Cold Steel Knives: Buying Up Old Stock?

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Jan 1, 2015
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Now that Cold Steel is upgrading its blade steels, the prices have increased considerably. This is only to be expected...after all, everyone had been wanting it. Had I been Lynn Thompson, I would most likely have upgraded my folders to VG-1 and incorporated the CTS-XHP into a San Mai IV. The BD1 stainless isn't fantastically better than AUS8A, so I hope to see those prices come down a bit.

But now that we're in this transition, what do you think of stocking up on the previous AUS8A class of knives at their presently low prices? Had I known in advance, I would have bought up some of their older VG-1 Voyagers before CS went back to AUS8A blades. CS likes to put a lot of steel into its Voyager XL Tanto/Recon 1 XL Tanto, so when they use expensive supersteels, the prices may go up dramatically.

I'd love to see an actual cutting test between AUS8A and XHP blades. CS does a fantastic job in heat treating its blades, but if I'm going to spend $135+ for an XL knife I used to spend $68 for, I want to know if I'm better off with one of the new knives, or two of the old knives. When Cabelas advertised its Buck 110 Alaskan w/S30V stainless, it said while the standard 110 (w/420HC) could clean and process one buck, the S30V Alaskan could do one and a half without resharpening -- and this by way of comparison. So until someone actually tests these blades, I'm unsure which to buy. I'm leaning towards buying several AUS8A knives as I've never had a cutting project that my old Voyager couldn't handle. And yet there's the cool :cool: factor. But at twice the price I'd want at least twice the performance. And yet the Buck Alaskan could only do 1.5x better than the 420HC standard (according to the advertising). So with AUS8A being a teeny bit better than 420HC, and XHP being just a teeny bit behind S30V, how much of a difference should one really expect, practically speaking?

So what do you think? Snap up the remaining AUS8A knives or just embrace the change? (BTW, I love 154CM steel.)

Thanks!






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I think you somewhat awnsered your own question if aus 8 was good enough for you before stick with aus 8. I'm going to pick up a well discounted aus 8 code 4 next paycheck, for me I think the old steel is plenty good for what they are asking for them. For the price of the upgraded steel I think I'll save a bit more and buy a zt as their designs strike my fancy more
 
More than just the higher cost of the "Improved" steel, is the man hours and abrasives you eat up working VG-1, S30V.etc. They take longer to grind and finish and eat up abrasives at a faster pace.
 
I would love to pick up an American Lawman at a sale price but I have as yet not found a "sale price" on one anywhere. New steel or old steel.
 
incorporated the CTS-XHP into a San Mai IV

That wouldn't happen. The CTS XHP is an American made steel from Carpenter. The San Mai layered steel is rolled in a Japanese mill using Japanese steels. Trying to export American steels to Japanese foundries won't happen. Taiwan doesn't have much of a steel industry and imports most of their steel anyway so bringing CTS XHP over isn't an issue. They have to import from somewhere.

Some of the price increase is just plain inflation. Everything has gone up in the last few years. Much more than the official Inflation rates posted by the government.

A couple years ago I was buying Spyderco VG10 Enduras for $53. Now they cost $72 at the same store for the same design with no changes. My guess is that only a percentage of the increase with Cold steel is the cost of steel plus the engineering and testing it takes to change over to new steels or different designs and that money needs to be added to the cost of all the other stuff it takes to run a business where products are made by vendors in different countries and imported in to the US. Cold Steel has no manufacturing facilities of their own after all.

Personally, I look at the new models as better than the old ones. I've been one wanting them to use better steels for years and will pay the cost for them. Good luck trying to put a numerical figure into the equation of which steel is better for you. Even the figure of 1 to 1.5 deer from Buck is a generalization and wouldn't take into account any of a number of variables.

As far as BD1? I doubt most will see any large differences over Aus 8. It is a well made, clean steel with higher carbon than Aus 8 but there will be more difference in performance from variations in heat treatment than from the difference in composition.

BTW, If you haven't tried 3V yet than I recommend you do. In my opinion it's one of the best all around cutlery steels in the world. Good luck.

Joe
 
I am buying old stock because: 1) the handles are thicker 2) they are cheaper, and 3) AUS8 has always worked well for me.
 
That's just it. Had you fine people responded by saying: Wow! Once you try the new XHP stainless steel, believe me, you won't go back! -- I would rethink my previous views. But for some reason, people just don't seem to be as enthusiastic about stainless steels as they are carbon steels. Many people state a preference for steels, but very few (at least here) go so far as to say that AUS8A is junk. And perhaps heat treat has a lot to do with that. I have a small box of junk knives with 440 stamped onto the blades and I've been unable to sharpen any of them. But in another box I have some Cold Steel knives made with 440A stainless blades. There are Night Forces, Recon 1s and another I can't think of at the moment. They all came razor sharp and all are very easy to resharpen to astounding sharpness. They also weren't too shabby in edge retention. I called Cold Steel at the time on another matter and afterwards brought up the question of them using 440A. The techie I was speaking to clearly didn't like the steel, but stopped short of eviscerating it. He said they had bought a few slabs of 440A, and indicated they were going to discontinue the knives after it was exhausted -- unless, he said, there was a demand for them. This was apparently the case for the Recon 1. But my point is, Cold Steel made 440A about as good as it could be done. Other companies, like Böker, don't worry much about the heat treat. Its Magnum series of 440A knives are terrible. So how can steels be compared/contrasted and tested when the steels are processed so differently. Even high end steels are not immune to this. Some very expensive knives have supersteel blades made on the soft side, while other knives with the same steel have much harder blades. Again, how can one evaluate such steels when there are so many variations? The only way is to compare them is to test the steels of a single manufacturer. Until then, when we speak of edge retention, I have no idea what to expect. Are we talking about an increase in tenths? More? That's where I'm still scratching my head.
 
Some (but not all) of the new models weigh less . That weight reduction is achieved by reducing the handle thickness.
 
Totally need dependent. AUS8 did fine for me for many years, now I do more daily cutting and, while I don't mind sharpening, I hate having to stop working to touch up my knife and I just have days where AUS8 won't hold up through what I'm doing. XHP will, so it's worth it to me. If your cutting tasks haven't changed, save the money and grab the old ones.
 
I think the pricing you are quoting is way off. Double the price for the new steel. Not in any model I am interested in. We already did this thread while back but I will lay it out again. I am looking at the Recon 1 Spear point. When you go to knife center, it is only $20 more bucks. That is $20 more bucks for a better steel, actual DLC coating instead of paint, and an American made steel at that. In my eyes, that is a much better value. But to each their own I guess...
 
Totally need dependent.

This is really what it ought to be about. I have an EDC rotation of roughly 5-6 knives, with most being 440C, 8Cr13MoV or 9Cr18MoV. I rotate them just because I enjoy it, but it has the added benefit of no one knife seeing excessive wear and tear. However, the one I carry most frequently is a Kershaw One Ton in 8Cr13MoV, and although it has been subjected to the most demanding tasks - cutting various kinds of cable - it still cuts paper cleanly without any sharpening. Would I buy an upgraded version with "better" steel? Well, I probably would just for the sake of variety, but certainly not because I needed it.

I think some folks have a hard time admitting that they want to buy a particular knife just because they enjoy trying new things, but there's really no justification required more often than not. I guess if I was trying to decide between the same knife in AUS8 or XHP, I'd probably only buy the more expensive XHP if I really needed the benefits of better steel. If I was only buying the knife because I liked the design, all other factors being equal, I'd get the "lesser" AUS8 version and pocket the difference. Of course, it sounds like some models have differences other than the steel, so there may be other considerations.
 
I only do light cutting with most of my knives so AUS 8 is fine for me. I do like decent rust resistance though.
It's really hard to control myself, and not to go completely overboard. There are a lot of CRAZY deals out there on the Cold Steel, AUS 8 leftovers. Too bad we are not allowed to "deal spot" on BF.
 
I never buy anything through Cold Steel or the Special Projects anymore because the good old days of great deals once our twice a year are long gone. I used to sit by the mail slot waiting for my Christmas Holiday Sale Catalog by Cold Steel. Now I flip through it and throw it away. I can't even find the occasional knife deal that's smoking hot anymore. (Remember the Christmas where you could order a discontinued Rajah I for a hundred bucks? A hundred frickin' bucks!! It was the best gift I got that season! I picked up two in case an asteroid ever hit one, I'd have the other...but those were sweet times.)



The late great Cold Steel Rajah I. A hundred dollars in my lifetime! All thanks to Santa Lynn! Those days are gone.

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CTS-XHP is a huge jump in steel quality from AUS8 in many respects, as those of us that use Spydercos know. CTS-XHP is basically D2 made stainless. No one disses D2 on performance. KOA uses it exclusively. It is good stuff. My custom skinning knife is D2 and it takes an edge and holds it through two or more deer. Be happy.
 
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