CS Mini Lawman: Missing Details

I wish I could say that I love the Cold Steel Mini Lawman but I don't. It has a several shortcomings that combine to somewhat kill my interest in the blade. First and as shown, the lockup on my sample has some wiggle in the up and down plane. Second, the knife while light (only 2.8 oz) is chunky. That's because it integrates the strong Triad-Lock® mechanism which necessitates the bulkier handles. Overral thinness is an important commodity in my EDC blade choices and it's missing in the Mini Lawman. Thirdly is the absurd placement on the pocket clip on the handle: mounted very low which creates a 1 inch protrusion during carry (shown). Again this is disadvantageus, creating possilbities for loss and blade discovery by observers of your person. Also, as discussed, re-location of the pocket clip (by the user) would be complicated and may be prevented by the handle screw locations. Fourth, again we have under clip issues with this Cold Steel knife; its raspy G10 handles provide great traction and feel good in hand but they have no place being under the pocket clip. It complicates knife insertion/extraction and shreds your pockets. Fifth, and I forgot to note this in the vid, the blade has a complete lack of jimping. Sixth and finally, the knife arrived rather dull out of package... a real let down given the usual sharpness levels of Cold Steel folding knives (usually excellent!). With some work, the 2.5 drop point hollow-ground AUS8A blade touched up to adequate sharpness. The Mini Lawman does possess some upsides: high traction G10 handles are ergonomic, it has fast and easy deployment, adequate steel choice, useful utility blade shape, and light carry weight. But the downsides predominate the current design. And many other viable EDC blades in this price range present themselves as thinner, just as strong in the POU, having better design elements, sometimes better steels, and definitely better clip carriage. These might include the Lone Wolf Blackfoot, Benchmade Mini-Barrage, BM 556, BM 527 Mini Presidio, Kershaw Skyline, CS Voyager (a stablemate!), and maybe even the very affordable CRKT G10 Drifter or BM Mini-Ascender 1430. I think those blades might be better choices than the Cold Steel Mini Lawman. //////////////////////////// Nutnfancy Likeability Scale: 5 out of 10 ////////// Music from http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/pir/free_music_loops.shtml

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[ChAnDoN864430]

veri can you please ask about cold steel's blade coating?

[nutnfancy]

@ChAnDoN864430 Nutn says its Teflon, same as the Recon 1 tanto that he showed splittlong logs. It'll wear off but it looks good even when it wears... Hope that helps. -- Veri

[rebeltf]

Then he goes on to babble about chunkiness and width. Hey pal not everyone has little girl hands. The Mini AL is a perfect fit and one of the best production , wallet friendly knives available.

Not everyone likes a slim , flimsy-ass knife like the 940 or the Persistance.

I've seen you damn great knife after great knife that does not fit into your category of slim , or if it rides over the lip of your pocket.

Yea , if you wear those tight EMO girl pants it might matter ...

[nutnfancy]

@rebeltf Reb, lose the crappy attitude. And Nutn has huge hands. -- Veri (Nutn's sister)

[tylerwhales]

Veri,ask Nutn to review the mini ak-47 please.thanks

[ladyfeind]

this knife looks awesome! i just wish the pocket clip was set so that i would carry deeper in the pocket other than that i would welcome its strong lock and i really dig the blade shape.

[ITSMETHEFLASH]

With all due respect when Nutn does not like the thickness and weight of some knives I usually like them for work where I it will be one of the few things in my pocket.When off work/recreation I like the lighter thinner knives too.Glad there is sooooo many choices and styles now.

[ITSMETHEFLASH]

I like the knife.It fits my medium hand well.I like to carry a thin knife for light duty but have a few joint problems (broke hand years ago and arthritis/carpal ). The thinner small knives are hard for me to hold tight for a long time.I like the thick minis.My lock is rock solid with no wiggle.On the mini lawman and ak47 I remove the clip and it is loose in the pocket.The bigger Cold Steels G10/FRN get lightly sanded and clips get prestressed a day or so by leaving on a leather belt.

[Dan39991]

@nelson149 No, the Tri-Ad locks are all the same, they're all easily disassembled. Nutnfancy just assumed that the pins would make the knife difficult to take apart. Not an unreasonable assumption to make, really; I thought the same until I looked up a few vids on the matter, and he doesn't have the time to research every little thing.

[nelson149]

When I disassembled my Rajah 2, the scales lifted right off the pins, I didn't have to punch them out. Then again, those were grivory scales; I don't know if that makes a difference.

[TheBern42]

Mini ak or mini lawman

[mkiitmr2]

Good call on that clip nutn. That is a show stopper for me.

[ghostie234]

@rebeltf I'm a police cadet and honestly I cannot stand the lawman because it gets in the way. The clip sucks both for insertion and carry, the thickness is excessive in ratio to the blade size, and I would rather carry my buck vantage pro 10 times out of ten, especially since its about the same price with a much better steel!

[useaknife]

@rebeltf well you have a point but you could just say some people like big think knives vs thin ones with out looking and acting like a immature little boy

[THECRACKERJACKOFF]

for a small knife a lanyard sometimes provides a more secure grip on the knife so maybe thats the reason for the lanyard hole