What’s a Roach Belly?

In this article, Randall Wilson reviews the Cold Steel Roach Belly knife. Odd name notwithstanding, the knife proved to be an excellent choice at a great price. The knife is personally owned by the author and is from his collection.

The Cold Steel Roach Belly holds its own alongside serious outdoor gear. It features a lightweight fixed blade that earns its place in any backcountry kit.

Born in the late 1800s, my grandad was a sea captain. What gear he collected, he chose carefully and cared for completely. He used to tell us that good things are rarely cheap, and cheap things are rarely good. But the keyword in that axiom is “rarely.” Sometimes you find an item that does fall into that sweet spot. I found that the Cold Steel Roach Belly knife strongly possesses both qualities.

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It’s No Joke

Okay. Roach Belly. Ha, ha. Get it out of your system. A roach belly knife refers to a pattern of blade going back to early fur trappers and traders in the 18th and 19th-century North America. While a Hudson Bay knife of that era was a large chopping knife, the Roach Belly stood in as its smaller cousin. Just large enough for skinning and camp chores, but not as chunky as a Green River knife.

author carrying the Cold Steel Roach Belly during his real world evaluation — Small knife, big capability: the Roach Belly fits right into a traditional outdoor setup. It’s the kind of blade that doesn’t demand attention, yet always delivers.

Roach belly is also attributed as a reference to the common roach fish, and a comparison between the belly of the fish and the lower knife blade. Copies of period-correct roach bellies have a more pronounced curvature of the sharp edge than the Cold Steel version, which has a more upswept profile. No matter, the Cold Steel Roach Belly is definitely a cutter.

To throw in one last historical reference, the Cold Steel Roach Belly is an homage to the patch knives of early blackpowder rifle shooters. A small knife was employed to cut the excess off a cloth patch that sealed the gap between the barrel of the gun and a round lead ball projectile. This is evident on the Cold Steel model, which has the image of a muzzleloader and its powder horn on the left side of the blade.

The Details

Cold Steel uses 4116 stainless steel in the blade of the Roach Belly. 4116 is a German rostfrei (rust-free) steel that finds use in mid-range kitchen knives, scissors and surgical instruments. Its high chromium content ensures corrosion resistance. Durability, good edge retention, and affordability are traits of the alloy.

using the Cold Steel Roach Belly to trim a steak before grilling — It started as a travel knife and turned into a legitimate kitchen tool. That says something real about the edge geometry and steel quality Cold Steel packed into a sub-$20 blade.

The Roach Belly has a 4½” blade, of which 4¼” are sharp. The choil takes up the missing quarter. The blade is hollow ground and came to me extremely sharp out of the box. There is one inch of jimping on the spine. It is aggressive but not abrasive.

My neodymium magnet tells me that there is a stick tang hiding under the polypropylene handle. It extends about 2/3rds of the way down into the molded polymer. There were absolutely no signs of flex on the handle when I put lateral pressure near the end of the tang. The black handle itself is striated, not smooth. It almost resembles a faux wood grain texture, and it gives a good grip, wet or dry. A welcome lanyard hole sits at the butt of the knife.

Cold Steel Roach Belly knife with Springfield Armory Kuna pistol — Two tools, one purpose: being ready. The Roach Belly’s unassuming profile and featherweight carry make it a potential companion for a self-defense role.

Cold Steel Roach Belly Specifications

Weight: 2.6 oz.
Blade Thickness: 2.5mm
Blade Length: 4 ½”
Blade Steel: German 4116 Stainless Cryo Quenched
Handle Length/Material: 4” High Impact Polypropylene
Overall Length: 8 ½”
Additional Features: Secure-Ex Sheath
Knife Type: Fixed
Blade Length Range: 3”-5”
Steel Family: German Steels
Blade Shape: Trailing Point
MSRP: $20.99

A Strong Connection

I bought my knife years ago when the Roach Belly came with a riveted pouch-style sheath made of ballistic nylon. It has a webbing belt loop on the back for right-hand carry. Current models come with a Cold Steel Secure-Ex sheath, which is a molded polymer with a belt clip. I would think this would hold up better to a rough outdoor environment over time than mine. There are specialty makers who produce Kydex or other sheaths for this knife as well.

Cold Steel Roach Belly knife in the woods during testing for this review — At 3.5 oz. total carry weight, you honestly forget it’s there until you need it. That’s about the highest compliment you can pay a trail knife.

When I originally bought my Roach Belly, I was looking for an inexpensive travel knife. The Roach Belly looks much like a piece of kitchen cutlery, so I thought its unassuming nature would make sense abroad. Little did I know that it would make an outstanding kitchen implement!

author showing the Roach Belly — It’s not a glamorous knife and it doesn’t pretend to be. What it is, is a well-proportioned, sharp, capable fixed blade that flat out works.

My latest use of the Roach Belly was on a recent trip to the Oregon coast. I carried the knife over 30+ miles of hiking trails. But it did duty cutting vegetables and proteins at our rental house. We bought a tri-tip steak for the grill one night, and I needed to separate the generous fat cap from the meat. Don’t be alarmed, the tri-tip is well-marbled. The Roach Belly is frighteningly sharp, which kitchenware should be, and it made the chore of trimming so easy.

In the Field

On the trail, the Roach Belly is an easy tote. The knife itself is billed as 2.6 ounces, but mine weighed in at 2.5. Coupled with the 1-oz. sheath, the whole shebang was a feathery 3.5 ounces. Most of my folding pocketknives weigh more than that, and I do prefer a fixed blade when possible. The sheath is thin and only drops 5½” inches below the belt.

Cold Steel Roach Belly on hunting trip for this review — Eight and a half inches overall, 2.6 oz., $20 — sometimes the numbers just add up. This is one of those knives that makes you wonder why you ever spent more.

Many moons ago, I had this knife in my tackle box on a road trip south to visit my Florida in-laws in Nokomis. As soon as I pulled up to their old traditional long-leaf pine home (no air conditioning) on the Intracoastal, I had to go fishing. I caught a big redfish, and I cleaned it with the Roach Belly. The knife’s sharp, lean blade worked as good as any fillet knife we had.

Conclusion

With the Cold Steel Roach Belly, you get a Brobdingnagian bang for your buck. That is Jonathan Swift, not Taylor, for you Renaissance men and women. At an MSRP of $20.99, they would be a steal, but as of today, I have seen them as cheap as $13.99 from online retailers! Ah. So, I see we have come full circle to that term “cheap” again.

using the Roach Belly for cooking — Vegetables, proteins, camp cooking, trail food: the Roach Belly handles it all without breaking a sweat. That versatility is exactly what makes this $20 knife punch so far above its weight class.

The Cold Steel Roach Belly is cheap and good. Or inexpensive and great, if you like. My grandad would appreciate the versatility and value a little knife like this provides. He grew up at the turn of the last century, when life was much simpler and perhaps more appreciated than today’s fast-paced, technologically dependent world. I would love to watch the Old Man in his prime clean an iced-down box full of King Mackerels with a Roach Belly. It would be quite the spectacle.

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