Post by homerj on Jul 17, 2015 3:41:47 GMT
As soon as Cold Steel Finn Wolf was announced for release this year it was one the most sought after knives on my radar for review. I am a huge CS fan boy and had high hopes that this could be a backup to a main camping knife maybe even replacing my Moras. It was advertised as a Scandi grind folder with the Tri-Ad lock, and I was totally sold on the concept. I have batoned with a CS Voyager, Recon 1, and Talwar and they all held up with no damage to their edges or any wobbliness in the locks or cosmetic damage to the handles.
After months and months of searching for someone with the knife in stock I finally got one last month and had it completely fail on me in only two days of relatively light use for a CS knife.
My initial impressions should have been an indicator that this knife would disappoint. The fit and finish was not what I would have expected of a CS knife, usually high value, the plastic liner less handle was very sloppy. Plastic molding lines and fit was very poor, I believe the material is the grivory found in most of their value line knifes like their Voyagers. Those have great handles for about the same price point ($35-$40 range), I don't know how the ball was dropped here when CS repeatedly demonstrates high value with many of their other knives. Reviews on this blade are pretty limited and most reference how delicate the edge is and how easily it is damaged as well as the poor fit and finish, I am pretty sure I don't have a lemon. The blade was Cold Steel sharp though, maybe even sharper than any stock CS folder I have. Some reviewers call the edge more of a hollow grind than a scandi which appears to be true. The handle was comfortable enough but the plastic was too slick and the handle felt a little too thing. The ergonomics suck too, to open one handed you have to be very deliberate and angle the knife in an awkward way to make sure your fingers on the handle clear the blade in case it comes back down. The lock is pretty stiff, the one hand open angle was weird, and the handle is too thin and slick I ended up getting bit. The blade came down on the tip of my pointer finger while opening it one handed, it wasn't opened that much so it just ended up being like a bad papercut but was enough to command more respect and deliberation opening. I think this alone would disqualify the blade as an EDC.
My first day I whittled down a few thumb size sticks to get the feel of the blade and compare its performance on wood to a Mora clipper. After a few minutes I noted some waviness and small deformations in the part of the blade I was using the most. I wasn't even whittling aggressively or putting that much pressure on the blade. I then gave a few chops to a bigger branch in my wood pile and the waviness and deformations became even more pronounced. Even after sharpening on some 1000/3000 grit Japanese water stones and stropping the deformations were still there.
The next day I batoned an old piece of a 2x4. At that point I had no expectation that it would go through unscathed if the Finn Wolf couldn't even whittle without damage. The blade was noticeably hard to get through the board, I had to baton it harder than I am use to, about halfway through the knife would not go any further through a knot. When I pulled the blade out there was severe chipping. I sharpened it as best I could to flatten down the damage but the blade still looks like crap.
Now this Finn Wolf sits in my car's glovebox as a spare knife, a lowly position I never thought I would send a CS knife to. I contacted CS customer support and sent pictures with the expectation of no reply (for a $35 knife) but wanted to share my disappointment in a great concept that failed to materialize. If this knife was thicker (blade and handle), had a more durable true scandi grind, and better fit and finish I think it would have been another home run for CS. This blade was one of the last of their 2015 line to hit the shelves, I don't know if they had issues or reservations distributing these because they are so crappy but the whole knife just looks and feels half assed. If they re-design it and improve it to be a durable design on par with the rest of their folders I would gladly pay them again for another chance at this concept.
I cannot recommend this knife at all, competitive options for a folding scandi are pretty thin but the Enzo folding puukos look like the best option albeit I would not expect them to be anywhere near as strong as a Tri-Ad lock CS.
After months and months of searching for someone with the knife in stock I finally got one last month and had it completely fail on me in only two days of relatively light use for a CS knife.
My initial impressions should have been an indicator that this knife would disappoint. The fit and finish was not what I would have expected of a CS knife, usually high value, the plastic liner less handle was very sloppy. Plastic molding lines and fit was very poor, I believe the material is the grivory found in most of their value line knifes like their Voyagers. Those have great handles for about the same price point ($35-$40 range), I don't know how the ball was dropped here when CS repeatedly demonstrates high value with many of their other knives. Reviews on this blade are pretty limited and most reference how delicate the edge is and how easily it is damaged as well as the poor fit and finish, I am pretty sure I don't have a lemon. The blade was Cold Steel sharp though, maybe even sharper than any stock CS folder I have. Some reviewers call the edge more of a hollow grind than a scandi which appears to be true. The handle was comfortable enough but the plastic was too slick and the handle felt a little too thing. The ergonomics suck too, to open one handed you have to be very deliberate and angle the knife in an awkward way to make sure your fingers on the handle clear the blade in case it comes back down. The lock is pretty stiff, the one hand open angle was weird, and the handle is too thin and slick I ended up getting bit. The blade came down on the tip of my pointer finger while opening it one handed, it wasn't opened that much so it just ended up being like a bad papercut but was enough to command more respect and deliberation opening. I think this alone would disqualify the blade as an EDC.
My first day I whittled down a few thumb size sticks to get the feel of the blade and compare its performance on wood to a Mora clipper. After a few minutes I noted some waviness and small deformations in the part of the blade I was using the most. I wasn't even whittling aggressively or putting that much pressure on the blade. I then gave a few chops to a bigger branch in my wood pile and the waviness and deformations became even more pronounced. Even after sharpening on some 1000/3000 grit Japanese water stones and stropping the deformations were still there.
The next day I batoned an old piece of a 2x4. At that point I had no expectation that it would go through unscathed if the Finn Wolf couldn't even whittle without damage. The blade was noticeably hard to get through the board, I had to baton it harder than I am use to, about halfway through the knife would not go any further through a knot. When I pulled the blade out there was severe chipping. I sharpened it as best I could to flatten down the damage but the blade still looks like crap.
Now this Finn Wolf sits in my car's glovebox as a spare knife, a lowly position I never thought I would send a CS knife to. I contacted CS customer support and sent pictures with the expectation of no reply (for a $35 knife) but wanted to share my disappointment in a great concept that failed to materialize. If this knife was thicker (blade and handle), had a more durable true scandi grind, and better fit and finish I think it would have been another home run for CS. This blade was one of the last of their 2015 line to hit the shelves, I don't know if they had issues or reservations distributing these because they are so crappy but the whole knife just looks and feels half assed. If they re-design it and improve it to be a durable design on par with the rest of their folders I would gladly pay them again for another chance at this concept.
I cannot recommend this knife at all, competitive options for a folding scandi are pretty thin but the Enzo folding puukos look like the best option albeit I would not expect them to be anywhere near as strong as a Tri-Ad lock CS.
