Cold Steel hype Fact or Fiction

By the "challenge," do you mean their Bowie comparison? Most makers seem to feel that tackling this sort of propaganda would mean getting down in the mud with CS and ending up just as dirty. But at least one must have picked up on it and trashed them pretty hard, or CS would not have felt the need to publish this extensive list of qualifying statements on their tests: http://www.coldsteel.com/3riposte.html

Anyone care to guess who it was?

Mike Turber has promised us a fairly objective, last-man-standing comparison of large production Bowies/camp knives to be conducted in the near future. That may answer a lot of questions about how CS compares when their ad crew isn't doing the judging.

-Drew
 
Amen to that Drew!

And may the BEST Bowie win!

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The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.


 
Drew,you can describe the performance of your product in a sensible manner. You have done so more than once yourself. While there are lots of makers/dealer that will not be open about their product, I don't think it is because they don't want "lower" themelseves to CS level. They just don't want to make quantitative statements about the performance of their product, mainly because (a) it prevents hyping, and (b) now they have to stand behind what they said.

-Cliff
 
I was looking into picking up a Tanto for field usage as I heard and read that they were very tough user knives.
Would I be throwing my money away if I purchased one of these?
I don't particularly know a whole lot about the Kraton handles and if they fall apart or wear away over time would I be able to replace the handle or would the knife be useless? And how long could I expect the handle to hold up under medium usage, i.e. general cutting, some light chopping, and a whole lot of exposure to water and rain?
If you like e-mail me with any imput you may have.
My thanks in advance.


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The greatest thought that has ever entered my mind is that one day I will have to stand before a Holy God and give an account of my life.
*Daniel Webster

Rev 20:12

 
About the kraton thing. Ive noticed that CS uses two different grades. One Is the soft sticky kind, like on the trailmaster. the other is found on the SRK and Recon Tanto. Those are rather firm and seem quite durable. I dont know if they use the softer kind on the stainless tanto's as well.
 
Yep, they do.
smile.gif
At least that's what's on my Magnum and the Master tanto blades... soft and rather sticky.

Dan
 
DannyC,

How do you find the Tantos as user tools?
How does the Kraton work for you?

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The greatest thought that has ever entered my mind is that one day I will have to stand before a Holy God and give an account of my life.
*Daniel Webster

Rev 20:12

 
Scarman,
I have to tell you,
I really like that signature of yours!
smile.gif


Scary AND true.

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The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become the captive of others.


 
Thanks misque.
I always did favor the profound.

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The greatest thought that has ever entered my mind is that one day I will have to stand before a Holy God and give an account of my life.
*Daniel Webster

Rev 20:12

 
Scarman, I'll answer your question. I think the Magnum Tanto is a beautifully balanced using knife. I haven't had a problem with the Kraton. However, it does seem to chip too easily on hardwood.
 
I posted this on the knife reviews section, but I'd like to ask here. What can you kind folks tell me about Cold Steel's Culloden? Looks cool to me but I'd like to know more. Also, the Krayton on my LTC Kukri is hard but is a little sticky. I think it is the hard variety mentioned earlier. The krayton on the CS kitchen knife I gave my mother on mother's day is hard too.
 
I only have a couple thoughts about cold steel: aus-8a? why? yes it's tougher but who is going to stick their knife in a vice sideways and hang from it?
zytel? kraton?- blech!
Also, I played around with my friend's voyager and I could barely open the knife with one hand. It's easier to open my buck xlti with one hand and that doesn't even have thumb studs! The only thing I like about cold steel is they have the sharpest stainless knives I've ever seen.
 
I have three different size voyagers and they all open smoth as silk. The workmen ship is beautiful on all three. The locks seem very tough, although I have not hung from any of them as I am a bit weighty.I have the SRK and it seems to be all that I expected from a knife. Of course I only us a knife for what it was designed to do.
 
I just got the latest Special projects catalog in..here is a sample of the Hype...

"Like our other stainless steels, AUS10A is of the High carbon variety. It is equal in strength and toughness to AUS8A, but it has the extraordinary advantage of an additional 20% in edge holding ability. This gives it a wide performance advantage over other steels like ATS34, ATS55, 440v."

Huh? 20% better than aus8, and you might get something that hold an edge as well as a butter knife. I have a TAF, and it dulls just by looking at it, just like aus8.

As far as them bending test go, like the ones with the VG being bent to 45% and not breaking, I have a couple of complaints...
1) It must not be taking all that much force to bend the blade because the little rivet that makes up the pivot pin is pretty small, and would separate fairly easily when encountering lateral force. there is alot of leverage there and the pic don't show any separation.

2) Sure an ATS blade might break by the time it gets to 45 degrees, but doncha think it might take considerably more force to get it there?

All this being said, they do offer alot of knife for the money. I have 2 vg's, which, up until a few days ago, were the only real megafolder. I also have a TAF, which is a neat little toy, and would be worth while if it had a more reasonable pricetag. The AUS steels do take a keen edge, which I can shave right off with any of my ATS blades. Forget about the hype and accept them for what they are.

The hype is fiction.

YeK

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It is not a matter of whether or not you are paranoid, it is a matter of whether or not you are paranoid enough.

AKTI # A000348
 
HJK,
Thanks for the info.
Another question for you. If the Kraton comes off, how easy would it be to get a new(perhaps better) handle on the knife?

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The greatest thought that has ever entered my mind is that one day I will have to stand before a Holy God and give an account of my life.
*Daniel Webster

Rev 20:12

 
Scarman:

I have 2 CS Master Tantos, one older with brass hardware and an unused newer one with all stainless hardware. The older Master Tanto has served me well. I have had no problems with destruction of the kraton handle, edge-holding, etc. It only takes a few swipes with the Spyderco Sharpmaker to make the blade shaving sharp again. My LEO buddy carries one on his kevlar vest as his "steel backup" and has said repeatedly that he will never carry another fixed blade. Period. By the way, my newer Master Tanto is for sale, if anyone is interested...


Keninshiro:

The CS Outdoorsman is basically a tanto with a modified (or more traditional) blade point. Where the current tantos have a very sharp angle up to the point, the Outdoorsman had more of a gradual curve up to the point. This is more of traditional Japanese design for a "tanto-point". The CS tanto series could almost be described as a "katana-point".
Disclaimer: These are just my opinions, based upon many articles and books written by the likes of Greg Walker and others. I in no way consider myself an "expert" on Cold Steel products OR Japanese weapons.
wink.gif

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"They sicken of the calm, who know the storm."
RFrost5746@aol.com or Robert_Frost@ars.aon.com

[This message has been edited by rfrost (edited 13 October 1999).]
 
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