COLD STEEL Crawford Model 1 3.5" 4034SS Clip Point Blade Folding Knife

brian17834

Jan 16, 2026 4:30 AM

992 Comments

Joined Dec 2013

brian17834Jan 16, 2026 4:30 AM

992 Comments

I've had this knife for a few years and really like it. It has some heft to it which I like in a knife. Nice solid lock up. It's a mid range SS but is very easy to touch up on a diamond or ceramic rod. At $20, it's a great value for the money. I paid almost $30 for it in 2019.

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RogueVariable

Jan 16, 2026 5:33 AM

777 Comments

Joined Mar 2019

RogueVariableJan 16, 2026 5:33 AM

777 Comments

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank

Be forewarned that Cold Steel has been bought out and the new owners are starting to aggressively cut corners in every area of production and support so don't rely on past reviews when making the decision to buy or not.

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3

bthandel

Jan 16, 2026 11:58 AM

137 Comments

Joined Dec 2021

bthandelJan 16, 2026 11:58 AM

137 Comments

they will not ship to rochester ny.i can go to any sporting good store wihin a few miles and buy any type of knife local but amazon will not ship to my area....Sorry, this item cannot be shipped to your selected address due to local laws or Amazon policy. Please change the shipping address.

cooloo

Jan 16, 2026 1:54 PM

281 Comments

Joined Aug 2016

coolooJan 16, 2026 1:54 PM

281 Comments

Quote from bthandel

:

they will not ship to rochester ny.i can go to any sporting good store wihin a few miles and buy any type of knife local but amazon will not ship to my area....Sorry, this item cannot be shipped to your selected address due to local laws or Amazon policy. Please change the shipping address.

I guess Nick Tahou does not use knife for garbage plates.

1

fanglekai

Jan 16, 2026 3:00 PM

1.9K Comments

Joined Sep 2008

fanglekaiJan 16, 2026 3:00 PM

1.9K Comments

Quote from RogueVariable

:

Be forewarned that Cold Steel has been bought out and the new owners are starting to aggressively cut corners in every area of production and support so don't rely on past reviews when making the decision to buy or not.

GSM bought the brand back in 2020. The biggest change I've seen is swapping steels to junk like this 4304 on the budget models, where they used to use fairly decent budget steels like AUS-8 or AUS-10 etc.

1

RogueVariable

Jan 16, 2026 3:07 PM

777 Comments

Joined Mar 2019

RogueVariableJan 16, 2026 3:07 PM

777 Comments

Quote from fanglekai

:

GSM bought the brand back in 2020. The biggest change I've seen is swapping steels to junk like this 4304 on the budget models, where they used to use fairly decent budget steels like AUS-8 or AUS-10 etc.

It's a sad day. Or it was a sad day. Fortunately, if someone is looking for a really good budget knife, there are options out there.

dscasler

Jan 16, 2026 3:57 PM

46 Comments

Joined Jan 2014

dscaslerJan 16, 2026 3:57 PM

46 Comments

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank

Do NOT buy this I repeat Do NOT buy this knife. I bought one and both the sliding lock on the side of the handle and the main blade lock were non functional! It cut me. Then I thought, at this price I really want it, maybe it's just a defective one so I ordered another one. The second one was the same. You open the blade all the way and it does not lock open. Super dangerous. Only if you push it open hard will it lock in place. I've bought $3 flea market knives that are much better quality than this POS. Sad too because I have some old Cold Steel knives I like.

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FatWesternPig

Jan 16, 2026 4:09 PM

374 Comments

Joined Dec 2023

FatWesternPigJan 16, 2026 4:09 PM

374 Comments

how many people can be stabbed a minute with this

4

Cracktower

Jan 16, 2026 5:08 PM

3.3K Comments

Joined Nov 2010

CracktowerJan 16, 2026 5:08 PM

3.3K Comments

4034SS is horrendous steel. It's better than nothing but if you plan on actually using this daily you'll be sharpening this more often. That being said, if you only need it occasionally you could do a lot worse. I see other comments about the locking system not working. That's very uncommon, extremely rare as the triad lock is arguably the best locking system ever devised. I do agree though that once GSM bought the company the customer service took a nose dive.

1

391412

Jan 16, 2026 7:16 PM

844 Comments

Joined Nov 2005

391412Jan 16, 2026 7:16 PM

844 Comments

Quote from FatWesternPig

:

how many people can be stabbed a minute with this

Depends... Top thought, if your Neo in the matrix quite a few Smith's ... Denzel in The Equalizer could do quite a few too

1

DoctorAwesome

Jan 16, 2026 8:16 PM

1.1K Comments

Joined Nov 2020

DoctorAwesomeJan 16, 2026 8:16 PM

1.1K Comments

Quote from RogueVariable

:

Be forewarned that Cold Steel has been bought out and the new owners are starting to aggressively cut corners in every area of production and support so don't rely on past reviews when making the decision to buy or not.

Lynn Thompson (founder) sold CS 5 years ago. The "new" owners are not new. Additionally, Cold Steel (under Lynn Thompson) farmed out most (if not all) of their manufacturing to others long before selling the company to GSM.
Do you have any actual examples of the 'aggressive corner cutting' that are seemingly starting 5 years after the brand changed hands?
One more thing, if anyone is a fan of the founder of CS, he started another outdoor-sporting company called 'Never Unarmed'.
I'm not declaring the quality hasn't changed one way or the other, but, the 'new' owners are not new and the company is now based in Texas.

2

RogueVariable

Jan 16, 2026 10:14 PM

777 Comments

Joined Mar 2019

RogueVariableJan 16, 2026 10:14 PM

777 Comments

Quote from DoctorAwesome

:

Lynn Thompson (founder) sold CS 5 years ago. The "new" owners are not new. Additionally, Cold Steel (under Lynn Thompson) farmed out most (if not all) of their manufacturing to others long before selling the company to GSM. Do you have any actual examples of the 'aggressive corner cutting' that are seemingly starting 5 years after the brand changed hands?One more thing, if anyone is a fan of the founder of CS, he started another outdoor-sporting company called 'Never Unarmed'.I'm not declaring the quality hasn't changed one way or the other, but, the 'new' owners are not new and the company is now based in Texas.

I wasn't aware the sell-off was so long ago. I was able to get the one knife I wanted from them before everything started going downhill so I kind of quit keeping them on my radar.

Thompson always struck me as a modern day P.T. Barnum, though, so I always kept my distance from the company.

1

FatWesternPig

Jan 17, 2026 2:57 PM

374 Comments

Joined Dec 2023

FatWesternPigJan 17, 2026 2:57 PM

374 Comments

Quote from RogueVariable

:

I wasn't aware the sell-off was so long ago. I was able to get the one knife I wanted from them before everything started going downhill so I kind of quit keeping them on my radar.

Thompson always struck me as a modern day P.T. Barnum, though, so I always kept my distance from the company.

There are no other Barnums in america, certainty not at the highest levels of industry and politics

1

RogueVariable

Jan 17, 2026 3:01 PM

777 Comments

Joined Mar 2019

RogueVariableJan 17, 2026 3:01 PM

777 Comments

Quote from FatWesternPig

:

There are no other Barnums in america, certainty not at the highest levels of industry and politics

And we have always been at war with Eastasia.

ColoradoFoxtrot

Jan 18, 2026 12:28 PM

1.5K Comments

Joined Sep 2008

ColoradoFoxtrotJan 18, 2026 12:28 PM

1.5K Comments

Quote from RogueVariable

:

Be forewarned that Cold Steel has been bought out and the new owners are starting to aggressively cut corners in every area of production and support so don't rely on past reviews when making the decision to buy or not.

Man that sucks. Just when they were about to release their Blue look. I heard it was going to be ridiculously good looking.

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COLD STEEL Crawford Model 1 3.5" 4034SS Clip Point Blade Folding Knife

$21

$50

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