Cold SteelRecon 1 MAGNACUT/9-3/8 OVRLL/4" Blade/3.5MM THICK/G-10 HNDL

I hardly ever leave reviews, especially bad ones, but Cold Steel needs to know that whatever is going on since the buyout is letting down longtime users and owners of their products.I didn’t notice an issue at first, aside from a strong chemical smell from the G-10, so I assume that it was improperly cured.After using the knife a couple of times, I noticed that the lock bar was off center, with a gap on one side. I looked closer and realized that the stop pin was not properly seated into the scales, and was pushing them apart. At that point I noticed that there was also excess material left behind from the milling in the jimping on the handle.I figured it would be a relatively easy fix. I wasn’t super concerned about voiding the warranty because I’ve worked on many many folding knives.What I didn’t expect was that when I attempted to disassemble it the body screw immediately stripped out. Good quality tools, low quality screws. When I attempted to approach it from the other side I realized that they were essentially glued into the g-10 with white loctite.I decided to quit while I was behind , and now I have a $260 beater, that smells bad, that I hate.Don’t do it.

The title says it all…… If you are not the kind of guy who is willing to take your knives apart to fix or improve them then skip this one.Why? Because just like other Italian made Cokd Steel knives it comes with a crunchy action , dirty washers and cheaper packaging. You will need to take this guy apart and clean out the washers, oil the pivot, and over all rehaul to get that classic smooth action.Otherwise yeah, it’s an awesome knife. Go to YouTube and watch the in depth review done by EDC Gear Guy for all the pros and cons.

A+

PROS: It says Cold Steel on it. The flat black finish on the blade is better than the shiny finish on other models.CONS: Everything else. Packaging was cheap. Action was crunchy. Value just isn't there even with Magnacut steel. Cold steel customer service won't even provide you with a replacement clip if you need one much less screws for their knives, they will make you pay for shipping for warranty work. Some people say you can improve the action by disassembling the knife but there are many reviews that say the knife is difficult to disassembly because of too much lock tite ending with stripped screws. In this price range if your looking for Magnacut in this size I'd go with a CRKT Redemption, Kershaw Launch 7, Kershaw Livewire or a HOGUE RSK.

**Disappointing Quality for the Price**For the price, I expected much better. The knife arrived in a cheap, crushed plastic bag, and the box looked like it had been used. The action was crunchy and not at all smooth, which was surprising given the tight lock system. Even worse, despite how tight it was, the blade still wiggled back and forth. I'm really disappointed with the quality—especially from a company I thought would have better standards. I hope Cold Steel is paying attention because this kind of craftsmanship is unacceptable. I always believed Italy was known for perfection in its products, but this certainly wasn’t the case here.

I bought a lot of Cold Steel knives and this Magnacut from Italy from a large authentic dealer of Cold Steel knives is my most regrettable knife purchase. Opening it is a chore and even with a strong thumb flick there is some friction that stops it. I had to do thumb flick+wrist to open it up but found that unacceptable for more than double a regular Recon 1 counting the discount. I adjusted the pivot screw extensively and it is still bad like it is rubbing on the g10 or bad washers.To make matters worse I really wanted to like this knife and tried to fix the knife by opening it up to troubleshoot the issue. Multiple stripped screws occurred when I used adequate tools and was very careful with it. Why would a knife for over 200 dollars use such cheap screws and have such a bad action? The Cold Steel AD10 blackout version in titanium was leagues better than this, opens butter smooth and feels great for not much more money.I suspect a lack of quality control that this is being sold like this. I'll never buy anything from Cold Steel Italy after experiencing this knife.