cold steel all sizzle and no steak?

[Professor]

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

Meh, don't let the gobblers get you down. Tensions run high around here these days. Not sure why, but don't take it personally.

I bought one of the original US-made CS Carbon V Trailmasters back in approx. '88. I was a junior in high school and that was a heck of a lot of money for me at the time. To this day, one of the toughest fixed blades I ever owned. Even used it as an emergency canoe anchor back in the day. There was nothing in its class, other than the old Gerber bowie. The newer stuff, not so sure, but they've certainly made good stuff over years that I've owned and used. Just my .02.

Prof.

 

[bladelover30]

thanks for the advice and dont worry i wont let it get me down. it jsut seems that some people prefer to attact me rather than any opinions i might have. I mean seriously for a knife forum theres a lot of people who complain about typos spelling and sentence structure

 

[ono724]

thanks for the advice and dont worry i wont let it get me down. it jsut seems that some people prefer to attact me rather than any opinions i might have. I mean seriously for a knife forum theres a lot of people who complain about typos spelling and sentence structure[/QUOTE]

Jus becuz we like nives don meen we arnt edjucated two

 

[TacticalBlade]

the only problem i have with cold steel is they limit Andrew Demko to only making 30 customs a year and I cant get an AD-10 anytime soon. He did design it afterall, why not let him utilize it?

 

[res1cue]

the only problem i have with cold steel is they limit Andrew Demko to only making 30 customs a year and I cant get an AD-10 anytime soon. He did design it afterall, why not let him utilize it?

Did not know that, that's a shame. I don't know how much faster he can work though.. 30 customs a year comes out to one every 12 days (9 days after factoring in weekends), seems like a lot on top of what he does for cold steel. Don't know anything about how long it takes to make a custom knife, but I would imagine producing one every 12 days can be tedious.

 

[bladelover30]

thanks for the advice and dont worry i wont let it get me down. it jsut seems that some people prefer to attact me rather than any opinions i might have. I mean seriously for a knife forum theres a lot of people who complain about typos spelling and sentence structure[/QUOTE]

Jus becuz we like nives don meen we arnt edjucated two

im serious. people should concentrate on the issues and not my lack of talent with a keyboard

 

[stabman]

im serious. people should concentrate on the issues and not my lack of talent with a keyboard

Stop being serious.
You won't have any fun on the internet if you keep trying to be serious...it ain't gonna work.

 

[singularity35]

Stop being serious.
You won't have any fun on the internet if you keep trying to be serious...it ain't gonna work.

This!

 

[Tostig]

Hey , I like Cold Steel as much as any other brand aside from my beloved Kershaw.

I currently own - Large Bushman , American Lawman and mini Lawman, older 90's era Recon 1 Tanto folder , a few of those plasticy type knives , Two Handed Katana and my fiance is buying me that Cold Steel Gladius as soon as it is readily available. There are few other Cold Steel knives I would like to own but my sights are set on too many other Kershaw related offerings.

There's my positive contribution to this thread.

Tostig

 

[Tsujigiri]

They really can't be even 1/4 as bad as you are saying or they would have been out of business a very long time ago....

Instead they are one of the major Knife Companies.

I have been using their products for 25 years personally.

Not saying that their knives are horrible, just that they're way overpriced. There are incentives to buy a knife other than value for many people. But I won't be buying one at the standard street price. Case in point, I think the Al Mar Falcon Ultralight is also quite overpriced. But I found one on the exchange here for a good deal, and I really like the knife. Would I buy it again? Yes. At the street price they usually go for? Definitely not.

Also, longevity doesn't guarantee quality. Clever marketing can keep things around way longer than they deserve. Look at Paris Hilton. Or more relevantly Dark Ops knives. It's a wonder they lasted more than a day making knives that would be impractical at any price.

Tsujigiri, can you name specific products and prices (CS vs. U.S. made equivalent)?

The most talked about CS knives like the Recon 1, AK-47, and American Lawman go head to head against knives like the Kershaw Blur S30V, Benchmade Griptilian, and Spyderco Manix 2. Then there are cheaper options like the Spyderco Delica/Endura 4, Kershaw RAM, and Buck Vantage Pro. All of them have a better feeling fit and finish to me, better customer service, and more expensive steel (I won't say better since this is subjective, but few people would prefer AUS-8 to S30V).

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.

That's pretty demonstrably untrue, too. How about the Spyderco Resilience? As a bonus, you get a better handle material plus SS liners. Or for less you could get an Ontario RAT-1 or Byrd Cara Cara 2. For someone who seems to be claiming not to drink the "fanboi" Kool-aid, you sure seem proud of being CS's self-appointed white knight. The OP seemed to be asking for reasons; you fanboys might be a little more convincing if you provided some instead of getting mad and claiming that anything with the Tri-Ad lock can do no wrong.

 

[Bill1170]

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!)

I don't know... that meat bicycle had to be expensive! The best thing about the Cold Steel videos is that one can choose to watch as many or as few as they want to. I find some of them fun to watch. Especially the meat bicycle, where did they get that idea?

 

[dallasdeadeye]

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.

out performed nah, out priced yes. in the end your knife is for cutting, my lawman does it for 48 bucks, if you want to pay twice or three times more to cut some boxes and some paracord, it is a free country, but dont put down cold steel knives. they perform just fine.

 

[Misanthropia]

I was initially very critical of Cold Steel, the absolutely ridiculous demo videos really turned me off to them (they scream mall ninja), and every subsequent appearance by Lynn C. Thompson (he might be the worst part of their marketing, I show non knife enthusiast friends videos of him as a joke) only reinforced this. Eventually, I was able to look past their absurdly testosterone laden marketing to the knives themselves, and some of the folders impressed me. The new Voyager series is an absolute steal at the prices you can get it for online ($32 for a medium Voyager is pretty unbeatable in that price range), in fact I just bought a Hold Out III for $42. I'm very excited for its arrival, I never thought I would buy a Cold Steel knife, but I have been in love with its aesthetics from the first time I laid eyes on it. My actual satisfaction with the knife stands to be seen, but I am confident I will like it.

 

[cziv]

as some one whos new two this forum i have to say 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.

as for my own opinion i will say this. cold steel is a company with ott advertising and some knives that dont live up tot eh hype. having said that they have made some very good knives. ive heard good things said about the recon scout for example and i do own a couple of cold steel knives myself. so thats it any one got an opinon good or bad lets hear it.

Sounds like a fair observation for about any knife company. :yawn:

 

[Striderco]

I own probably 150 or so knives. Everything from Bucks to Striders to CR to Hinderers to Spydies, Benchmades, Kershaw, SOG........... etc! For some reason I have never bought a Cold Steel. Dont exactly know why? I ve thought of getting a Mini lawman but like I said for sum reason just haven't pulled the trigger?! Maybe its threads like this? Maybe its the price for a mediocre AUS8 blade? I just dont know. If they sent me one id be willing to give her a try i suppose.

 

[The_Guide]

I will admit to being attracted to a couple of their models. The San Mai 3 trailmaster, natchez bowie, and laredo bowie for instance... (although I ultimately preferred the Fallkniven Thor, which is a similar laminate, though with VG10 instead of VG1)

Though there is one thing from the vids that really stuck with me and made me laugh pretty hard, Lynn said "When I fight with 2 swords..." Not sure why, but just the way he said it made me crack up. I think it was during one of the katana videos.

They have a lot of cool stuff. Though I dont actually own any cold steel products, Id like to.

 

[chad2]

cold steel makes great knives. yes there advertising is way over board.

my biggest problem with them is they dont use good steel aus 8 is ok but come on they would sell 100 times more knives if the use 154cm or s30v i thin they need to up grade

 

[OhShoot]

I own a double handful of CS knives, mostly lower end, probably the most expensive being in the $45 range, plus some machetes.

Incredible value on stuff like the GI Tanto, Bushman, the Krupp cheapo series, etc. They work. Heck, the Pendleton Lite Hunter was Field and Stream's knife of the year not long ago. Like that.

I'm also a necker freak, and CS has made some really serviceable ones, especially for SD.

Their most gimmicky stuff aside, CS definitely occupies a unique niche in range of quality/price/utility.

- OS

 

[mwhich50]

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.

That would be terriffic if their products were half the price that they are right now. :thumbup: I would shop almost exclusively at Cold Steel! To do this they would have to aquire employees that were willing to work for free. Even the Chinese are starting to demand higher wages.
I own their unique/personal protection items like the Kobun tanto, Scimitar Spike, FGX spike, Safe keeper, Old VG1 Voyager. Good quality, unique product for a reasonable cost. I prefer Kershaw (Sandvik) folders when it comes to fit and finish/bang for the buck.

 

[dogstar]

tsujigiri, the models you mentioned are not exactly the same price as the CS models. They are $10-$40 dollars more than the CS based on a quick search. $10 is not a lot of difference, but $40 is a completely different price range.

If you want to buy American, I wholeheartedly support that. I would say for an extra $10, buy American. But I play in the $30 and under range. Not many made in the USA options there.