I remember when I heard that Cold Steel was doing a folder with a more classical look. Cool I thought; Cold Steel's high-tech approach combined with Buck 110 Folding Hunter's old school looks. Cold Steel's President and Founder Lynn C Thompson wanted back in 2012 to honor his family by introducing a robust folder for every day hard work. Now I sitting here with a Cold Steel Mackinac Hunter in my hand; a rough knife named after the The Mackinac Bridge in Michigan.
Design
The 28 mm wide and 92 mm long clip point blade gives you a sense of Bowie knife. The Mackinac Hunter is a pretty heavy knife, although it's about 30 g lighter than a Buck 110 Folding Hunter. The stainless steel handle of the Mackinac feels thinner than I had imagined. The decorative handle scales of the handle is made of the plastic material Delrin (Polyoxymethylene) imitating stag. Unfortunately I can feel that the handle scales gives some what a plastic look to the knife. But I understand the choice of material as it's capable of withstanding a lot of abuse and climate. I've seen some nice custom made handle scales for the Mackinac Hunter made by different knife makers. The handle scales are easy to remove by loosen the torx screws.
If you want a folder with a more slim handle than the Mackinac I can recommend you to take a look at the Mackinac Hunter's sibling; the Lone Star Hunter. The Mackinac Hunter is offered in two variants; with the Thumb Stud (#54FBT) or with the Nail Nick (#54FBN). As you can see I have the stud version and it's delivered with a right handed pocket clip pre mounted. In the box you can find an extra clip for left handers. The clip is attached by three torx screws and offer a good tip up carry although the clip is pretty short. A leather sheath is also offered for the Mackinac. The thumb stud consists of a screw that I'm guessing is easy to remove if I want to only open the blade the old school way.
The AUS 8A steel blade have a high grind and comes with a nice and sharp edge delivering that good cutting ability alá Cold Steel.
Tri-Ad Lock
According to Cold Steel; their folder locking mechanism Tri-Ad Lock is the world's strongest. The blade is shouldered around a stop pin that relieves the lock back lever of the force put to the blade. The lever of my knife was very hard to operate when I took it out of the box. But after letting the knife set half opened over night it loosened up and got easier to unlock. Will be interesting to see how the Tri-Ad Lock holds up during the up coming years of usage.
Specs
Blade Material: Stainless AUS 8A steel from Japan
Blade Length: 92 mm
Blade Thickness: 3,4 mm
Knife Length: 123 mm / 214 mm
Handle Material: Stainless steel and Delrin (Polyoxymethylene)
Handle Thickness: 13,8 mm
Knife Weight: 181 g
Price: 700 SEK (Sweden 2013)
Competent and Undramatic
I like this folders simple, robust and confident charisma. It fits my hand really good and feels very reliable. There's no doubt that this folder could take on a lot of fixed blades out there when it comes to robustness. The Mackinac Hunter deliver that typical Cold Steel extremeness but without that tactical look; a combination I like.
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