A Simple Cold Steel San Mai III Trail Master Review:

gosuto said:
Hmm. Couldn't possibly be a cold steel employee doing this review, recently registered southern california based reviewer practically drooling over a knife while quoting every sales and marketing pitch CS could possibly dream of? Especially since you have absolutely no posts but SCREAMINGLY positive reviews on exclusively Cold Steel products. Mods/fellow knife knuts, care to weigh in?
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ditto

Cold Steel Knives said:
I'm glad you like the Trail Master, we are very proud of it.
Thank you for the review - and the cool GIF! :)

Oh, and gosuto - I'm the only Cold Steel employee here. I've only been active on BF for a little while. I'm pretty new to this community, and I mainly lurk on the CS sub-forum.
We're not interested in those kind of "cloak and dagger" style tactics. Our marketing is pretty basic. Test stuff, share the footage. That's it. Creating fake accounts isn't our style. In fact it seems kinda creepy to me.
Thanks and have a great day
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I think the O1 trailmaster is a beauty.

I don't think this "review" is spontaneous personally. Viral marketing has been king for almost a decade, cold steel must have recognized this at some point. Furthermore, in the knife world, huge amounts of knives get sold due to online "reviews" (e.g. nutnfancy). There is nothing genuine about the review, even the grammatical errors seem forced as if to provide some level of authenticity (à la Rick Hinderer). The Cold Steel mod running damage control within a few posts furthers my suspicion.

Sorry if my opinion bothers anyone, business is cutthroat and the anonymity of the web leaves a lot of room for doubt. :watermelon:
 
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Sorry to ruin the conspiracy theory but that's just not how we roll.
I'll file these next to the guys who write us saying that the pigs we cut are CGI and the rope is pre-cut :D:D
 
Cold Steel Knives said:
Sorry to ruin the conspiracy theory but that's just not how we roll.
I'll file these next to the guys who write us saying that the pigs we cut are CGI and the rope is pre-cut :D:D
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I'm simply aware of contemporary marketing strategies.

Your attempt at discrediting me raises further questions about your company's ethical standards. I have no doubt you actually cut ropes and pigs, but that has little to do with this "review".

I have nothing to gain or lose in this situation sir. Cold Steel on the other hand, apparently has a lot of sanmai trailmasters to get rid of.

w/ love from norcal:thumbup:
 
WTF, over? Disagreeing with you does not equal attempting to discredit you.

The Trailmaster is an excellent knife with a long established history. Couldn't it be *shocker* that someone is posting a positive review? Not every review you read online is a conspiratorial attempt at subterfuge to fool the unwitting masses.
 
blade man said:
WTF, over? Disagreeing with you does not equal attempting to discredit you.

The Trailmaster is an excellent knife with a long established history. Couldn't it be *shocker* that someone is posting a positive review? Not every review you read online is a conspiratorial attempt at subterfuge to fool the unwitting masses.
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The term "conspiracy theorist" was invented by the CIA to discredit dissidents. Read more book, lynn thompson sure does. Successful businessmen are shrewd and well read, and this stuff is viral marketing (marketing), and discrediting your opponent (debate) 101.

I wrote my response after evaluating the "review" and the website it supposedly spontaneously erupted from, seems like you're simply reacting to my evaluation rather than evaluating yourself.
 
Thanks a lot for a very nice review- I really appreciate it when someone takes his time and do so.:thumbup:

Allways wanted a Trailmaster but newer pulled the trigger, think i`m ready now. Have a Coldsteel SRK in San Mai III and thats one of the sharpest knive i ever had, think my choise of steel for my Trail Master will be the same. I`m a huge fan of large knives/choppers and have quite a few in that size range of the Trail Master, looking foreward to do some comparison testing in the field.:D

Have a nice easter everyone.:thumbup:
 
cinnamochoil said:
I'm simply aware of contemporary marketing strategies.

Your attempt at discrediting me raises further questions about your company's ethical standards. I have no doubt you actually cut ropes and pigs, but that has little to do with this "review".

I have nothing to gain or lose in this situation sir. Cold Steel on the other hand, apparently has a lot of sanmai trailmasters to get rid of.
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Wow...
This was a heck of a read while drinking my morning coffee.
I'll give you credit for sure. This is one of the weirdest things I've seen this year
As for the San Mai Trail Masters. They are produced in very limited numbers. I think they are actually back-ordered ;)
Have a great day
 
This review is great in the sense that every single statement can be either proved or disproved . That's the beauty of declarative sentences, the guy is not being ambiguous or boggus about his facts. What I find a little over the line (and somewhat confusing) is to turn a neat product review into a pissing contest. Please try to make a refutation to his statements with facts, not speculative arguments. There's a huge difference about them. Something like this: " trail master is easy to resharpen and holds an edge" refutation: " no it is not, this is my video on it" non refutation : "This statement was made by Mother Theresa who doesn't like blades .. ( ad hominem argument) :rolleyes:
 
Damn. Anyway, cool review. I was 15 years old in 1988, and I saved and saved and saved and bought my first REAL knife, a CS TM in Carbon V out of the Atlanta Cutlery catalog. I think it cost me around $125, big money to a kid in the late 80's who loved knives. To this day, having amassed and used quite a few knives, custom and production, there's never been another knife for me that equalled its value. The knife was used as an emergency canoe anchor to avoid going over some falls on the James River once. This loosened up the guard a bit, but it kept ticking. On a bet with red Solo cups involved in college, I chopped a Hot Wheels car perfectly in half on a wooden balcony rail and dang near took out the rail--took some permanent edge damage as a result, but I looked at it like custom serrations. I ended up retiring the knife in a very special place. Fact is, I need to buy another and am not nuts about the 01 and foreign incarnation -- no good reason, I just lust for 'Murican-made knives. Don't care that my shoes came from Bangladesh, my jeans from Cambodia, or my watch from outer space.

CS, please, for the love of Pete (a dearly departed friend of mine), make one last run of the TM's with good steel here in the States. I will buy several for me and my children, and will not cut another die cast metal car in half with it, I promise. Maybe.

Y'all keep doing what y'all do. Love you guys.

Professor.
 
How about giving some credit to the guy who's photos you RIPPED OFF! Those are my photos guy from my review almost 7 years ago. Did you think I wasn't a member of a knife forum? Take 'em down please and take your own.

*EDIT* I see your also using other's images to sell the knife on your site. Low.
 
GrinderMcgee said:
How about giving some credit to the guy who's photos you RIPPED OFF! Those are my photos guy from my review almost 7 years ago. Did you think I wasn't a member of a knife forum? Take 'em down please and take your own.

*EDIT* I see your also using other's images to sell the knife on your site. Low.
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I don't know it.
I have my own but they suck.
Tell me your price if you're the owner. I'll pay if reasonable. If not. I'm going to remove the photo.
Thanks
 
Professor said:
Damn. Anyway, cool review. I was 15 years old in 1988, and I saved and saved and saved and bought my first REAL knife, a CS TM in Carbon V out of the Atlanta Cutlery catalog. I think it cost me around $125, big money to a kid in the late 80's who loved knives. To this day, having amassed and used quite a few knives, custom and production, there's never been another knife for me that equalled its value. The knife was used as an emergency canoe anchor to avoid going over some falls on the James River once. This loosened up the guard a bit, but it kept ticking. On a bet with red Solo cups involved in college, I chopped a Hot Wheels car perfectly in half on a wooden balcony rail and dang near took out the rail--took some permanent edge damage as a result, but I looked at it like custom serrations. I ended up retiring the knife in a very special place. Fact is, I need to buy another and am not nuts about the 01 and foreign incarnation -- no good reason, I just lust for 'Murican-made knives. Don't care that my shoes came from Bangladesh, my jeans from Cambodia, or my watch from outer space.

CS, please, for the love of Pete (a dearly departed friend of mine), make one last run of the TM's with good steel here in the States. I will buy several for me and my children, and will not cut another die cast metal car in half with it, I promise. Maybe.

Y'all keep doing what y'all do. Love you guys.

Professor.
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Thank you. Glad you love it! More on the way!
 
AntonioAhumada said:
This review is great in the sense that every single statement can be either proved or disproved . That's the beauty of declarative sentences, the guy is not being ambiguous or boggus about his facts. What I find a little over the line (and somewhat confusing) is to turn a neat product review into a pissing contest. Please try to make a refutation to his statements with facts, not speculative arguments. There's a huge difference about them. Something like this: " trail master is easy to resharpen and holds an edge" refutation: " no it is not, this is my video on it" non refutation : "This statement was made by Mother Theresa who doesn't like blades .. ( ad hominem argument) :rolleyes:
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Not sure I got your point. Anyway, thanks for leave your idea here. More articles're on the way dude
 
Cool review of a nice knife. i'm a little late on this. Has CS changed the blade to tang transition type? does it now come with a large radius in order to reduce the stress riser in that area? or is it still a sharp transition?
 
GrinderMcgee said:
How about giving some credit to the guy who's photos you RIPPED OFF! Those are my photos guy from my review almost 7 years ago. Did you think I wasn't a member of a knife forum? Take 'em down please and take your own.

*EDIT* I see your also using other's images to sell the knife on your site. Low.
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Why would someone do a review and not use their own pics for the review. Was there really a review? Or was this an advertisement?
 
HwangJino said:
This knife isn't crap, but isn't anywhere near great.
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I have never used one, but it sure is a classic that has stood the test of time. The ones I have played with felt good. When they could no longer make it in Carbon V some people loved it so much they bought extras.

Cold steel is pretty up front, their marketing materials and warrany are clear and you always know what you are getting if you bother to read. The only time I had to interact with customer service was a pleasure.
 
brownshoe said:
I have never used one, but it sure is a classic that has stood the test of time. The ones I have played with felt good. When they could no longer make it in Carbon V some people loved it so much they bought extras.

Cold steel is pretty up front, their marketing materials and warrany are clear and you always know what you are getting if you bother to read. The only time I had to interact with customer service was a pleasure.
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Unfortunately they have serious failing, which is why I asked what I did above. This failing prevents them from being a hard use camp knife. But maybe they have made changes after all the failures.
 
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