A few observations about Cold Steel, Lynn C. Thompson, and Internet inquiries

[Armithius]

Frankly, the only real reason I moved away from CS knives was that I was getting sick of shelling out ~$60 for AUS8 blades. I can get a higher quality steel for the same or less elsewhere. That's just me, though. Well, that and their marketing videos are rather over the top, but again, that's personal opinion rather than fact. Just kinda put me off is all.

 

[shecky]

I agree with The Whip. To make things worse, BF has a clique-ish tendency to for information to become a "majority rule" affair dominated by long time posters whose credibility was created by virtue of being long time frequent posters, and echoing dominating sentiments where bad guys are bad, and good guys are good. The dynamic is akin to something on a 6th grade playground. On top of it all, Cold Steel had no official voice on the forum for a pretty long time. So rumors and charges were allowed to be made and fester into recurring themes without contest other than fellow BF members willing to wade into the BS to present counter arguments.

 

[cbxer55]

To the OP: for a guy who's been here for over six years, you sure do not post much. But when you do, you hit em out of the park.

Just sayin! ;-)

 

[MC Chan]

Buy what you want. I get a bit bristly at your inclusion of Al Mar in your list of companies that "have never made a knife".
Do you know about Al Mar the man?

 

[dericdesmond]

I know you mean it in a positive context, but I've never really understood why people call the XL folders Cold Steel produces "ridiculous". They're purpose built folding fighters. As a martial artist, I don't see anything odd about that, and in fact, I think it's pretty darn awesome.

Just as much as I dont understand
Why a martial artist would choose such a knife for "knife fighting". Then again I dont do much knife fighting nor do I ever intend to, thats why I carry a gun : ) but yeah, it is pretty awesome and all good bro. Just deanimated some cardboard with it, it works.

 

[Kwon Kwang]

Frankly, the only real reason I moved away from CS knives was that I was getting sick of shelling out ~$60 for AUS8 blades. I can get a higher quality steel for the same or less elsewhere. That's just me, though. Well, that and their marketing videos are rather over the top, but again, that's personal opinion rather than fact. Just kinda put me off is all.

Their AUS8A is among the best you'll find anywhere; it's both vacuum treated and receives cryo treatment. People like myself who extensively use Cold Steel's AUS8A blades generally report very good things. Sure, it's more expensive than AUS8 from other companies who don't use the steel as much (and are not as good at working with it), but it's a lot less expensive than "high end" steels that offer little if any observable difference from Cold Steel's AUS8A for the average knife user.

Just as much as I dont understand
Why a martial artist would choose such a knife for "knife fighting". Then again I dont do much knife fighting nor do I ever intend to, thats why I carry a gun : ) but yeah, it is pretty awesome and all good bro. Just deanimated some cardboard with it, it works.

There are a lot of reasons. For some, a knife is a backup weapon for when your firearm is for whatever reason inoperable. For others, who are not or cannot legally carry a firearm, it is a primary weapon. And then there are people who just like knives for that purpose.

 

[Seilu]

Sounds to me like you've not had a good experience with teh Traditional sub forum folks. Your example is more hyperbole than fact though.

No I find them alright, but I have seen threads where they and more tactical knife folk get into arguments and it seems that a lot of their arguments are dated and simply impractical
I.E "You don't need locks on folding knives if you know how to use them correctly" then a tactical user responds with, "You don't need seatbelts int cars if you know how to drive correctly."

Just my casual anecdotal observations from time to time

 

[dericdesmond]

There are a lot of reasons. For some, a knife is a backup weapon for when your firearm is for whatever reason inoperable. For others, who are not or cannot legally carry a firearm, it is a primary weapon. And then there are people who just like knives for that purpose.

Yea I agree with all that, just not with this particular knife
Cant help but laugh everytime I hold it, makes me wanna grunt like Tim the toolman Taylor. Sure there are people out there who carry it and take it seriously, coo beans. Just cant myself as if I had that mindset I would like to think there are many superior substitutes. Don't get me wrong, made it a sheath & carried to the fair Sat for S&G's, did feel a bit ridiculous about it though

 

[cbxer55]

Yea I agree with all that, just not with this particular knife
Cant help but laugh everytime I hold it, makes me wanna grunt like Tim the toolman Taylor. Sure there are people out there who carry it and take it seriously, coo beans. Just cant myself as if I had that mindset I would like to think there are many superior substitutes. Don't get me wrong, made it a sheath & carried to the fair Sat for S&G's, did feel a bit ridiculous about it though

I agree with you on that. Having just gotten one myself, first thing I did was pocket it to see how much sticks out. WOW, talk about a jack-in-the-box. That's a lot of knife sticking out of your pocket, or waist band. And since I dress with tucked shirts (not into the sloppy untucked look at all), it would be pretty hard to make it low profile. For me, the Large Espada is much better suited to edc. It does not look much different on your pocket than a Black Rhino. But it's what you can't see that surprises. ;-)

 

[X-ray gun]

Cold steel rocks !!!

 

[crom]

The Espada is an homage to the Spanish Navaja and they could be very large folding knives designed for combat. CS put out a line and called them the Espada series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navaja

 

[Kwon Kwang]

Yea I agree with all that, just not with this particular knife
Cant help but laugh everytime I hold it, makes me wanna grunt like Tim the toolman Taylor. Sure there are people out there who carry it and take it seriously, coo beans. Just cant myself as if I had that mindset I would like to think there are many superior substitutes. Don't get me wrong, made it a sheath & carried to the fair Sat for S&G's, did feel a bit ridiculous about it though

I have the Medium Espada and I don't get that vibe at all. I also have a Spartan, both just feel really BA to me. I may also eventually get the XL Espada, we'll see what happens.

It is, as many have mentioned, based on the navaja, which is a quite large folding knife, too. I guess different people just look at different knives differently.

 

[dericdesmond]

I have the Medium Espada and I don't get that vibe at all. I also have a Spartan, both just feel really BA to me.

You may think differently (- the BA part ) once you get one as though 2 are not even from the same planet. Here they are next to the XL and a Swamp Rat Rucki :thumbup:

 

[stonesell]

I bought my fist Cold Steel knife in 1991, and because they have always offered such a large variety of knives, I became obsessed with learning more, and collecting. While this forum is now the best place to become more knowledgeable about modern and older knives, Cold Steel was my first inspiration.

 

[Freman Bloodglaive]

OMG! I thought at first that was some miniaturized Busse letter opener next to that Espada. That thing's freakin huge!

It is. It's my favourite knife.

That said it's a knife too big to take anywhere, so I've ordered a AK-47 for most of the Espada features in a more people friendly package.

 

[Halfneck]

Like many, I got into Cold Steel in the late 80s as a gateway drug to knife addiction. Their knives were interesting and well made for the time. I lusted after the original Tanto as a high school kid. From Cold Steel I moved on to Spyderco, Al Mar, Pacific Cutlery(later Benchmade), and on into custom knives. I am also fortunate to live near Atlanta and have attended every BLADE show since it moved there. During that time I have watched & heard a lot of negative incidents with Lynn Thompson/Cold Steel.

There was the big rivalry going on between Lynn Thompson and Jerry Busse. When Jerry Busse first came out with their claims about how tough their knives were, namely the Iron Mistress, Cold Steel started putting out ads disputing their claim. Jerry Busse fired back, and for a while there was an ad war. At the next BLADE show Jerry Busse challenged Lynn Thompson to a competition to see which was tougher, the Trailmaster or the Iron Mistress. The challenge was not accepted.

A few BLADE shows later there was some sort of verbal altercation between Lynn Thompson and Col. Rex Applegate. I only heard about that one, but it ticked off a lot of the knife community.

Then you have the knives they put out that are very similar to some custom makers knives with no credit given. Point this out and you get told all the differences. But when a certain Machete company tried to import a knife with a handle similar to the discontinued Bushman, they get sued by Cold Steel. Nevermind the fact that rolled hollow handle knives like that are common in other countries, Cold Steel held a copyright or patent for it in the U.S.

Cold Steel puts out some good knives, I don't dispute that. But their actions annoy me and keep me from considering their knives.

 

[Silvanus]

BF has a clique-ish tendency to for information to become a "majority rule" affair dominated by long time posters whose credibility was created by virtue of being long time frequent posters, and echoing dominating sentiments where bad guys are bad, and good guys are good.

I couldn't agree more. I am far from an expert on knives and came here initially trying to seek out knowledge from others that share my passion for knives. Most of the posts are great and i have learned so much since coming here. However, I occasionally get fed up with the constant stigma some brands get just because of group think. Especially if its Cold Steel or Gerber.

 

[The Whip]

I'll wade back in briefly to respond to a few things.

I think he wants this to be discussed by the community as a whole, not just the small group who frequent the CS specific forum(several people in this thread have commented they didn't know we HAD a CS forum, and generally speaking, most people on a CS specific forum are likely to be CS fans already, not the sort of people his post is really directed at).

Precisely. I couldn't have explained it better myself, DShiflet.

To the OP: for a guy who's been here for over six years, you sure do not post much. But when you do, you hit em out of the park.

Just sayin! ;-)

Thanks, cbxer55! And thanks to all who said that they enjoyed reading my post. It appears to be generating some conversation.

Buy what you want. I get a bit bristly at your inclusion of Al Mar in your list of companies that "have never made a knife".
Do you know about Al Mar the man?

Do I know about the Father of the Tactical Folding Knife (a title he shares jointly with Bob Terzuola)? Umm, yes, though sadly I never got to meet him. I've had a few pleasant conversations with Gary Fadden, though. None of that changes the fact that Al Mar doesn't manufacture its own knives. For some reason it's routinely held against Cold Steel but not other companies.

There was the big rivalry going on between Lynn Thompson and Jerry Busse. When Jerry Busse first came out with their claims about how tough their knives were, namely the Iron Mistress, Cold Steel started putting out ads disputing their claim. Jerry Busse fired back, and for a while there was an ad war. At the next BLADE show Jerry Busse challenged Lynn Thompson to a competition to see which was tougher, the Trailmaster or the Iron Mistress. The challenge was not accepted.

Does anyone know how/why this ended? I remember that Cold Steel put out an ad offering to buy a sample Battle Mistress (they were very hard to come by at that time), then the ad wars just stopped. I was always curious what happened to cause the sudden cease-fire.

A few BLADE shows later there was some sort of verbal altercation between Lynn Thompson and Col. Rex Applegate. I only heard about that one, but it ticked off a lot of the knife community.

Now this is a VERY interesting anecdote! I've never heard this one mentioned. Since you didn't witness it, I'd love to hear from any BF members who did. I'd like to think that no one would be so disrespectful and crass as to get into a heated argument with Rex Applegate, but I guess one never knows.

You'll have to forgive me if I don't accept this one on its face, though. I once asked a guy at a knife show about his REKAT Hobbit. He told me with absolute sincerity that REKAT was forced out of business when Disney sued them for using the name "Hobbit," which Disney owned. I discovered a couple of years later that not one word of that story was true. Rumors have a way of spreading, and they seem to grow in the telling.

Then you have the knives they put out that are very similar to some custom makers knives with no credit given.

To which models are you referring?

But when a certain Machete company tried to import a knife with a handle similar to the discontinued Bushman, they get sued by Cold Steel.

The Bushman isn't discontinued. Cold Steel still sells it.

Nevermind the fact that rolled hollow handle knives like that are common in other countries, Cold Steel held a copyright or patent for it in the U.S.

If Cold Steel holds and defends a copyright, why is that a bad thing? I applaud Spyderco for having the foresight to trademark its Round Hole. And I'd expect them to pursue legally anyone who used it without permission.

 

[DShiflet]

Lynn Thompson, overweight? Never really noticed, nor do I care.

Yeah, it's just petty. I do sometimes wonder how fit and svelte the people who make fun of his weight are themselves though.

And regardless of his weight, I sure wouldn't wanna pick a fight with the man.

 

[cfoster2003]

I have always owned Cold Steel. I would not think of myself as a mall ninja. I am an EMT working in East Africa. Since I arrived here Cold Steel decided to send me a package, completely free of charge containing machetes and other knives to use since I find myself out in the backcountry quite often. I did not ask for this, and they keep up with my stuff via facebook. I was so impressed at this gesture from Lynn and the crew.