Cold Steel Kobun

[Mitch Rapp]

Looking for a EDC knife, wanting one that will be legal, but on the large side. Knife laws are pretty hard to narrow down, but I think if I stick to under a 6 inch blade, not double edged, and not a bowie I should be ok in most places. It will be concealed, just like my sidearm, and I figure even if I have contact with a LEO (like a traffic stop) I have to tell him I have a gun, but not that I have a knife right? Not looking for trouble or to hide anything, but why volunteer info right? Besides from what I have seen officers are almost as unclear on what is a legal knife as I am....

Here is what I am considering...

http://www.coldsteel.com/Product/17T/KOBUN.aspx




Blade Length: 5 1/2"
Overall Length: 9 7/8"
Steel: Japanese AUS 8A Stainless
Weight:4.4 oz
Blade Thickness: 1/8"


I have found these as cheap as $30. The reviews I have read say they are built like tanks, hold an edge pretty well, and for that money, it'd hard to beat. Any opinions? or know any place where that knife would get me in trouble?

 

[Mitch Rapp]

No one has any experience with the Kobun?


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[mightymouse]

No one has any experience with the Kobun?


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I've had one for several years. Good knife, tough, sturdy, holds an edge well. I haven't had to sharpen mine because I only briefly carried it as an EDC, but then I never used it for mundane, everyday cutting chores (I carried another knife to use for that). A good knife for the money, IMO.

 

[ez bake]

I don't have experience with it, but it gets good reviews online. It's full-tang AUS8 steel with a fairly thick tanto blade and full-tang construction, so you're probably not going to break it. The Tanto Lite (4116 Stainless Steel - a step down from AUS8 and crappier sheath), and the GI Tanto (1055 carbon steel about as edge-retaining as 4116 only not stainless) are both in the same price-range from Cold Steel, but neither has the value of the Kobun IMO.

I'm assuming the use is self-defense (if not, there are far better EDC-task type knives out there). Honestly, you're probably more likely to be screwed by city ordinances than state laws, so I'd know those before hauling a big Samurai-sword looking knife into the place

Keep in mind that if someone spots your knife (or you have to use it) that a tanto (like the clip-point) sort of inspires fear in the sheeple (and sometimes, local LEOs). 5+" bladed knives are also huge by most non-knife people's standards. I don't personally care for much above a 4-4.5" blade for self-defense or outdoor work (5" is about the max I would even take with me in the woods). If I were in a populated urban area, I don't know that I'd even take something that large with me.

Check out the Cold Steel Spikes - they come in smaller packages, but have very long (thick) blades for what they are (technically, Neck Knives). They have small, but great grips on them. You've got Becker's tweeners and neck knives as well (I actually just acquired an extra Becker BK16 that I'll probably sell shortly).



Fun fact: the ironic thing about the Bowie restriction (which is IMO, the stupidest thing OK has in their knife-laws at the moment) is that the knife Jim Bowie actually carried (both at the famous “sandbar fight” on the Mississippi river and later, the modified one used later at the Alamo) is a hotly debated subject (and whether or not it even had a clip-point blade is contended by many).

Thanks to Rambo and old western movies, the label "Bowie Knife" is cemented as a knife with a broader blade than the handle, a guard, and a clip-point blade (often sharpened on the clip portion of the spine). It was, in reality, very likely to be just a large kitchen knife with a drop point that may have been sharpened on the tip portion of the spine (almost in a dagger-edge).

 

[SoonerP226]

... I figure even if I have contact with a LEO (like a traffic stop) I have to tell him I have a gun, but not that I have a knife right?

I don't know anything about the knife, but I did ask an officer if I had to tell her about the knife in my pocket when I gave her my license and SDA card (I wasn't carrying a firearm at the time). She said I didn't, FWIW.

 

[Mitch Rapp]

I don't know anything about the knife, but I did ask an officer if I had to tell her about the knife in my pocket when I gave her my license and SDA card (I wasn't carrying a firearm at the time). She said I didn't, FWIW.

That's the impression I get. Plus, if I tell them I have a gun, and they are cool with it, then they probably could care less what knife I have.

Ez, it is on the large side of what I consider a good edc knife, I have a cheap pocket knife as well for utility work, I also have a large Ka-Bar TDI that I have carried a bunch. I guess this I almost a test drive for me to see what I would want to actually carry daily, and what I could conceal.






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[ez bake]

That's the impression I get. Plus, if I tell them I have a gun, and they are cool with it, then they probably could care less what knife I have.

Ez, it is on the large side of what I consider a good edc knife, I have a cheap pocket knife as well for utility work, I also have a large Ka-Bar TDI that I have carried a bunch. I guess this I almost a test drive for me to see what I would want to actually carry daily, and what I could conceal.






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Understood. Do you have particularly large hands?

 

[Mitch Rapp]

Understood. Do you have particularly large hands?

No, mediumish


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