Cold Steel4-Max Scout Folding Knife with Tri-Ad Lock and G-10 Handle, One Size

Golly, this company (Cold Steel) makes some phenomenal knives!!!! I only discovered Cold Steel (CS) about a month ago (April 2023), and of course, wish I would've known about them sooner, but I'm ecstatic that I now know about this brand! Over the course of the past month, I have purchased 5 Cold Steel knives, which I think speaks volumes, and I'm certain I'll be purchasing several more CS knives throughout this year and beyond. Yes, I've backed my mouth with my money. The CS knives I bought and the order I bought them in are, Crawford 1 OD clip point, SR1 Lite spear point, Recon 1 clip point, Voyager XL clip point and the 4 Max Scout drop point. Even though this review will be published on the 4 Max Scout, I am going to provide details on how all 5 knives compare to each other. But regardless of my thoughts on any one knife compared to any of the other 4 knives in one area or another, I will say that I love them all and would be super happy if could only own one of them, as you literally cannot go wrong with any of these. the operational, aesthetic and other characteristics of these knives is flawless.Crawford 1:This is the only knife that is a flipper, and because of this, this knife does open the easiest, and I mean this thing flings opens with no effort at all and in less than 1 millisecond; it's an amazingly fast open. The blade feels rock solid in both the open and closed position, i.e. no wiggle and feels really sturdy. This is the thinnest knife body and lightest weight of all the 5 knives, and out of the packaging was 3-way tied for second place in terms of sharpness with the 4 Max Scout and the Voyager XL. This knife is very sharp, but I think all CS knives are very sharp out of the box. For just basic carry, cut and random uses around the house or work, this is a great knife based on size, blade length (3.5") and weight. This is the only knife out of the five that has a leaf spring lock, but I have no concerns with this type of lock, especially since this knife has a secondary mechanism to lock the leaf spring in place. I've seen a couple people complain about difficulty in sliding the secondary mechanism, but I discovered the trick is to put your thumb at the very end of either side of the sliding mechanism and either push or pull the mechanism depending on if you are trying to lock or unlock the knife. If you do this, it slides very very easily.SR1 Lite:This knife takes 1st place for sharpness out of the box. I cut myself twice in 5 minutes just opening and closing the thing, and barely touching the tip broke my skin and I bled. Crazy sharp. This knife also has the thickest blade...well, tied for first place with the 4 Max Scout. If I could only keep one of these five knives, it would be a tie between this and the Recon 1, with the Crawford 1 coming in second. The 4 Max Scout and the Voyager would probably tie for my third choice(s), but honestly, as far as choosing just one, they are all neck and neck with each other, so it's a little bit of splitting hairs to choose just one over the rest. This knife and the Recon 1 are the tightest when it comes to opening the blade, but don't worry, it's not like you are going to break a sweat, they just have the most resistance for whatever reason, but nowhere near a deal breaker. Plus, they have already gotten a little easier to open. Also, for this knife and the Recon 1, the lock release is the toughest to depress, but also not a problem at all, and I would still choose one of these 2 knives over the other three. The lock releases have also gotten a little easier to depress over a short period of time.Recon 1:This is the second lightest and thinnest of the knives behind the Crawford 1. It feels really great in the hand, but then again, they all do! This is perhaps the sexiest looking knife among all of them, if that matters to you. The black blade on the black G10 grips gives this knife a unique look that personally, I really like. Out of the box, the blade, when closed, did have some wiggle from side to side and up and down, but I turned the main screw about a 16th of turn to tighten it, and all of the wiggle went away and ever since then it feels very sturdy all around and I'm sure it will stay this way. The other thing with this knife is, I think the blade had some burs on it right out of the box, because it was not cutting paper as well as the others (small amount of tearing was happening especially by the heal), but after several cuts, it is slicing through paper w/o any tearing. Even though this knife is very sharp, the other 4 are just a little sharper, and like I said earlier, the SR1 lite is noticeably the sharpest of all them. Despite anything that could be construed as negative about this knife, I would still choose either this or the SR1 lite over the other 3 because this knife is so light and thin and has a 4" blade that is still an amazing and very sharp blade out of the box. I'm sure some time and attention to sharpen this blade and it will be as sharp as the rest of them. Plus, this is the only blade made from S35VN steel, which may be the best of the steels in these 5 knives. However, you can't go wrong with any of the steels in these 5 knives.Voyager XL:For its size, this knife is very light. It's just a little bit heavier than the Recon 1. Despite its relatively light weight, the knife feels very sturdy and dependable. Out of all the knives, this is the biggest knife, and as a scare tactic alone, will give you the best effect, because it looks like a monster when you flip it open. One handed opening of the Voyager XL was the second easiest of all the non-flippers, and the lock is smooth and light to depress. The 4 Max Scout is definitely the easiest to open with one hand, as it is such a lite and smooth open with just the thumb stud. I also really like the stonewash look of this AUS10a steel on the Voyager XL, but still second to the look of the black blade against the black G10 grips of the Recon 1. Even though this is a very large folding knife made from great knife steal, I wouldn't say that it is too big to carry around all the time, as it fits in my front jean pocket just fine and I'm under 6'. Otherwise, another good option for this large knife is to keep it in the center console or at home. I actually cut myself one time with this knife closing it, so yes, it is super sharp too.4 Max Scout:This is definitely the heaviest of the 5 knives and comes with the beefiest looking blade, although I really don't know how much that will do for me. I think the majority of the weight of this knife (60%) comes from the handle and not the blade for whatever reason and whatever it's worth. Because it weighs so much, it's probably the only knife of these 5 that I wouldn't put in my pants pocket, but a jacket pocket is a possibility. Otherwise, probably keep this in a bag, purse, center console or at home. As I mentioned above, other than the flipper, the 4 Max Scout is the easiest to open and close with one handed operation and the thumb stud, as it glides open with practically no effort, and also looks great using the same or similar stonewashed AUS10a steel as the Voyager XL. Despite its weight and girth, I have no doubt this blade is a winner for household and work chores, and I love it! I also like the texture of the handles on this knife more than the others...well, tied for first place with the feeling of the G10 grips on the Recon 1.Hope this review helps.

I'm not a big knife guy however I wanted to have a nice all purpose knife. I have a couple simple lockblades that do the job however, they're sorta flimsy and not too terribly reliable. There are a ton of good knife manufacturers so it was a bit challenging to find one that was reputable, made great products and was well received by their customers. I poked around some forums and Cold Steel came up frequently. I didn't want to drop a mint on a super primo knife but I just wanted something sub $100 to have.I have med/large sized hands so I wanted a knife that was pretty stout and robust. I didn't want a little teeny knife but something that would work in just about any situation whether it was for EDC or whatever else. I checked out a lot of Cold Steel knives and this one caught my eye. I had also seen this particular model recommended on some knife forums for a good quality, go-to knife. After receiving this knife, I could see why it was recommended as it pretty much filled all my requirements for a blade.First off, this is a hefty knife. It has some weight to it which I liked. It's a little over 9 inches in total length so it's not a small knife nor is it some massive Bowie/Rambo knife. The blade on this is quite thick and seems really sturdy. There is no wiggle on the knife when fully extended. It's just a really solid, good feeling knife. The locking mechanism on this is also really beefy. The other knives I had, they would sometimes unlock themselves if I was putting too much pressure on them which, obviously, led me to finding a better quality knife. When closed, the knife is pretty wide as well; much more so than your typical knife I'd say. Overall, it's a big knife. I had originally wanted to use this for EDC, and you could, however I think it's dimensions and weight are a con in that regard. Despite this, I really liked the knife so much that I still kept it. I put this in my truck as an all-purpose knife which I think it's well suited for.it might be a bit too large for some people and depending on your specific needs, this one may be a bit overkill. However, I find it that it fits well in the hand, great brand reputation and seems very well built.

The incredible Tri-Ad Lock on a nice large quality folder knife. It is a match made in heaven and it was meant to be beautiful, and it is awesome. I own several and it’s a lot of great quality, and at a great price. I carry the Cold Steel AD-10, but this 4Max is a great truck knife, backpack, BOB, and any place you need a large folder knife with incredible strength. It has good steel. The Scout version is not all the same material as the original 4Max, but it’s also one third the price and it’s a great knife you can pound on and not worry about using hard. I just love holding it. I also own the 5Max and that is getting into the small machete size range. But the 4Max is right on the cusp of the edge of a good large carry knife. If someone needs a large folder I strongly suggest you add this to your collection. I own several large folders and the ergos on the 4Max is great. The Tri-Ad Lock is amazing and so simple in its perfect execution. Thank you Mr Demko for that design. This beast is best closed with use of both hands. Not a fidget friendly model. But it’s a work horse who is ready to work. It’s a Hoss.