Ron Balicki

Folding Knives

RECON 1® SERIES
Cold Steel is famous for raising the bar in the knife industry and our Recon 1® tactical folders are setting a standard that's hard to beat. Why? Because they are as tough as nails and will cut like a chain saw! Every facet of their construction has been over engineered to make them as strong, durable and effective as humanly possible. The blades are made out of imported Japanese AUS 8A stainless steel that's been vacuum heat treated and sub-zero quenched and the handles feature G-10 laminate scales artfully contoured and scalloped for a terrific non slip grip. Plus, they are held together by the latest in high strength mechanical fasteners and further anchored by a 6061 heat-treated spacer. To complement their super tough blades and handles they are equipped with our revolutionary Tri Ad lock

GRIVORY HANDLE PARADOX SERIES
Available in two sizes 4" and 5 1/2" aluminum handle Paradoxes, The Balisong or Butterfly knives, with their revolving handles, and strong locking mechanisms, have had a certain mystique since they were first popularized in the early 1980's. United States Customs outlawed the importation of all butterfly knives under, what can only be assumed to be, an arbitrary and unreasonable interpretation of the Switchblade Act. Many U.S. states soon followed suit including California, where mere possession of a Butterfly knife is a FELONY.

The Paradox® is not a switchblade, gravity knife, or assisted opener and can't be opened without the use of both hands. So, while it looks and feels like a classic Butterfly knife, it isn't. It's a legal Balisong! The handle feature two integral springs that are similar to a conventional slip joint folder. Its locking mechanism is impervious to spine whack and the most violent stresses and shocks. The leaf shaped blade is hollow ground from imported Japanese AUS 8A Stainless and, due to the latest advances in heat treatment, it offers a thin, ultra keen edge that lasts. The skeletonized handles are CNC machined from solid billets of 6061 aluminum (instead of being cheaply cast out of zinc) and feature a hard-anodized coating to reduce scratches and oxidation. If you're a Balisong fan, but don't want to take the risk of being arrested, the Paradox® is a terrific alternative. Clip it to your waistband or pocket where it screams "CUSTOM HAND MADE BALISONG". $49.95

COUNTER POINT SERIES

The blades are in a classic boot knife shape with long false edges and needle sharp points to guarantee the ultimate in penetration. The handles of our Counter Points are injection molded from Grivory and have steel liners to enhance their strength and rigidity. They offer an unusually secure grip for their diminutive size. They're carefully sculptured and contoured with strategically placed holes to reduce weight, and they sport a unique thumb rest built into the butt, affording excellent purchase and a wide variety of grip options. The Counter Point folders utilize the revolutionary Tri-Ad® lock. Designed to withstand horrendous stress and strain, it shrugs off impact from any angle without fail and offers a huge margin of safety for your precious fingers. To enable your Counter Point to be swiftly drawn and ready for action we have equipped them with fully ambidextrous pocket clips and thumb studs. Clipped to a boot top, pocket or waistband, the Counter Points are just about invisible and so light they truly can be carried 24-7.

HOLD OUT SERIES
Available in several sizes to meet just about anyone's needs, they offer a number of contemporary variations and refinements at a very affordable price. Each blade is made of our tried and true AUS 8A Stainless Steel, Featuring a thin, acutely pointed tip that's sharp as the proverbial needle. And it glides effortlessly through even the most puncture resistant materials while remaining remarkably resistant to breakage. Adding to their value and wicked effectiveness, each knife has been precisely and beautifully hollow ground before being honed by hand to a razor edge that will fling hairs from your arm like magic. The handles of our Hold Out series are fashioned from the finest American made G-10 laminate, they offer a palm hugging profile and a thin, flat cross section that resists rolling or twisting in the palm while remaining comfortable and versatile enough to accommodate a wide variety of gripping styles. The Hold Out comes with our record breaking Tri-Ad lock. Proven to way out perform the competition in the most brutal tests imaginable, it's simply the best lock available for folding knives at any price. Hold Outs are supplied with polished stainless steel pocket clips and thumb studs on the blade.

MINI TUFF LITE
Cold Steel's Mini Tuff-Lite folder is there when you need it. It's perfectly sized to slip into a pocket, clip to your waistband, or wear around your neck on a lanyard. It offers a 2" long, wide, hollow ground blade that's mercilessly sharp and can shear through the toughest materials with unexpected ease. It's highly useful for precision work and delivers deep penetration, yet its un-aggressive looking slant point tip, isn't likely to draw unwelcome attention. The Mini Tuff-Lite's handle is made of Grivory, it offers an enormous strength to weight ratio and features our state of the art Tri-Ad® lock, which gives it astonishing muscle for its size.

RAJAH SERIES
The Rajah folders are big enough to approximate the feel and heft a fixed blade Kukri. Their broad, downward curved blades exhibit the best of a Kukri’s characteristics. First, their unique shape presents their thin, hollow ground edges at just the right angle so they naturally bite deep instead of bouncing or skidding off. And secondly their points are thick, wide and sharp enough to pierce even the toughest targets. The handle has some of the contours of fixed blade Kukri’s with the addition of strategically placed curves and finger grooves. The Rajah folder utilizes the TRI-AD lock. Designed specifically to take pressure off the smaller, more fragile interlocking surfaces of a rocker lock and transfer them to a uniquely positioned stop pin that will absorb and distribute these forces through the handle frame.

RAJAH II
The Rajah II is a more economical version of the Rajah I (at one third the price). It has a Grivory injection molded handle and steel liners for added strength.

RAJAH III
The Rajah III is basically a scaled down, more pocket friendly, version of its big brother. It shares almost all the major features of the Rajah II including an AUS 8A stainless blade, Tri-Ad™ lock, thumb plate opener, ambidextrous pocket clips, and a Grivory handle with steel liners for extra strength and rigidity.

G-10 ESPADA SERIES
If you have been secretly lusting after one of our gorgeous Espadas but find they are just out of your price range, look again. Our new all G-10 models are almost identical where it really counts and sell for a fraction of the cost of their much more expensive brothers. Made practical and tactical they offer non-reflective bead blasted blades, non slip high friction G-10 handles, abbreviated steel liners and our incomparable Tri-Ad® Lock. Get 90% of the strength with no sacrifice in cutting power and save big bucks. Buy an all G-10 handle Espada.

VOYAGER SERIES - TANTO POINT

The Voyagers are, ounce for ounce, far stronger than 99.9% of our competitor"s folders. And this is a fact, not an idle boast. Each knife features precision made parts with a stiff spring and our incomparable Tri-Ad lock mechanism which is arguably the strongest, most reliable, low maintenance lock in the world! The thick, extra wide blades are made from Japanese AUS 8A steel and meticulously ground to a thin edge for maximum shearing potential. This thin edge also allows us to hone each blade to astounding sharpness. And, because of the high carbon content of the steel, and their near perfect heat treatment, you"ll find this sharpness last a surprisingly long time. If you like serrations, you"ll really appreciate our exclusive pattern. The Voyager Series also offers all the other latest refinements in lock-back construction including lightning quick, one-handed opening, state of the art mechanical fasteners, massively oversized pivot pins that are fully adjustable and properly hardened, and dual stainless steel pocket clips for ambidextrous carry and deployment. The Grivory handles feature 6061 heat treated aluminum liners for the utmost in strength and stiffness and are ergonomically designed to afford a wide array of grip options including the palm reinforced forward grip for which they are particularly well suited.

VOYAGER SERIES - CLIP POINT

VOYAGER SERIES - VAQUERO

AK- 47® SERIES
In 1947 Mikhail Kalashnikov, the legendary Russian gun designer, created the AK-47 assault rifle. It was rugged, simple to operate and maintain, economical, and effective at reasonable ranges. This weapon, and all it represents became the inspiration for our heavy-duty tactical knives, the AK-47® folders. The AK-47®"s possess all of the attributes of their namesake, and perhaps a few more. They"re built for hard and rugged use and are available in two sizes. Both sizes have many features in common. For instance, both are equipped with G-10 handles that offer a vigorous grip that is remarkably tough, rigid and incomparably strong. Also, each size comes with a unique pommel made out of 6061 aluminum. The pommels feature a lanyard hole and can also serve as a "less than lethal" percussion tool in a self-defense situation. Additionally, the hollow ground blades are honed by hand until they reach levels of sharpness only seen on a surgeon"s scalpel. They"re made from Japanese AUS 8A Stainless steel, then vacuum heat-treated and sub zero quenched for maximum toughness. The blades are coated with black Teflon® for corrosion resistance and to enhance cutting power and to improve edge retention by reducing friction. The blades are supported by our state of the art Tri-Ad® lock. In our testing, the Tri-Ad® has proved to be superior to any other lock on the market today in terms of overall strength and resistance to shock induced by blows on the spine or the even more devastating shock by over-strike that lands on the handle. Finally, to assure easy access, the AK-47®"s come with an ambidextrous pocket clip and our new patented thumb plate. The thumb plate has a dual purpose, it allows the knife to be drawn and quickly opened by snagging it on the edge of a pocket or it can be used like a conventional thumb stud or disc for easy, one-handed opening.

SPARTAN
Cold Steel Spartan™ is a folding Kopis scaled down to accommodate the demands of a tamer, more sophisticated world. The 4 1/2" blade evokes the classic Kopis of the ancients with its characteristic recurved edge, big belly and sharp, acute point. It’s hollow ground from Japanese AUS 8A stainless and has some similarities with a Kukri. Like the Kukri, the Spartan™ always presents its edge at an angle to the material being cut to produce a deep sheering effect. However, since its point is narrower and more acute than most Kukri blades, it stabs almost as well as it cuts. The Spartan™ also echoes the ancient Kopis in its handle. It’s designed to help the hand resist the pull of centrifugal force and to retard forward momentum, when stabbing, or backward movement, when hammering or smashing with its pommel. Injection molded out of Grivory with steel liners for strength, it’s heavily contoured for comfort and features irregular fluting and a heavily textured surface finish for an exceptionally effective grip. The Spartan™ has dual pocket clips to assure ambidextrous carry and for quick draw opening, it features a thumb plate that can be used to open the knife like a conventional "one handed opener" or be snagged on the edge of a pocket during the draw stroke and opened automatically. Additionally, the Spartan™ incorporates our Tri-Ad™ locking mechanism, which has proven, under torture testing to be almost impervious to stress, strain and shock. It’s almost impossible to overcome and offers a huge margin of safety not found in our competitor’s folders. $61.99

AMERICAN LAWMAN SERIES
The American Lawman is built like a proverbial tank, it"s comfortable in the most extreme environments and will shrug off the harshest abuse like water off a duck"s back. this is one super tough knife that can be relied on, even in life or death situations. The drop point blade is "civilian friendly" in appearance yet big, wide and most importantly, pointed enough for any cutting or piercing task. made from japanese aus 8a stainless steel and hollow ground to a thin, hand-polished edge, it"s as sharp as a serpent"s tooth and will easily sever the toughest, most fibrous materials. to further protect it from rust and the constant exposure to inclement weather, it comes with a black, non-reflective teflon® finish. It was very important to make the American Lawman"s handle as versatile and user friendly as possible. supplied with dual pocket clips and twin thumb studs, it"s completely ambidextrous and can be opened one-handed in a flash. plus, due to its well thought out finger grooves, it"s equally comfortable and effective in either a forward or reverse grip. Keeping a firm grip on their knife when their hands are cold or wet. That"s why we have equipped these knives with aggressively textured G-10 handle scales. The American Lawman with our new tri-ad locking mechanism.

ESPADA SERIES
Available in three sizes to suit the bold, the bolder and the boldest, the Espada was designed by custom knife maker Andrew Demko and Cold Steel President Lynn Thompson. To make your hand the real master of these awesome blades we have paired them with state of the art pistol grip handles. Strongly curved and equipped with multiple finger grooves and even a sub-hilt in the two larger models, they work perfectly in either a forward or reverse grip while offering unprecedented retention and reach through multiple grip extension options. To minimize overall weight and maximize strength and rigidity, we have CNC machined the frames and integral bolsters of the Espada’s handles from 7075 Aluminum billets. While quite costly, this material rivals even Titanium in strength and can endure years of the hardest abuse. Finally to make the handle as beautiful as it is effective and strong, we have mirror polished the dovetailed bolsters and attached glossy black G-10 handle scales using the latest high tech fasteners. We have equipped each model with our new multi-patented TRI-AD lock. The TRI-AD is unsurpassed in resisting positive pressure from the edge (cutting, slashing and chopping), negative pressure from the point (piercing, digging and chiseling), and impact pressure (whacks on the back of the spine of the blade) by diverting these forces first to its unique stop pin and then throughout the entire handle frame.

KUDO
The Kudu, takes some cues from its South African competition, but our version is vastly superior. Ours has a Krupp 4116 Stainless steel flat ground blade, heat treated to Rc 56-57 for better edge holding ability and ease of re-sharpening, and a thin razor sharp edge. For safety, we have thoroughly tested the locking mechanism and are well satisfied it will hold the blade rigidly open until you decide to close it by pulling up on the ring attached to the back spring. The handle of the Kudu also reflects our dedication to making an effective and affordable folder. It’s made of 43% glass reinforced Zytel®. This material has proven to be extremely strong, and is stiff enough to complement the blade and spring when locked open. Plus, the gripping surface has a wood grain texture for traction and features an attractive polished steel Kudu horn emblem for a little extra flair! We think the Kudu represents an unbelievable value. It’s ready for anything and makes a wonderful work knife, utility knife, bait knife, or hunting knife. $7.49

POCKET BUSHMAN
While it"s physically impossible for any folding knife to ever match the strength and rigidity of a fixed blade, we believe our Pocket Bushman, with its new patent pending lock, is close to hitting the mark. The blade is long and wide with a short, sharp, clip point for usefulness and versatility. And it"s hollow ground from top to bottom with just enough belly to be useful for all sorts of tasks. For the handle, we used the mono block construction method famously used in the French Douk Douk line of knives. There are several advantages to using the mono block. It"s simple to mass-produce, and, since there are no liners, handle scales or back spacers, the end result is quite affordable. A single sheet of stainless steel is folded in half to form a housing for the closed blade, as well as supplying the enormous strength and rigidity required to complement our Ram Safe™ lock. The Ram Safe™ lock to work in tandem with the mono block handle. It features a unique, self adjusting ram that moves forward as the knife is opened and wedges itself tightly between the tang cut away we call the “shelf” and the “U” shaped “roof” of the handle. It’s powered by a strong compression spring that urges the ram forward and makes for an incredibly strong lock up. Positive pressure on the lock generated by heavy cutting or chopping strokes is distributed through the blade, then the blade tang shoulder and finally directly into the mono block handle that acts like a giant unbreakable stop pin. Negative pressure from sticking, digging or prying with the point is directed in a different direction through the blade to the blade tang shelf and then to the ram which is squeezed between the shelf and the “U” shaped roof of the handle. Negative pressure easily defeats the vast majority of lock mechanisms. The only way the Ram Safe™ lock can be overcome is if the blade breaks or if the pivot pin is sheared off. Two situations that are highly improbable. $29.95

TI-LITE®
Ti-Lite® tactical folders feature Japanese made AUS 8A stainless steel blades with a bead blast finish, razor sharp edges and sturdy, needle sharp points. The CNC milled handles are forged from super tough 7075 Aluminum billets and are given an attractive bead blast surface and finished with a protective EDP (Electric Discharge Plating) coating. And for maximum strength and safety, we have equipped our Ti-Lites® with our patent pending, stainless steel leaf spring locks (proven, in our tests, to hold 130 lbs). For ease of carry, the Ti-Lites® come equipped with a small, but unobtrusive steel pocket clip, and can be opened rapidly by using the thumb studs or by snagging a quillon on the edge of your pocket as you draw your knife out. We know that many of our customers love the look of our Ti-Lites® but find the prices a little steep. So we have created some very affordable alternatives. The Zytel® Ti-Lite® with a 4 inch blade mimics the look of its more expensive counterparts almost exactly, and our model that features a six inch blade is a completely unique Ti-Lite,® virtually in a class by itself. Instead of 7075 Aluminum, we used 43% glass filled Zytel® for the handles and high quality stainless steel for the leaf spring lock and liners. The results are extraordinarily lightweight knives that are remarkably strong, sharp and good looking, at a price almost everyone can afford.

Thought of the day ...

Folding Knives