Cold Steel downhill?

Esav Benyamin said:
And as was pointed out, Fallkniven makes no knives, owns no factories, and Scandinavians today are far from being vikings. They don't even make viking era weapons. Maybe that's not over the top, but it is, umm, deceptive.
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On a very slightly related piece of trivia, Fallkniven was a Cold Steel distributor before beginning their own knives, and it is believed by some that some of their early blades were made incognito on CS's tooling. Not really relevant, but I like knife trivia.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Over the top advertising? It sells knives. They don't even show half dressed women, like the car companies do. You need to understand at whom their marketing is aimed.

And as was pointed out, Fallkniven makes no knives, owns no factories, and Scandinavians today are far from being vikings. They don't even make viking era weapons. Maybe that's not over the top, but it is, umm, deceptive.
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Wasn't aware of Fallkniven , thanks for the intel. Never owned any of their knives , almost , but never handled any that pushed me over the edge to purchase.
 
I think it's the Fallkniven S1 you can put next to the CS SRK, same size and shape blade and rubber handle.

John T, I don't mean any of this to be a knock on Fallkniven or any other company. Most industries outsource parts and production. Cold Steel gets called on it because Lynn Thompson makes himself so visible. People like Sal Glesser and Ernie Emerson are actually more accessible, and softer spoken. And once an idea takes root online, it's hard to change peoples' attitudes about it.
 
The outsourcing of parts , I completely understand , for production , and mid-tech stuff it flat out makes sense. One would think though , a knife company would actually physically make something. ;)

But then when you look at most custom gun makers , they buy parts and do custom fit assembly ( painstaking fitting ). There are very few true custom gun/rifle smiths left.
 
Thanks, Esav, for making the same point I've made in many CS bashing threads. For a while, Spyderco didn't make knives in house either. Moore Maker doesn't make knives.

It's not even clear why strictly marketing knives is supposed to be a bad thing.
 
shecky said:
It's not even clear why strictly marketing knives is supposed to be a bad thing.
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A&P supermarkets sell products from many different sources, some with their own brand name, none of which they actually produce themselves. They supply floor space, personnel, and ... marketing. Literally.

It's called business.

Of course, there are people who think Smith & Wesson, Remington, and the NRA all make knives, too. Then they feel cheated when they find out the name doesn't mean what they thought it did.

At least Cold Steel takes responsibility for the designs and materials and the selection of contractors to make the knives that bear their name.
 
for all the flak that CS has been gettin', at least the man's still in business doin' it the American way!
ie Always cut the competition by slashing wages.
Hell, it's even better with no factory to speak of.
IMO, The day American production cutlery concerns did away brass and wood, and turned out plastic parts on knives - was the end of true craftsmanship.
 
GIRLYmann said:
IMO, The day American production cutlery concerns did away brass and wood, and turned out plastic parts on knives - was the end of true craftsmanship.
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Whatchoo got against plastic?:mad::p
 
manmade plastics would be a cheaper product material than brass.
the mass production of plastic based products near disposes the need for labour intensive skills as in working with traditional materials of old.
hence the use of plastic parts on knives becomes a naturally preferred and cheaper alternative for mass production when in business.
plastics may last longer in some instances, but it's is always going to be thought of as a cheaper endproduct than something made from natural based materials.
With full automation, that human touch diminishes once another human hand is left out of the manufacturing process.
 
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i don't want anybody to misunderstand. my observations weren't meant as "CS bashing". i've always been outspoken about their ABSOLUTELY CRAPPY customer service, but really liked their products. it just seems like they're dropping the best things and adding alot of nonsense. i do give them credit for making interesting things that noonelse would - plastic (com)bat :D

and if anybody IS bashing CS, so what? i remember when CS first started gaining momentum. Lynn's whole sales pitch was nothing more than a Gerber bash.

i'll admit it, i was actually totally in the dark until this thread - i though CS actually MADE knives. ya learn something new everyday.
 
Trigcure said:
The CS Scimitar. its 150$.. is it just me or was it MUCH less expensive last year? Also, after seeing Nutnfancy's vidio on youtube about the CS Bushmans lock failing... i asked them about it on the CS forums.. the next day my post was deleted.
PS: The Braveheart is listed for 72$ on there website.. i got mine NIB for 42$
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the cs scimitar can be found online for around 80-90 dollars i believe, its a great knife.


overall, i think cold steel offers a lot of quality products for very affordable prices.
 
My 2 cents. I like some of Cold Steel products, and they do offer unique things, but it does seem that doing the Chinese thing has hurt their once somewhat respectable reputation. Whether warranted or not, I think it has hurt them, and Lynn's crazy killing spree in Africa, just added to the mess.

Who can answer this? Is CS now moving production from Communist China over to Taiwan? If so, why? Is it to change some of the negative attention of "everything is made in China" syndrome or just to increase profits? Will Taiwan manufacturing increase quality control, like CRKT has over their production? I do like my Recon Scout from China though for an all around knife which I do not mind using hard.
 
cbach8tw said:
My 2 cents. I like some of Cold Steel products, and they do offer unique things, but it does seem that doing the Chinese thing has hurt their once somewhat respectable reputation. Whether warranted or not, I think it has hurt them, and Lynn's crazy killing spree in Africa, just added to the mess.

Who can answer this? Is CS now moving production from Communist China over to Taiwan? If so, why? Is it to change some of the negative attention of "everything is made in China" syndrome or just to increase profits? Will Taiwan manufacturing increase quality control, like CRKT has over their production? I do like my Recon Scout from China though for an all around knife which I do not mind using hard.
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uh... what's that all about? more news that i haven't heard, yet? did he slice some folks in Africa up?
 
I recently bought an old CS Bush Ranger, in what was Carbon V at that time. Turned out to be a really nice user, great blade steel. Turned my attitude around about Cold Steel, as far as product quality of their old stuff. I'm not really interested in any of their new stuff.

zignal_zero said:
uh... what's that all about? more news that i haven't heard, yet? did he slice some folks in Africa up?
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He made some hunting videos, while on safari. Some folks have an issue with his style.

Kiahs - IIRC, Case CV is not Carbon V. I thought it was for a long time, and when it came up here, it was posted (by Phil Gibbs) that it was not Carbon V. See post 17-18-19 here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=449440

thx - cpr
 
Seems like it may be the "cool thing" or "the in thing" to do is to hate on CS. Reasons may be of plenty. That is fine and your right to do so. I think the same could be said of any of the large companies. Dig deep enough, and you could find something that clashes with your style weather it be blade shape, lock system, steel used, handle material, country of origin, etc.

As a blade fan, if they deliver a good value for your money spent, spot on I say, if not, look elsewhere for your next purchase. Continuing to bash is, for whatever your reason, IMHO, a waste of time that could be spent using your most recent purchase, or, researching your next purchase.

I neither ride, jump on, or roll with the bandwagon. Instead, purchase what may intrigue me. Like it, hate it, save my opinion for later, in any case, continue down the hobby lane of sharp metal objects that bring all of use here.

In 20+ years of collecting/using, I have called upon all of the large companies at one time or another, and all but one has treated me more than fair, CS was not one of them. They handled my issue promptly and with courtesy and the results were more than satisfactory.
 
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