held its edge with normal use, which is something I've never seen in a knife in this price range before, I purposely abused it for several days. I cut cans, cardboard, rope, and used it for everything in the kitchen. Still shaving sharp, which I haven't seen from even S35VN or 4V steel. While the edge holding potential of CTS-XHP are becoming legendary for a steel at this price, I'm personally surprised by the toughness. It weighs nothing, and you forget about it once its in your pocket. I like that the clip is tight. The G10 handle has an aggressive grip, which I love. The bright orange color makes it a easy find for me, and has that tool warning feel for innocents. It's 100% sturdy, with *the* industry leading lock. For me, the blade opens just how I like. It's easy to open if you're a man, but a child shouldn't be able to easily easily open it, which is great since I have children, and I don't want them to open it if I accidentally leave it around. I got a snagletooth MF - perfect pocket deployment.

One of my best friends in basic training was short, balding, a kind of skinny with pasty skin and glasses. He was the antithesis of the stereotypical square jawed infantry soldier. As it turned out, he could run, shoot and fight better than almost anyone I’ve ever known. He was a vicious wolf in meek sheeps garb. That’s what this knife is: an understated overachieving wolf-of-a-knife! It’s styling is subtle for sure, but all of its components are high end: G10 handle, excellent steel, the indestructible triad-lock and OMG sharp. PLUS its incredible light and slender. This is as close to being a perfect EDC that a 4” bladed knife could be. Cold Steel has finally made a large folder for those of us who don’t need our knives to look like a bladed-version of viagra. Well done! I got mine in the bright orange - I wanted a bit of flash.

Is is VERY light, and at the same time big. It is indeed strange at first but the quality and the lock mechanism is great. It is not a knife to "play with" since opening and closing it is not easy. You have to really push the back lock to close it. But if you want a tool to use, I would trust my life to it. Love the shape of the blade, the tip and the coating. It can be used AS A KNIFE (To eat I mean). Many other EDC knifes are not for that because of size, shape, etc. CAREFUL with closing it with one hand...since the back lock is hard, you have to grab the knife in a way that WILL CUT YOU if you are not careful (not so with other mechanisms like a frame, liner or axis lock). It is not a "bad" thing (except for your finger ! :)...it it just the way the mechanism works...again IT IS A TOOL, not a toy. The only bad thing is that is is fairly difficult to open the knife with the thumb stud, but again...seriously who REALLY need to open the knife in a quick motion and making a sound in 0.23 seconds...that is really for the movies not for real life.

I researched plenty of blades before deciding on this one. It does not disappoint. It's a big knife at just over 9" long, blade alone is just over 4", but really light. Pocket clip and locking mechanism are stiff but the knife is sturdy. It's so light and thin, you'll forget you are carrying it. The blade is stupid sharp. I've cut myself a couple times while trying to fold it with one hand. Careful when you try. There are plenty of YouTubes that show the knife's performance in the field stress tests. I love this knife. I'll buy another real soon.

The blade of my CS Broken Skull is dramatically warped. I didn't notice this until I carried it for a couple of months but one day I was looking at the blade from the front and it's warped/bent to the right, quite noticeably. Besides being bent to the right, it also has an axial twist to it, which again is recognizable to even non-knife people that I show it to. This knife has never cut anything besides a couple of pieces of paper, so I can only assume this kind of thing happens during heat treating. It's amazing that it actually made it through QC. I love the size, the weight, the design and everything else about the knife. It's disappointing to realize that sometimes, it really does seems to matter where a knife is produced. I've never seen anything like this in any of the hundreds of knives I've purchased over the years.

I bought this in blaze orange. I didn't realize what I was missing in such a bright handled knife! I am always using a knife outdoors and black handles, grey, olive drab, even steel handles can blend in with surrounding dirt and weeds. The bright orange sticks out like a sore thumb no matter the background. Super easy to find this knife when out in the natural environment. I removed the pocket clip because I'm not a fan of clips. I carry this on a belt or my fishing vest with a nylon folding knife sheath. A lot of people complain about the name, but being that the name is tribute to the designer, Steve Austin, it fits. Besides, it's not the name of the knife, it's the performance that counts, and this knife certainly performs. Had it over a year now and hadn't sharpened it yet. This is my first CTS XHP steel knife and I can say it came shaving sharp and is STILL shaving sharp. Excellent lockup with the Tri-Ad, deceptively lightweight for such a large knife, great blade material, and made by Cold Steel. You honestly can't go wrong here. I want to buy another color for EDC.

CANNOT OPEN THE BLADE. They told me to open on the side on the cabinet & keep at 90 degree angle for 2 weeks. I keep open for more than 1 month. Did NOT work. Still cannot open except using a board or stone angle. Peace of CRAP.

Das Messer in dieser Ausführung wird leider nicht mehr produziert. Früher wurde die Klinge aus dem Carpenter CTS® XHP Stahl gefertigt, jetzt kommt S35VN zum Einsatz. Das Messer ist ziemlich groß aber gleichzeitig leicht und liegt sehr gut in der Hand. Leider darf das Messer wegen seine Konstruktion (Einhandmesser mit Arretierung) nicht in der Öffentlichkeit mitgeführt werden. Trotzdem macht es Spaß mit dem Messer zu arbeiten da es aus hochwertigen Materialien gut gebaut ist.