Cold Steel Pocket Bushman

[zardoz]

Just got this from Charity ( where else? ) so here's a little technical review.

Designed to compliment the Cold Steel Bushman fixed blade and with the same sort of premise, it's simple, cheap, and almost indestructable.



The frame is like a Douk Douk, a single piece of folded stainless steel. It has a pleasing palm swell each side, quite necessary as otherwise this would be a very narrow knife.



The clip point, flat ground blade is 4116 Stainless and has a tumbled / stonewash finish, nothing special but it came impressively shaving sharp. Nice to see that it is supported on phosphor bronze washers considering this is an economy model. Cutting edge is 4" and just over 1/8" thick.



Stripping needs a #10 Torx for the blade, #8 Torx for the spring keeper and #6 Torx for the pocket clip. The locking bar also has that tumbled finish and is very smooth, again a very nice touch. No unfinished edges, good screws and alignment, well fitted and an impressive build quality for what it is.



Cold Steel's "Pat Pending Ram Safe Lock" is not dissimilar to a compression lock and seems very, very strong. The locking bar slides backwards and forwards and is tensioned fowards by a coil spring, the bar wedges itself between the blade and the upper part of the frame. Even if the coil spring broke or got gunged up, just tapping the lock bar forward would wedge it into that space and you effectively have a fixed blade, practically bulletproof.



Operating the lock though is an akward affair, as you have to pull the locking bar out of its fit between the blade and top strap, and compress it rearwards against the coil spring, until you can start to swing the blade. Quite an effort and the reason that the lanyard is there, you literally have to stick a finger or two in the loop to pull it back while grasping the frame with the other hand and then nudging the blade down once it's free. The penalty for having such a secure lock. I defy anyone to close this one handed (someone will now....). Enormous potential for cut fingers if you don't read the warning instructions and suggested technique pictures that come with it.




I quite like it as a 'tuck it in the bag and forget it' sort of backup, it's not too weighty and it's slim profile means it will hide away nicely. It's price means it will get used for all the dirty jobs and it will certainly stand up to them.

Link to Manufacturer's description Coldsteel

[Danzo]

Great pics of it disassembled Zardoz. I've been a bit scathing about it, but it looks better than I had previously thought and the locking mechanism does seem interesting.

Charity said it was bigger than she had anticipated and if that's a full size Bushman you've shown it with then it certainly is a bit of a beast!



Danzo

[ANDYLASER]

Nice review thanks. Does look as though it would make a good "pack & forget" knife.

Glad to see you're slowly coming round to this Dan.

[cchimni]

Excellent pics and great review... It is definately a beast.... closed 6 inch... open... 10.5 inches

[Danzo]

Excellent pics and great review... It is definately a beast.... closed 6 inch... open... 10.5 inches

Crikey, that is big!

I think I need one.



Danzo

[cchimni]

Crikey, that is big!

I think I need one.



Danzo

[Danzo]

Make it so......



Danzo

[Trucker Al]

Thanks for the review, I'm certainly looking forward to mine arriving now.

[cchimni]

Make it so......



Danzo

[skippydm]

I was expecting it to be perfectly flat on either side, the swell gives it a different look

hopefully mine will come with mr postman tomorrow

[theroguedeluxe]

Excellent review! Looks like an ideal keep-inna-pack knife... I'm thinking I'll need a couple once all my current orders have arrived

So much for my resolution to hold off buying any more knives for a couple of months

[skippydm]

Holy crap this knife is BIG

Next to two quite recognisable knives






I bleeding love it its massive

[robtattoo]

Hayzoos! Can't wait to get mine now
It'll be getting thrown in my hunting pack & forgotten about (Until they clone a T-Rex anyway!)

[robtattoo]

Ireceived mine this morning from Charity (literally 10 minutes ago!) First impression......

Even knowing & having seen pics of how big this thing is, it still came as a shock! IT'S MAHOOOSIVE!! The lock mechanism is frankly brilliant, very solid indeed. I really don't see what the fuss is about with this setup either. The blade closing makes perfect sense to me & I really don't see a potential for thumb/finger/arm loss at all.
All in all (for a 10 minute fumble) I think it's brill. If I'd picked one up in a shop & had the usual 2 minutes to play with it, I'd definately buy one.

[skippydm]

Ireceived mine this morning from Charity (literally 10 minutes ago!) First impression......

Even knowing & having seen pics of how big this thing is, it still came as a shock! IT'S MAHOOOSIVE!! The lock mechanism is frankly brilliant, very solid indeed. I really don't see what the fuss is about with this setup either. The blade closing makes perfect sense to me & I really don't see a potential for thumb/finger/arm loss at all.
All in all (for a 10 minute fumble) I think it's brill. If I'd picked one up in a shop & had the usual 2 minutes to play with it, I'd definately buy one.

yeah i know what you mean, I knew it was going to be big but when i got it i still swore at the size of it

I think people just dont like how it snaps shut but IMHO its nicer than a slip joint which snaps shut in exactly the same motion this one gives you a little warning first

Got to give this 9/10 only thing that would make it better would be a different steel but haven't had a problem with the current steel yet