Cold Steel Tuff Lite Folding Knife

Since 1980, Cold Steel has been dedicated to making the strongest, sharpest knives in the world and has been at the forefront of the many innovations that have helped to define the knife industry as a whole. Chief among their innovations is the the Tri-Ad® lock for folding knives.

Why Buy?

Several times per week, I need something to open a box or package. While keys can be used in a pinch to open a box, it doesn’t help much with something like blister/clamshell packaging. On the trail, knives are one of the 10 Essentials and are useful in first aid, food prep, and repairs.

In looking for a knife that can be used on the trail and carried everyday, two things I focus on are simplicity and a non-threatening appearance. Most of the knives geared towards outdoorsy people are overkill. Most EDC knives are threatening or tactical looking. Most all of these look out of place in a work-place setting.

Looking at the products that Cold Steel makes, I was interested initially in the Lucky and TI-Lite series. After speaking with Cold Steel, I was told that the knives I liked would work great an EDC knives, but overall the Tuff Lite Folding Knife would work better as a hybrid – something that would take care of my everyday tasks and work well on the trail. Here are the specs:

Blade Thickness: 2.75 mm
Handle: 3 1/2″ Long Griv-Ex
Blade Grind: Hollow
Steel: Japanese AUS 8A Stainless
Pocket Clip: Ambidextrous Pocket/ Belt Clip
Blade Thick: 2.75mm
Blade Length: 2-1/2″
Handle Length: 3-1/2″

First Impressions

COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE

COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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I’ve been carry the Cold Steel Tuff Lite Folding Knife for a couple of weeks now. Here are some thoughts:

The Good
- Price – depending on what color you want, you can find this knife for $30 or less.
- Very sharp out of the box.
- Has held up and worked well with all of the EDC tasks I’ve thrown at it.
- With the cutout in the top of the blade, the knife can be opened with one hand. In my opinion, the cutout in the blade is much better than a thumb stud than can wear a hole in your pocket.
- With the texture on the handle and the cutouts for finger placement the knife handles well.
The Bad
- Both issues that I’ve found with the nice and they’re both minor, may improve as the knife is used more:
  - The belt clip is very stiff and it usually takes both hands to attach the knife to my belt or pocket.
  - The knife isn’t easy to close, but I suppose this is a trade off — I’m definitely not worried about the Tri-Ad lock closing accidentally.
The Bottom Line
- I’m impressed and feel like it will be hard to beat the quality this knife offers at this price point.

Future Testing

COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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COLD STEEL TUFF LITE PLAIN EDGE FOLDING KNIFE
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Durability – based on the testing that Cold Steel put this thing through in development, I doubt I’ll ever break it or wear it out, but we’ll see how it goes.
Hiking tasks – I need to test it doing some hiking/survival type task (like making feather sticks) and see how well the knife holds an edge after some serious use.