| Cold
Steel entered the balisong market for the first time with
their Arc-Angel balisong back in 2002. The knife reviewed
here is the Double Edged version of the Arc Angel that is
currently (as of this writing) being produced by Cold Steel.
I am impressed with the quality of the Arc-Angel. It is still
on the expensive side but the quality is on par with a Benchmade
and I would attribute the added cost to the handles on the
Arc-Angel being milled titanium as opposed to Benchmade's
cast Ti handles. I have no direct experience with the first
version(s) of the Arc-Angel or any of the quality control
problems that they may have had in the past, but this version
definitely shows no sign of any defect that I can see. The
fit and finish is nice and there is very minimal handle "slop."
It doesn't lock very tightly closed, but that may be an isolated
incident as I have only handled this one example. This is
my first experience with Carbon V so the blade will require
proper care to prevent rust but it is razor sharp straight
out of the box. I have only done some (careful) basic horizontals
with it since it's a true double-edged blade, but the flipping
is very smooth and the knife is pretty quiet. The latch gate
is milled into the handle and unforunately while the clip
is removable, it goes only in one place. In other words, you
cannot change handles or sides. The clip is on the safe handle
which may get in the way of manipulation, but it is a fairly
short clip and I hold the handles closer to the pivot end
when I flip so it doesn't get in the way that much. Keep in
mind, though, that, I can't do as many tricks with the double-edged
Arc-Angel as I can with a single-edged balisong so it may
be that the clip does get in the way for other moves. As you
can see in the photos below, the Arc-Angel is larger (and
has a wider blade) than the BM46 spearpoint and also features
a channel down the center of the blade. Overall I am very
pleased with the Arc-Angel and I can see myself picking up
one of the other models sometime down the road. |
|
Production:
|
Production |
|
Pieces:
|
n/a |
|
Production
Years:
|
|
|
Numbered:
|
No |
|
Length
Open:
|
9
11/16" |
|
Length
Closed:
|
5
7/16 " |
|
Blade
Length:
|
4
1/4" |
|
Blade
Thickness:
|
1/8" |
|
Weight:
|
4.3
oz. |
|
Blade
Profile:
|
Double-edge |
|
Blade
Material:
|
Carbon
V |
|
Blade
Coating:
|
n/a |
|
Blade
Finish:
|
Satin |
|
Handle
Style:
|
Skeletonized |
|
Handle
Material:
|
Titanium
(CNC Machined) |
|
Insert
Material:
|
n/a |
|
Handle
Coating:
|
n/a |
|
Handle
Finish:
|
Satin |
|
Latch
Type:
|
Removable
T-latch |
|
Latch
Gate:
|
Yes |
|
Tang
Pin Style:
|
Single |
|
Pivot
Pins:
|
Adjustable
(Torx) |
|
Clip:
|
Removable |
|
|
