Cold Steel Super Edge review

EDC Gear for Flashlight Carriers
1

Specifications:
Blade Length: 2”
Overall Length: 4 5/16”
Steel: Japanese Aus 8A Stainless
Weight: 0.8 oz
Blade Thickness: 2 mm
Handle:2 5/16” Long Kray-Ex™
Sheath:Secure-Ex® Sheath

Price: around 20$ US street price

Super Edge was the first knife I bought, before I knew anything at all about knives. It seemed useful and practical enough to have on my keychain. However, this small neck knife is brought down by some poor design decisions.

The first of these is the “secure-ex” sheath, which is so tight that it dulls the edge after short term use, merely by taking it out of the sheath and putting it back in.

Secondly, the blade is too short to make effective use out of the serrations. It is more or less impossible to saw with such a short blade. To make matters worse the cold steel serrations (the needle like ones) are too close and too pointy to be effective. Their tips break easily because they protrude so much, they catch on everything and rip and tear instead of cutting. The plain edge part is so short that it is functionally useless.

The result is a knife that’s extremely limited in application to the point at not being good at any thing at all.

Since I had no way to sharpen the serrations and I consider them pretty bad in the first place, I ground them away with the Lansky sharpening system and put a plain edge on the knife. It took away a lot of material and was a major pain but it had the added benefit of making the knife a better fit for the sheath - the edge no longer rubs against it. (second picture)

So, now I have a useful knife, but since there are so many other neck knives without these shortcomings I have no reason to recommend it. It is hard to justify paying 20$ for this knife when its arguably much worse than say, a SRM 710.

My girlfriend took a liking to it so she carries it in her purse, so it doesn’t get much use.

In Cold Steel’s defense, the handle is rather comfortable for something so small. Allows for a decent grip too. With a plain blade its a decent package opening/apple peeling knife.

2

Thanks for sharing .

Nice mod .

3

How long did you spend grinding the edge down with the Lansky?

Now that it’s ground down, does it still rub on the sheath making it dull?

Thanks for sharing!

4

I split up the work over several days. I only have the standard set, without an extra coarse stone. It took a lot of time (maybe 8-10 hours, dunno, didn’t keep count), and would have taken much more if the knife wasn’t so tiny. Its also a chisel grind so I had to make a bevel out of nothing on the other side. Its a pain in the ass process that’s only worth doing because the knife is not very usable once it loses the factory sharpness.

It doesn’t rub on the sheath any more (now that its lost at least 2 mm from the edge).

5

Thanks for the info.

6

You did a wise thing, bravo :slight_smile:

The only fixed blade knife I have so small is an Esee IZULA II, which comes in carbon steel and plain edge (things that I like). Be it for the coating on it or the heat treatment, it’s not very sharpening friendly although being 1095 carbon steel, the handle is comfortable but the 2’’ or so (don’t remember exactly) blade did not impress me as far as usefulness goes… Not a budget buy either.
I’ll keep it because it fits anywhere and can thus find its place for some applications. Would not buy more neck knives anyway.

7

That’s strange, 1095 should be a breeze to sharpen.

You are right, neck knives are somewhat pointless. A slightly larger folder can do everything they can do and more and the weight difference is negligible. And you don’t have to carry a sheath for it.

8

neck knives has several benefits to be honest, like some heavy folders might drag your belt-less pants down a bit, or shorts and pants without pocket, and you can still carry it even you are naked… i done it during some stupid military training

9

If Malaysian military fights naked with only a neck knife, I wouldn’t want to mess with them :smiley:

10

certainly you dont want to lol