Cold Steel downhill?

CS has had knives made in Japan and Taiwan for a long time. Many of those Japanese and especially Taiwanese companies built factories in mainland China. Now Cold Steel is also contracting directly with mainland Chinese factories.

Lynn Thompson has been hunting in Africa for a long time. He often put pictures from his safaris there in his catalogs. He has written about his friends in KwaZulu-Natal province. Recently he put out a video of a hunt in Australia, where he got permission to slaughter excess populations of animals considered vermin. Many of us felt the video showed little beyond *bang* and another one bites the dust ...
 
Sorry for the vulgar language, I was a bit spiced up by vodka. No excuse though, lesson learned.
 
This is a typical bash CS thread. They aren't a manufacturing company, they are a design company that farms out there work to probably the lowest bidder but while still maintaing a decent price point and prod. via the internet anyways. I have never paid full price for a CS knife and wouldn't. But as for selling out I don't see it. I think the Recon1 line is about as good an inexpensive high quality knife using the type of lock and materials it does as you could probably find. My son has beat to death the one I gave him and it still works like the day I recieved it and takes no time to sharpen up. If they made the drop point in a plain edge that might just be my all around edc.

I think the Master Hunter is the best hunting knife I have ever used bar none, and that includes many custom type hunters from forged to stock removal and at a wide range of cost. I have used mine since they first came out and were made of 01 steel. I have gone through 2 sheaths for mine too. I'll say this as I have said in the past, if they made this knife with a really good leather sheath and micarta handles they wouldn't be able to keep them in stock.

I also have just taken delivery of a CS Black Rhino. Again didn't pay anywhere retail price for it but the fit and finish is excellent. This AUS8a steel seems to me to be on a par with other premium steels used in knives. At least the way they have it ground and heat treated. I know it ain't S30v but for the past couple of weeks I have used this knife exclusively for all my knife chores and just today had to sharpen it again after recieving it. It would still shave hair but wouldn't pop it off my arm. Lockup is superb, and it is just a well made folder. I like the sound it makes when opening too. A nice ratcheting sound kind of like a navaja knife.

I don't go for the hype LT puts out nor do I care for there video's to much either other than for entertainment purposes. But the knives I have from CS and have had do everything they have said they would do and sometimes more. Would I chop through a car hood or door etc. Nope as I don't have the need. Are there edges ground thin and do they cut well absolutely. Most of the folders they put out have a nice continuous curve to the belly and bottom of the blade so they bite deep and effortlessly when you are using them. Are they the best out there? Not by a long shot but for what they are and the various styles and for sharpness and ease of sharpening and maintaining the edge they are pretty good in my book. keepem sharp
 
I think longbow hit it on the head. The master hunter is a *great* knife also. I wish they would use a steel comparable to Carbon V, O1 or 52100. I also wish they radiused the tang to blade junction better, that's what drew me to other makers such as Swamp Rat. That all said, I keep coming back to some of their knives because of design. The trailmaster, to my eye, is still the nicest looking bowie out there. I do wish for some changes in it's construction for longevities' sake, although mine has never let me down.

And yeah, they are a gateway. Cold Steel got me into this whole addiction, so I do have them to thank!
 
orca8589 said:
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.



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
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Here is a quote from that thread. Since Phil was a designer for Camillus for many many years, he would be in a position to know.

Phil Gibbs said:
Carbon V is a proprietary steel formulation developed by Dan Maragni for Cold Steel.
It is NOT 1095, CV, or any other standard steel grade.
Custom steel formulations must be manufactured to your specifications by specialty steel mills, hence the need to buy an entire “heat”.
No other Brand of knives has ever used Carbon V except Cold Steel, and a few Camillus lines, EVER!
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Kabar uses 1095CV, and so does Becker now, obviously. That is probably what Case CV is.

I also got into knives with a Special Products catalog.

CS had some huge price surges in the past. This happens when your production expense is overseas and you are an American company dealing in dollars.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Lynn Thompson has been hunting in Africa for a long time. He often put pictures from his safaris there in his catalogs. He has written about his friends in KwaZulu-Natal province. Recently he put out a video of a hunt in Australia, where he got permission to slaughter excess populations of animals considered vermin. Many of us felt the video showed little beyond *bang* and another one bites the dust ...
Click to expand...

well i wouldnt actually call what he was doing hunting. he just videotaped himself shooting a bunch of random animals.
 
orca8589 said:
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
Click to expand...

I could be wrong. It's been said by quite a few including Mike Stewart that they are one in the same. The reasoning behind naming the Camillus (CS) steel after an already maufactured steel that's not the same composition seems odd to me. I'm no steel guru though, so I concede to those more knowledgeable.
 
This is a very interesting thread.

Who makes Fallknivens then?

What about CR, do they make the Sebenza knives in house or farm out?
 
You can go to www.chrisreeve.com and find out a lot about the CRK operation. They even sell a video showing them making the knives. Chri Reeve is a machinist and a gentleman, and he routinely wins the manufacturing excellence award at the Blade show.
 
thanks Esav Benyamin. i thought CR made them in house, but i thought i would ask. FYI: i just got a small sebenza. it arrived via UPS last week, directly from them. its my first CR and its very nice!

back to fallkniven: i have heard 'made in japan' regarding them too. any specifics on this, like who does the work?

are there any threads on this topic in general that i can look up?

please let me know.
 
ipm said:
i have heard 'made in japan' regarding them too. any specifics on this, like who does the work?
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Like a factory name? I don't have one. They are most likely produced in a knifemaking factory used by other brands. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some CS's Japanese knives and some Fallknivens are made in the same factory. They may have models made at different factories based on materials, etc. It's all a mystery on what brands are made where (or together) without inside knowledge or company disclosure.

I just traded my only Fallkniven, and don't recall, but are they marked "Japan"?

Fallknivens are great knives, don't get me wrong. They're just not quite as Swedish as their marketing lets on.
 
CS has some over-the-top marketing and I don't think that Lynn Thompson is a great role model. That said, they will put out designs that no-one else will, and the two products I have of theirs (granted, it's a pole axe and their Sharkie pen) seem of high quality manufacture. They are also not afraid to put new twists on old designs- e.g. the Kudu, the now discontinued Twistmaster, etc.
 
jim preston said:
That said, they will put out designs that no-one else will, and the two products I have of theirs (granted, it's a pole axe and their Sharkie pen)
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They need to do a Sharkie Mini. I'd be all over that. And one in silver.
 
I was thinking of a name of a subcontractor that works on these products, and what reputation they may have.

I agree Fallkniven 'make' a good knife. :)
 
3mptin3ss said:
well i wouldnt actually call what he was doing hunting. he just videotaped himself shooting a bunch of random animals.
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Yea yea... i think in one of the vids he's shooting little plastic animal figurines with a blow gun. That's my kind of huntin! :)
 
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