I've been carrying my Recon 1 for over a few months now, and it is still a great knife. Starting with the blade - it is sharp! I've used it to cut boxes, rope, wood  and more with ease. It has the Bowie style, good for cutting and slicing. The tip is thin and pointed, so it could break off if abused, but I have stabbed cardboard, wood and more with no issues. I would say though that if you are looking for a sturdier tip, get the Recon 1 with the Tanto blade. The knife opens easy thanks to the thumb point. You just push up and it is ready to go.

While I think the idea of the Teflon coating is cool, it really won't do much and I would like a shiny blade better. It will scratch off coming off, but I think it looks better without it.  The metal used to make the Recon 1 will rust and I did find that giving it a weekly rubdown with gun oil seems to keep the Teflon on the blade. I ended up taking mine to a knife shop and had them refinish it, and now it looks even better than ever.

You will need to care for this knife, as you would any other. Just get some Rem oil. You should treat all tools with care and respect, a knife is no exception.

The handle is very comfortable. It feels natural in my hand. I'm a tall guy with big hands, so I like a larger knife as my EDC - I want to have a good safe grip. I really get that solid grip with this handle. It does feel very dry at first, but as your hand sweats the knife grip actually gets better. I was very impressed by this. Also, Cold Steel put some edges on the top back side of the knife handle. It is easy to tell where the lock release is with the design of the handle. It is not the best jimping I've seen, but it does the job.

Speaking of the lock, the Tri-Ad lock is the best lock I have seen on the market. When this knife opens you can feel it locking in place, and it is not going anywhere. Very safe. Be warned - this knife is a two handed closer. The lock release is very tight. There may be those that think they can close this knife with one hand - I do not advise that. Yes, I tried and it very quickly became an opportunity to cut my fingers. You have to wrap your hand all the way around the handle to released, leaving the blade falling towards your fingers.

The weight and clip are prefect for carrying. The clip is tight, but I have found that is still not wearing out my jeans. That may be because I clip it to that little knife pocket that no one uses on my jeans, and slide the rest of the knife into my front pocket. I can get into my pocket with ease this way and there is no play. I added a lanyard to pull the knife out quickly, and this seems to help as well. When I first got my Recon 1, I did attach it to my jean pocket and it just took up too much of my pocket thanks to the grip on the handle. The skin on my hand would cling to the knife, keeping my hand out of my pocket. The method I am using now seems to be the perfect solution.

So, why only four stars? Nothing is perfect, as reflected in this review. That said, this is a great knife that I highly recommend. If you are looking for something tactical, this would likely fit the bill as well. I am not really talking about the pros or cons of that in this review though, as that is not what I bought this knife for.

From: dferriman@gmail.com | Created on: 5/31/2011 5:52 PM

True it is a wonderful tool but you have to do a major draw with force for a tattical open my sparten has.
also the outer black coating wears on simple use like box cutting but no rust so far.
all together a good work knife not a good combate knife.

From: lordvolkhark@gmail.com | Created on: 4/21/2011 12:43 AM