Cold Steel Peace Maker 2 Review

Here is our Cold Steel Peace Maker 2 Review.

 

Some stats on the Peace Maker 2:

It has a 5 1/2 inch blade and is 10 1/4 inches in total. Made from 3mm thick 4116 stainless steel.
It has a high impact polypropylene handle and a Secure-Ex sheath and comes in at around £35.

Well the Secure-Ex® sheath has a pretty solid metal clip on the back for attaching to your boot or a belt. The design is such that it could easily be slipped into molle, which is a nice feature although, I dare say you wouldn't get it off with any form of ease because it is very stiff. It's also a reversible sheath, so very good for all the lefties out there as well. The biggest problem with the sheath though is its size. It covers about 60% of the handles sides and sticks out too far over the edges, so you have to use your pinky to remove the blade effectively. It could do with covering about an inch less of the handle and it would be much better, but you could always shave it down yourself. It's also so much thicker than the blade its unreal. Almost 2cm thick for a 3mm blade. As a boot knife this would never work here in the UK as it's clearly only ever going to fit on a wellington (and nobody really wears wellies outside of farms and construction sites).

 

The handle on this is very thin. Even in my small hands I struggle to find a good comfortable grip. It is made of Kray-Ex™ and the highly textured handle curls out to make a cross guard, so you wont end up loosing your grip if you manage to find one. There's also a lanyard hole and that's pretty much it for the handle. Basic and a bit small,  but it does the job.

 

The blade is made of cryo quenched (dont know what that means but I guess it was cold) German 4116 stainless steel which is being used quite a lot by Cold Steel for their cheaper models. It's quite thin but has very little flex in it so it's a good general purpose knife blade, and combined with its low weight makes it a good item to carry. I used it a few times to process some wood for kindling and it feathers very well thanks to the thin blade and the Scandinavian grind. It has a nice drop point on it as well, so good penetration, and enough length on it for flipping steaks without singing the back of my hand.

 

All of it's bad features aren't terrible individually, but I think combined it makes for a bit of a disappointment. The blade is too long given how thin the blade is. The handle is also far too small and the sheath is far too big. I have started seeing this as a repeating trend from Cold Steel. I've seen so many great reviews on their high end blades but it seems that in their efforts to make more affordable items and generate profit they just give up on their quality and design. I know they could make a better blade for this price but I don't think they really want to.

 

If it broke, would I buy another one?

 

No. Its got the size and shape of a combat knife, but the blade is far too thin for this in my opinion. Its advertised as a boot knife, but I feel its far too large for this purpose also. The sheath is useable, but its nothing special, and the handle is far too skinny for me to get a decent grip. There are much worse blades out there for £35, so it's not the worst you can do. Honestly though I would avoid this series altogether and look for something suitable for your personal needs.

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