Okay.
We European got some kind of American dreams: Cowboys and Indians….
From Die Hard (Cow boy) to First Blood (Indian), the dream doesn’t want to die.
Spyderco is a very international company, building knives like Ferrari is building cars.
Cold Steel is also very international, looking and also giving tributes for designs from Africa, Spain…
But both those companies are pulling my sensitive string when they give tribute to the American Spirit.

Spyderco gave us the Chinook when Cold Steel bring us the Trailmasters.
Testa rossa vs Gran Torino ?
OK, Cold Steel also is bringing very cleverly engineered short blades and especially the greatest improvement on lock back: Andrew Demko‘s Triadlock.
Oh how this lock is sweet: fully ambidextrious and solid as a rock and … easy on manufacturing tolerances. Pure genius. A milestone in knifemaking.
In one inspired move Mr Demko transformed the solid Cold Steel Voyagers into Über Hulk Solid Cold Steel Voyagers.

Now Cold Steel is releasing a lot of new designs with the Triadlock and many black tactical beauty. (This Recon Drop Point !!!)
But my eyes caught two releases those last monthes: the Mackinac Hunter and the Lone Star Hunter.
They both look like Old Timers with those kind of Delrin faux stag horn scales. And as I love Schrade Old Timers and Uncle Henry’s…
Also they could go well with Samcro’s riders, those modern cowboys…

OK to how this Lone Star Hunter looks ?:
BIG !!! I was very surprised on how long and sleek and sexy this blade would be.
SMOOTH !!! Open with a flick of the wrist and close in a breeze…..
OUCH !!! Yes it closes so smoothly and without any choil to protect my finger… I get a nasty cut. I need to learn how to rest my index nearer to the axis when I close that baby.

The blade is 3,5mm thick, it looks like 4mm. The bowie clip and flat ground blade is gorgeous like a modern interpretation of the Navaja.
Solid feel. No play.
A little on the heavy side. But I love heavy metal on traditional hommages.
Well balanced, perfectly executed: Taiwan plants are the best in the outsourcing knives manufacturing.
My Lone Star Hunter is an eyecandy and über solid workhorse.

AUS 8A Stainless may be not as sexy as M390, CPM M4 or ELMAX but as far as I am concern my XL Voyager keep a decent edge and is easy to keep razor. The grind is thin and for a full flat ground, you got a great sliding machine. The blade is also very pointy. Not like my Pointu or my Lionspy. You never jow when you will ned to pop a balloon.
Again, heat treatment is as important (and even more) than the steel composition. This AUS 8A is perfect for a workhorse at a budget price.
Yes, that knife is really easy on your wallet. This is something to consider. I love “blue collar” tools. My grandfather was a farmer and was using is Canif (“K-nife” come from that word BTW!) from cattle surgery to whittling. It was his everyday workhorse, solid, reliable and easy to maintain in good condition.

The shortcomings of my Lone Star Hunter so far:
the clip was short and to tight to be really useable. Once clipped to a pocket the knife was nearly impossible to retrieve. So I bend that clip and now it’s OK. Easy peazzy lemon squizzy…
The spine (back) of the blade was square enough to spark a fire on a rusty nail but I like my spines rounded for thumb pushing cuts. So I have grinned it with a diamond rod in 15 minutes.
The fact it is all steel framed and not skeletonized can be a shortcoming for those who loves their folder light in the pocket. This is heavy metal, no aluminium or titanium scales. The handle can get hot and chilling as almost a full metal. No bolster the delrin slabs are screwed on the metal. Easy to clean.
Oh, the lock can be hard to unlock. Perharps it needs a little wear but for safety reason now it requires two hands to close it. My Spyderco Native 5 backlock or the XL Voyager are closed by gravity and your index finger is protected by a choil or a ricasso of some sort. Here you need to move your finger forward the axis (less strenght in the unlock procedure) for unlocked the ultra sharp blade to start to fall. And the slippery handle do not help.
The Lone Star Hunter is a knife wich needs to be manipulated with extra respect. I open and close my Spyderco Military, or Persistence without thinking about it. The LSH is asking you to be careful during the closing procedure.

So the Lone Star Hunter is going to be a great pocket knife for EDC for those who ask a ultra solid folder, even if it is a little on the non political correctness side: the lenght of the blade is impressive as the Blade handle ratio is close to 1… But as is Cold Steel CEO Lynn Thomson: unique and impressive. Also Texas does not have the same knives regulation as many other places on Earth so this folder is a real hommage.
Compared to those “Tactical, Black G10, Black Blades/ Pry Bars” , this is a knife which got a lot of personnality and especially gives you a lot for the money spent. This one is my second “Texas” inspiration folder with the extraordinary Gayle Bradley. There is something genuinely “19th Century” Texan about this design but served with an ultra song lock. A knife which asks for respect and hard work.

PROs:
Triadlock.
Thin flat ground clip blade
Confortable handle (no hot spot)
Great GC.
Beautiful lines.

CONs:
Can be to heavy for some users
to slippy for some
The clip is to tight.
To long blade for some juridictions…
The lock can be hard to unlock.
No choil to protect your finger when the blade is closing. (better two hands closing)

Official pages is here: http://www.coldsteel.com/lonestarhunter.html

Notice the fresh scar on the finger. You need to be more careful than I when closing it.

The triadlock pin.

Oh yes you can abuse tha knife.

Oh and it was able to cut through the bottle’s butt like a breeze. So the grind is thind enough… 🙂