Carbon V Trailmaster without Carbon V stamp

Z

zonk

Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Messages
7
I have a Trailmaster with its box saying " Carbon V Steel," but there is no "Carbon V" stamp on the blade.
Can anybody tell me if this Trailmaster is Carbon V steel or not ? I have two of them with me.

The Carbon V steel is a brand steel. So, to me, Carbon V stamp must be present on a blade if it is a Carbon V steel.
CS forgot to stamp the blade ? Or the box was wrong ?
This Trailmaster was sold by a distributor in Japan who buys CS knives from CS.

I asked CS above questions. The customer service told me to send him pictures.
I sent the pictures and received the answer: "From the pictures I cannot see anything that would tell me its a fake."
I asked if the stamp was forgotten or the box was mistake. Unfortunately I received no answer.

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I have some Carbon V knives that have no stamp. Carbon V is simply 1095V/50100B. It is the same steel used by Becker and Case's CV. Good stuff.
 
Yes that is Carbon V. As far as I know, the black-coated TMs are the only CS Carbon V knives that weren't marked as such....they said Trailmaster on one side, and Cold Steel USA on the other. Strangely, the Carbon V Recon Scout, which was just a short TM, did have a Carbon V stamp (but did not have a Recon Scout stamp). All the uncoated Carbon V TMs did say Carbon V somewhere. The later SK-5 models that were black-coated did not have actual stamped markings...they were etched/painted in white.
 
I think it's a legit Carbon V Trail Master although that particular design is the most copied of the Cold Steel "Fakes".
 
Box is right, sheath is right, blade stamps are right, blade coating is right, and warning label is right. It all looks legitimate. As DocT said, not all Carbon V was marked as such. I have a Trail Master that is completely sterile, no markings at all, purchased directly from Cold Steel.

You've got new-in-box Carbon V Trail Masters--nice find!

-Steve
 
Use the sh*t out of it. If it breaks (unlikely) you can send it back for a replacement. Carbon V is tough stuff; love my MH, SRK, Twistmasters, Elk Skinner in that steel.
 
I am having a hard time replying to this thread. Clicking "Reply to Thread " erased all my writing. Oh boy. retype and will try : Post Quick Reply


Thank you all very much !!

I think CS should stamp all Carbon V except for those made for military sterile.
One guy told me that the gold color thong hole metal may tell it is Carbon V. Well, I am not sure about Carbon V, but it surely tells manufacturing period.
Wouldn't "Non stamp Carbon V" TM period overlap SK-5 ? No reply from CS just made me doubt that .
Alberta Ed, yes, you are right. That is a good way to check: use it and sharpen it. I have used and sharpened Carbon V Recon Scout for a couple of years. If it gives me the same feel, I will be convinced it is Carbon V. But I got to sell them to make my living... That's what I do.

As I was checking CS stuff in my place, I found pictures of my old knives.. (will deviate from the title..)
Below pictures are rare "the first" TM and RS which I had for a while. May be someone besides me had it had posted somewhere in this Cold Steel site .


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... It took me, oh so long time to post this much message. Good bye now ..
 
Your TM is Carbon V, period. Prior to 2007, all black-coated TMs were Carbon V (except for the very rare Flight of the Intruder version which was SS). When they first switched to SK-5, in 2007, they were still black-coated, but were made in China (later changed to Taiwan). On those, China was called out in the markings, and the markings are etched/painted in white, and no longer stamped.
 
I see nothing from the pictures that would indicate that the knife in question is a knock-off. It appears to be a legitimate Carbon V Trail Master Bowie.
 
Thank you for the replies. OK, "those black coated and stamped Trail Masters are Carbon V steel Trail Master, and black coated SK-5's are not stamped but etched or painted " will be my knowledge now.
My question is cleared. Thank you very much ! I am glad I posted the question. Nice site ! Nice people !
 
zonk, I'm very glad that you took the extra time to re-post with those photos. Those are some special knives! I had no idea that Cold Steel did a limited run of Parkerized Trail Masters. I've never seen one or read a reference to their existence. And you have a letter from Lynn himself to verify yours! If possible, could you post a better picture of the letter? It's a little hard to read, and its relevance to Cold Steel's history is pretty significant.

Also, it looks to me like your Recon Scout is one of the very rare first run of issued knives, with the slight recurve. Those don't surface very often. Thank you for sharing your pictures.

Happy New Year, everyone!

-Steve

P.S. - I agree that the Forum software is a pain to work with sometimes. Just a suggestion: If I have a long post, I write it in a text program and then copy it into a Quick Reply to avoid the time-out restriction.
 
The Whip, The Parkerized Trail Master was never put into production. It was a sample; I heard, a sample to a military force. Recon Scout was chosen but TM was not. (Too big.)
Here is the zoom in of the letter. I can't preview, so I hope it is readable.

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