A2 Steel Update

Applying Occam’s razor principle, we can reasonably conclude that it’s mostly due cutting cost, moving to another manufacturer and the manufacturer having an abundant supplies of 4034 steel.

Like someone mentioned above, CS is trying to add salt to the wound by trying to tell us how 4034 is superior.

Rule #1 when you try to communicate - know your audiences. This statement from Lynn was addressed directly to Bladeforums members here. Does CS honestly think that the member here on BF, who knows more about knife than average Joe, is going to believe that 4034 is a superior steel? I find it disrespectful considering there’s many loyal followers who defended CS for many years.

Also it’s odd that CS is not making the announcement anywhere else. Not on Instagram, not on any mailing list. Are they trying to gauge the response here before deciding whether to blast on their social media?
 
insta9ves said:
I find it disrespectful considering there’s many loyal followers who defended CS for many years.
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I gave more of my money to Cold Steel than to any otgher manufacturer, and I always kept CS as #1. Even despite the sheath issues I had (Secure-Ex has been duling blades for years and nobody did aynthing about this) I still said they made amazing knives, especially for the money, so I'd hate to see CS follow Gerber's path.

Also, 4034 is a very low end steel for a reason, calling it superior when you have O1, 52100 and SK-5 available is plain ridiculous.
 
I didn’t read anywhere where it was stated to be superior to the original plan to use A-2.

My interpretation is that they were unable to find a source for A-2 that met their standards.

That said, the more I research about 4034, the more disappointing it becomes.

It seems like it’s similar to 420j2 or 3cr13mov.
 
Lucky for me, I was never too brand loyal.
I chose other manufacturers for my EDC blades because of that very reason - steel choice.
I have big CS knives like Warcrat Tanto and they're amazing, but I wanted small fixed blades in something other than low end stainless. So I got them in 1095 and D2.
Other reason being that Secure-Ex is just bad like it's already mentioned here.

I can understand that thd A2 supply was subpar. But you have SK5 and 52100. Also, what's wrong with trying to get 5160 or 1095?

Picking 4034 isn't corner cutting, it's cutting a large chunk. As we all know - steel is the base of the knife. Steel is what knife is.

This is choosing profit margins over customer satisfaction, same as with Secure-Ex.
 
I'd like to hear more of Mr Thompson's thinking on this steel. I'm not willing to write it off at this stage. I'm intrigued by the idea of stainless for such blades as long as it is tough, easy to sharpen and holds a reasonable edge.
Someone mentioned 14c28n, it's a great steel and aeb-l is tough I believe.
 
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fielder said:
I'd like to hear more of Mr Thompson's thinking on this steel. I'm not willing to write it off at this stage. I'm intrigued by the idea of stainless for such blades as long as it is tough and easy to sharpen.
Someone mentioned 14c28n, it's a great steel and aeb-l is tough I believe.
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Even mild steel is tough and easy to sharpen but it won't be very useful if you have to sharpen your knife after each short use. Worse scenario would be that soft stainless steel rolling when you try using it to chop something.
Worst case scenario - snapping in half if heat treatment is such to make it retain the edge better.

I ruined number of knives in various 440 steels, 8cr13mov and other such steels... And keep in mind 4034 is even below those.

No hate to Mr. Thompson as he seems as a great guy, but he is still a businessman and selling really low end steel for even mid range price will bring CS huge profit margins.
Also, there's no leather or kydex sheath options which is really unfortunate considering the quality of some CS knives.
4034 steel will also be easier to machine reducing the cost further. So, yes, they're cutting corners big time here. After all, each company just wants to make money.

So I really like some Cold Steel knives.

I strongly dislike Cold Steel secure-ex sheaths and I dislike steel choices they are making latley.

And last thing I dislike about Cold Steel would be their new YouTube videos recorded in BDSM dungeon.
 
EatingSarma said:
And last thing I dislike about Cold Steel would be their new YouTube videos recorded in BDSM dungeon
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:D :D :D

Yeah, someone asks you about knife you have, they search it and see... that. And they instantly connect both, your knife and you with violence and everything else that goes with dungeon.

I can't wait till these are out so I can watch/read reviews tho :D


I'll refrain from commenting on securex sheaths not to go into hard offtoppic now.
 
EatingSarma said:
Even mild steel is tough and easy to sharpen but it won't be very useful if you have to sharpen your knife after each short use. Worse scenario would be that soft stainless steel rolling when you try using it to chop something.
Worst case scenario - snapping in half if heat treatment is such to make it retain the edge better.

I ruined number of knives in various 440 steels, 8cr13mov and other such steels... And keep in mind 4034 is even below those.

No hate to Mr. Thompson as he seems as a great guy, but he is still a businessman and selling really low end steel for even mid range price will bring CS huge profit margins.
Also, there's no leather or kydex sheath options which is really unfortunate considering the quality of some CS knives.
4034 steel will also be easier to machine reducing the cost further. So, yes, they're cutting corners big time here. After all, each company just wants to make money.

So I really like some Cold Steel knives.

I strongly dislike Cold Steel secure-ex sheaths and I dislike steel choices they are making latley.

And last thing I dislike about Cold Steel would be their new YouTube videos recorded in BDSM dungeon.
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I intended to say - as long as it holds an edge reasonably well.
It seems debatable at best that this will be the case.
 
This is probably the most disappointing knife related thing I have read in the past year. It reeks of typical modern cost cutting and delivering a mediocre product to the uninformed masses. This steel is basically 420HC. It's not as tough as carbon steel unless the RC is so low that edge holding is negatively impacted and the knife will never develop any desirable patina. It's a throwaway knife now, made to fit in with the SOGs and Smith & Wesson's at the local hunting store. I for one was holding out for the A2 Recon Scout to use a a blade for a custom stacked leather handle bowie. This is as bad as Ontario discontinuing the Spec Plus 5160 series.

80CrV2, 5160, 52-100 would be inexpensive and easily outperform any budget stainless. Or offer 3V as a premium option. Cold Steel could pick anything better but it is choosing not to based on cost... it's the only logical explanation.
 
4034 is garbage and no propriety heat treat can change this. You'd be better off with AUS8.

If you can't find A2, you're not looking very hard. It's used in industry throughout the world and is readily available to anyone by the ton.

I suppose a child might buy a 4034 knife for $20 or $30 if it looked cool, but no one with any knowledge of steel or cutlery will.
 
Silverbullet951 said:
This is probably the most disappointing knife related thing I have read in the past year. It reeks of typical modern cost cutting and delivering a mediocre product to the uninformed masses. This steel is basically 420HC. It's not as tough as carbon steel unless the RC is so low that edge holding is negatively impacted and the knife will never develop any desirable patina. It's a throwaway knife now, made to fit in with the SOGs and Smith & Wesson's at the local hunting store. I for one was holding out for the A2 Recon Scout to use a a blade for a custom stacked leather handle bowie. This is as bad as Ontario discontinuing the Spec Plus 5160 series.

80CrV2, 5160, 52-100 would be inexpensive and easily outperform any budget stainless. Or offer 3V as a premium option. Cold Steel could pick anything better but it is choosing not to based on cost... it's the only logical explanation.
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If it were even 420HC it wouldn't be this bad. 420HC has 0.3% vanadium, and a little vanadium goes a long way. 4034 has none. It's crap. They're shooting themselves in the foot. I don't know what they're thinking.
 
I
AntDog said:
No, it’s as bad as Ontario keeping the Spec Plus line but using freaking liner material for the blades.

I was waiting on the A2 Recon Scout as well. That would’ve been one hell of a great knife. Quite frankly, this steel choice is a joke. :thumbsdown:
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I wanted a Laredo bowie. Just for the pleasure of having a big freaking knife. With junk steel it's just a toy and I don't want it.
I'm not against low end steel. I have an SRK in SK5, which is basically 1085. But I have my limits. 4034 is a no go.
 
Mark Spark said:
I

I wanted a Laredo bowie. Just for the pleasure of having a big freaking knife. With junk steel it's just a toy and I don't want it.
I'm not against low end steel. I have an SRK in SK5, which is basically 1085. But I have my limits. 4034 is a no go.
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Nothing wrong with 1085. It’s a good ol’ carbon steel. It’s a much better steel than they are apparently going to use.

Since they had access to a broad variety of decent carbon steels, why they chose what they did makes zero sense. Looks to me like they’re just looking to stack em deep and sell em cheap to a bunch of numbnuts who don’t know the difference.

I’m also not buying them not being able to get ahold of A2. It’s very common, and very cost effective for what it is.

If cold steel switches to this crap they are literally putting their reputation on the line. I guess it’s worth it to them.
 
Mitchell Knives said:
I suppose a child might buy a 4034 knife for $20 or $30 if it looked cool
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Or people who have 0 knowledge about steel but have heard about reputation of that knife's name... not knowing it's a different thing now.
Mark Spark said:
I have an SRK in SK5, which is basically 1085.
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Nothing wrong with SK-5. I have Recon Tanto in SK5, it's my most used knife and I never experienced either rolling on chipping despite even using it to chop/cut bones. Very tough, easy to sharpen, holds decent edge. There are better steels out there, but SK5 will be enough for majority of people. We as knife nuts want latest and greatest steel tho, but 4034 will disappoint even your average Joe I'm afraid.
 
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