Cold Steel Ranch Boss 2 RETURNED 

I've been fixing liner locks for years, and you can do as you said, peen the liner at the bottom or top. Normally when you have a detent ball, it's better to do the top so you don't push the detent out of alignment by shifting the whole bar. As for this design I agree, maybe peening the bottom would have been better. When a knife has a backspring AND a liner lock... I actually like it when their is a gap between the liner lock and the blade tang, so the liner sits permanently at about 80/90% lockup. I feel it removes all possibly of concern about the early/late drama people worry so much about... and it causes less mechanical wear and tear between the sliding surfaces. Your blade is kept taught via the backspring... So the lock isn't required for forwards and backwards play. Just to stop it closing on your fingers. Thanks for the video!

I have one of this model and mine is darn near perfect. I have no complaints. It takes a great edge and holds it well enough for carbon steel. The lock up on mine is perfect. Also, remember that this is a slip joint knife and the lock is really more of a safety (like on the Schrade 125ot). I am very happy with this knife and carry/use it frequently.

I received mine without indentation and it's not so sticky but sticky as a slip joint must be. Such a great knife. Same blade as my Broken Skull only in another steel.

Well said, was looking at this as a gift to my father and father in law but I’m worried about lockup issues now. Never had this issue with a cold steel product before.

You're mixing up early and late. Hard to tell from the vid but you're probably right about what happened. Cold Steel seems to screw up a lot of first runs.

Bought two of these early January 2021 Disassembled both and did some basic maintenance. Fit and finish is, for the price, okay. Not great, not bad. The liners do have some gap when assembled (can see daylight) so somewhere there is warping and is inconsistent. Screws are really cheap and one or two did not even have the torx hole centered and evidence of minor damage. Re: liner lock both locked fine but the lockface on the pivot looks like it is peened, not the lockbar. Only one has this... One has a lot of bladeplay when closed and is not centered. The other is more or less centered and has zero bladeplay. Both exhibit minimal blade wiggle when open, hardly noticeable. All corners and edges of liners are fairly sharp, minimal effort in chamfering. A quick few passes with a ceramic rod were enough to soften them. Blade has good, slightly thick (~3.5mm) geometry and sharpens and strops well on oilstones, ceramic rods diamond-coated plates. Edge-holding is acceptable and staining is quite minimal. Much less than my Opinel Carbone or Mercators for instance (the latter even smells after cutting fruit). Re: disassembly, not too different then any other backspring/slipjoint and I found it easy, if more difficult than a more typical modern liner lock.

Hello, I just received my Ranch Boss II today. I'm in upstate New York. My knife came just like yours. I emailed Cold Steel of the issue in my own words. I want to send them pictures of the locking mechanism. I don't plain on returning the knife, I bought it on ebay and I'm very pleased with the knife despite the liner lock itself. Just use common sense and safety when handling any knife, respectfully. If Cold Steel wants to send me another knife at some point down the road, I will deal with them directly. If you notice Cold Steel has no stock of this knife on their website so I don't know if they received enough complaints to put the knife off the production line and correct this issue. I'll keep you updated and will try to help the situation as much as I can. Great video.

I think you misunderstood how this linerlock works. It was never meant for a late lockup, it is held firm by the right side and the liner cannot move further right even if its not in the middle

It might take ten years to wear down like that--maybe.

Good news! I just received my RB 2 yesterday. Mine did NOT have the indentation on the liner. The lockup seems to be good. About 40%. They must have remedied the problem. It came very stiff but is breaking in. That being said. They should have stuck with their usual back lock. ☹️

I love Cold Steel, for the price and “usual” quality, especially the tri-ad lock, I’ve been happier with them than some $300 ZT knives and others in that price range. I really liked the design of the Ranch Boss so I’d really like to hear a follow up about this.

I got mine a couple of months ago & it doesn't have that problem. I have a Ti-lite, however, that needs a forklift to release the liner lock.

I just got one and I think you probably got one from a bad run. Mine doesn't have have lock stick and the liner doesn't go in as far as yours. Perhaps they fixed the problem. I really like it! If Im going somewhere where people freak out about scarey looking knives, this one would be a good pick to carry. Most people find this style of knife or something like an Opinel non threatening. Maybe give it a second chance. I own a few Cold Steels and I always wait a while before getting a new one. Somehow it takes them a while to adjust their quality control with new models. Overall I'm very happy with this blade. It's nicer than some of my more expensive slip joints actually.

Received my Ranch Boss a few days ago, Fit and function did not appear to be abnormally stiff, for a new knife. My liner lock has the same punch mark as depicted in this vid. Interesting point of note- There is no contact, between the blade and the lock bar, until applying pressure to the spine. This drives the lock bar to the side, *presumably* until it fails, allowing the knife to close on the hand.

I received mine today it has the indentation but the lock is fine and not stiff I'm happy enough with mine . In Northern Ireland

Got a RB and back spring is so strong you could hurt yourself trying to close it unless you bang it with a hammer.

Received my knife Saturday, live in the UK. After viewing your video I have the same indentation in the lock.

I know this is a older video my Ranch boss 2 is the same way though nice knife but it's hard to close!!! 👍

Never found a need to take a knife apart for cleaning.

Just got mine today. No stamp or similar. Hoping yours is just a one-off

I would recommend a "Broken Skull" as the blade shape and size are similar somewhat.

Ya it kind of good cool but they should have put a triad lock back instead

Did u find one that didn’t have that problem?

Bro....this is suppose to be a slipjoint with a safety lever. Not a true locking knife. When I think of it that way then this is perfect.

I really like the design, but I wish they used a different steel, slightly more corrosion resistant.

is there anything known about the amendments?

Hello, i just got mine, the part that has the angle on the blade that you show has not as much of an angle on my knife, it looks like the liner is touching the blade not just at a point but with the whole surface. (Ordered in germany)

It looks very much like the Rough Rider

Definitely getting early and late lockup confused.

Yes champ i'm waiting to hear back from KnifeCentre and also Cold Steel the knife i received has the exact same defect as yours very very disappointing. Thank you very much for giving us the heads up with this poor manufacturing defect. Quite frankly i expect better from Cold Steel. Thanks again

Very interested in part 2 of this review. Have you tried contacting Cold Steel? Also: 'Modern traditionals' is a passion of mine. I think my next one will be a Puma, but then I saw this knife. Subbed for updates and more 🙂

Did coldsteel ever get back to you ?

I was literally just about to buy this knife, do you think the issue is with all of the models? let me know if you think it's a one off, cheers, just subbed.

Mines perfect

i think you have the lockup wrong; early lockup only engages the beginning of the tang; late lockup is when it goes further over to the right. But that way of using a punch to push the material of the liner out more to engage the tang is not good. your right that now only a small part of that liner is engaging the tang instead of the whole liner. if that small part eventually wears away, the lockup will then be late like and head to the right .

Mia …

4:18 let me guess, you are single ???