California Hunter from Cold Steel?

[Sierra912]

Recently found CS model I'm told is out of production.

Is marked on ricasso as "MasterTanto" and is SanMai steel.

Brass fittings.

However the blade is similar to the CS Outdoorsman (upswept point). No finger grooves or suchlike on the spine. Just very simple traditional Japanese tanto style blade design.

Does anyone recognize this model as being a "California Hunter"?

Also have been told they made a mini model of the same but with a series of finger grooves on the spine for better purchase.

Thanks.

 

[merwin]

Never seen such a beast. When they were making them, the original Outdoorsman, Mini Outdoorsman and California Hunter were not San Mai and had stainless fittings. The pommel was without a lanyard hole and wasn’t the “skull crusher” type. The California was the same as the Mini Outdoorsman, just with a drop point. All had the traction grooves ground into the spine. All had the model’s name etched on the blade.

The only variations on these models I have ever seen were when they made the transition from the chisel spine to the plain spine on the Outdoorsman. A total of three Outdoorsman models were all that the catalogs ever showed before discontinuing them.

For what it’s worth, I have owned the two variations of the original Outdoorsman and the Mini Outdoorsman (never purchased the California). In the end, I kept the chisel spine…

Nowadays, we have a new, equally good/better, production of the Outdoorsman. It is different enough to prevent any confusion with the prior model.

The Master Tanto was a distinct version in itself that, by definition, had a chisel point.

Is this a non-production knife/prototype? That would be cool.

Was it modified after leaving the factory? Hmm…

Perhaps these would be good questions for Cold Steel’s customer service department.