Greetings everyone, this is my first thread here and I decided to review something I have bought recently and I found a real good buy! This is the ColdSteel Roach Belly It's a small, lightweight and incredibly sharp knife! I got it for the mere 8$ from a friend of mine, however the common retail price is not much higher. The blade's curve makes it an excellent cutting tool, it comes razor sharp out of the box, but unfortunately it doesn't hold an edge really well. The really sharp point on the blade makes the knife really versatile, as both a precision tool, but also a reliable self-defence weapon. I bought it to use as a bushcraft knife and I am extremely happy with it so far! It can cut grooves in hard wood with ease and makes the crafting of a bow drill something so easy and trivial it almost feels like cheating. The only thing I don't like about this knife is the sheath. It's reliable and holds your knife in place, however it retains moisture, which you really need to be careful of, and drawing can be a little awkward, as only a small portion of the hilt protrudes from the sheath. Fast drawing can be troublesome, if you are aiming to use this knife as a self-defence weapon. For utilitarian use I rate this knife with 4 out of 5 stars Self defence rating: 3 1/2 out of 5
Update: I went hiking again today and had this knife with me. Around noon we made a small camp fire, cooked some sausages and baked potatoes for lunch, and while the sausages usually cook quite fast baking potatoes in embers is a lengthy task and in the downtime I started throwing the knife at a bitch tree and I was amazed at how well balanced it is for throwing. This is definitely a tremendous all around knife! I love it more and more every time I use it. While I don't suggest using it as a throwing knife, because the tip is pretty fine and probably fragile, you can add that to the list of uses for it.
