Cold Steel= flat out liars

In the late 1980's I had one of the Trailmasters. I did alot of backpacking and camping and I wanted a heavier duty knife than my old army issue Camillus MK2, that was issued to me in 1972.

After a couple of trips in witch I did do some choping with the trailmaster the handle became loose to the point that it would rattle on the tang. I sent it back to cold steel for repair under warrentee and was told I must have abused the knife, and there would be a --dollar charge for the repair! The knife at this point was 4 months old.

I told them to keep the damm knife if thats the way they want it. I hung up the phone.

They put a new handle on it and sent it back to me. I guess they had second thoughts about what I was going to tell everyone I knew. But I had no more faith in their products let alone the service. I got rid of the trailmaster at the next knife show.

I still use my issue Camillus now and then.
 
I've been pleased with the Cold Steel products I've owned.

When the original TwistMasters went on "clearance," I learned they were one of the best cutting tools on the market. The large version came sharper than any Spyderco I've even seen (much less owned). My Voyagers (large and xl) have both come sharper than any Spyderco I've seen, and with thinner edges are easier maintain that way.

I have a new Endura with VG10 and I really like it, but if I had to choose between it and my Voyager, I'd go with my Voyager because it's a better cutting tool. It may not hold its edge as long, but I don't mind sharpening.
 
I purchased one of Cold Steel's O Tanto Warrier Series swords and one of their Scottish Dirks (combined cost... over $400). The O Tanto arrived OK, but the handle (wrapping) quickly came apart. The Scottish Dirk arrived with the blade finish scratched and dinged. I requested Cold Steel either repair or replace these or, alternatively, return my money or at least let me return the knifes for future credit. Cold Steel refused. Basically I gave Cold Steel over $400 and received very poor products and no warranty. I had no easy recourse except to avoid purchasing future products. It was too costly to pursue any tort action.

I've had very good luck with other blades they market (e.g., SRK, Voyager, Hunter), but the above left me rather angry at Cold Steel. I probably won't purchase any more of their products in the future.
 
Why I don't care for Cold Steel:

1. They do a bunch of outlandish sh*t in their "Proof" DVDs, then turn around and say that their knives aren't made to do that sh*t.

2. Their knives are overblown with their own hype (not just the DVDs). Sure, there's hype with virtually every company, but hype should come from the customers that use and love them (like Spyderco), not from the company's own advertising department. Even if the hype is partially company-induced, at least have the balls to back it up (like Strider).

3. The best steel they use is AUS-8. Even on their $300 knives, it's still AUS-8 (San Mai, BFD :rolleyes: ). For virtually every knife they make, at any price, you can get a better knife with better steel from several other companies.

4. Cold Steel doesn't actually make any knives. They're made by various other manufacturers, for Cold Steel. I guess that doesn't really mean much, so long as the knife is good, but it still bothers me some. If Camillus makes Cold Steel's fixed blades, I'd rather just buy a Camillus.

5. Their serrations suck.

6. The Black Sable and Black Talon are blatent ripoffs.


There are a couple CS designs I like. I'd love a blue anodized Ti-Lite (it'd be a letter opener, not a carry knife), and I'm sure I'll eventually get a Arc Angel balisong one of these days (poor man's DDR). The rest I'm pretty much completely indifferent to, but even if the design intrigued me, I'd be unlikely to ever buy it.
 
GoodGuy, Sorry to here about your shoddy Cold Steel items,says something about their Q.C.! And their warranties don't seem to mean much either.Good to get that out on the Web. :cool:
 
I only have one Cold Steel knife: a large tanto Voyager.
I think it's as nice as any, and better than most, plastic handle lock-backs.
It is certainly on par with my Spyderco Delica and Atlantic Salt in everything except blade-steel.
If the Voyager is any indication as to the rest of Cold Steel's knives, then I have a favorable opinion of them.

BTW, I have never seen the "proof" video.

Allen.
 
A buddy on my team bought one of their knives and it rusted up after one field mission, never wanted one after that. I also think that if they spent less on advertising and funding investigations into others past they might have a better product.
 
Well, the thing I really don't like about Cold Steel is their lack of being Benchmade or Spyderco. If they were Benchmade or Spyderco, I'd love Cold Steel.

4 real though: REALLY high end prices for the AUS8/"San Mai" stuff--when you can get VG10 for 50 dollars from Spyderco or even D2 for 75 from Benchmade(Cabela's). I like AUS8, but I liked it in my 40 dollar M16. Don't want it in an 80 dollar knife.

They just don't make any knives that interest me much...this is just a preference, but there's only a few folders from them that I'd be interested in buying just based on style.

They ripped off the axis lock, period. Even Cold Steel haters defend this, but look, this was not separately developed. It was developed relatively immediately after the axis lock. Just like SOG.

But this is the core: They don't make many designs that appeal to me (preference) and I think their prices for the midrange stuff is plainly too high. I was thinking about buying a Black Sable until I saw the original Tighe Stick (not the weirdly colored one everyone posts that actually doesn't hardly look like the black sable at all--there was one before this).
They don't use any of my favorite steels, and they don't offer the steels I'm okay with for the right price.
 
I think the rule with CS is, try before you buy. I've generally had a positive CS experience- Arc-Angel, Ti-lite, Spike, "Naval" short sword thing, all of which seem functional and solid for the price.
One cool thing is, they offer a wider RANGE of products than the other big companies. I mean, can you get a spear from BM or a sword from Spyderco? Sure those companies make better knives by far, but CS is at the top of the "we make working edged stuff that isn't a knife" game.
 
My experience seems to be all positive with Cold Steel. I only have three of their folders, two are 5 years old and one is about a year. No play, razor sharp. The few fixed blades I own are mostly Carbon V. All, including the SanMai Tanto and AUS8A Outdoorsman have held up well. They all get used and some to the extreme. I have not used their warranty service yet but, will comment to them about it. AUS8 steel is not topnotch steel but it isn't bad either. I have been able to get these knives from companies on line and through catalogues, discounted enough for me to buy them. AUS8 and CarbonV are easy to sharpen. The stainless outperforms, for me, better than 440A,B, and sometimes C, depending on it's hardness. C.S. hardens their stainless to RC57 or so and their Carbon V to 58. On their San Mai the AUS8 is a little harder.
I am not trying to promote the company, just saying what I know personally. Yes Lynn Thompson can be a blowhard but, he does much for his community, and does try to back up what he says. Competition between companies is a good thing, their products speak of their return business. Benchmade, SOG, Al Mar, Camillus, Buck, and many others, do business with off shore companies. It's a business and profits count. Feedback to Cold Steel will help them with their QC, product price line, and image as much as it will help other companies. I don't think there are many companies that would back up the abuse seen on Cold Steels video and they do call it abuse. It's fun to watch so, take it for what it is. An advertisement.
 
It was good of you to respond to the beef question. Like I said, all of us have had different experiences. I guess we know what we like by not liking the stuff we don't like.

Peace Out,

Steve
 
I have had decent luck with their products. Not bad, maybe a bit overpriced, but you can get deals sometimes that are worth it. I do think the hype is baloney though. But this bothers me most. For all their hype, they have no voice here. This is one of, if not the, biggest knife discussion sites. They don't have a forum here. SOG, Spyderco, Buck, a bunch of others, are all officially present here, to answer questions, refute false claims, get input from the buyers and users. But Cold Steel stays out of here. I guess they have their reasons, but seems to go against their hype marketing approach. It just doesn't quite go together. Just like their claims in the Proof videos that don't go with their reluctance to actually back their products that fail. In short, there is something funny about how they relate to the knife world. I think they are not selling to the knife world though. They are selling to Joe Average who only knows that Cold Steel is better than the cheap flea market crap.
 
i've got a few Cold Steel knives and I've been happy with them. Some, like the Vaquero Grand, VERY happy. Nobody pays retail ...

Hype. The videos aren't hype. They are legitimate and carefully crafted advertising. Why get involved here at Bladeforums with a part of their customer base, mixed in with people who don't like them and would harass them during discussions? (You know you would! :)) In the videos, THEY control the content.

Watch the demonstrations, but don't do it yourself? That's nothing new. Ever been to a car race? Don't try this on your local highway, kid.

It's a business. They make money. They seem to have a lot of fun along the way.
 
From reading some of the things here, Cold Steel's business practices sound a lot like Cutco's. :)
 
that last one by esav made me smile :D lynn (ain't that a girls' name? I am not a native speaker so I only knew lynn tanner, who is the daughter in ALF, before) seems to have an awful lot of fun when doing the stuff he does in the video, i think its kinda cute the way he gets kicks out of shootin up plastic dinosaurs with his blowgun.

personally i had a bird&trout which was very well crafted and an oss in carbonv which was extremely sharp; as sharp as my military out of the box maybe even sharper, since those carbon steels take an incredible edge, but I returned it anyway, because on the reverse side the bladegrind was way off, which was a bummer, because i liked the blade otherwise... :(

Ookami
P.S.: their carbonv is pretty much 52100 steel, which is really good stuff!
 
I don't own any cold steel products. I have seen the video and thought it was well done and presented a good case for knife enthusiasts.

BTW Jaco @ Weather Report was all fine and good but clearly the worlds best Bass player is non other then Stanley Clarke.
 
I own one cold steel recon folder and it's the worst folding knife I own by far. It has blade play up the ass, chipped finish, crappy serrations, a dubious handle and a blatant rip-off of a locking mechanism.

No ammount of fat american ninja juice can make their folders good knives. I've heard mixed things about their fixed blades though, but for the price they want I'm sure you could get something better.
 
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