cold steel finn wolf scandi folder

Finn Wolf Review – The Cold Steel Scandi Folder

I’ve been overdue for a scandi folding knife. Being a guy that gravitates towards higher priced, premium examples of sharp objects, I’ve been going back and forth on the Enzo Birk scandi folder in s30v for about a year. At the price point, however, I just can’t pull the trigger. I already have a premium steel folder in VG-10 that I’ve been meaning to add scales and make into an heirloom quality knife. The problem with this is that I don’t seem to abuse the ones meant to be abused. I don’t know if it’s the price point or the beauty of the piece, but I can’t bring myself to sink it into blood or run it under a faucet. In comes the Cold Steel Finn Wolf scandi folder. At the price point, it is a using knife but is not so cheap that you want to test the breaking point at every opportunity.

I think I’ve found the right combination with this addition. I’ve always been hesitant to carry a scandi grind knife for my fixed blade. I don’t carry a hatchet and tend to baton my firewood. While there’s no problem using a scandi grind knife to baton wood, my personal feeling is that you need a very nice heat treatment in order to not roll the edge while beating on it. I prefer a secondary bevel that can cut as well as split wood while being at a safe enough grind angle that rolling the edge isn’t a worry. I’m hard on my fixed blade Esee 4hm and my choice of carry takes my abuse well. However, the edge and thickness leaves a bit to be desired on more fine tasks, such as carving. I would not hesitate using it to do those fine tasks, but a different tool for the job could be better. The addition of the scandi folder adds to the arsenal of making tasks easier. As they say, “two knives to do it it all is better than one.”


Other Scandi Folding Knives:

Real Steel’s RSK scandi folder is the big boy on the list. It’s made with D2 steel, and has a bushcraft centered drop point. For something light in the pocket, this was not it.

Enke Swede 88 in bubunga was another choice with similar constraints of the Real Steel offering. I personally wanted a pocket clip, instead of carrying it within a pouch.

Enzo Birk 75 in curly birch is the most handsome knife of the bunch. It fits my needs and comes in both D2 and S30V steels, but at the price point, it’s also the most premium

Finn Wolf Review: First Impressions

Finn Wolf Scandi Folder push cutting circles and ribbons in paper
Finn Wolf Scandi Folder push cutting circles and ribbons in paper

I went with the Finn Wolf scandi folder in bright, blaze orange. As someone who spends enough time losing stuff in the bush, I’ve decided that everything important to me will be wrapped in blaze orange paracord. If I can buy things in blaze orange, they’re being bought in blaze orange. Camo knives are for the birds.

The performance of this knife is insane. I want to say it’s insane for the price, but at any price, this thing is pretty damn good! Everyone says it, and I’ll say the same – this knife is scary sharp. It’s a true scandi grind to zero with no additional bevels. Out of the box, you can cut circles in paper with push cuts. No problems there.

The bevel seems to be at a safe enough angle to where there wouldn’t be too much edge rolling problems, and so far, there hasn’t been. I’ve feather sticked some wood, cut thick branches off of my Christmas tree, and send it through EDC paces. So far, so good. The edge hasn’t needed to be sharped, but I can tell that it is dulling from tasks like box cutting. If I were to hand this knife off to someone else, they would have no idea that this wasn’t factory sharp. The picture on the right is all push cuts after 3-4 weeks of use. I’ve taken a few passes over my leather belt but nothing special. Still scary sharp.

Cold Steel Finn Wolf for EDC

As an EDC, this may not be it. It can be, but with modifications. The Finn Wolf rides high in the pocket and with my color choice, it isn’t inconspicuous. The pocket clip is really shallow and based on the palm’s shape, there is extra knife hanging out of your pocket in tip-up carry. There is a LOT of knife hanging out of the pocket when hung up on your jeans. I’ve also noticed that the clip design does get caught on things here and there as I’m passing by them.

I’m considering creating my own deep pocket carry clip for the Cold Steel Finn Wolf as a production one isn’t readily available.

Finn Wolf Scandi Folder for Bushcraft

finn wolf in orange feather sticks
Finn Wolf – a true bushcraft folding knife

However, the explanations for this design make perfect sense. There is a lot of blade in a folded package. The Finn Wolf has a 3mm-thick, 3.5-inch long blade with belly for days tucked away in that 4.36-in handle. The tip of the blade goes right to the peninsula of the liner-less handle. Did I mention the handle is liner-less?

The tri-ad locking system and blade are held together by grivory or in this case, what they call Griv-Ex. It’s plenty rigid and tough enough. The combination makes it a solid knife that’s light in the hand and a pleasure to use.

The cutting edge and ergonomics of the handle are very good. The edge eats up wood quickly but I did notice that it does enjoy biting into the wood at a steeper angle when feather sticking. It may be something to get used to but I was able to have normal curls created when grazing the wood just right.

Concluding Thoughts

People keep saying it’s a good knife *for it’s price point, which is a strange handicap to place on a knife. That’s kind of like saying a person is a good basketball player for their height. Muggsy Bogues stood at 5ft 3in on the NBA basketball court and blocked 39 shots throughout his career, including blocking one from the 7ft Patrick Ewing. The price handicap shouldn’t be placed on this knife and it should be measured in the big leagues of folders.

A knife has a purpose and this one performs that exceptionally well. I haven’t had this one for long enough to comment on how quickly it loses an edge, but I know that it has kept a sharper edge than many other knives I’ve handled. I know that based on it’s stainless and griv-ex anatomy that I don’t need to concern myself too much about keeping it dry or handling it wet.

Bogues was a damn good ball player and this is a damn good knife.

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