ghost
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Post by ghost on Apr 2, 2011 19:47:02 GMT
Anyone have one of these Cold Steel Spartans? (I have a feeling Seb might have one...but I could be wrong.) I went ahead and purchased one already...even before reading the reviews. I'd just like to know other sbg knife nuts' opinions (and hearsay) on the product. Thanks.
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Sébastien
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Post by Sébastien on Apr 2, 2011 19:50:43 GMT
I don't have one but it is on my long-potential-next-buy list. I have heard it is a nice, big blade folder but never saw or held one. Make sure to give us some insight once you have it in hand
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Apr 2, 2011 20:54:01 GMT
He's not SBG, but he is a knife nut who knows his knives; nutnfancy of Youtube:
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ghost
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Post by ghost on Apr 2, 2011 21:43:17 GMT
Yea, I've seen Nuts videos but they seem overly biased cough*
However, I really liked his all out tests on the blade - surpassing Cold Steel tests and adding in some of his own.
Really really surprised that Nut (220lb guy) can stand on the knife w/ no damage - especially with all that bouncing.
Seb, I know you must be itching to try out the Spartan's weird speed pocket-liner pull. I've never seen such a design before. I really thought it was an "assisted" switchblade w/ a spring hidden somewhere. I'll try and write a review when I get it...and I'll see whether I can get the motions down w/o cutting myself to pieces
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Sébastien
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Post by Sébastien on Apr 2, 2011 21:53:58 GMT
SUre man, write a review, I would be very happy to not be the only one who types knife reviews here BTW my Cold Steel Ti-Lite has a similar pocket-pull thing that allows quick deployment, but I almost never use it ; it easily tears clothing and I don't like the idea of a large blade snapping open that quickly near my femoral artery. It can a fun and cool-looking trick however. Another thing ; what do you think about NutNFancy ? What biais do you think he has ?
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ghost
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Post by ghost on Apr 2, 2011 22:33:28 GMT
I figured these 'Emerson wave" folders might rip up our pants easily. I just have no experience w/ such a design. With a big blade like the spartan, it certainly would not deploy easy. I never carry knives for EDC or defense so the 2-step thing is moot. Anyways it's illegal here in LA county to carry any folder >3 inches concealed.
to me, NutnFancy is clearly one of the better experienced knife reviewers, but he really laid out his opinions thickly and expressed his enthusiasm heavily in this clip. (It could just be that I keep noticing the youtube ad that pops up is actually Cold Steel when I go to close it - could be coincidence) I'm just more used to watching his reviews on fixed tacticals and survivals so this one one just seemed bizarre (alcohol induced? :? ) i.e. calling it Caveman x5; and a grip hewn out of stone... I doubt he gets paid anything to review these blades by the companies, but this just may be one of those knives that CS gave him for free to opin on and share with the rest of us.
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Post by Bryn on Apr 2, 2011 22:57:02 GMT
Ghost, I think the reason (not defending, merely commenting) Nutn really likes a lot of the Cold Steel blades is that they're pretty much all marketed and sold as some sort of defense/fighting knife. And, as a general rule, that's what Nutn really really likes in a blade. It is true, he does seem to rave quite a bit about cold steel, more so than others. However, his vids on some of the benchmades are very complimentary as well.
As for me, I see the Spartan as the little brother of the Rajahs, especially the Rajah II, which is one of my favorite knives. Heavy, yes. Practical for every day, no. But when I want to be a little more secure in where I'm walking at night, I usually slip that in my pocket. Let us know if you get the same feeling about the Spartan, eh?
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ghost
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Post by ghost on Apr 3, 2011 0:23:35 GMT
Ah Bryn...now it makes sense. Thank you for the clarification. I've seen so many of his reviews and most seemed quite ambivalent at the time. I guess I was glancing at mostly his outdoors/survival clips, since this is what I personally favor.
The Rajah 2 was a tie for me...same blade designer but w/ more size and umph. Chose the spartan just b/c of pocket space. I carry a small folder for ordinary everyday use - it's just got a seatbelt cutter and window breaker just in case S@(# hits the fan.
The Spartan seems reasonable for my hiking/jogging/camping trips in the Santa Monica mountains near my area. I used to carry my Ka-bar strapped to my Camelbak, but the chicks started giving me funny looks. There are mountain lions (really rare) and huge, I repeat HUGE, coyotes that probably would think my 12 lb dog is a mighty fine looking snack. Just the other day, I went into the backyard since I heard my dog barking on the balcony. I thought someone lost their wolve-hybrid doggie and went to grab it, until I stepped outside and noticed its huge tail. I've seen a few coyotes, but man this thing was really bigggg.
The Rajahs and Spartan look discrete enough, yet big enough to penetrate thick hides. (Spartan reminds me of the Alaskan Gil Hibben knife)
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Post by Bryn on Apr 3, 2011 1:24:32 GMT
I gotcha. Yeah, for camping and hiking, the Spartan would make a LOT more sense. I love my Rajah II but I'd hate to go on any sort of extended hike with that in my pocket. Strapped to a hip belt? Sure, but it'd get real annoying in the pocket, that's for sure.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Apr 3, 2011 1:31:23 GMT
I'm also looking forward to a review, Ghost; my list of knives probably is nowhere near as long as Sebastien's, but this is one of the ones on my list. I trust Nutn's opinion, but he is (reasonably and understandably) biased towards soldiers and lawmen most of the time, so I'd like to hear about it from a civilian's point of view.
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Post by Mike U. on Apr 3, 2011 4:46:22 GMT
I have both the Rajah II and The Spartan. They are both total pocket pigs, but, make up for it by delivering near fixed blade type performance. The blade steel, AUS8-A, holds a reasonably decent edge. It's just an upper mid range performer that does what it's supposed to. There are better steel grades out there, but, AUS8-A gives fairly decent bang for the buck. Cold Steel's "Triad Lock" is VERY stout. I was an unbeliever at first and just bought them because I like big folders. You can beat the blade's spine till your sore and tired and that lock holds. Impressive. The Rajah II required a break-in period because the lock (OOB) was stiff as an adversarial mother-in-law. I got sore thumbs trying to disengage that suckah during the break-in period. However, unlike the mother-in-law, it loosened up after a couple of days and is now perfect. This is a bit of an anomaly, because I've yet to see more than a couple of complaints about the sticky lock issue. I hear way more about adversarial mother's-in-law. :lol:
I would suggest getting a round ceramic or diamond coated stick to sharpen these knives because re-curves are kinda tricky to sharpen on flat stones. Also, FWIW, if you like to strop your blades after sharpening, get yourself a dowel or tree branch, a strip of leather or mouse pad and staple it to the stick. Make sure the leather strip goes most of the way around the dowel so the staples don't get in your way during the stropping process. (Voice of experience here :oops: ). Load it up with green honing or a polishing compound of your choice and you have a strop suitable for recurved blades.
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Sébastien
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Post by Sébastien on Apr 6, 2011 18:33:48 GMT
So, is someone here a new, proud owner of a Cold Steel Spartan ? BTW I'll just add my two cents about NutNFancy ; my interest with his clips and his channel dropped during the last 6-12 months. Now, 5 clips out of 6 aren't about knives, and even those new knife clips last way too long (Nut goes on tangents and takes a lot of time before returning to the main subject of the review). Also, I find Nut has become a bit pretentious, with his constant references to the ''nutnfancy project'' and its values, IMHO it is an overly ambitious title for what this youtube channel is (i.e. a guy amongst many others, on youtube, chatting about stuff). Also Nut is making more and more philosophy and political clips, which often annoys me (99% of the time I don't watch 'em, I just read the 20+ lines text synthesis), mostly because I don't share many of his political views and I don't like his preaching.
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Post by Larry Jordan on Apr 6, 2011 23:32:40 GMT
Being a guardian (according to my wife, see Please Understand Me II) my interest in nutnfancy's creative output ramped up when I discovered his "Close to Engage" video: It reference the "Sheepdog Concept" video: I found them compelling. He doesn't just review product. Some may dismiss him as an idealist. But I pray that such ideals never die. The "other-centered" society (and I'm not just talking about the surveillance state or the meddlesome state with its "law corrupted" (see Bastiat)) is more blessed than the "self-centered" indulgence which typifies declining western culture.
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ghost
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Post by ghost on Apr 7, 2011 3:30:16 GMT
Not yet Seb. used amazon and her free shipping so it won't be here til Fri. Never seen any of Nut's "moral" videos, until Larry linked em. Larry, Sorry I couldn't watch them all the way through; :? he's reading notecards/bullet-points, which to me indicates he lacks sincerity -it would have been much better if he just spoke what was on his mind (what was burnt into his soul). when he first punctuated "sheepdog" I was shocked ...then when he repeated it every minute afterwards, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
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Post by Larry Jordan on Apr 7, 2011 14:56:02 GMT
Everyone is entitled to his opinion. But, really--you fault him over the pronunciation of "sheepdog." :roll:
Having taught programming and software design courses I found nothing insincere about a presenter working from notes/presentation points. In all his knife videos, if you've seen any of them, you would readily recognize the similarities. Not everyone can speak extemporaneously and present entirely from memory from prepared material (for thoroughness/coverage), unless he is a trained actor. He wasn't reading from a prompter like some politicians do.
I am looking forward to hearing substantive objections to content. Have you read Grossman's "On Combat"? What do think of it? If I recall correctly, Gabriel Suarez has a few nits specifically on his historical observations on combat psychology in "On Killing". Grossman argues that soldiers were so reluctant to kill, they would load their weapons and not fire them. Muskets loaded multiple times is presumably evidence for this phenomenon. (I have a different idea.)
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ghost
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Post by ghost on Apr 7, 2011 20:28:29 GMT
I am not merely clowning Nut's pronunciation. He seems to repeat it again and again to try and get a point across, rather than by giving additional rationale. Nut is not instructing a class, nor giving a lecture, or even presenting factual information. He is giving us his opinions, which should be related to us in an impersonal manner. The portion I watched up to, before I stopped, was when he advocated charging the mass murderer or "freak" gunman. He pulled out his knife and started talking about " closing in to engage" either by himself or with a group of people. He actually seems to believe that people can close in on a gunman who has already started shooting people. This is frankly bad advice, if not completely...suicidal. I will use the Gifford's example to point out that this could be and was only done while the perp is in the process of reloading. I believe Nut used the Fort Hood tragedy as an example. The Major was packing some rigged out guns with extra large clips and practiced on a shooting range beforehand. Really? Closing in on a gunman is liable to get one killed, and this of course helps no one. I think the highest chance of success and survival is to ambush the gunman on the other side of a doorway. I do agree with his idea that it is wrong to turn one's back on injustice or wrongdoing. NutnFancy used rare and highly unusual examples though, to try and get his point across. I concur that it would be wrong to just walk past someone getting bullied by a group, or someone getting mugged and beaten up by a gang, as if nothing had happened. His ideas for dealing with such problems are too romanticized and unnecessarily self-sacrificing. I have not read Grossman, but I would argue against his logic. It is in human nature to kill. Our social constructs (religion, values, beliefs) help prevent chaos and disorder by structuring society in a manner that is agreeable to the vast majority of people. I won't go deep into this since this is from an upper div philosophy class, that likely is against the rules of this forum. :cry: My overall beef w/ Nut is his strong advocacy to try and terminate a crazy gunman. I believe to respond effectively to a situation, one must use his greatest asset - his intellect, his mind. Minimize one's risks and while maximizing one's chances for success. Heroics sound good, but don't work out like we expect in reality. I feel Nut's solutions are not well thought out. I would like to hear your side of this larry. Feel free to tell me if I am overly analytical edit: btw what was your idea on the muskets? Lots of misfires?
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Post by Larry Jordan on Apr 7, 2011 23:37:46 GMT
Thanks for the substance. --- Motivation For the most part he discussed unlock codes for conceal carry holders. But he did address the unfortunate scenario where the shooter is killing anyone he wishes and there is no one armed with a firearm to engage. The responders not armed with distance weapons are at an extreme disadvantage. Can they coordinate their attack to take out the shooter? Can one say his chances of success are better than if he does not engage? The shooter is going to kill anyone he wants, if he's left unchallenged. By hiding one might save his life, rather than soaking up a few rounds which might be used to kill others. Soldiers in war were (are still?) trained to fall on grenades in order to save their buddies. Modern society does not foster that sense of self-sacrifice for strangers, but maybe for family and friends. What one believes will dictate behavior. Tuscon Gifford's shooting happened very quickly and there were no CCW in the immediate area. Some in surrounding businesses did in fact close to engage. Loughner failed to reload effectively (I have yet to read what actually happened here). My guess is that he was not carrying his extra mag(s) in a ready position for reloading, thereby permitting the unarmed to effectively engage the shooter. Fort Hood Fort Hood police security put it on the line. The female (Sergent Kimberly Munley) got shot through the legs. Later the male security guard (Sergeant Mark Todd) fired at Hasan who was actively firing at people scrambling to hide, soldiers and other personnel who had been disarmed in this massive gun free zone. What else could they do? Todd took him down with five shots. The major had an FN pistol chambered in 5.7mm (standard 20-round mag) along with a 357Mag revolver (backup?). The two security offices, armed with handguns, closed to engage. Columbine Since Columbine we should have learned that not engaging an active shooter is certain death for many innocent hostages. And, armed personal (a school security guard) should not break contact--it could be more expensive reestablishing that contact later. V-Tech And there is V-Tech where Cho, armed with a Glock-19 and standard 15-round mags killed at will, since no one could mount effective resistance thanks to campus disarmament policies. But could they? I do not know the tactical conditions. I can only envisage my HS/college classrooms with their short funneled doorways. An active shooter can be engaged as he comes through the door, either with bare hands, knife or field expedient weapon. If the cowering victims are hiding behind desks nowhere near the door, the shooter can enter without risk and kill at will. --- There is risk to be sure. If I had to confront multiple hostiles, I'd want a backup plan. Grossman uses an example of a plains clothes cop on a commuter train, when two toughs come on board and start harrassing people. When they approach him, he doesn't backdown, and they move on. He had a backup plan, I'm sure. --- I, too, have issue's with Grossman's position. I agree with Suarez who writes in The Combative Perspective. See Chapter 7: On Courage: Refuting the "New Consciousness". "...noted experts with no combat experience claim that men who can operate at the non-emotional hunter level are sociopaths. This is simply ridiculous. I suspect that a large portion of men decorated for heroism in combat, members of special military units, and, yes, even a small percentage of police officers fit in that category. To say that all of these men are somehow flawed emotionally and psychologically because they do not fit the experts' fabricated categories is silly." He does not name Grossman per se, but who else could he be talking about? As for social constructs, I have a different understanding. I will say that man is not the author of government. And legitimate government is a negative force, and decidedly not the modern therapeutic state which seeks to remake man in its image. --- I agree. I, too, think his concept is underdeveloped and there are real risks that someone, who is not trained and prepared, will do something fatally ineffective, when other more effective options are available. I hope his audience seeks training to maximize their future success. Yes. It would seem likely under stress to forget to drop a powder charge, before dropping the minie ball. When the hammer falls on the primer and the rifle does NOT discharge, one can try to pull the ball; or drop that rifle and fetch another one. If someone picks up that fouled rifle and loads it, it too will fail to fire. In time the rifle will accumulate a number of charges: ball/charge/ball/charge/..../ball. It's hard enough to pull a ball at the range after one has forgotten to drop a powder charge, let alone under conditions of combat. I was admiring a georgeous 40cal flinter a fellow next to me was shooting. He stopped and told me about the rifle and asked me if I'd like to shoot it. He loaded it. And "foosh". Only the powder in the pan burned. He poked the flash hole and reprimed and tried it again with the same result. He knew what he'd done. While telling me about the rifle during the reloading process he'd forgotten to drop a powder charge. I felt bad. He said not to worry about. He tried to pull the ball using a ball screw, but with no success. He didn't have a CO2 discharge kit. He said he'd have to pull the barrel and drop the breech plug. Yow...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2011 4:26:52 GMT
I got a Spartan Wednesday. Love it, cuts better than my Tinkers with their stock edges.
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Sébastien
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Post by Sébastien on Apr 9, 2011 4:33:33 GMT
Hufreakinrah man. I like that folder. If you can and have the time, feel fre to show us some pics of it !
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ghost
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Post by ghost on Apr 9, 2011 4:47:25 GMT
got mine as well, had to sand down the grivory slabs a bit - some burrs bite into your palm leftover from casting; I'm really happy with it too
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