Cold Steel= flat out liars

benjammin said:
Yep, I am aware of the tang problems with the CS SRKs, so far, no worries. If I go to batoning them on big wood, I will be more careful.

The Becker has always sounded appealing. You know, just because I have these two and the Battle Rat doesn't mean I won't be looking for more for the rest of my life. It seems acquiring toys is my purpose for doing this kind of work.

Not so young anymore, and my active duty days are long over, but I am doing my part here best I can. You don't gotta be wearing a uniform here to get shot at or blown up. The "better pay" doesn't mean much either when you are busy dodging incoming.

Still, I am thankful not to be going out on Rat Patrol. Those kids deserve endless kudos from all of us.
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Take good care of yourself, Benjammin. (I hereby withdraw the "noble young fellow" moniker, and replace it with Noble American Warrior.) Your success is vital to American interests. May God bless and protect you.
 
lots more folks here knowledgeable on steel materials than myself,and CS's ninjafied stealth marketing makes me laugh,but i've field dressed 9 hogs 5 deer with a pair of Voyagers so they work.on the other hand i've field dressed 11 deer and 8 hog with Spyderco's endura and delicas.i reckon the old deal of "you pays your money,you takes your choice." applies.
 
Some of you guys need to learn to play nice ;)

I have about 20 CS knives. I also have numerous Spydercos, Benchmades, CRKTs etc etc. If the truth be told, I am more partial to Spyderco, but that is a personal preference based on my early experiences with an Endura.

When it comes to CS products, i actually LIKE most of the stuff I have acquired. I believe the best value is probably in the AUS-8 folders which covers the Voyagers, Vaqueros, Scimitars etc. The 420 steel on many of the fixed blades is a bit on the soft side; i chipped a Kobun a while back. But having said that, one of my favourite "carries" is a Desperado in 420. I don't use it for utility chores, that blade is there to save my ass when i drive through the streets of Johannesburg. I like it cause I have a very sharp 5" blade on me that doesn't scream knife. There are a couple of others models that are also of great value to me, but one example is enough for now.

As for the DVD, well :D I think it is very entertaining, although some of the tests are a bit "out there". And remember it's FREE! I wish other companies would do something similar without too much "ninja" stuff. Actually, i wish an independent engineering company would test popular knives or maybe just popular steels against each other and put it on dvd.
 
Andre said:
The 420 steel on many of the fixed blades is a bit on the soft side; i chipped a Kobun a while back.
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Andre,

That statement seems contradictory. If you don't mind me asking, what were you doing with your Kobun when you managed to "chip" the "soft" steel?
Thank you for your input.

Best wishes,
3Guardsmen
 
TheBruce said:
I'm proud to be a part of the Idiot Club! Only bona fide idiots ever really use their high-end knives in ways stupid enough to push their limits. Any sensible person would simply place the things in a display case and dust them from time to time. Mercifully, members of this forum do not belong to the "trailer queen" school of classic car ownership: here a knife either performs or it dies an angry death (so to speak...).
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I abosolutely agree! If the knife was made with the intention it'd be used, why the hell not use it! :cool:

Best wishes,
3Guardsmen
 
3Guardsmen said:
I abosolutely agree! If the knife was made with the intention it'd be used, why the hell not use it! :cool:

Best wishes,
3Guardsmen
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Look at it this way, if you ruin your nice knife it's just an excuse to buy an even nicer knife!
 
Cliff Stamp said:
The problem is that in the knife industry the material terms are not used according to defination, thus you end up with statements which are contradictory because people are using them for different things. If you laminate a hard steel to a softer one the laminate will bend easier, and take a set at a lower angle..........

-Cliff
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Actually, hardness has no effect on how easy it is to bend a steel. Two identical blades, one dead soft, one rock hard, will both take the same force to bend them the same amount. This is a standard trick question on engineering exams. The statement that the softer one will take a permanent set at a smaller bending angle is correct, though
 
Hello fellow forum members! I have to say this thread has a little of everything in it. I am fortunate to own 2 Black Sable's, 1 Black Talon, and a Hatamoto. I will give my opinion on the Black Sable since it has been mentioned several times here. I placed my order for 2 at the 2005 Shot Show in Vegas. I did not receive them until May sometime. It was well worth the wait. I have purposely tried to break this knife with no luck. No I’m not crazy, I won some money in Vegas, which allowed me to order an extra one for experimenting.
I have used it to pry open doors, I hacked at pieces of 2x4's and larger wood, I used it to cut sheet metal, I threw it at a pine round several hundred times, I even used it as a crow bar to raise a 150 pound table an inch or two. You guys get the picture. I have done so many other things to this knife but it's crazy strong. The knife shows nothing but normal wear and tear. If anyone wants me to try something else let me know.
This knife is awesome!

:thumbup: :thumbup:
 
searcher said:
Actually, hardness has no effect on how easy it is to bend a steel.
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Very soft laminates have no spring, they pass the yield point almost immediately when you apply force to them whereas a spring tempered or hard blade doesn't and the force required to keep bending it increases. Thus what you end up comparing is the yield point of one steel with the tensile point of another and they are many times different. You can easily bend the softer laminate in your hands to a U shape, where a spring blade is too rigid. In large blades they are so weak you can just slap them off a log and they will bend around it.

-Cliff
 
3Guardsmen said:
Since you are "close to the company", would you mind explaining something that I percieved to be the use of video trickery?

Get your copy of the "More Proof" DVD and do the following:

Click on the "folders" menu, then click on the "Night Force". If you watch closely when they put the "Night Force" in the vise and hook the weights on (I think it's about 2:10 / 2minutes and 10 seconds into the "Night Force" portion of the video), you will see the "Night Force" seemingly morph into the "Scimitar", then back into the "Night Force", right before your very eyes!

Any comments on that one?

Thank you,
3Guardsmen
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I did the reaearch and it was as I thought, just an editing error.

That particular piece of footage is not even in the current version of the More Proof dvd. It was discovered after the first edition of the dvd was released and was removed with the second edition.
 
3Guardsmen said:
I'm still interested in that "editing error" in the DVD, the one where the "Night Force" morphs into the "Scimitar" while in the vise. Any word on that yet?

FWIW, I agree with Cliff. How do you determine where the "this constitutes abuse" disclaimer in the "Proof" and "More Proof" videos ends. Is repeatedly cutting rope "abusive"? Is continually cutting cardboard "abusive"? If I decide to cut hanging pieces of meat, have I "grosely abused" my CS knife?

You said a few times that we, the consumers, don't need to repeat those tests, because "the company has done it for us". Well I for one don't put much trust in a company that says "we've done the testing for you", especially if that company is looked upon with a bit of scepticism. If CS would make videos of a third party, like...oh...say....Cliff Stamp, beating the snot out of their products, I might believe the hype. Until then, I don't buy (literally and figuratively) their products.

Best wishes,
3Guardsmen
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Perhaps I am misunderstood on a couple points re. the dvd.

First- the video does state, both in text and narration, that some of the tests constitute abuse. Surely if you are using the knife in a normal manner like cutting rope, etc., and it fails due to a manufacturer's defect, I can guarantee that the company would make it right. But some of the extreme behavior and demonstrations are certainly not normal use or wear and tear and do constitute abuse. If we are going to be intellectually honest and not just knee-jerk with our reactions, we have to admit that some of the tests certainly fall into the abuse catagory. Failure under misuse and abuse is not covered under most warranties for most products.

Second- as to the "the company did the test for you" bit, I can see why there is a bit of mistrust with that statement. Understand where I am coming from. I am not in a position where I am going to spend money on any product and torture it to the point of destruction just to prove a point. I think that most consumers are in the same position. 1Katana seems to be the exception rather than the rule- admitedly due to a "Vegas Cash Surplus"- sould that we all were so lucky in Vegas :D - So why spend hard earned money to destroy something just to bicker with the company. Buy the product you like or want to try, use it as is appropriate, and if it fails, then you have the warranty to fall back on.

As for 1Katana- congratulations- I hate you :D . Thank you for your unbiased "Proof" on your own. Speaks a lot for the product and your sense of adventure.

Some of the things I have heard of regarding CS warranty claims:
1 guy tried to split bullets with a Tanto- by putting it into a vice and shooting at the edge. Split one, then broke the edge with the 2nd shot. Then apparently got very angry when the company denied the warranty, though a hefty discount was offered on a new knife.

Voyager swallowed by a cow. The steel survived, but the zytel handle was destroyed. After the knife "passed" through the cow, it was returned for a warranty claim (yea, I know, gross). The customer was offered a deep discount on another one, since the warranty did not cover digestion.

I'll get more of those to share- gives you an idea of what some users expect to do with thier knives.
 
1katana said:
Hello fellow forum members! I have to say this thread has a little of everything in it. I am fortunate to own 2 Black Sable's, 1 Black Talon, and a Hatamoto. I will give my opinion on the Black Sable since it has been mentioned several times here. I placed my order for 2 at the 2005 Shot Show in Vegas. I did not receive them until May sometime. It was well worth the wait. I have purposely tried to break this knife with no luck. No I’m not crazy, I won some money in Vegas, which allowed me to order an extra one for experimenting.
I have used it to pry open doors, I hacked at pieces of 2x4's and larger wood, I used it to cut sheet metal, I threw it at a pine round several hundred times, I even used it as a crow bar to raise a 150 pound table an inch or two. You guys get the picture. I have done so many other things to this knife but it's crazy strong. The knife shows nothing but normal wear and tear. If anyone wants me to try something else let me know.
This knife is awesome!

:thumbup: :thumbup:
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I appreciate this post 1Katana. Thank you for the psycho performance report! A minor addendum: just called Cold Steel to explain that my second clip didn't fit properly; the fellow who handled my call was both courteous and helpful, and though my knife was bought from a secondary web site, he immediately volunteered to send me "slightly longer screws and a new clip, as well"--no indication of marginal customer service in that reaction. I think Cold Steel knows it has a home run with this particular knife, and if my experience is any example, customers will be able to rely upon good treatment, should there be a concern of some kind. Of course, wild men like 1Katana won't be able to make a credible claim with the warranty department to address his mangled but still somehow usable Black Sable....
 
Thank you for the information regarding the video/DVD. I'm glad to know that error was caught and fixed by the company. Furthermore, thank you for addressing, and in great detail I might add, each question/concern I had. I appreciate the time you invested in doing so.

Sincerely,
3Guardsmen
 
Smegmalicious said:
Look at it this way, if you ruin your nice knife it's just an excuse to buy an even nicer knife!
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Funny thing is, I have yet to "ruin" even a modestly priced knife. ;)


Best wishes,
3Guardsmen
 
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