Cold SteelKobun Plain Edge 5.5" Japanese AUS8A Stainless Steel American Tanto Shape Fixed Blade Tactical Hunting Knife, Ergonomic Kray-Ex Handle, Secure-Ex Sheath

AUS 8 is a fairly standard Japanese stainless steel. I've seen it compared to U.S. 440C steel. It can get very sharp, but won't have the edge retention of one of the modern "super steels" (Google for examples) but those steels would also make the knife a lot more expensive.The handle is very thin; the handle length is fine in XL hands, and the material is nicely grippy. Overall the handle is thin but grippy -- Is it ideal? Maybe not but it's very compact and very usable without complaint.The knife in general has a small profile for a 5.5" blade. It's a fairly thin blade, and it feels light. It's not a knife you would use to baton wood -- I say that because I wouldn't baton wood with any knife, unless I was foolish enough not to bring the appropriate tool, or couldn't find branches small enough that I didn't need to try spitting them with a ... knife?The plastic sheath has great retention. I changed out the standard metal belt clip for a Spyderco G-Clip that I had on hand. (I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't like the knife.)It does have a "tanto" blade, which makes sharpening a bit different - it's more like 2 separate blade sections, but that unique design is one of the reasons I got it. I didn't have any other "tanto" blades, and had avoided them as an odd shaped blade. The design is said to have a very strong tip. This may be a novelty type/style of knife, IMO, rather than what I'd normally have considered as an every-day-use knife. But, if you're proficient at sharpening, this thing gets very sharp, and can perform all standard cutting/puncturing knife duties.Overall: Very satisfied with this knife, especially for the price. As long as you have some sharpening capability and access to a stone or steel for sharpening, I wouldn't shy away from this one at all. I would definitely buy it again. If I lost it, I'd buy it again. It's converted me to accepting tanto blades.

For the price point ($30-$35), this knife is nothing short of awesome. If it was $50, I’d call it 4 stars, for $100 I’d give it 3, but for $30, I’d give it 6/5 stars if I could. It’s very light, nimble, and usable. The blade is thin (1/8”), but not thin enough to feel cheap. It’s not a “Japan level” good Cold Steel, but it’s a solid knife. It’s a Taiwan cold steel, one of their “junk knives”, made of AUS-8 steel, which means it’s about the quality of a SOG or Gerber production knife. I own a Cold Steel San Mai iii Recon Tanto, which is a big, serious knife, worth every bit of the $115-$135 you’d pay for it. You’ll pay $50-$60 for a SOG seal pup or SOG tsunami, for the same thickness of the same steel as the Kobun, with a junk sheath. The secure-ex sheath is good quality. The retention is great, maybe too good. If you try to use the metal clip that comes with it (junk!!!!!!!), the sheath will come with the knife if you try to draw it. My knife came with the newer shesth that only has holes on one side, not both. If you buy this knife, buy a tek-lok, tek lok mini, or a spyderco G Clip to go with it. I’ve had one kobun for several years. It holds an edge well for breaking down boxes, gutting and skinning deer, and other basic knife uses. With minimal upkeep on a spyderco sharpmaker (a must have for any owner of goood blades) mine stays shaving sharp all the time. The handle is too thin for my big hands. I remedied it with a paracord wrap. The cord wrap is done with OD green paracord with the inside strands pulled out, called a “flat wrap”. It’s done by wrapping it as simply as it looks, then pulling both ends through the lanyard hole and burning them together into a “knob” so they can’t pull back through. The grippy rubber handle keeps them perfectly in place with no adhesive, even with hard use. I recently bought a second one to mount 2 opposing sheaths to one large tek lok. Mounting them together required trimming the pointy ends of the sheath off with a dremel, which didn’t hurt the sheaths functionality at all. The double sheath is totally impractical, and totally unecessary but also totally awesome. See my pictures. BUY THIS KNIFE!!!!!!

The real deal. Shaving sharp right out of the box, going to EDC this for a bit and report back. Blade is balanced nicely, right around the hilt. I’m kinda torn on the “kray ex” grip, it feels a little slippery although my hands might be a little oily.Love the tanto design and it seems to be pretty dang durable from my research on YT. Overall a great value for a great blade of AUS 8. Also love the low profile metal clip on the quality sheath it came with. My only concern would be the grip when it’s wet, will return later with updates when warmer weather permits field use.