Several months ago, I received a Cold Steel Pocket Bushman for test and review. Opening the box, my first thought was, "Man, this is one big honkin' knife!" That's not a bad thing...
Here's the specs on the Pocket Bushman:
Blade: Shaving sharp 4 1/2" Krupp 4116 Stainless Blade
Handle: 5 3/4" Bead blasted 420 Series Stainless
Overall: 10 1/4"
Thick: 3.5mm
Weight: 6.1 oz.
The locking mechanism can best be described as a sliding bolt that locks up the Pocket Bushman like Fort Knox. It takes two hands to close this beast of a knife once it's open and locked. When locked, it's as close to a fixed blade knife as I've seen in a folder. Here's a shot of me closing the Pocket Bushman. Note that my strong hand thumb is pushing off the pocket clip for leverage (And, Yes, it takes some leverage.)
I have used this knife all summer at home and on several excursions, including use as my primary knife for the WAR encampment at Marty and Aggie Simon's Wilderness Learning Center in Chateaugay, NY. Over the course of the summer; I have batoned the Pocket Bushman through birch, cedar, red elm, and ash. I've used it to cut camp meat, cordage, a few packages, some boxes, and to shave up some fatwood for fire lighting. The Pocket Bushman took it all in stride...
Through all this, the Pocket Bushman has not yet been resharpened. I have made it a habit to strop the edge occassionally to help delay the inevitable. It's working...
The Bushman still shaves hair! Not only is it still sharp, it locks up just as tightly as it did on Day 1, with absolutely no blade play of any type.
Another nice feature of the Pocket Bushman is that the spine of the blade is adequately sharp to strike a decent spark from a FireSteel...
I've seen the Pocket Bushman on-line for as little as $23.99 USD from EDC Depot.
My only criticism of the Pocket Bushman is that Cold Steel would do well to eliminate the thumb studs and save the machining expense. The lock is so tough that you need gorilla thumbs to use the thumb studs for one hand opening. Even so, I give the Pocket Bushman a double thumbs up.
Need more info? Try www.coldsteel.com ...
M
8 comments:
That’s a great looking Knife. I need a new one, I think this will be it! Thanks for the well written review.
Bill
www.salabencher.com
Mike,mine just came from EDC.COM
If you make the pull cord longer it will give more leverage.
akabu
Mike put a longer cord will give more leverage
Just received mine from Marc{EDC.com} very fast turn around time.
Pick for maybe a trip to the Med.[Greece} next year..salt water you know:}
Akabu
That's a real wicked knife... love it... gotta get one... but I can't find it in stores... and that's a very nice review about it...
Ian...luftwaffe-ian.blogspot.com
+1 on making the laniard longer. I used a monkey fist in a loop of 550 cord and it made a huge differance.
+1 on making a new laniard. I put a monkey fist on a loop of 550 cord and it made it much easeir to un-lock the knife. I also prefer to hold the blade edge down in my non-dominant hand and put my thumb and fore finger on the pivot screw and pull the laniard with my strong hand and fold it from there.
I've been reading a lot of negative reviews on this knife. "It's too hard to open" "It doesn't open with one hand" They sound like a bunch of cry babies. This is a Man's knife. Pull the cord back and then use the thumb stud. If you've got two hands, use 'em! This tool will inspire knife envy every time you use it in front of someone.
Thanks Mike for writing a positive review.
The cold steel knives seems to be the most sharpest and strongest knives I have seen. I do believe that they would be used for outdoors survival trips like camping, trekking and hiking.
Post a Comment