Cold steel Great sword breaking on tosh.0

JOEYBONES said:
I am not an authority on swords or swordfighting. However I would think Armor Plate would be considered a hard target and such a sword would have come in contact with it on a regular basis back in the day. Is a coffee pot or water bottle harder then armor ?
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Very few had plate armor, and the great sword was for taking out pikemen, who didn't wear it. Most men on the battlefield had no armor and used much cheaper, mass produced weapons.
 
Except for those swords specifically designed for the purpose of busting plate, being reduced to a sword against plate armor is like being reduced to a knife in a gun fight after running out of ammo. The preferred weapons for cracking plate are Axes, Maces, Pole axes and Bills just to name a few. The great sword at 5-7 lbs has enough mass to be very effective against plate however, few single handed swords have enough mass or presence so in general single handed swords are not a good choice however, if thats what you have left well hope you had your bowl of Wheaties LOL. The usual way of dealing with knights on the field was to cut the legs off their horse, or working in teams using spears with hooks to entangle and drag the knight off the horse once on the ground a dagger would be driven through weak spots in the armor or the eye slots in the helmet.
 
First, as one who is actually in the Proof Videos, let me clear up a few things that have been bandied about here that are simply either supposition or just wrong:

Cold Steel makes sure that the cameramen are as safe as possible during a proof shoot. They are behind plates of plexi-glass, no different then the proper procedure of any professional film shoot.

What killed Brandon Lee? Improper handling of weapons prior to the cameras going live.
All the weapons used for filming were repeatedly safety inspected prior to the cameras going live.

Any test or stunt done that may result in the target "exploding", or the (unlikely) possibility of one of the being tested "shattering" because of the test itself, then safety glasses or shields are used.

Next, the tests are not the same. "Well, LT did it, so why shouldn't anyone else?" First- as stated on the video, many of the things done on the Proof vids are gross abuse. Don't do them. Damage to the product or injury can occur. Pretty simple. Not to use the same old cliche', but when you see a car commercial, and the driver is doing crazy stunts, scrolled on the bottom of the screen is "Professional Driver. Closed Course. Do Not Attempt." Why do they do that? Cuz some idiot will try the same thing, destroy the car or himself, and then someone is going to blame the car-maker.

Now, let's look at the difference between those swinging knives and swords on the Proof vids and Tosh. The CS crew are, quite frankly, experts. So, let all the haters run wild with that statement, but facts are facts. The crew doing the videos have thousands upon thousands of hours of training time, and practice, and we know what we are doing is abusive. Facts are facts. As experts, we know how to re-direct the energy in the blade if it hits something solid. Only in a couple of tests, is something solid struck with a downward action. Downward means that whatever is struck is reinforced by the ground and the base if its solid. If the sword strikes something across a vertical plane, there is no reinforcement, so the sword only has to go through the object itself.

Hitting armor is not nearly as destructive to the sword as a great big log against the ground. Armor is worn by a person, and persons move, thus distributing the energy from the blow.

WE DO NOT KNOW HOW THE POMMEL WAS DAMAGED! So, all these statements and accusations against CS are just guesswork. I tend to think the pommel was damaged if the sword fell out of the wall and hit the floor. Maybe Tosh threw it pommel first into a brick wall. Maybe evil elves unscrewed it. We do not know, and no one from the show called CS to lodge a complaint, so why not lay off the guesswork and move on, okay?

Haters are gonna hate, but how about a little intellectual honesty?
 
Well said.
However as one that likes to play Devils Advocate. Dont ya think that some of the hate is justified? The over the top claims that CS makes really will invite the morons out there to duplicate the tests. As for the tests, well I will say that they are spot on on how CS has the outsourced products QA testing on, but to put a test out there and expect a certain population of slack jawed fools not to test the product they buy is just bunk.
I have no feelings of the company or Lynn one way or another. However I will say this. In the first vid he did on the spine wack test of the voyager. The knife was clearly dulled. I dont fault him for this, as I would like to keep my fingers but if he had faith in the process let the knife fly without tamper.(second chance body armor owner put way more on the line)
His machete vids show reprofiled blades that certainly did not come from his Africa suppliers as sharp as he made them look.
With that all said I do own several of his stuff, and really find that the knives he has made for his company years ago far outclass the stuff he has done now.
Will I not buy CS stuff because of the tosh crap. No however I see no reason for me to take over the next town with the Greatsword. If it works for you... have at it, but dont blame people for looking at his marketing as a circus coming to town. It has made him rich, and he should be able to handle the critics. Didnt the shamwow guy do it? I think if he can the CS employees can suck it up too.
 
DngrRuss1, I'm curious, have swords (or whatever) been broken by you guys while making those videos?
 
Not my favorite comedian but I did laugh. I did think he was being intentionally stupid to some extent, I could be wrong :)

Though I'm fairly certain that the damaged pommel was the cause of the failure, I still wish for Cold Steel to redesign the pommel to be more durable. In the design world, any information is good information. Cold Steel would benefit from analyzing this failure.

On a positive note, the sword blade by itself seems very strong. Was surprised actually. Not too far fetched to think that it was one sword used for the proof video.
 
Planterz said:
DngrRuss1, I'm curious, have swords (or whatever) been broken by you guys while making those videos?
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Don't hold your breath waiting for the answer to that one.

Tsujigiri said:
I don't see how Tosh is an idiot doing stupid things and LT isn't for doing the same things. At least when Tosh did it, it was funny.
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I thought it was pretty darn funny when Lynn did it too.
 
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DngrRuss1 said:
Hitting armor is not nearly as destructive to the sword as a great big log against the ground. Armor is worn by a person, and persons move, thus distributing the energy from the blow.
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+1:thumbup:

Trying to get this point across can be difficult sometimes. It's nice to hear the statement echoed by someone who does hands on testing.
 
cziv said:
Don't hold your breath waiting for the answer to that one.
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Shows how much you know Cziv...

I do not remember a sword "breaking" during filming, though we did damage a lot of product, as is obvious from filming, mostly during the flex tests in the vice.

The point of those tests is to show how far the knives/swords can flex without breaking, though at some point, they will not return to true.

As far as a sword breaking though, I do not remember that happening.
 
DngrRuss1 said:
First, as one who is actually in the Proof Videos, let me clear up a few things that have been bandied about here that are simply either supposition or just wrong:

Cold Steel makes sure that the cameramen are as safe as possible during a proof shoot. They are behind plates of plexi-glass, no different then the proper procedure of any professional film shoot.

What killed Brandon Lee? Improper handling of weapons prior to the cameras going live.
All the weapons used for filming were repeatedly safety inspected prior to the cameras going live.

Any test or stunt done that may result in the target "exploding", or the (unlikely) possibility of one of the being tested "shattering" because of the test itself, then safety glasses or shields are used.

Next, the tests are not the same. "Well, LT did it, so why shouldn't anyone else?" First- as stated on the video, many of the things done on the Proof vids are gross abuse. Don't do them. Damage to the product or injury can occur. Pretty simple. Not to use the same old cliche', but when you see a car commercial, and the driver is doing crazy stunts, scrolled on the bottom of the screen is "Professional Driver. Closed Course. Do Not Attempt." Why do they do that? Cuz some idiot will try the same thing, destroy the car or himself, and then someone is going to blame the car-maker.

Now, let's look at the difference between those swinging knives and swords on the Proof vids and Tosh. The CS crew are, quite frankly, experts. So, let all the haters run wild with that statement, but facts are facts. The crew doing the videos have thousands upon thousands of hours of training time, and practice, and we know what we are doing is abusive. Facts are facts. As experts, we know how to re-direct the energy in the blade if it hits something solid. Only in a couple of tests, is something solid struck with a downward action. Downward means that whatever is struck is reinforced by the ground and the base if its solid. If the sword strikes something across a vertical plane, there is no reinforcement, so the sword only has to go through the object itself.

Hitting armor is not nearly as destructive to the sword as a great big log against the ground. Armor is worn by a person, and persons move, thus distributing the energy from the blow.

WE DO NOT KNOW HOW THE POMMEL WAS DAMAGED! So, all these statements and accusations against CS are just guesswork. I tend to think the pommel was damaged if the sword fell out of the wall and hit the floor. Maybe Tosh threw it pommel first into a brick wall. Maybe evil elves unscrewed it. We do not know, and no one from the show called CS to lodge a complaint, so why not lay off the guesswork and move on, okay?

Haters are gonna hate, but how about a little intellectual honesty?
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There is a huge difference in what could be done or what is possible and what should be done.

Very bad things can happen when using large sharp objects if safety isn't taken into consideration and they can happen very fast and without any warning.

There is a certain amount of respect for the sword that needs to be met or serious injury can happen.
 
I have to give Cold Steel some credit, as the blade seemed completely undamaged. I'd be curious as to how the pommel is attached from the factory.
 
Mitchell Knives said:
I have to give Cold Steel some credit, as the blade seemed completely undamaged. I'd be curious as to how the pommel is attached from the factory.
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They do make some really good swords that do hold up to real use, they make live blades, not wall hangers.
 
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