Hi,
If a knife is received with a loose handle, or the handle becomes loose with minimal use, that is considered abnormal, and would certainly be covered by our warranty. To my knowledge, we have not had a chronic issue with loose handles that would warrant any intervention by the company. When thousands of knives are mass produced, it is possible that a manufacturing error can occur- that's why we have our manufacturer's warranty. We want to insure that the customer receives the best quality knife for his money.
A few reviews online are simply not indicative of a systemic issue, though we do pay very close attention to them. We also do our own intense testing both at the factory, and from our inventory to insure quality. According to our Customer Service department, we have an overall return/warranty rate of less than 1%, which includes the issues you are describing.
As for the tang on the Trail Master, the failure you are describing is usually attributed to abuse like batoning. Such abuse is not covered by our warranty. If a tang breaks due to a manufacturing or material defect, then it is covered.
I know that this may open a can of worms that has been debated on this site, and many others, but actions like batoning are not what a hardened knife are designed to do- the whole "right tool for the right job thing".
The Trail Master utilizes a "push-tang" inserted into the handle. The advantage of the push-tang and the Kray-Ex handle is ease and comfort during hard use, and the handle is easily replaceable. The disadvantage is that it requires a hard right-angle between the tang and the ricasso. Actions like batoning, which should not be done with a knife anyway, causes undue stress at that point and can result in damage. When we do batoning for our videos, we are very open about the fact that it is abusive and can void the warranty. It is not a technique that we ever recommend. However, we also get reviews from customers stating that they have been batoning with our knives for years with no adverse damage, all the while knowing that it is abusive.
I know everyone has their own opinions about batoning (that's probably the subject of many threads right here on BF), but it's something we at Cold Steel don't recommend.
As always though, if you have any problems or queries at all, just call our Customer Service department. The crew is very helpful and more than willing to go the extra mile to assist our customers. If you have damaged knives currently, then you should send them to us and let our Service department inspect them for repair or replacement as warranted. Every return, replacement or query is judged on a knife by knife basis and although we have general guidelines on our website, the best action is always just to give them a call
