Knife Review: Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite

The Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite

Cold Steel Inc. is a knife and tool company dedicated to creating the world’s strongest, sharpest knives, swords, tomahawks, machetes, cutlery, tools for every day carry: EDC. Quickly adopted by Military, Law Enforcement Special units, Emergency Services Personnel, Self Defense professionals as well as members of the Martial Arts community, Cold Steel quickly became renowned for quality, strength, reliability and dependability in every day carry (EDC). Our diverse and varied line-up quickly grew to include not only a massive selection of folding knives (from smaller "EDC" blades, to our iconic giant “mega-folders”) but fixed blades, swords, sabers, pole-arms and halberds, as well as hunting gear, spears, blowguns, axes, machetes, tomahawks and tools!

Over the decades, Cold Steel has introduced pioneering new materials and designs that have helped to shape the world of the modern knife, edged weapons and tools. From the introduction of the checkered Kraton® handles, and the “Americanized” Tanto blade, to the inclusion of innovative new blade steels like San Mai III® and game-changing locking mechanisms (like our Tri-Ad™ Lock). As we look to the future, Cold Steel continues to bring new levels of strength, safety and performance to the market, providing tried and tested products that you can rely on – Anytime, Anywhere!

Cold Steel is credited with popularizing the American tanto in 1980. Cold Steel marketed knives made for them in the U.S. by Camillus using a carbon steel given the trademarked name "Carbon V". Their imported knives were nearly all made in Seki, Japan using AUS-8 which Cold Steel labelled "400 Series Stainless". They also had two models made in Taiwan, both of which switched to Japan in 2000. In 2007 Camillus New York went bankrupt and Cold Steel was forced to find a new manufacturer for their carbon steel fixed blades. Cold steel first went to Mainland China (People's Republic of China) but allegedly due to quality issues they switched to Taiwan for production. At the same time Cold Steel moved all of their folding knife manufacturing from Seki Japan to Taiwan. The carbon steel was SK5 and stainless was AUS-8 both imported to Taiwan from Japan. However, the Sanmai III models remained strictly Seki production.

Today, we will be discussing the Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite with a serrated blade.

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of AUS 8A stainless steel. This is a mid-range steel, but it is going to be on the higher end of this steel range. This steel is made by Aichi Steel, which is a Japanese manufacturer. This steel is similar to 440B steel, although it is going to be a little more rust resistant and a little harder than 440C. This steel does have good toughness, although it is not going to hold its edge for long periods of time. Especially when you compare it to the more premium steels that are going to have a higher portion of carbon in them. The more carbon that is in a knife, the harder it is going to be, and the better it will hold its edge. Although this knife might not hold its edge as well as other knives, it is going to be extremely easy to sharpen and you will be able to get it incredibly sharp. One of the other benefits of this steel is that it is less inexpensive, which will keep the overall cost of this budget knife down.

The blade on this knife is finished satin, which is the most common blade finishes that you are going to find on the market. The finish gives the knife a traditional look and is not hard to accomplish. To create this finish, the 

manufacturer is going to repeatedly sand the blade in one direction with an increasing level of a fine abrasive—normally a sandpaper. As a reference, the finer the sandpaper that is used and the more even the lines, the cleaner the satin finish is going to be. Because this is a budget blade, it is not going to be the cleanest satin finish that you’ll ever come across, but it will still look nice. The satin finish is known for doing a couple of things. First, it does reduce glares and reflections slightly. It is not going to excel at this like a matt finish would, but it is not going to be reflective like a mirror finish would be. The next thing that it does is increase the corrosion resistance of the blade slightly. Again, this is not a characteristic that you should rely on and forego the rest of your maintenance, but anything will help on a budget knife like this. The last thing that the satin finish is going to do is show off the fine lines of the steel as well as showcase the bevels of the blade. This is definitely more aesthetic than anything else, but it is what makes the satin finish such a classic one.

The blade on this knife has been carved into a sheepsfoot blade shape, which is not a common blade shape to see these days. The shape is made up with a totally straight sharpened edge, which does mean that there is no belly for you to slice with. The back is large and very curved down to meet the sharpened edge. Because of the shape, you also have more of a “false” point, which means that you won’t be able to stab much with this knife. However, it also means that this knife can be much safer. Rescuers and sailors are known for using the sheepsfoot or blade shapes similar to the sheepsfoot so that there are no accidental stabbings. And because the spine is curved and not sharpened, you can place your hand on the spine while you cut to give yourself better control. The blade is going to give you very straight cuts, it is going to be easily controlled, and you won’t have any accidental stabbings. That being said, because of the lack of point and belly, the knife does not have a lot of versatility.

The blade on this knife is completely serrated. The serrated blade is not going to give you as clean of cuts as a plain edge would, because the teeth do tend to make things a little more jagged. However, the teeth work to rip through materials that would normally be tougher to cut through such as ropes. The serrations are going to make this a harder knife to sharpen when it does need to be, but serrated edges need to be sharpened less than plain edges do. Because there is not a point or belly, you probably wouldn’t be doing precision work with this knife anyways, so the serrations are not a drawback in that regard.

The Handle:

The handle has been made out of black grivory. Grivory is a man-made material that is known for being one of the top replacements for a metal. This material is known for having high levels of strength, for not bending, but also being durable. Grivory is not going to absorb much, if any, liquid, which does help with corrosion and maintenance. If it does happen to absorb a little bit of liquid, it is not known to affect the quality of the material. This material is going to last for a considerable amount of time and keep its high quality while it does it.

Just like the blade, the handle is full of curves, but also sharper angels. The spine of the knife curves toward the butt slowly. It does have a few sections that look as if they are cut out. The metal form the blade shows through these sections, which does give the knife a more modern look. The belly of the handle has a very deep finger groove. This will help you have a more secure grip on the knife and it will also help give you a more comfortable grip on the knife. There is a finger guard right before the deep finger groove, which will help keep your safe. Although the blade also sports its’ own finger guard, so the second one is almost there for looks instead. The butt is a rounded square. The knife does have a very large, rectangular lanyard hole carved into it. This lanyard hole is going to be big enough for any lanyard to fit inside of it.

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip on this knife can only be attached for tip down carry on the traditional side of the handle. This does mean that the knife is not going to be super ambidextrous. The clip is rectangular and does not taper toward the end. The clip is also silver, which does contrast nicely with the black handle of this blade. It is kept in place by two silver screws, which do match the rest of the hardware on this knife. It is not a deep carry pocket clip.

The Mechanism:

This is a manual folding knife. In terms of legality, a manual folding knife is going to be legal in the most states and cities in the United States. Manual knives do not fall under the strict laws that automatic knives do. That being said, always know your local knife laws because you, as the user, are responsible. However, in terms of efficiency, a manual knife is not going to be the most efficient in any terms. To bring this knife into play, you have to remove the knife from your pocket, open it, and then you are ready to go. For an EDC knife like this one though, it should not be that big of a deal to bring it into play. There are few circumstances that the Mini Tuff could handle that would be dire enough to need those few extra seconds.

To assist you in opening the Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite, the blade has been equipped with a thumb window. This is pretty much what it sounds like: a large rectangular cut out that sits where the thumb stud normally would on a more traditional knife. This hole gives your thumb enough texture to push against it and flip the blade open. One of the benefits of a thumb hole as opposed to the thumb stud is that it is not going to extend off the blade and get in the way ever. One of the other benefits is that the hole is ambidextrous by design because you can access it from either side of the knife. For a thumb stud to be ambidextrous, it would have had to be a dual thumb stud, which is not as common to see.

The Specs:

The blade on this knife measures in at 2 inches long with a blade thickness that measures in at 2.5 millimeters. The handle on this knife measures in at 3 inches long. When the Mini-Tuff is open, it measures in at an overall length of 5 inches long. This knife weighs in at a mere 1.7 ounces.

Conclusion:

The Cold Steel Mini Tuff Lite is built light enough to be handy and yet strong enough to do the job. This little folder is the perfect size for pocket, clip or neck carry. The 2" long hollow ground blade is amazingly sharp and very useful for precision work--on this model, the 20MTS, the blade is part serrated. It delivers deep penetration. The Mini Tuff-Lite is bred for work and offers a surprisingly good grip due to its superbly engineered handle. Made of Grivory, it offers an enormous strength to weight ratio and features our state of the art Tri-Ad® lock, which gives it astonishing muscle for its size. The Mini Tuff Lite Is inconspicuous and small, yet strong and tough. And it's light enough to carry with ease. Surely, it’s the best accessory you¹ll ever carry. You can pick up this knife today at BladeOps if you are looking for a great EDC knife.