Cold Steel’s Immortal, by Pat Cascio

The Immortal folding knife by Cold Steel may well be the most wicked knife they’ve ever produced to date. We’ll take a close look at it.

From the very start, Cold Steel www.coldsteel.com has been a force to be dealt with in the cutlery field. They became famous for their version of the fixed blade Tanto knife, and I longed to own one. It took quite some time for me to save up enough pennies to get one. But when I did, I was not disappointed in the least. Even today, the Cold Steel Tanto is the best of the best, when it comes to this design. Many have tried to copy it, all to no avail. I couldn’t tell you the number of forgeries I’ve run across over the years. Every last one of them was absolute junk!

Cold Steel Sets Gold Standard for Super Sharp Knives

I’ve stated this many times but will repeat myself. Cold Steel set the Gold Standard many years ago when it comes to producing super sharp knives. Everyone else had to start putting better edges on their knives or lose business. My long-time friend and Cold Steel’s owner, Lynn Thompson, knows more about knives than I’ll ever know. I respect him as a knife designer who knows what he’s doing.

The Immortal Folder

I received the Cold Steel “Immortal” folder some time ago for testing for this article. I’ll be honest; I’ve handled thousands of knives over the years, and some were pretty scary in design. However, nothing comes close to the Immortal when it comes to scary knives, in my humble opinion. When the blade is opened and locked tight with the Tri-Ad lock, the Immortal is just plain wicked. The blade design actually scared me to use it. There’s just something about it that makes it wicked looking.

I’ve cut myself more times than I care to count while testing knives over the past 25 years. Several times, it called for professional medical attention. Knowing this, there was no way I was going to let the Immortal get the best of me and cut me in any way, shape, or form. If it did, I knew a visit to the ER would have been in order. So, during my testing, I was extremely careful with the orientation of the blade when the knife was in use. Yes, it is “that” scary of a blade design, if you ask me.

The Immortal is designed by custom knife maker, Mike Wallace, and it is described as a “big and battle-ready tactical folder, that takes its inspiration from the infamous blades of the Roman Army.” I totally agree with this apt description. This just reminds me of a Roman short sword.

Overview

An overview is in order. While the blade is only four inches long, it appears much longer than that. The blade is wider than normal, too. It’s not all that much wider, but once again it appears very wide for a folding knife. Made out of Carpenter CTS XHP alloy stainless steel, which is very hardy stuff, the blade holds an edge for the longest time, too. The handle is five inches long and made out of G-10 material. My sample has the OD green color, but you can get one in desert sand color, if you like. There is an ambidextrous pocket/clothing clip. It can be moved from one side of the handle to the other. Overall length of the Immortal, when opened, is nine inches.

The Blade

The blade itself is a modified Tanto point, with an angular chisel ground false edge, giving it a very distinct shape. It’s a scary shape, if you will. The two-tone polish job on the angles of the blade really make it stand out of the crowd. It’s very nice and eye-catching. There is a thumb plate, which is used for opening the blade and designed by Andrew Demko. The blade is a little hard to open using your thumb. This is due to the Tri-Ad locking mechanism. But with practice, the blade can be opened easily and fast. You can also use the thumb plate to “snag” on your pocket as you draw the knife and pull to the rear a bit; and the blade will be opened when it is fully drawn from your pocket, fast, very fast!

The Handle

The G-10 handle scales are deeply grooved. You can get a super tight hold on the knife under any weather conditions or when deploying the Immortal in any number of positions in your hand. The aluminum spacer on the rear of the handle protrudes a little from the handle; that can be used as a striking weapon, when less than lethal force may be required. It’ll sure do a number on whatever it comes in contact with, when striking with it.

Testing Procedure

While carrying the Immortal, I used it for a lot of cutting chores, always being careful of which direction the sharpened blade was turned. (I didn’t want to cut myself by accident.) The blade was super sharp, as I expected it to be. One of the best tests for sharpness is slicing through thick blackberry vines, which the Immortal did with ease. The thickest of the thickest vines were easily sliced in half, completely with one swing of the blade. Cardboard boxes were no match. The blade design easily penetrated to the handle with ease, when “stabbing” the knife into stacked cardboard. Cutting rope was no problem!

The Tri-Ad lock never failed, and the blade stayed locked open tight until you were ready to close it. That’s a very, very good thing in a folder. I’ve had a number of locks on folders fail when testing them over the years. If this happened with the Immortal, you would surely lose a couple of fingers, no kidding.

A EDC Choice for Military

If I were back in the military, the Immortal would be my first choice in a EDC folder during training, in combat, and off-duty. The knife is just wicked looking. More than that, it is wicked. I can easily see an attacker deciding that they had an appointment across town, once you pulled the Immortal out of your pocket and were ready to use it to defend yourself with it. Did I happen to mention how wicked-looking the Immortal is? Yeah, I thought so.

Quality Doesn’t Come Cheap

As always, quality doesn’t come cheap. However, when you purchase quality, you don’t have to replace it. If anything went wrong with your Immortal, simply return it to Cold Steel and they’ll make it right, forever! I just don’t see this knife failing, ever! Full retail is $199.99. Yeah, that’s a good chunk of change. But then again, it is a first-class tactical folder in every sense of the word that will never let you down. Check one out. However, be sure to handle the opened blade carefully. You’ve been warned!




9 Comments

  1. I’m a big fan of Cold Steel. I own several, and the Recon 1 is my most favorite knife ever. This one doesn’t seem like my cup of tea. I guess I just don’t care for the look of it. Each there own though! Another good review Pat. Thank You!

  2. Always liked cold steel and thought it was good value for the money.

    Still getting around to replacing my lost Tanto folder. This looks interesting but for close to $200 it’s a bit pricey especially for Cold Steel.

    Are they trying to get into higher and knives or have just cashed-in on their popularity. ?

  3. I’ve been a fan of Cold Steel products for a good long time , Their SRK was a constant companion during the
    1st.Gulf War. I don’t know how many I have , a good
    number I’d say .
    I even have a set of their Steak knives not sure
    if they still make them anymore

  4. I might be biased, but I have to agree that Cold Steel makes the finest regular production knives on the U.S. market.
    There was only one complaint that I ever heard about my Rawles-SurvivalBlog XL Voyager limited edition design that Cold Steel produced. That was that it was much more sharp that buyers expected, resulting in some nicked hands. Please be particularly careful when handling Cold Steel brand knives. They do indeed come from the factory “wicked sharp.”

  5. I bought a Cold Steel boar spear. It sat in my office for a couple of years, then I went boar hunting with two of my sons.
    No, I didn’t take a boar with it, but an eleven-year-old boy took two! Everybody at that hunt was going on and on about how sharp and deadly it was.
    I’ve never tried a Cold Steel knife, but I’m going to Smoky Mountain Knife Works in a few weeks and I’ll stop by Cold Steel’s counter.

  6. I own many Cold Steel Knives and all of them are
    Supelative. My EDC is the Spartan. BelI’ve me, when I say when I snap it out, I draw Everyone attenation to it. For the money. You can’t beat Cold Steel

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