Cold Steel Crawford Model 1 3.5" Clip Point Folding Knife, OD Green

Blade holds an edge nicely (I’m not easy on knives), the grip feels good in the hand and the lock functions great. I only wish it was assisted open. It opens pretty good, but I like a nice spring action. Other than that, I really don’t have anything to say. It’s my first Cold Steel knife l, but I really like it. I’m coming from a Kershaw blade. The first one I had I loved, but I lost it and replaced it with the same kind (again I loved it) and the blade was far less good. Wouldn’t stay sharp. This was about 3-4 years later so maybe they aren’t made as good. Moving to this Cold Steel it has held up well. The blade was pretty sharp out of the box. I honed it just a bit and then stropped it and it’s been good for about 5 weeks. It’s just now needing to be sharpened up. The lock feature is nice, it’s my first one, I’m of the kind that if you’re worried a blade might force closed on you then you need a different tool. So I honestly forget about it a lot. Used it twice just messing around testing it and I feel like you would have to catastrophically break the knife to make the lock break.

I have a number of knives from Benchmade, Cold Steel, Gerber, Henry, Kershaw, Puma, and SOG. With few exceptions, Cold Steel knives are made in Taiwan. I'm impressed with their innovative design, quality production and reasonable prices. The Crawford Model 1 is well made and is more comfortable with the clip removed. The flipper mechanism is similar to that found on knives from Kershaw and SOG. A fair amount of force is needed to open it, but I'm hoping it will be easier after oiling it. A slide mechanism to keep the knife open seemed like an after thought. It was difficult to open and didn't seem to provide much value. To me, the knife's advantages make this a good value and great every day carry.

I wanted to love this knife. I already love Cold Steel and have a Tanto and SRK-C and love them but this knife is being returned. The locking mechanism is a failure. I can get it to lock if I snap the knife hard, or overextend it but just opening it fails to lock it. I have a Band-Aid to prove it. The blade is nice, polished, and sharp, the knife is light weight and a good size and shape. I would have liked it if it wasn't dangerously broken. I ordered a 2nd one to hopefully see if it is better. I'll update my review when it arrives. Update: I received my 2nd Cold Steel Crawford Model 1 today and was excited to have one that had a lock that worked. I'm not sure what makes me more stupid, thinking that another one would work or cutting myself again! I "locked" it open and pushed on it only to have it close right on my finger. Amazon only let me upload one video so I removed the 1st one showing the same lock disfunction but adding the bloody finger for effect. Sorry to those who hate the site of blood but I wanted to make a point. It will be a chilly day in Hell before I buy any Cold Steel product ever again!! both of course are going back. On a side note, the sliding safety lock on the side of the handle does not work either - it doesn't matter how much force you appy it does not slide back or forth. Complete failure of a product imho.

It opens nicely right out of the box and it ships very sharp. My only criticism is the pocket clip: it's way too tight. It gets stuck on the pocket seam, and in fact damages it. But it seems a lot of knives these days are like that.

My first Crawford 1 was a dud. Too tight to flip out. I returned it for another one that flipped out fine. Since then I've added a few here and there to my collection when there are price dips (my first one cost me $37, the latest $20 - yes, $20. This is a pocket knife that carefully balances utility and self defense applications. Let's look at utility functions vs. self-defense requirements: 1. Hand protection - no accidental riding forward on the blade - the flipper tab doubles as a hilt to protect the hand. 1.a. Utility plus/minus: minus, since the hand can't "choke forward" on a choil for precision wood carving, for example. On the other hand, the hilt doesn't interfere with game dressing and kindling preparation. 2. Hand protection from accidental closing: unlike almost all other liner locks, this has a secondary lock, a slider on the handle, to prevent the edge of the liner lock from sliding out of lockup. 2.a. In destructive testing, one internet vlogger used two different Cold Steel liner locks wth the secondary lock; in both tests he forgot to deploy the secondary lock but both knives stayed locked - didn't slip out of lockup - in abusive testing in which other liner locks HAD slipped out of lockup. For extended game prep or bushcraft, use the secondary lock, but don't sweat it, if in a critical self defense moment there is not time to fuss with the secondary lock. 3. In self defense, the three basic moves are poke, cut, chip. Pokes are straight, cuts sweep, and chipping is the short chopping movement used to chip a twig off a branch (rather than a sawing movement). Chipping is actually the least damaging and designed to get an attacking animal to back off without major damage (only short shallow cuts). This design is capable of all three defensive techniques. 3a. Self defense techniques are irrelevant to utility functions such as food prep. This blade with slice brittle and semi-brittle veggies like carrots and onions, but due to the thickness of the blade in general, and thickness behind edge in particular, it's more of a "wedge splitting" effect than a slice. Works fine cutting up a rotisserrie chicken on a picnic or slicing bread. 4. Height vs. width. A medieval poignard was - well - pointy. This is not. It is tall. On the other hand, medieval weaponry knew what modern tacti-"cool" mall ninjas don't - penetration is king, in self-defense. This blade exceeds the most common municipal "Blackboard Jungle" 3" length limitations, but doesn't reach the simple 4" length expectation set for ordinary kitchen paring knives. In other words, it sacrifices length (penetration) but makes up for it in sheer width. 4a. Blade height or width (same area measured, alternative terminology) doesn't help or hurt kitchen chores. It's sole effect on utility is the slightly heavier weight of thicker, wider blades. Or seen another way: this is the anti-Spyderco effect. Spyderco knives like the Tenacious 3.3" have thinner blade stock and the full flat grind further reduces weight. 5. Thin, but grippy, handle. The classic Buck Folding Hunter 110 was designed to be fat so it would fill the hand and allow a wider, more comfortable, clench. On the other hand, the thin, flat handle design means it doesn't bulge in pocket or bag, and slips into eyeglass pouch, flat water bottle pockets, etc. 5. Overall the configuration is a plus in both self-defense and utility settings, if we assume folding knives are secondary to actual kitchen knives and hunting knives. True, the slimmer design grows uncomfortable with extended use, but pocket knives's basic premise is "carry all the time, use hardly at all". 5a. A self-defense plus is the careful attention paid to anti-slip, particularly the rubbery inserts on both handle sides. 6. Pocket clip. A pocket clip serves two functions, the more important function being positioning the top of the blade against a pocket seam to a jostle (especially a jostle on the opening tab) won't open the blade. Remember, liner locks do not have a spring effect that recloses them if the blade comes off the ball-bearing detent hidden in the pivot area; once opening more than 1/16", they don't snap back closed. So the pocket clip is quite important for safety, which is why I list the function before the actually secondary use - keeping the pocket knife handy and from being lost. 6a. Unfortunately this Crawford 1 has a pocket clip that is simply too stiff. I leave it to you to visit forums full of complaints and work arounds (from smoothing the surface under the clip, to carefully bending the clip to un-bend some of the excessive tension). 6a. I took the nuclear option - removed the clip (but replacing the single middle screw that binds the tail end together) and carrying this in a repurposed Buck 110 knife sheath. You could also use a hair band to rubber-band the blade shut, but then you are stuck removing the hair band to open the blade. Upgraded this completely new review to 5 stars. Sorry, CS, my first one was defective but the rest have been perfect.

Nice knife except I can't get it to unlock . Can't even get the blade out to look at it.I guess I will have to send it back.

This is the best foldable knife I had never seen before, the blade shape is so beautiful designed, and it has the secondary lock for excellent heavy usage!

Excelente navaja, viene con un filo de hoja de rasurar que pocos productos tienen

素晴らしい一品です。

Ein kleiner Schneidteufel! Out of the box scharf und die gesamte Verarbeitung wie man es von Cold Steel gewohnt ist. Leicht, sehr gut bedienbar, toller Stahl, der die Schärfe auch bei Lagerfeuerarbeiten lange hält.

Hervorragendes Messer. Mir hat vor allem gefahren dass ich neben der Option dass Messer als Flipper zu öffnen auch einen "Wave Opener" bekomme. Sobald ich also das Messer aus meiner Hosentasche ziehe ist es einsatzbereit. Das Messer kommt bereits gut geschärft, ich habe jedoch etwas nachgeschärft. Alles in allem volle Kaufempfehlung.