I loosened the pivot on mine, it was very tight out of the box. The spring is also pretty stiff. It looks like it has PB washers, has anyone taken theirs apart?
I watched a DEMKO AD-15 dissembly video and am planning on taking it apart to size the spring on the lock bar. I might swap it out with a weaker spring. My AD15 has double stacked washers, one Phosphor Bronze that rides against the scale and a second thin washer between the PB washer and the blade tang. I ended up pinching a washer on reassembly. The spring is also VERY stiff, I might look through my big old box of “machine” parts and look for a similar spring but a pen spring wasn’t strong enough.
I got my AD-10 today and I will soon be reshaping the clip to make it narrower. Hopefully it'll look better and the spring will be a bit weaker. With this clip, it's not overly bent as on some other models. If I were to bend it even slightly, I can tell that it would no longer contact the scale. I don't like that. I'll do something similar to what was recently posted in the mod thread. Knife looks good other than the edge being very uncentered by the tip. Liners are a bit sharp so I'll take it apart and sand lightly.
Yep, went back in this morning and saw that on the main page...that's what I get for drinkin and shopping!
My AD-10 had a tiny bit of up and down play. After partial disassembly to remove liners and sand the inside edges on them, the play is completely gone. Maybe the lockbar was catching on liners and not fully seating? I like opening up these Tri-Ads to see the lockbar engagement. Rock solid. I think the AD-10 has the most ergonomic handle of any CS folder. Super comfortable in my medium hand with room to spare for larger hands.
You aren't kidding about the ergos. This is likely to be a top 3-5 knife for me. I've had a custom, and I actually preferred the Cold steel AD10 and it is 1/10the the price. CS knocked this one way out of the park. I will likely pick up a second sometime. As for taking it apart, should the replacement come with any play I may have to give that a try. And the play was minimal. I know a lot of guys claim to be OCD about their knives, but I actually have OCD, take meds for it and all, and knives are one of the things that get me the most. I can't stand any bladeplay, my knives always have to be sharp, etc. It can be a pain, but my modest collection is made up of a bunch of excellent specimens as a result. I am sure a Triad would never fail regardless, however.
I can empathize. It bothers me when a Tri-Ad has blade play because I know that it shouldn't. On the other hand, if a traditional backlock like the Delica has a little blade play, I'm fine with that because they all have it.
The AD10 looks great, but I cannot get over why in the world they would put a hollow grind on such a tank built knife, makes zero sense to me. Put a saber/flat grind on it like it should and I will think about maybe picking one up.
Not sure but I'm a fan of the hollow grind. Overall Cold Steel has moved away from hollow grinds on their folders. In recent years, they went to flat grinds on the American Lawman, Recon 1, Ultimate Hunter and Espadas. Newer folders like the Swift, Bush Ranger, SR1 and 4-Max are all flat ground. Even the new Crawford Model 1 is flat ground and Cold Steel advertises that one as hollow ground!
Aww, come on...you know why... To keep it thin behind the edge to maximize slicy-ness. Added benefit>>>hollow grind simply looks badass when it's ground right, such as on this model. If you deform/chip/etc. the edge on an AD-10, you probably need to be using a tool steel fixed blade with a minimum 30 deg inclusive secondary bevel. Overheated power ground edges and poor cutting technique compromises more edges than grind styles, from what I've seen. Combine that with just plain ole using a knife for a wrong task and those few things have messed up a lotta edges. Disclaimer...I'm not saying you've ever been guilty of any of these, BTW. Whatever, but please don't let HG keep you from experiencing this great model...it's a game changer!!!
I came home from being out of town. A little orange box was waiting for me in my mailbox. My AD 10 was flawless. Grinds, blade centering, Lock up, etc. can’t find anything wrong with this knife. It is better than I imagined.
The mailman just brought my ad-10. I’m not really a Cold Steel fan but I must give credit where credit is due: they nailed it with this knife. I used it to cut a tag off my 4 year old daughter’s clothes. When she heard it lock up she got all excited and said “that’s a strong knife daddy!” Great job Cold Steel.
