COLD STEEL Spartan 4.5 in Japanese AUS10A Blade Tactical Pocket Folding Knife w/Tri-Ad Lock and Griv-Ex Handle w/Steel Liners

This is a great quality knife from Cold Steel. The functionality and lock type/strength are easy to manipulate and hold up very well. The blade shape is unique, compared to many of the other cookie cutter types out on the market currently. Yes, it is a larger knife and is not a small EDC knife you may just put in your pocket. That being said, when closed up, it is still manageable to carry. There is also an ambidextrous pocket belt clip. Has been used for a variety of different odds and ends jobs since purchasing and has held up great.Was razor sharp out of the box and have not had to resharpen since purchasing it. Construction is very solid build and the handle makes for a great fit in the hand the way it is contoured. This is one many Cold Steel I own and the current price point (52% off) is a no brainer. The blade is AUS10A, which has help up very well and kept and edge when compared with a higher quality options out there. For the size, the weight is not at all uncomfortable and blade thickness is proportional.Great knife.

Hearty. Sharp. This came very Sharp. I hit it with a strop and it is now cut your fingers off Sharp. Built solidly. Some people have stated that it is to large for EDC, I disagree. I keep it in my back pocket with my wallet and it is out of the way when not needed. The size does cause one issue though. It is not as easy to open as my smaller knives are. Or as fast. But I may get used to this with continued practice.

I love the overall quality of the Cold Steel knives. I will continue to collect them. They come very sharp.

Great knife. Cool design and very sharp. Somewhat bulking and heavy. But great to show off.

I’ve known about the spartan blade for about 13 years. At the time I didn’t feel comfortable paying a high price for a folding blade. I mainly wear fixed blades like the buck 119 or a gerber strong arm or a mora Garberg. But you can’t always wear a fixed blade on your belt in public. This spartan knife is absolutely phenomenal. It’s very sharp and the grip is perfect and the Tri-ad lock mechanism is very, very strong. This knife is probably stronger than most fixed blades. I got two with Amazon prime and I’ll probably buy more for family. I like to ride a motorcycle and I’m always thinking of good riding blades. I love this knife. Very strong and high quality. Cold steel has never let me down with their products. This can be used as a camping knife, hunting knife, self defense knife etc. I just went on a date and I was wearing this the whole time and no one noticed. I didn’t want to make the girl uncomfortable haha. Thank God. It’s absolutely wonderful. If I can select ten stars I would. But 5 is the only option.

The Cold Steel Spartan is a very interesting folder with a couple issues. They can all be fixed, and I'll tell you how at the end of the review. Let's get those problems out of the way.1: Slight up and down blade play out of the box.2: Inside of the handle scales are sharp/uglyscales.3: Tight pocket clip.There is still a lot of good with this knife though.1: AUS 10a steel has held up awesomely even with some medium duty chopping. I have maintained the edge with nothing but a strop.2: Blade is ground thin both on the primary and secondary bevels. This makes for a great cutting knife. Also, dead even grind lines, even on the swedge.3: Great out-of-the-box edge. The edge shaves clean with one light stroke across the arm, and has the same level of sharpness across the entire edge. Holds up well with chopping green wood and dry softwood. I don't think it will do well with anything harder.4: Handle is moderately grippy and has good (not great) ergonomics. The handle design lets you choke way back for chopping or comfortably choke up to the cutting edge.5: Lock depresses easily enough for its strength.6: Great deployment even when pivot is tight. When the pivot is loosened you can snap the blade open with its own weight. Wave is effective with a little practice.7: Carries exceptionally well. Rides deep in the pocket, and when I'm wearing my black work pants, it is my most discreet knife! No logos on the clip help with blending in.8: Balance is a little in front of the finger choil. This makes the knife feel choppy in the hand, which is fine given the design and purpose of the Spartan.9: Great blade finish. Looks amazing, wears well, and cleans up good with rubbing alcohol after chopping sappy wood.10: Thick spine and lockbar look cool and add some degree of strength.Unfortunately, there were the issues I mentioned. The blade play was really annoying and got to where you could crank down on the pivot and it would still move up and down. What I did:I took it all of the screws out of both sides of the handle. Then, I tightened the pivot down as much as I could. The blade had been a little off center to the right, so I wedged it to the left with a folded piece of paper, and put in the handle screws. I used pliers to hold my torx driver so I could really snug them up. I removed the paper and adjusted the pivot until the blade was centered. The blade can be thumb flicked with some wrist action or it can be waved. It is tight (no free dropping blade here!) But there is not the slightest side to side play or that awful lock rock I was having.The clip was easy to fix, I just pried it off the handle and held it for a few seconds. It still clips tight but I can get it into the pocket with one hand.The sharp scales fixed themselves with a week of carry, and they are loosing the ugly shiny look they had.In short, the Spartan would be good for collecting, light chopping duty, or social work. It looks quite macho in a bit of a goofy way. If yours locks up right or you fix it, it's solid as rock. It cuts like a dream. I like mine, and I will get more large CS folding knives.

It’s awesome. It’s inexpensive. Just buy it. You know you want to.

The knife is solidly built and meets my expectations in terms of quality, but there's one major issue—it's nearly impossible to open or close. I'm a fit guy who lifts weights regularly, yet I struggle with this blade. The locking mechanism, while great for safety, defeats its purpose if it’s so hard to release that it becomes a hazard. When it does finally snap shut, my fingers risk getting caught in its path.To safely close the knife, I have to use both thumbs to push down on the locking release simultaneously. And as for deploying it quickly? Forget about it. The effort required to open this knife using the Emerson Wave technique would likely rip my pocket—and maybe my underwear—right out of my heavy-duty jeans. So, in a self-defense situation, unless you're planning to throw your torn, stained underwear at an attacker, this knife isn't going to help.I could return it for a refund, but I'm too quirky for that. I bought this as a birthday present for myself and have this irrational belief that I’m meant to keep it, despite its annoyances. Maybe there's a lesson here, or maybe I’m just stubborn. And everything else about it is great. Either way, this knife is staying with me—for better or worse.