Cold Steel Master Hunter 4.5" Drop Point Black Hunting Fixed Blade Knives

You’ll be hard pressed to find another 3V Steel knife this size in this price range. The handle is very comfortable and the Master Hunter features a thick, tough blade with a drop point design that makes it perfect for processing animals (ideally paired with a fillet knife) after harvest as well as feather sticking, carving, and even food preparation. For example we lost one of my tent stakes so I carved a new one in 5 minutes out of a stick I found with the Master Hunter. The flat grind on the blade makes it excellent for slicing and carving and bushcraft (I could absolutely make a snare or trap with it in an emergency), and the spine is great for throwing sparks with a ferro rod fire starter. However this knife simply isn’t quite big enough for chopping wood thicker than 1-2 inches, or batonning larger pieces of firewood. Also, the 3V super steel is ultra tough but because of that it takes 3-4x as long to sharpen as, for example, 1095 steel. Oh, and you’ll need to sharpen it because the factory edge isn’t that sharp. It took every bit of 20 minutes on my Warthog V-Sharp II system to get a good 25° edge on this knife. If it gets dulled out in the back country, you can forget about sharpening it on a river stone or something. That being said, I can process an entire animal, even a giant boar, with the Master Hunter without having to stop and re-sharpen. Also the excellent, comfortable, grippy handle means that you you can be quite dexterous with the knife, even if your hands are wet but that you can’t use the back of the handle for hammering. It comes with a very nice adjustable sheath that you can mount just about anywhere in any configuration. In short, the Master Hunter is, no surprise, an incredible hunting knife; no more and no less. The Master Hunter could absolutely be part of a great survival system if paired with a Silky saw, hatchet, machete, etc. but it is not a stand-alone survival knife. For a stand-alone survival knife I’d really recommend something that starts at about 7 inches with my personal favorite being the excellent Becker BK9.

This is an excellent knife with a super steel. I was fortunate to have purchased it on sale. The factory edge is good for chopping things, but for my purposes I wanted something that sliced more. I should also mention that the sheath holds very well with a solid click.

Top Kundenservice

A MUST HAVE FOR YOUR COLLECTION!

Such an easy fix...in about five minutes you can custom tune the release tension by heating the top of the sheath using a hair dryer with the knife in place, and just letting it cool. After heating both sides, being careful not to melt the plastic, you should have no problem getting that snug fit that allows the blade to be drawn, but holds the knife securely in place. Yeah, it should have come that way...but you don't need to go buy a sheath unless you want something completely different anyway. I thought knives like this were intended for people that were resourceful, with some basic skills. Having heard of micro chipping of the Italian 3V steel in a couple of reviews here I tested the blade with some moderate carving on some hard maple when the knife arrived, and it held up without any damage at all. Actually, I was impressed with the performance, as well as the sharpness of the factory edge. My other Cold Steel camp knife is a 30 odd year old SRK in Carbon V, and as much as I like it, this Master Hunter is a little more versatile, not quite as heavy duty, and a better overall camp knife for slicing and such. Master Hunters with 3V blades are getting hard to find, but I'd expect the San Mai version to be similar, a great size, comfortable handle, light weight, with blade geometry that cuts well, but isn't at all delicate.