cold steel awesome

[crom]

Spyderco outsources, Benchmade brought manufacturing back into the US. Spyderco still makes some knives in the US as well.

 

[mwhich50]

Although Spyderco is my favorite value knife company, Cold Steel is a very close second. I have a smattering of knives from the other great value knife companys: Kershaw, Benchmade, CRKT, Sog, Ontario, Case.
There are simply no better(cooler, sturdier, cheaper) offerings than the Kukri machete, Spike Hawk hatchet, cane sword, Voyager family, American Lawman, push knife family, Delta Dart spike, spike brush, etc. I'm not crazy about the Aus-8, but it keeps the price down for those people who don't want to squander too much money on this VERY fun hobby.

 

[crom]

Yep disinformation.

 

[Topcatpt]

Told yinz cold steel fight lol. You tell me what kershaw cold stab through a boot with steak in it man that triad lock is tough. Lol sorry I had to do it

 

[caseguy]

I still need a Mini-Lawman and a Mini-Recon 1. I really do.

 

[bertosknives]

I've bought 11 cold steel knives in the past month and all have had outstanding fit and finish thats not including some of my friends knives and some I have held in stores and havent seen one flaw yet thats pretty darn good very impressed.

 

[DShiflet]

I've bought 11 cold steel knives in the past month and all have had outstanding fit and finish thats not including some of my friends knives and some I have held in stores and havent seen one flaw yet thats pretty darn good very impressed.

Agreed. I don't like all of CS's stuff, and I know their materials certainly aren't super steels or otherwise high end, but I've never had a problem with fit and finish on my CS knives, of which I have several(Rajah 2, all 3 versions of the XL Voyager, serrated large Voyager Vaquero, Spartan, Steel Tiger karambit, few others)

 

[8steve88]

I have one of the cheapest Cold Steel knives, the Tanto Lite, and it's a great bit of kit. Razor sharp from the factory, grippy handle, as near a full tang as you can get without actually showing metal and at a very reasonable price, I won't mention the quality of the sheath because it's on a low budget knife and it does it's job.
I want another Cold Steel now the, again, very affordable GI Tanto which boasts a Secure-Ex sheath but the Polyproplyene Scales don't look all that comfortable. It does have a 1055 Carbon Steel blade over the Tanto Lite's 4116 Krupp Stainless though. Both the same price but then for another £12 there's the Kobun.
So many knives so little money.

 

[bertosknives]

how do their higher end knives compare to their $50 knives?

 

[Ankerson]

Disinformation? So, CS uses steels as good as ZT or many Spdies? The CS knives I held in my hand don't generally hold up to what I see in Spyderco or ZT as far as quality build and fit/finish.

Of course some of this is a matter of taste and opinion. I'm not saying anyone shouldn't buy CS just that IMO (take it or leave it) they are not as high quality as some other knives. They are as good as SOG,CRKT,and Ontario which are all companies that make good knives but IMO (again, yours may differ and that's OK) Benchmade, Spyderco, and ZT are generally making better knives.

You may disagree, but that doesn't mean i'm spreading disinformation. It's a fact that the companies I mentioned use better materials. Whether or not you like or need the more expensive materials is for the buyer to decide. I have no doubt there are a lot of people who have gotten a lot of good use out of CS knives but my point wasn't that they are poorly built knives just not as good as some other brands.

Either way, I'm done discussing this because apparently people can't have people disagree with them without getting butthurt.

Interesting.....

This is a old, well used Cold Steel Recon 1 form 1995... That's 18 years old and it still works great and has no blade play....

 

[A.P.F.]

I can only come to the conclusion, that most CS haters have never even used CS knives. The facts are that CS does an excellent job on their AUS-8 and Krupp 4116 heat treats. I often use CS knives around the house and yard and I have never been disappointed with their performance.

 

[mcrow]

Interesting.....

This is a old, well used Cold Steel Recon 1 form 1995... That's 18 years old and it still works great and has no blade play....

I don't recall saying CS knives were junk. I said they don't use as good of materials as other brands. Most major knife makers make knives that will last a long time. Durability was never something I said was an issue for CS. My main issues are that they use cheaper materials (not in all knives, but most) and they styling of most of their knives looks like they are marketing to the 15 year old ninja.

 

[DShiflet]

My main issues are that they use cheaper materials

Now, assuming I wasn't just a collector who wanted the most expensive knives, and was just looking for something I could get good use out of...my view is that if the cheaper materials are gonna hold up for 18 years under "well used" conditions, I personally couldn't justify paying for more expensive materials when clearly the cheaper materials are more than sufficient.

As for aesthetics, well, to each his own and all in that particular area.

 

[Klok]

my appreciation of knives stemed from knives getting destroyed at work.
Found that somewhat softer steels roll instead of chipping or cracking
I have had knives fail at the pivot
I have had liner locks fail with slight negative pressure on blade (one of which was a spyderco)
Generally needed a smaller knife that could fit inside pocket and be manipulated with one hand
as much as i liked Carbon steels I worked with corrosive materials.
Needed a Cheaper Knife as regardless of quality
a non metal handle is generally a good thing when working with electricity.

I got two recon 1s on closeout for 15$ a piece

for my purposes coldsteel was pretty hard to beat

sorry about rambling message slighty drunk.

 

[mcrow]

Now, assuming I wasn't just a collector who wanted the most expensive knives, and was just looking for something I could get good use out of...my view is that if the cheaper materials are gonna hold up for 18 years under "well used" conditions, I personally couldn't justify paying for more expensive materials when clearly the cheaper materials are more than sufficient.

As for aesthetics, well, to each his own and all in that particular area.

As I said earlier, it's up to each person to decide if the premium materials are worth it. I think better steel is good because it will hold an edge longer and some are more durable for hard use. I'm not knocking CS for making bad knives, the steel they use isn't super cheap garbage or anything like that but it's not top of the line either.

My point is if you just look at the basic fit, finish and materials CS are not as nice as some others. Does that mean they are not the best choice for any particular application or person? No.

I do agree though that for the most part most quality knives work fine for general purpose utility knives. You probably don't need more than what CS offers on day to day basis but if it were a knife I needed for work every day or if it was hard use I'd probably want something else.

For my uses the materials are probably fine (though I'm not a big fan of AUS-8) but I just don't like the styling of the knives. I will say that AUS-8 is better than 8CR that Kershaw uses on some of their knives though. Still there's nothing like the edge retention you get with the better steels. Sharpen less, cut more.

 

[DShiflet]

My point is if you just look at the basic fit, finish and materials CS are not as nice as some others.

I'll give you the materials, but I'll simply repeat-fit and finish has been absolutely perfect on every CS knife I own(strictly talking knives here, their tomahawks and machetes do need some work), and I own quite a few. Like I said earlier, I've seen Benchmades with inferior fit and finish, and they're certainly higher end than CS is.

 

[Topcatpt]

Ok people I don't understand the hate of cold steel knives they are true work horses that don't fail. But really great fit and finish. Your crazy Teflon coating sucks it comes of after little use. If you say other wise you are lying. So top quality fit and finish no. Don't church them up either. Good work knives they are but outstanding f&f they are not. I have one and love it but it is not the nicest, smoothest , or sexiest. But it does well at getting the job done.

 

[atony]

I have always enjoyed the American Lawman, that is about the only Cold Steel knife that ever caught my attention. The fit and finish on the ones I have had is on par with what Spyderco or Benchmade have in the same price point. I am not much of a fan but still just about every company has a few diamonds in the rough.

 

[DShiflet]

Ok people I don't understand the hate of cold steel knives they are true work horses that don't fail. But really great fit and finish. Your crazy Teflon coating sucks it comes of after little use. If you say other wise you are lying. So top quality fit and finish no. Don't church them up either. Good work knives they are but outstanding f&f they are not. I have one and love it but it is not the nicest, smoothest , or sexiest. But it does well at getting the job done.

What teflon finish? None of the CS knives *I* have have a teflon finish, other than the machetes(which I already conceded need help).

That other dude's Recon doesn't seem to be having issues either.

 

[cncpro11]

Any time I need to hack up a meat filled boot, slice off the wings of a featherless chicken hanging from a hook, punch holes in the hood of my car, or unload some aggression with a mad flurry of spine whacks, I reach for my trusty CS.

No one can say that cold steel doesn't make a tough knife, but even though the testing vids are impressive, they don't exactly promote safe use.

I always read about people hating on cold steel, but if you have ever seen Lynn Thomson, he brings much of it on himself by disrespecting every other manufacturer and magazine in the knife community.

It really is a shame because cold steel really does make some solid knives, but when the head of the company is such a jerk, people will just dismiss their product.