Cold Steel knives, made in China?

BryFry

BryFry

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Jul 29, 2009
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A while back I baught a CS katana that had no markings on it, then a CS tomma-hawk that is made by another company..? Then I got the SK-5 Larado bowie, and since CS market themselves as a US company I was a bit supprised to see "made in China" stamped on the blade.

So I am wondering is this just true for some of their blades, or all? Currious where their san-mai III knives are made, and are they held to better standards, since they're rather expensive.?
 
Cold Steel has never made any knives in a factory of their own. Everything was contracted to be made by other factories. They (in the USA)had the Carbon V line produced by Camillus and some others I believe by Buck. Everything they have now comes from Japan, Taiwan or China. Many companies do this it's not uncommon at all.
 
BryFry said:
Currious where their san-mai III knives are made, and are they held to better standards, since they're rather expensive.?
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All of their San Mai III knives are made in Japan and always have been.
 
BryFry said:
A while back I baught a CS katana that had no markings on it, then a CS tomma-hawk that is made by another company..? Then I got the SK-5 Larado bowie, and since CS market themselves as a US company I was a bit supprised to see "made in China" stamped on the blade.

So I am wondering is this just true for some of their blades, or all? Currious where their san-mai III knives are made, and are they held to better standards, since they're rather expensive.?
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Why do you assume Made in China is sub standard.

They are better now then anything Camillus produced; although the Cold Steel (Camillus Carbon V) Kukri LTC is pretty tough. I have both versions of many for comparison.
 
For the bowies and khuk, the newer versions in SK-5 are made in Taiwan. For the record, I have a few China models and have no complaints about the quality "standards" compared to other origins for these blades.

As Ankerson stated, all the San Mai is made in Japan.
 
GrinderMcgee said:
For the bowies and khuk, the newer versions in SK-5 are made in Taiwan. For the record, I have a few China models and have no complaints about the quality "standards" compared to other origins for these blades.

As Ankerson stated, all the San Mai is made in Japan.
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I agree Taiwan made knives are equally as good. The point is Asian manufacture is just as good or better as Cold Steel sets a high standard for quality control.
 
syltetoy said:
Why do you assume Made in China is sub standard.

They are better now then anything Camillus produced; although the Cold Steel (Camillus Carbon V) Kukri LTC is pretty tough. I have both versions of many for comparison.
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Uhhhhhh......that's a fairly broad statement. It is true that Camillus was making knives on some pretty old equipment at the end but they used their best equipment for their major OEM accounts - Cold Steel, Remington etc.

I have seen Chinese made knives that are better than some Camillus knives but I have seen the reverse as well. Too broad a statement, I think.
 
Calling the steel "san-mai III" is something I have never understood.
"San" is Japanese for 3 and "mai" means parts, pieces or units etc. so why do they always use the "III" as well ?

That's like saying "three parts three" :confused:
 
What about all those Chinese made slip folders you see being sold on cuterly sale shows, today? They sure look very nice for the coin they ask for them. I've never seen any in person.
 
Haze said:
Calling the steel "san-mai III" is something I have never understood.
"San" is Japanese for 3 and "mai" means parts, pieces or units etc. so why do they always use the "III" as well ?

That's like saying "three parts three" :confused:
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Probably because most people aren't going to know (like you did) what san means?
 
Haze said:
Calling the steel "san-mai III" is something I have never understood.
"San" is Japanese for 3 and "mai" means parts, pieces or units etc. so why do they always use the "III" as well ?

That's like saying "three parts three" :confused:
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Its the third generation of "san mai"
 
Haze said:
Calling the steel "san-mai III" is something I have never understood.
"San" is Japanese for 3 and "mai" means parts, pieces or units etc. so why do they always use the "III" as well ?

That's like saying "three parts three" :confused:
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They do it to separate it from other Companies that use San Mai Steel like SOG.

It's just CS's version. :)
 
Knife Outlet said:
Uhhhhhh......that's a fairly broad statement. It is true that Camillus was making knives on some pretty old equipment at the end but they used their best equipment for their major OEM accounts - Cold Steel, Remington etc.

I have seen Chinese made knives that are better than some Camillus knives but I have seen the reverse as well. Too broad a statement, I think.
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It seems you've taken my statement out of context for argumentative reasons. The point is Cold Steel knives are better now than when they were made by Camillus.

I purchased a lot of Camillus knives and they are nothing special but better than KA-BAR it’s a shame KA-BAR didn’t go under instead of Camillus.
 
syltetoy said:
It seems you've taken my statement out of context for argumentative reasons. The point is Cold Steel knives are better now than when they were made by Camillus.

I purchased a lot of Camillus knives and they are nothing special but better than KA-BAR it’s a shame KA-BAR didn’t go under instead of Camillus.
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The biggest thing is that CS has very high quality standards so it really doesn't matter were their knives are made or who makes them.
 
Ankerson said:
The biggest thing is that CS has very high quality standards so it really doesn't matter were their knives are made or who makes them.
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I agree. That is true.

Except for the Cold Steel Pocket Bushman "Survival Knife" which NutnFancy has recently batoned to an early death : )
 
syltetoy said:
I agree. That is true.

Except for the Cold Steel Pocket Bushman "Survival Knife" which NutnFancy has recently batoned to an early death : )
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That's a different type a knife though, very affordable. :)

I wasn't surprised at all. :)
 
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