COLD STEEL Drop Forged Survivalist 8" 52100 High-Carbon Steel Clip Point Fixed Blade EDC Tactical Hunting Utility Knife, 5" Ergonomic Handle, Weather-Resistant Secure-Ex Sheath

This is a truly awesome knife, and the value for the dollar is amazing. Being a one piece unit, the knife is massively strong. The steel is the key. 52100 steel is industrial grade strong. It's used in roller bearings and tool and die manufacturing. It's used to make tools that make other tools, so it's strength and durability has to be top shelf. This knife came to me razor sharp, and the geometry is as perfect as one could hope for. The lines, angles and grinds all reflect top-notch quality. It is one solid mass that's nicely balanced and not unduly heavy or unwieldy. The tip comes to a very sharp and thin point, and will penetrate easily. It's backed up by a lot of steel, so the odds of one breaking it are practically nil unless subjected to massive amounts of abusing force. I have never broken a knife in my many years, so this is not something I am concerned about. The top handguard is smaller than the bottom guard, which I like. There is no need for a top guard at all, so a smaller one works for me just fine. The scales are textured to provide a very secure grip, even when wet, and they do their job perfectly. I wear a size Large glove, and the handle fits me very well. The color of the knife's finish is battleship gray and seems uniformly applied. Only time will tell how well it holds up. Even if it wears, I don't care. I care more about durability of the steel and its performance. While I don't care for the sheath overall, it does have some practical value. The knife snaps into the sheath with a loud and very positive click. It's not coming out until one makes a conscious effort to draw it. When fully seated into the sheath, there is almost no movement. What movement is there is so slight that it's a non-issue. What I don't like is the nylon portion that connects the sheath itself to one's belt. If you try and draw the knife, the flexible nylon allows the sheath to ride up, making the draw slow and cumbersome. I have two of these knives. One stays in my car inside the Secure-Ex sheath and does it's job well. For wear, either on my belt or attached to my backpack, I use a Spec Ops brand nylon sheath. These sheathes are extremely well made and practical. They will cost as much or more than this knife, but for one who truly needs a professional grade sheath, it's a great way to go. Although many novices believe that one knife can do it all, the truth is that they cannot. Professionals know that different knives have different purposes. Knives are not intended to be used as pry bars, hammers, screwdrivers and axes. In times of contingent situations, however, a knife may be called upon to handle jobs outside its intended purpose. The Cold Steel Survivalist is a knife that can handle these situations if necessary. It's as tough as they come. When I hit the field, I have one of these either on me or on my pack, a smaller utility knife, a Leatherman tool and a Cold Steel War Hawk axe. The key to survival in any situation is BE PREPARED. If you go to the field with only one knife, you are asking for problems. That being said, if I could have only one knife, it would be this one. I love everything about it. The $60-some dollar cost of this knife is almost beyond belief. This knife has as much quality as knives costing $300. While any knife can break, the Survivalist is so strong and durable that I don't give the possibility a second thought. Again, at this price, this may well be the very best value for your dollar that you will find anywhere! I have replaced my field grade knives with the Survivalist and have absolutely no regrets. It is an amazing knife. Don't buy one, get two. You will be glad you did.

Hey guys, you have to push the knife hard into the sheath! It makes a loud CLICK when pushed hard. Push much harder then a normal sheath. The reviews with the guys with loose sheaths got mistaken. I also almost returned mine till I saw a review and saw someone having to pop loose the knife when taking it out. Mine was super loose also, no retention other than the handle loop. I assumed it was like that because of the reviews of loose sheath. But all you have to do is push hard and you get a loud CLICK, and it retains super well! I feel bad for the guy that didn’t know about this, that you’re supposed to actually like “push” it really hard. cold steel made it that way, so its secure because it’s a heavy knife. One guy in the reviews thought it was basically super loose and he heat blasted the sheath to shape it so it was bent in and he ground down the handles. I mean, poor guy I mean, wrecking your knife and all you have to do is push hard. I’ve never had a sheath I’ve had to physically push the knife into the sheath this hard before and its actually really good because this knife is so big and heavy. I’m very happy with this knife. It’s an extreme value. Also the handle being slippery or not grippy is not a concern at all for me, it grips very well. That being said I live in a dry desert so have not tested using it in the rain.

I am legitimately blown away by the quality and value of this knife. I have been a survivalist for more than 20 years and this is my new favorite knife. When it comes to survival knives, they have to be dependable because your life may depend on them. And this one hits every single mark, It's perfect! Perfect steel, perfect length, the drop point is perfect. It feels so good in your hand. The grip panels are as grippy as sandpaper yet still comfortable to the touch. Full tang is great and all but nothing beats one solid piece of drop forged steel. For the past ten years, I've used a Gerber Strong Arm in the field. Great knife but this one is SO MUCH BETTER and it's 25% cheaper! The only thing that falls short is the sheath, the Strong Arm sheath is slightly better. It's not bad but you can tell it's a bit on the cheaper side and it's not nearly as impressive as the knife itself. I may look into getting a custom leather sheath made in the future, but the one that it came with will do fine for now. I watched a ton of videos of people beating the crap out of this knife and it never even lost an edge. This is by far my best Amazon buy ever. This is the kind of knife that could last generations. I will be using it for the rest of my life and one day I'll pass it down to my son. I've spent entire paychecks on high-end survival knives but I'll take this one into the field over those any day. I really can't say enough good things about it.

April 25 2026: UPDATE: Okay this thing is looking better every day. Feels better in the hand, better grip that requires no wrapping. So far holding a great edge, though too soon for 5-star. I will continue to use it and update later. Have used it for some batoning, but nothing else so far. March 2026: I had the previous version of this blade but finally broke it after 5 years of abuse. The description of this version of the knife attempts to portray this as the same as the previous version as far as materials and spec go. But this knife is noticeable lighter and thinner than my previous version. It is lighter of course which is not good. This type of knife is often used as a chopper and the weight is a big part of that. It is a very nice knife. It is actually better balanced and the handle has good grip. I had to wrap the previous version in paracord to keep it from hurting my hand as I beat on the blade. The reason for average rating is I will need to beat it up for a while and see if it holds up as well as the previous version. I broke it by batoning some hard wood. I did not notice that I had the sharp edge up as I whacked it with a 2lb hammer thinking I was hitting the spine as I had done for YEARS with no damage.

Trust me, you won't be disappointed! This is quite literally the best knife I own. In fact, I'm going to sell my Ka-Bar Model 1214, because this knife is so much better, so much stronger, has better balance, an excellent hard polymer MOLLE sheath (if you prefer leather, that might be a negative for you), & is less expensive. This knife is actually better than $250-$500 knives. It came shaving sharp. I shaved off a bunch of arm hair, & it didn't even dull. It's the perfect length for a fighting knife, but it's also great for wilderness survival, food prep, batoning, etc. You name it, & this knife can do it. The thick spine, tough 52100 high carbon ball bearing steel, & drop forged construction, make it tougher than any knife I have or know of. I own an OKC SP10, which is a beastly Bowie blade of 0.25_in thick 1075 steel w/ a 9.75_in blade. I like that knife, & it's a beast of a chopper, but I'm 95% positive it will break long before this knife, due to the inferior steel & tang construction. I like the integrated hilt/hand guard, but I have very large hands. Those w/ small or average hands, might be bothered by the top guard height. The handle scales are great, & have a lot more grip than people think. If I get the Kratom grip of my Ka-Bar wet, it's more slippery than this knife under the same conditions. It doesn't seem to make sense, but it's true. Due to my huge hands, the grip feels small in circumference, but not in length. That's easily fixed w/ grip tape or heat shrink grip. Those w/ regular size hands won't have any problem. What's even more impressive, is that the balance is near perfect. That's difficult to do w/ a single piece of drop forged steel. I've heard the previous model, without the hand scales, wasn't as well balanced, due to the extra weight of the handle. I only have 3 gripes about this knife, & 1 of them I might be wrong about. I wish it had a choil or unsharpened section near the hilt, so I could choke up for shaving wood. That said, it's still easy to get my hand over the top of the hilt for that type of work. I also wish the pommel had a small flat section for crushing (you can still do it, it's just more difficult). I'm also concerned the Teflon coating, while nice, will make it hard to get sparks off a flint. I could be wrong about that, however, because I've seen people do it in videos.

Well worth the money! Love this knife. Great balance, very sharpe edge. Great sheath.

5 stars for the knife, 1 star for the sheath The knife appears excellent, razor sharp, perfect grind! The sheath, as some have mentioned, offers ZERO RETENTION other than the strap. Without the strap fixed, this knife will fall out fast and can cut you. More than the issue of ZERO RETENTION is the ZERO FORETHOUGHT on the part of Cold Steel. I've never had a product of theirs that was just right. And how their engineering can mess upon sheath design is beyond me. It seems they just don't think. May have to return this OR go on Etsy and purchase a leather sheath that cost MORE than the knife. Will probably just return the knife. Am done with Cold Steel for the time.

Let’s start with the basics, this knife is one solid forged piece of spring steel. That right there should tell you everything. Any other details are just details. This thing is a beast and will last generations if not lost. I casually collect and use varying brands and designs of outdoor survival and combat knives and tools. I have knives that are much more expensive that I would trust less than this one. For the price you pay, you get probably three or four times as much actual real world value. Amazing deal to say the least. From chopping down small trees do women, using a baton for splitting firewood, hand to hand combat against a grizzly bear you name it. I’m pretty sure this knife will take it and ask for more. The only detractor for me and this is purely cosmetic and personal opinion, but the color is weird. It’s a bluish gray color almost like an overcast, rainy sky, type ofpurple. I don’t particularly love it, and I don’t know why they picked that color. Does not affect the knife performance in any way shape or form just an oddball note.

Dieser Stahl erreicht je nach Wärmebehandlung eine Rc zw. 60-67! Deshalb habe ich, was ich eigentlich nicht mache, lange gelagerte Buche betoned....! Da bei solchen Klingen es gerne mal zu Ausbrüchen an der Schneide kommen kann, zumal hier noch zusätzlich ein Schleifwinkel von 20 Grad angebracht ist. Was für Outdoor eigentlich die maximale Grenze sein sollte, da die Schneide dann zu fein ist. Ich habe auf meinen sonstigen Outdoormesser 23-25 Grad Schleifwinkel um die Schneide robust bei harten Einsätze verwenden zu können. Hier habe ich nun eine Rc von 60+ bei 20 Grad Schleifwinkel......und das Messer hält das Holz Spalten problem aus und hat anschließend den Papiertest noch bestanden. Nein, dies ist keine gekaufte Rezension

Wenn ein deutscher Gangster-Rapper und ein Paarhufer ein Kind kriegen würden wäre es dieses Messer. Massiv und Scha(r)f. Es liegt gut in der Hand, lässt sich super führen und ist ab Auslieferung sehr scharf. Das hohe Eigengewicht und die Länge der Klinge eröffnen ein breites Spektrum an Einsatzmöglichkeiten

Ein Stück Stahl, robust und sehr Scharf

Das Messer ist sehr gut verarbeitet. Die Farbe ist leicht gräulich, nicht wie im Internet wo es schwarz aussieht. Military eu. Hat auch sehr schnell geliefert. 2 Tage von Polen bis zum hiesigen Paketdienst, UPS. Dort hat es dann leider 4 Tage gelegen.

Top Produkt von Cold Steel. Zu diesem Preis bekommt man echt viel Messer. Ein echter Klopper und sehr scharf. Klare Kaufempfehlung.