I’ve been an amateur knife designer since the early 1980s, and several of my designs have actually been produced by custom knife makers, as well as some factories. One custom designer went so far as to add my design to his inventory – never giving me credit for the design, nor paying me any royalties, but that’s okay, I don’t hold a grudge. Another knife company has been producing several of my designs for quite a few years now, and I actually gave them my design, to help them get their company up and running – no problem there at all – I earn nothing from the sales of those designs – like I said, I gave them the designs.
By no means am I professional “knife designer,” by my own designation. I used to love mechanical drafting when I was in high school, I was a fair hand at it – but not great at it. These days, its hard for me to draw a straight line with a ruler, but when I submit a design, either to a custom maker or a factory they somehow manage to muddle through what I want and the knives have turned out fantastic. I can visualize a knife in my mind, but its sometimes hard to put it down on a piece of paper. I’ve been blessed to have worked with some great custom knife makers, who could somehow make heads and tails out of my vision.
I love fixed blade knives, because they are so much stronger than a folding knife. However, its not always practical to carry a big fixed blade knife on my belt, so I usually carry a folding knife of some sort. Of course, we are giving up something in the way of strength, when carrying a folder, instead of a fixed blade knife, but we can’t always have the best of all worlds.
Over the years, I’ve really tried coming up with a new folding knife lock, so it wouldn’t fail me. And, no sooner do I get a good idea in my head, then someone else must have read my mind, and came out with a folding knife lock before I could even begin to get it on paper and prototypes produced. Such is life, I guess.
I still remember when the first liner-lock folding knives started appearing on the scene, and they were, and still are, one of the hottest locking mechanism to come along. However, they are not nearly as strong as you believe them to be, I’ve had more than a few liner-locks fail on me during testing, and we are not talking abuse, just serious testing. Still, they are a good design, much better than the old slip-lock designs used on many folders.
We also have various other locks for folders, from buttons, to a sliding lock, to – well, let your imagination run wild. And, everyone claims their locks are the best or strongest on the market – we call that “hype” – not a lot wrong with hype, so long as you realize that’s what it is…it sells knives, lots of knives.
Long time friend, Lynn Thompson, who owns Cold Steel Knives is always coming out with new knife designs and he has introduced us to some pretty strong locking mechanisms, one is his is the Tri-Ad lock. That was designed by custom knife maker, Andrew Demko, and it is a super-strong lock, if not one of the most strong locks on the market. We are talking brutally strong locks. I’ve yet to have one of Cold Steel’s Tri-Ad locks fail on my during testing, or regualr use.
Today, we’re checking out the new Cold Steel AD-15 – the AD stands for Andrew Demko, who designed this folder and his new lock. There’s one thing you can always count on when you own a Cold Steel knife of any kind, and that is they are strong – really strong. It took me the better part of 6-7 months to get my hands on the AD-15 – they sell out just “that” fast. I have to admit, though – the AD-15 didn’t really make me appreciate it – at first.Continue reading“Cold Steel AD-15, by Pat Cascio”
