Cold Steel Black Sable: Movie Knife04:33

The Cold Steel Black Sable looks impressive on paper. Featuring a menacing 4 inch San Mai III upswept blade, the knife intimidates. That is if you can open it. Therein lies the huge downside to this design: extremely difficult deployment with the tapered “volcano” shaped thumbstud and little leverage provided with its location. This relegates the Black Sable to collector status in my opinion. Other downsides include a stout 8.5 ounce carry weight, no jimping at all on the spine, and an outrageous price tag. But to be fair the news isn’t all bad. The Black Sable DOES look impressive, it has excellent fit and finish, the black micarta scales are handsome, the handle is comfortable, and the solid-locking blade gleams. But all of this counts for naught due to its deployment problems. As such, for me, it remains a $300 collector and movie knife. /////////////Nutnfancy Likeability Scale: 2 of 10