Cold Steel AD-15 G10 Aluminium Folding Knife 18

This is a serious knife - which actually is not an unqualified endorsement. The positives - it's solid, well-built, reassuringly heavy, clearly a very hard-use folder. Other people have sung its praises; I agree with what they've said, and there's no need to repeat them. The negatives - there is (at least, there was for me) a pretty steep learning curve for handling it. The mechanics of the scorpion lock mean I've had to train myself to adopt new grips that will allow smooth one-handed opening and closing - especially closing - and none of them are as secure as I'd like. I've dropped this knife more in 3 days than any other knife in the last 3 years. It needs to be treated with much more seriousness and vigilance than any other knife I know, and is something I would never ever hand to a non-knife person. QC, fit and finish are generally very good, with a few issues: My knife arrived with a slightly off-centre blade and some side-to-side play. Tightening the pivot fixed the play, but at the expense of the smooth, free movement of the blade. There are hard edges all over the knife. The G10 is a bit too aggressive; the fine lines around the edges of the back bar take skin from my thumb, and the jimping is almost sharp enough to cut paper. I'll need to soften the edges before the knife is suitable for any extended or hard use. Don't get me wrong - this is a very nice knife; but it's one that likely requires more investment of time and energy than usual up front to get the best out of.

I don’t tend to listen too much when something gets a bit overhyped like the locking mechanism that is the scorpion lock but after a little look at this cold steel version of a original ( mad priced ) Demko one. Then this piece will knock you flat the only complaint that you can even call a complaint is the edges on the back of the blade just needs a tiny bit of smoothing and that’s it!! This is a very very nicely made version thankfully using quality parts not a typical version with a odd low quality part used anywhere. It is a handful but it is a very nice handful of well made last a damn long time and just look at the difference in the price in a original and a cold steel version. Now does a original make sense only if you got all that spare cash then yes it does you just get both !! :-)

I always viewed Cold Steel as a bit of a joke, with their silly videos of men hammering knives into fence posts and the like, but the recent batch of designs really are nice. I've got the Bush Ranger Lite, which led me to invest in the more expensive Bush Ranger, which uses Andrew Demko's thumb plate and the Triad Lock (it's brilliant pocket bowie), but I've been waiting for the production version of the AD15 to come out for a while, and it's no disappointment, believe me! It's a big folder, so possibly not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's awesome. Near perfect fit and finish, with really nice materials used throughout. Buttery smooth action, thanks to PB bushings, and good solid lockup, thanks to the Scorpion lock, with no sign of a wiggle on the pivots. The only word of warning is that the G10 texturing is pretty aggressive, so if you use the pocket clip, it will start to shred your pockets over time... Minor gripe, though, otherwise a really nice piece... Buy one! Heinnie's service excellent as always..!

I have multiple Cold Steel knives and this is now my favourite... and at this price you'd be nuts not to buy one. Like all Cold Steel knives it comes beyond razor sharp straight out of the box and the one handed Scorpion locking mechanism is addictive. I was stuck between choosing the AD-15 and the AD-10 but opted for the AD-15 for the aesthetics and economics of the knife. I'd guess the triad lock you get on the AD-10 would win a strength test but I already own a Recon One, 50/50 Spear point so if extra strength is needed I already have it. I don't know the strength or weight rating for the Scorpion lock but it feels robust as hell and your hand acts additional support for the locking mechanism. Its a must have EDC knife and with those looks she needs to be in everyone's collection. A 5* review also goes to the guys and girls at Heinnie Haynes for the great and speedy service too.