Can I make a better blade than Cold Steel does?

In a recent short, I destroyed a brand new Cold Steel SRK made with SK-5 steel. So the question had to be asked… can I make a better blade?
In this video, you will see me build and torture test my own blade made with the same dimensions as the Cold Steel SRK blade.
Visit: www.calculatedsurvival.com for some sweet survival products!

[@loyalegroup3929]

Next Vid: "How to remove a custom knife from your eye socket or nasal cavity"

[@marcelhoffmann6843]

the head movement was like to shake off a bee, but a bee is nothing compared to a bouncing blade, it was in my opinion a very incautious action

[@Cal.380]

😂😂😂😂

[@grominwithrob1339]

Now powder coat it and manufacture it with a sheath for $38!!😂😂😂😂

[@blazetaylor6233]

Firstly, as a south African I wish I could afford one of your knives, I the the quality and durability of them is amazing, specially for the price point compared to other companies. Secondly this video I think has proved your Blade smithing skills keep up the good work man

[@ThirdoptionJCSU]

52100 is actually my favorite steel even more 3v because of its extreme sharpness

[@tigerpisces5506]

Thanks, I was going to buy SRK in 3V. I suspected the rat tail spine hidden under the molded handle. BK-2 has a skeletonized handle, and even it I have seen it breaks. Looks like Esse 5 or 6 is the real deal.

[@tikkidaddy]

If you watch some of the old Proof vids where CS was testing the tantos they made in 3V they hung stoopid amounts of weight off the blades but they did it with the weight hanging over the spine of the knife, and against the side of the knife. 3V is crazy strong and even then the knife flexed, but did not take a permanent warp. As you know you can use a known quantity steel, verified and the whole 9 yards but if heat treat or temper is off, something will give. SK5 SRKs are bad to snap tips now with more hollow ground profiles. Stress risers under the handles? Yeah boy...even worse, especially on a side strike stretched between two hunks of wood. When the knife was made in the US by Camillus out of Carbon V (Sharon Steel ) and sabre ground , it would've passed. I've carried that knife since 1987 and beat the hound dog soup out of it. I think 52100 is a good choice for a remake.

[@daemonblackfyre195]

dude wear some safety goggles please

[@osbaldohernandez9174]

Whole time I was like so is the blade going to stab him because no safety glasses

[@mr.snawley]

Hey there! I absolutely love your channel. The one suggestion I have for your forging videos is just using a decent microphone to pick up the natural audio of you working! There has been a huge upwards trend for forging content, cleaning content, and restoration content. The one thing I’ve also noticed is that the top videos within these genres currently also fit the whole “ASMR” trend going on. If you made the title “could I remake the cold steel knife better [Knife Forging ASMR]” or something along those lines I’m confident you’d get ALOT more views. I understand that this is your channel, so every creative choice is your own. I’m a fan regardless. I’d just like to see you blow up like you deserve :). Hope you have a great day!

[@calculatedsurvival]

Thanks for the tip!

[@mr.snawley]

@@calculatedsurvival no problem! I hope it didn’t come off as pompous or anything. Your content is already amazing, I just know that would get the algorithm to pick it up a bit better :). I can’t wait to see y’all hit 10,000,000 subscribers! I’ll be here.

[@jacobm9697]

I think that was a very good recommendation.

[@sidhendragon]

By the way, VERY much enjoy your vids And the crew. Love the laughs with the hump days. Please keep ‘em comin.

[@gk.spinoza]

Excellent video! I especially like watching your DIY blade making process...thanks for sharing! I love my Cold Steel Drop forged Hunter and Drop Forged Bowie knife which are both made with 52100 carbon steel.

[@sidhendragon]

Ok. I would definitely be interested in one of these. I’d prefer to Not have the top of the spine thinned out toward the tip. I have a OKC Spax with a similar style tang. Supposed to be 1095. I do prefer a solid full tang. I bought an Esee 5 to replace my BK2 do to trust issues with the skeletonized tang the Becker has. So yes if you do make a few more of these please let me know. Thank you Sir. Old Navy guy.

[@calculatedsurvival]

I am making a blade similar to this but even stronger. It’ll be for sale on my site in a few weeks: www.calculatedsurvival.com

[@extremeforce762]

and in 06:30 start , I hope you can wear protective glasses to protect your eyes , thank you

[@airpaprika]

When you bent a piece of steel, you've increased it's internal resilience to deformation. That is why it is difficult to deform it back to the original shape. It takes time or exposure to heat for the stress within the material to disappear. First year of Mechanical Engineering studies.

[@injegomontoya370]

I like that you did more than the original video. Not only does it show how tough it is but it instantly 🤐 the potential haters. New to the channel but I like the content. I have the srk I didn't want to see this but I needed to lol

[@vensheaalara]

You definitely pushed your luck on this one! You made good points, though. Thanks. I have a carbon V recon tanto that I've beat the hell out of, and from what I just saw you do it would have snapped if made of sk5. I bought it as a 2nd for a few bucks and it's far superior

[@jamiekinch188]

I like your tests. I would like them better if you could do them without imminent danger. Subscribed cause I cant look away!

[@rorymcclellan3740]

Watching you cut it out like "Nooo don't stick tang it! But in the name of science, it had to be stick tanged!" I'd call this a.. bang up job!

[@holdernewtshesrearin5471]

By simply tapering the blade down to the tang, rather than having those square corners, you'd make it many times stronger by eliminating the stress points.

[@VincentSmith-i7o]

RESPECT, You talk the talk and walk the walk. Most knife testers have never made a blade. You put your money where your mouth is.

[@ingy421]

That is so sick, I wish I could do this or had the ability and skill and stuff to make my own! I think you have potential to became on of the known knife guys in this amazing community. I want a solid fixed blade for absolutely no logical reason other than they are just sick and amazing. :p

[@backyardblacksmith3090]

Dude just start making stuff, I started off with KZbin and harbor freight tools and eventually I became a professional Welder/fabricator and I Fu#ken love what I do for work

[@thefucrew9865]

So, when will you be making more like this ??? Or a spear-point version ??? I know that I won't be abusing mine as much as you do. Keep up the great work, Brother !!!

[@calculatedsurvival]

Thanks bro! I wasn’t thinking about making any more, I have a lot of knife orders to fill already…. But I learned a couple things while making this hidden tang knife. Like, the fact that a hidden tang can still be really strong if made well. I may make a small batch of similar knives in the future though. Let me know if you want one. Thanks for the positive feedback!

[@thefucrew9865]

@@calculatedsurvival, will do, Brother !

[@dr.dreymisenheimer8499]

@@calculatedsurvivalI want one!

[@kevincage1641]

Congratulations on creating a tool that is similar to Cold Steel according to the various tests. This is a big deal. Where can I find out about your forged stuff? Thanks Brother

[@mymagi1]

nice craftsmanship. maybe stake it down through the lanyard hole when you strike it so you don't get hurt

[@chillios2222]

watched a dude split his nose and forehead open doing the same stuff, rushed him to the hospital

[@dwightehowell8179]

Cold Steel makes the SRK in two different flavors of steel. Which kind of steel did you break? The cheap one or the high priced one?

[@checoleman8877]

Fellow knife maker here. Companies that mass produce knives purposely quench their blades at a lower temp so they have a less chance of cracking or breaking in the quench. Makes for a weak blade. This is one of the reasons why a hand made knife is more expensive. We ensure every single blade has the best heat treat it can possibly have.

Darwins moroon price for life hazards 93%. Good job 😀

[@FARACI1]

Nice job well done. Love to see you make one with a full true tang. 👍🏽

[@da_man2777]

You should test KHHI's National Issue Kukri

[@kevinAuman1]

Oh heck yeah, id love to have an SRK in 52100! I have the San Mai and the 3V versions already

[@holdernewtshesrearin5471]

A little harder in the tang to blade region and it would be perfect. If you consider taking a slight bend a failing. I dont. Well done.

[@joe-dp3ng]

First I don't know why everyone thinks that the knife they get is exactly the same as every one made. No two knives even of the same model is the same! Almost everything made of metal is an individual item. Your test results mean nothing except that you are lucky you still have both eyes. It takes very involved scientific testing to know exactly why a certain piece of metal failed. There are so many problems with your back woods test that I don't have the time or the desire to tell you.

[@jiankhan]

The true problem of the CS SRK, whatever the steel used, is the tang. It's not a strong full tang construction, too thin and too weak. It's survival / camp tool, built like a kitchen knife or an old kabar...

[@xFallenAngel]

This sentiment usually comes from people who don't actually handle knives. "Too thin and too weak"? This is a 5mm thick bar of steel in case you hadn't noticed. Yes, there's a multitude of variations concerning resistance to impacts and lateral stress for different steels, but a 5mm piece of steel doesn't instantly snap from hitting it with a log once, unless there was some manufacturing fault. With any kind of actual use in the real world, with a tang design like this and no manufacturing defects, the blade will always give before the tang does. Heck, this video's creator has several knives of his own make which have tangs like half the width of the blade, so he fully understands that a knife tang doesn't have to have the same width as the blade to be strong. Are full tang designs stronger still? Yes, of course. Do you need a knife to be full tang to be strong? No. If you want video proof, someone used the Aus-8 version of the SRK to split an entire tree trunk. During the process, they hammered the tang with both several logs and an axe head dozens of times (which fucked up the logs and axe head rather than the tang), dropped large amounts of weight on the tang (from irregular directions too, introducing huge amounts of lateral stress far greater than that single log smack from Calculated Survival) and the tang came out just fine (even the blade was still reasonably sharp).

[@StevanOutdoor]

I prefer AUS8 stainless steel myself. And I like a sabre grind and no false edge on the back. But a good video and I subscribed.

[@JohnDoe-ud2cc]

I’m wondering if it was a real CS, there are Chinese clones out there. I’m not sure about them in the SRK, but there definitely is correct looking ones for the Trailmaster

[@lfarris76]

Bro is dangerous. Nice!

[@Obsidian-One]

Awesome I wish you would try the 3v srk, that's the only one I've considered. Wish I could make my own blades lol

[@calculatedsurvival]

I reviewed the SRK in 3V… spoiler alert, Cold Steel does 3V right

[@jankroo]

Very cool, I'd buy this one. It even looks better without the coating and being carbon makes it a wow. (The hollow grind of the original makes a difference though that makes the comparison uneven) The question is, as SK5 is the low end for Cold Steel. Could you give the knife with this steel in the same price range (being Cold Steel :) )? Cause that also counts for those who buy the SK5 SRK. For others the model is there with other supersteels avaiable on the market. What say you? Is there a significant difference between the price of SK5 and 52100? If no, lets write Cold Steel a letter to use 52100 as they do with the survivalist series. I'm in. ;) (Another question. If you make this same blade of SK5 with your heat treatment, would it be better or just the same? I'm really curious.)

[@new2survival]

I want one of those. All the modern supersteel hype. I'd rather stick with 5160 and 52100. I also love good old 440c

[@edanpino-xt1ph]

I’d love to see how O1 would have done in this test. Mostly because I’m a tool steel simp. Sure, spring steels, super steels, and stainless steels all have their advantages. But there’s just something about the patina that tool steel takes on, and the level of sharpness I get on tool steel. No idea why, tool steels just sharpen easier for me

[@kongandbasses8732]

52100 is the stuff to go. As much as I love my old TrailMaster made of carbon V, nowadays I prefer to carry my Cold Steel Drop Forged Hunter - and the new model of the Survivalist (the one with handle scales, as I would carry the old model with a cord wrap handle anyway) as my main blade.

[@DDDYLN]

I have the new CS DF Survivalist. It's the only one of my blades that holds a hair shaving edge after use.

[@Ajiia797]

52100 are super rusty

[@DL-ij7tf]

Seemed pretty brittle in testing by DBK.

[@TwinCitiesKayaking]

Cool stuff, brother.

[@Midnight-.357]

What does it cost know? Cold Steel, quality and budget is a great package!!!

[@MexicanMovie]

wow that's pretty impressive.

[@Cal.380]

Love your videos bro

[@calculatedsurvival]

Thank you!! I appreciate it man!

[@jadedclone6728]

The music makes me want to take that grinder to my face to end the pain. Not gonna watch the video now.

[@bdub0983]

So in the end, the knife he made was maybe marginally as good as an srk in sk5. It's easy to make a soft knife that'll pass that impact test. It's hard to make one that's hard enough to take and hold a good edge and still be impact resistant. Idk if dude is being intentionally disingenuous or just not including information.

[@johnnyeas1431]

Perhaps some eye protection next time? I'm not telling you what to do or anything. But when that blade started flipping in the air towards your face, I honestly thought you were going to become a 1 eyed knife maker.

[@swissguy8052]

The you tube girl Survival Lilly has used her CS SRK til she have made her own version with some nice adjustments. Check it out on her channel or at Canadian Prepper

[@brr8888]

I have the CPM-3V STK it’s night and day over the SK5

[@ThomasRonnberg]

If you were to smack the side of an iron nail you would see a similar effect.

[@johnmutton799]

The tip on the SK5 version is way to thin. They all break! The grind under the powder coating is really coarse!

[@Flutes2000]

No question that you can using different steel. But can you for under 45 dollars in materials and time, obviously not in equipment, or even better can you with the same steel?

[@DDDYLN]

Your fabrication skills are very impressive. I wish Cold Steel made the knife you just made. I have the new Drop Forged Survivalist. It's an awesome knife for the price. The only negative thing I've heard, is that drop forging 52100 makes it less tough that traditional forging, even though it sounds better. It appears you made your blade from a slab of factory forged 52100. Is that correct?

[@unknown-ql1fk]

Not exactly correct. Drop forging will nearly always be as strong as "real forging". Issues CAN arrise if the blanks are not hot enough when forged as the equipment can still jam the steel into the right shape without the atoms "rearranging" as they would when very hot. Basically you will never twll the difference in forged vs drop forged 52100

[@DeanFrankovis-kp2nq]

I'll give you my cold steel srk! It's brand new, I'll trade it for that one you made and beat on!😂 I also have the cold steel survivalist and those are the only 2 cold steels I own but the survivalist makes me feel better now that you tested that remade srk, because the survivalist is 52100. Great video!

[@JimHawking-]

He built a better knife for sure. Now can he do it for the same price as cold steel and make it available to thousands of people? I like cold steel for what they try to do, which is make a decent affordable product available to a wide range of people. Theres gonna be some failures out there for sure when you operate at that scale. But for the most part they haven’t done me wrong.

[@tonayo27]

Which is the best blade for survival? I wanna make great gift for my brother

[@gobwalker]

Next we tackle "Can of Baked Beans"

[@S.Vallieres]

Knife blanks cut in both directions in the steel plate!?! (0:30)

[@3x6Corvus]

Lol WTF how does he look so delicate doing this?

[@davidlayne8755]

Love your videos

[@friskedmooo9369]

I wonder if you are a trained professional or how did you learn the craft?

[@krazmokramer]

I never doubted that new blade. I was really surprised to see that the handle is only held in place with thatsingle brass ferrule. No wonder that CS SRK is so inexpensive. Is your version of that SRK $38, too???

[@scrateshooter]

A Navy EOD guy told me they would twist in the handle. They should epoxy the handles for the Navy.

[@dr.dreymisenheimer8499]

Bro did you fart at 5:01??😂😂

[@ap0lmc]

But my Tanto Recon is a VG1. Also SRK comes in 3V

[@llCarnivoreBushcraftll]

Not hollow ground. SRK is now hollow ground. Yours is high saber ground. Not that it matters, your choice of steel is way better than SK5😃

[@0coolx]

Terrifying, motorcycle helmet next time? would love to see a review on the True fixed blade, love mine, great value at $30. Is it my best knife, no. But it has gone to work with me every day for 7 months.

[@Александр-ц2ю5й]

Нож может отскочить и поранить. Одевай защиту на голову, глаза, нос и шея должны быть защищены. Вены на руках и ногах.

[@ghozt9119]

What steel you use. ? And what steel was the original SRK?

[@XFS540]

And you shot in in portrait over landscape why?

[@procrastinatingpowerlifter1458]

You shave your arms about as much as a Hispanic Mormon girl. That being said I can’t get my edges that sharp, so it’s honestly a compliment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

[@potobserver9191]

Why woman live longer

[@nuancolar7304]

When you say "Cold Steel heat treat,' you're really saying "Taiwan heat treat.'

[@sixsledges5474]

Turi ip ip ip ip

[@Osama-Bon-Jovi-01]

Wenomechainsama

[@johndemaria9408]

I buy one of yours for whatever the cost.

[@traveltonshl]

Hi! I like the channel and that idea (video) is superb! I have some suggestion after watching it. Do you think is a good idea to make full tang (or the so called encapsulated) version of SRK, with attempt to preserve the handle as closest to the original as possible?!! Does that knife in full tang even make sense?!?

[@alinasimionovici1830]

I think you will like Miguel Nieto Patrol 2034 !

[@marksaint2936]

The extent some folks go to for a motorcycle helmet donation on KZbin. Just kidding man, you are definitely a Craftsman.

[@brenthamby2155]

So yes, you can!

[@campsitez2355]

they make 3 SRKs which was that?

[@jorgefernandez6407]

So, HOW can I order an SRK in 52100???

[@romaingelebart5390]

May wanna wear some eye protection here lol

[@josechavez656]

Have you teated Bayonets

[@ThirdoptionJCSU]

Try to break their SRK in cpm3v.

[@randycassidy198]

Awesome

[@NCBotany]

AGGHHHHH THE LACK OF EYE PRO ON THAT SIDEWAYS SMACK NOOOOOOOO

[@piscesofny]

Feel like selling it?

[@scribebat]

😎 But, tell me, can you turn around and sell it for $40? With a sheath?

[@mgautier88]

Your not hitting it center, you are purposely hitting it closer to the end

[@W1LDtracer]

is 52100 similar to 154CM?

[@extremeforce762]

Jesus！！！in 08:37 Please be careful……！thank you

[@dylanmoyer6000]

What metal would you recommend for a knife?

[@snookiewozo]

I'd still rather have a full tang.

[@Hammer1978]

How can I send you a design to have it made?

[@franksworld9922]

4:17 don't be a litterbug❤.

[@HWGAFoundation]

A Hardox steel next time?

[@danlamm879]

What did you do to make that bevel grinding jig

[@Raiin0311]

Can you sell these, please? Lol😂

[@RemRuata-ji6cu]

Ball bearing or ball bearing cone,it is very good steel better than cold steel

[@robmurphy623]

Not supposed to wear gloves while using things like belt sanders and drill presses 😘