cold steel all sizzle and no steak?

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Dorito Monk said:
When I first encountered Coldsteel, I really wasn't impressed with their offerings. I had a couple of Tomahawks and a Ti-lite that I found to be extremely lacking in the fit and finish department and I had pretty much written the whole company off altogether.

Recently though I bought an American Lawman on some very strong recommendations and a Braveheart fixed blade on a whim. I was really impressed with the fit and finish of both knives, the Lawman especially. I ended up really putting it through its paces during some winter camping and I was really impressed with it. Might be a little uncomfortable in my hands but that's the worst I could really say about it.

tl;dr: I used to think they were garbage but I've really warmed up to them lately.
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Most of their designs don't appeal to me, but the Lawman is one that I'd eventually like to get and try out.
 
Tostig said:
I see your post and raise you a sawbuck. The reason I said that was because there are certain topics here on BF that inevitably end in name calling , insulting and bashing.
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That's the only reason I'm reading it! I'd like to see some sort of statistical study showing the average number of posts in a thread between when "haters" is first used and when the first ugly comment is posted. I bet it's pretty small.
 
bladelover30 said:
why not just give us your opinion on the subject? Why do people on here feel the need to pick at every little phrase
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Or could it be your choice of words in those phrases? You are asking questions that are not neutral in nature, moreover, you are asking about a subject that has a strong tendency to bring out the worst in people, something you could have known had you bother to checked. Or maybe you did check and decided to go ahead anyway, as your initial post tends to suggest.
Phil is right. 'Needlessly inflammatory' is spot-on.
 
By the way...I think Cold Steel products are generally silly, but they distribute a reasonably priced product of reasonable quality and people seem to like them.
 
Tsujigiri said:
I'm so glad that bladelover showed up to finally resolve this issue people have been arguing over for years...

But, I'll bite. Cold Steel makes knives that are outperformed and outclassed by other brands in every price range. That's not to say they make horrible knives, just that their knives should be much cheaper for what you get. Think about it. They pay for their advertising; how do you think they finance it? Their costs are factored into your purchase price, so you end up getting basic steel, Taiwanese COO, rough fit and finish, and substandard customer service for a price that could buy you a finer US-made knife with S30V steel and no questions asked repair. Advertising works for some companies to increase the resale value of their product, but Cold Steel's ridiculous campaigns do nothing for the customer. If their knives were maybe half the current street price, I'd buy them. But I'm not going to pay for dumb ads when I could be getting much more for my money.
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Also, about your comment about their advertising, I think that their cost of advertising is much cheaper than other companies. I have seen many internet and magazine ads for BM, Spyderco, Wilson, SOG, CRKT, Gerber, and even CRK. However, CS's costs are just the meat and the camera. Putting the videos on youtube and their own site is free. This may be the most effective (whether or not you like it) and cheap form of advertising... which is kind of an analogy of their company philosophy.

(Note, nobody said anything about class!)
 
philwar said:
Or could it be your choice of words in those phrases? You are asking questions that are not neutral in nature, moreover, you are asking about a subject that has a strong tendency to bring out the worst in people, something you could have known had you bother to checked. Or maybe you did check and decided to go ahead anyway, as your initial post tends to suggest.
Phil is right. 'Needlessly inflammatory' is spot-on.
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I think the OP's choice of words might be being misread. I took him to mean that he was seeking current opinions about Cold Steel from people who have experience with those knives -- not the definitive word for all time. It sounded a little over-the-top, but that's the kind of miscommunication that happens with written text, where we don't get the voice inflection and body language that tells us not to accept the words at their face value.

As to whether bringing up a topic discussed before is appropriate or not, I think it is. You ask a current question about a topic discussed in the past to get information about new products (like the Voyagers that are out recently) that might have changed some opinions and to get input from people who were not involved in earlier threads.

All in all, I think the OP was probably able to get a good idea about Cold Steel opinions (which seem mostly favorable from what I've read in this thread) and that this thread was less combustible than some folks thought it would be.
 
philwar said:
I haven't seen such a demonstrably untrue statement in quite a while. Kudo's for effort.
Depending on where you put the emphasis, none of the Tri-Ad folders are outperformed, and none are outclassed, regardless of price class. The only thing one might plausibly find fault with are their edge holding qualities, seeing they're all made of AUS8A (which is widely regarded as a tough steel). Then again, $37 for a 4" stonewashed FFG blade coupled with the Tri-Ad lock puts the new Voyager in a lonely class of its own. Nothing else even comes close.
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Agreed.:)
I recently got a Rajah 3 at the local gun store.
It looked stupid online, but in person I could see the usefulness.
I put it in the same category as the Griptilian and Endura for class of knife, size and pricewise, and it certainly holds its own.
The Grivory handle material was surprisingly non-sucking as well.
 
Love my Cold Steel Tri Ad AK-47 and carry it every day on and off duty!!! It is one of the toughest $75.00 knives available in my opinion.
 
In the under $100 market, Cold Steel has alot of great stuff.:thumbup:
And this is coming from a guy who normally won't even look at a knife which costs under $200.
 
philwar said:
Or could it be your choice of words in those phrases? You are asking questions that are not neutral in nature, moreover, you are asking about a subject that has a strong tendency to bring out the worst in people, something you could have known had you bother to checked. Or maybe you did check and decided to go ahead anyway, as your initial post tends to suggest.
Phil is right. 'Needlessly inflammatory' is spot-on.
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you seem to think i just posted the question to annoy people. its not true it was a question that i thought of at the time and asked. no hidden agendas.

and as for the fan boi remark i would suggest reading what ive said. im an honest stragiht talking sort of person and as for cold steel i certainly have never suggested that they can do no wrong
 
Gadfly22 said:
I think the OP's choice of words might be being misread. I took him to mean that he was seeking current opinions about Cold Steel from people who have experience with those knives -- not the definitive word for all time. It sounded a little over-the-top, but that's the kind of miscommunication that happens with written text, where we don't get the voice inflection and body language that tells us not to accept the words at their face value.

As to whether bringing up a topic discussed before is appropriate or not, I think it is. You ask a current question about a topic discussed in the past to get information about new products (like the Voyagers that are out recently) that might have changed some opinions and to get input from people who were not involved in earlier threads.

All in all, I think the OP was probably able to get a good idea about Cold Steel opinions (which seem mostly favorable from what I've read in this thread) and that this thread was less combustible than some folks thought it would be.
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thanjk you some one whos more itnerested in the question as opposed to what i meant by it. i was just asking for peoples opinions today and maybe my typing skills arent the best but all those who complain about the question being imflammatory i say lighten up.
 
i'm not a fan of this brand, but i do like the knives i own from them and they are a good value for the money, imo.

the american lawman and recons are great knives for the money spent, imo. i also like my pocket bushman, but i think i'm in the minority on that one possibly. for the money it's been a good user in the swamps and such.

the tri-ad lock is awesome...only thing is all of mine had the too short pin that rattles back and forth/side to side when using which is annoying, but one day i'll take 'em apart and fix that.

what i don't like is the name of this brand, it's tacky to me. the font/logo used is all bad 80's, like the name..........but ymmv. the marketing is super silly, but fun to watch the first time. all that has nothing to do with the actual knives though.

i find aus8 steel to be decent on a user knive which mine are. what i don't find in cold steel is the heat treat any better than sogs aus8, or boker pluses aus8 or any other "value line" brand except for maybe crkt. while i could be way off on the facts, and i probably am...i find my cold steels need sharpening just as often as my other brands aus8.

all that said, to sum up.....company logos, name and some designs i dislike.....lower end "value line" knives i like, good value, and good knives worth the money. too each their own, though and ymmv.......
 
Gadfly22 said:
I think the OP's choice of words might be being misread. I took him to mean that he was seeking current opinions about Cold Steel from people who have experience with those knives -- not the definitive word for all time. It sounded a little over-the-top, but that's the kind of miscommunication that happens with written text, where we don't get the voice inflection and body language that tells us not to accept the words at their face value.
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OriginalPost said:
one thing ive noticed more than anything else is the amount of anti cold steel feeling here. so im posting a thread to get everyones opinions once and for all.
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Looks to me like he knows full well what he's getting into

As to whether bringing up a topic discussed before is appropriate or not, I think it is. You ask a current question about a topic discussed in the past to get information about new products (like the Voyagers that are out recently) that might have changed some opinions and to get input from people who were not involved in earlier threads.
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I agree. Ask a neutral open question and - even on Cold Steel - you have a good chance of getting honest opinions and experiences.

All in all, I think the OP was probably able to get a good idea about Cold Steel opinions (which seem mostly favorable from what I've read in this thread) and that this thread was less combustible than some folks thought it would be.
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Yes, things have changed for the better with regards to the GenPop's attitude towards Cold Steel, some diehards notwithstanding. :D
 
philwar said:
Yes, things have changed for the better with regards to the GenPop's attitude towards Cold Steel, some diehards notwithstanding. :D
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Probably now that the general population is getting really fat, they find it harder to make fun of Lynn.;)
 
Part of any misreading may be the lack of punctuation, rampant spelling and grammatical errors, so it's rather difficult to decipher, and the "OTT" phrases such as "once and for all." From my read of the post, it seems that the OP thinks that CS does make the occasional nice knife, while others don't live up to the hype? I'd be curious to know which knives everyone likes and doesn't like.

As for the marketing, well, I think it speaks volumes that this thread, posted today, already has over 50 replies, and several viewers at any given time. You may hate it, but they obviously get exposure. I find it entertaining, personally. The squabbling and name calling has been remarkably subdued thus far, and us blade lovers are generally better than the crowd on some of my other forums. Probably because people who have the income to collect are generally fairly mature and have learned the benefits of being polite.

In the interests of being slightly more productive with my continued contributions to this thread, I own the following:

CS Pipe and Spike Hawk. VERY good value. These are cheap, effective, eminently moddable, and a great introduction to tomahawks. They're no Winklers or RMJ, or anything like that, but they work, they're durable, and they're very fun. Can be had for around 15-25 shipped brand new.

CS Sure Strike (heavy and light). These are by far the best production throwing stars that I have been able to find. The heavy ones are great, because you can lob them, and even from VERY far away (40 feet my best toss so far), they do a lot of damage to your target. Also quite inexpensive.

CS Peace Keeper 1 in San Mai. 95 dollars. It's one of my very favorite knives. Great dagger, and their most affordable San Mai blade. I'm very happy with it, and the fit and finish is superb. I like the low profile. It's very comfortable on a MercHarness.

CS Assegai, long. It's a solid polearm. Came MUCH duller than in their videos, but still a good value. I paid around 40 for it, IIRC. One of the best starting polearms I've been able to find on a budget, and I spent a LONG time looking. Spears with long blades are surprisingly hard to find.

CS Kobun. I paid around 20-30 dollars for this. Love it. It's one of the best cheap, long fixed blades that I have. Razor sharp, reasonable edge holding. It's a great value. Sheath is excellent too. I like the Secure-EX sheaths.

CS Safe Maker II (I think that's what it is, don't remember). I don't like the design. It's weird, flat on one side, and beveled on the other, so it has a triangular shape. I don't know why. Otherwise it's pretty good.

CS Gurkha Kukri SK5. Probably the best modern production khuk on the market at anywhere close to a reasonable price point. No competition for HI in my mind, but it's a great, durable blade.

I have handled their swords and some of their more expensive stuff, and they're overbuilt to the point of being poorly balanced and slow, and they're outperformed as a SWORD by Hanwei and many other competitors. They're very durable and excellent choppers, but I would never want to use one in combat, not being as big as LCT. Handling sucks.

I don't like the back lock design, so I avoid the Tri-ad lock and have no folders. But they're quite popular, even among the folks here.

I have a gladius machete on pre-order for fun. It's cheap, and should be fun to mess around with. The clubs are very fun to hit things with.

Basically, if you're looking for a CS product for sub $100, you're going to get very good value. The more expensive stuff doesn't appeal to me, but I'm not prepared to say that they don't make a quality product. It's very hard to beat Cold Steel for a lot of their budget offerings, and even harder to beat them in terms of variety.
 
Oh, and Cold Steel gives all the meat they chop in the videos to the local homeless shelters.
Sounds pretty nice to me.:)
 
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