Cold Steel Mayhem Looks Set to Arrive at Last

Cold Steel’s latest release might be the most Cold Steel knife they’ve rolled out in some time. Check out the aptly-named Mayhem, a folder with gargantuan dimensions and Cold Steel’s latest locking mechanism that was first teased all the way back in January.

Believe it or not, the Mayhem is not the biggest folder Cold Steel has produced, even though it would dwarf other companies’ entire catalogs. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not huge, with a blade measuring a whopping six inches long. With a blade that big, the Mayhem would look intimidating even with the most mild profile; but Cold Steel drew up a aggressive modified cleaver shape here. The tip is raised up and deeply swedged, giving this cleaver a wicked, scimitar-like sweep. There’s a short run of XL jimping up top, on the middle of its concave spine, and you will use a thumb stud to kick open this big boy. Blade steel (on this Launch edition, see below) is S35VN, a last gen but still high performance super steel, stainless and capable of very good edge retention.

The handle hews close to the core Cold Steel aesthetic, with a curving shape and thick forward guard that looks to have been inspired by the handle design of the Recon folder line. The scales are made from big slabs of layered G-10, black on top with layers of red beneath, most visible on the regions that are planed away for the chamfers. Not surprisingly for a knife of its stature, the Mayhem’s handle looks to be exceptionally roomy. Although the clip itself does not look reversible, there are holes for a lefty-friendly pocket clip on the Mayhem, so we’re assuming a second clip is including in the box, which is a common Cold Steel courtesy.

It makes the Mayhem completely ambidextrous too, as the lock here is their spine-situated Atlas Lock. The Atlas Lock, like the Andrew Demko-designed Tri-Ad lock that preceded it, aims for extreme durability, with a block-like component that moves between two pins to absorb the lion’s share of shock in use.

The Mayhem was first unveiled in January, with both this limited launch edition and a standard model, with black/green layered G-10 and AUS-10 steel, revealed. The launch edition is ready to, well, launch, and consists of a single batch of 1000 serialized pieces.

Knife in Featured Image: Cold Steel Launch Edition Mayhem

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