Cold Steel Products

C

CPettersen

Joined
May 13, 2003
Messages
154
Greetings. I'm sure this topic has been discussed before, but I am going to bring it up again: Are Cold Steel products true to their claims or just hype? I've seen their web-site and the "more proof" DVD ,(which is quite comical) But they do make alot of claims. Has anyone put any of their knife products through some hardcore use?
Whats your opinion?

CPettersen@unionmillwright.com
 
It has come up before - maybe an average of once a week.
The short answer is Sebenza - Strider - Busse. ;)
 
If you look really closely, you will notice their claim is "5year warranty of fixed blades, 1 year on folders." As opposed to every other company that gives lifetime warranties on fixed blades and folders.
I'll tell you what I tell my customers: It goes on a knife by knife basis. For the most part, CS makes some really good workers. As far as designs go, almost every one of their products is lacking in one way or another. Lacking in a way that would limit the useability of the knife.
I suggest just find something that tickles your fancy, then ask us before buying.
-KC
 
CPettersen said:
I've seen their web-site and the "more proof" DVD ...
Click to expand...
This is meaningless, any attempt to duplicate the "proof" voids the warrenty. Testing which isn't supported by the maker is just hype.

Has anyone put any of their knife products through some hardcore use?
Click to expand...
Yes, they make a lot of different knives. Some are fairly solid for their price range like the Voyager line, the Bushman, some like the Trailmaster and a lot of the fixed blades are outperformed by more inexpensive knives.

-Cliff
 
"Cold Steel" makes knife videos, not knives. They are a design and marketing company. So the quality of their knives depends on where they have them made and how much they expect to sell them for.

The Carbon V and AUS-8 blades aren't bad, the others are suspect. The videos are clever but deceptive. They charge too much for most of them on their own websites, but sell them at much better prices through other dealers.

Cold Steel is definitely a case of needing to ask about specific products, not the whole line.

(For anyone thinking about coming to the NJKCA meeting today, I'll be bringing my Cold Steel collection.)
 
To answer your question short, most of CS claims are based on nothing special and to me it sounds like a big hype. Some products are ok, but the funny thing is that the warrenty of the CS knives is zero compared to the hype build around this brand.

IMO if these knives claimes to be as good as the hype, why not give lifetime warrenty to the products?

Nothing wrong with buying a CS product, just remember that you are buying a normal knife and not an indestructible tool, if you keep that in mind you won't get dissapointed easily The CS Price - product balance is not bad, so you wont loose a lot of money either.

My 2 cents. ;)
 
Hey Guys...

Cold Steel use to be some of my favorite knives...

Cold Steel has now left a bad taste in my mouth after seeing the latest round of theft of intellectual property from Brian Tighe, and Brian's "Tighe Stick".

In my opinion Cold Steel is now on the same level of all of these offshore companys who regularly Rip Off other makers designs, because they have no talent of imagination to come up with their own designs....

Stay Away from CS, and buy a real knife,, like Busse, Strider, Camillus, Kershaw from a real company who design knives with real knifemakers,,and pay them for the designs...

ttyle

Eric...
 
Echoing the above, if you're selective, and don't buy direct, unless it's a factory second, you can get a pretty good knife for your money, but don't expect it to be magic. Personally, I find the videos more laugh engendering than offensive, but I'm a knife person. I showed a non knife friend one of the 'proof' videos, thinking he'd be as amused as I was, but 'horrified' was closer than 'amused'. I think they do us (knife people) a disservice with the advertising. A clip of some guy tearing through a wall with a BFK, or a shovel, or whatever, doesn't look like a fire and rescue application to most folks, it looks like a story board shoot for the axe scene in the Shining. You could almost hear the guy angrily muttering "rassinfrassinrestrainingorderI'llshowyourestraingorderassinfrassin". Not a good image. I'm guessing these reactions, amusement and horror, are why Cold Steel doesn't maintain a forum here.
 
I guess I'm surprised at the bias here so far. I've owned as many CS knives as any thing else. Spydercos too which I'll use here as a comparison. Both of these brands have proven their worth to me. Both are similar but different in many ways also.

Spyderco serrations are better in my opinion. They also use better steels and the Spyder hole is more convenient to access and use than the thumb stud on the Cold Steel knives. This is of course my opinion based on use.

Spyderco has a much better warranty than Cold Steel.

Cold Steel makes a damn tough knife though. I've had no problems with lose locks, or lateral movement of the blades in any Cold Steel knives I've bought. Can't say that for the Spydies as much as I love them. In fact I've never had to send a Cold Steel knife in for evaluation for warranty coverage and I've owned a whole lot of them. Can't say that for Spyderco but I've owned a whole lof of them too.

I've also known many police officers that have done some horrible things to their CS knives that took it and asked for more. I think for the money you get a good knife from CS. AUS8 may have a lot negative going for it but it is a tough steel. Carbon 5, while it may not be consistant in nature from one batch to the next has proven to be a worthy and good edge retentive steel in my own experiences. San Mai. I don't know about that one. To be honest I think there are some claims made there that are probably iffy. I have never been able to justify the cost difference on this steel personally. It may be hype I only have one San Mai left and ...I'm not all that impressed with it compared to the claims.

Both Cold steel and Spyderco use AUS6 which is also a good tough steel that holds an edge well when serrated. Some of my toughest knives are of this steel.

You know sometimes I think the only real reason people talk down about Cold Steel is because of the owner, Lynn Thompson. I look at it like this. I don't care much personally for him either or some of the antics I've seen him pull at shows and in his own catalog but aside from that he produces a fine made product that for the money performs well.

I would have to say that some of his top end knives are pushing the limits price wise. But who isn't these days? That doesn't make CS stand out anymore to me than any other company. Look at the prices of the other top end knives elsewhere. Spyker for example.

Spyderco is my favorite knife company I like the owner (s), I love the way they mix it up here with us and allow us to input our requests and opinions and I love their products and the way they back them up. I'd look there first.

Cold Steel runs a close second for me though. I find most of their knives to be worthy of praise more than condemnation. One of my fave yard tools is a Voyager XLg clip point. That thing is outright fun to use and people stand back in awe at it when they see it. Thats a knife! I see no reason to not give Cold Steel a better rating than what has been posted here so far. That is my two cents on this issue.
 
I live on a farm and have gotten good service with various fixed blade CS knives including the SRK, Recon Scout, Master Hunter and a couple of the kukri models (all in "Carbon V" steel). They seem to hold up well for a variety of work and recreational tasks. I like them enough that I've given some models to friends and family as gifts.

I've also purchased a couple Tanto models in "San Mai" steel. They are initially sharper than the Carbon V steel blades, but I haven't really put them to any real tests. They are, perhaps, a little too pretty for farm use.

I also purchased a Trail Master in Carbon V steel. I'll have to admit I really just wanted a big, bad knife and, in my mind, this qualified. I'm not sure that I'll ever have any use for it, but I suspect some of us have knives that we've purchased but never used. I like its heft, and it feels solid. I suspect it would be useful as a wrecking bar as well as a knive.

The only CS product I've purchased and still have that I wish I hadn't was the "ODA" version of their "military classic." What can I say... it's not a Randall. I'll probably try to trade that away for something different.
 
What STR said. I've been perfectly happy with my Voyagers, Master Hunter(s), Twistmasters, California drop-point and SRK. Don't care for the sheaths generally but that's easily fixed. Don't pay much attention to the hype. Lynn Thompson has been one of the most innovative knife designers and promoters (well... :barf: sometimes he goes overboard), and from what the Zytel handle on my Voyager indicates, pays royalties (to Spyderco?) for the clip design/concept. As for design rip-off, that's a tricky area.

Regarding inconsistency in Carbon V, I have no complaints . I believe that Camillus produces Cold Steel's Carbon V blades, and use the same steel in their Becker line. As Ethan Becker observed, the boys at Camillus know their heat treat... just my two cents.
 
I don't think it's the quality that's at issue, I have several models that I've had excellent use of as well. I' ve given a few as gifts too, and they were well recieved. A little over priced maybe, but you can get a decent deal used or as a second. To the original question, they're good, reasonably tough knives, but they're not sharp crowbars, and it'd be a bad idea to play with them as demonstrated on the marketing videos that accompany the knives when bought directly from CS. The issue most have with CS, imho, is that marketing, and recently, a seemingly flagrant design rip off and spotty QC from some of the off shore factories they use. Doesn't make the knives we own any less tough or useful, it just sort of nudges (or maybe shoves) you towards competitors with similarly tough, useful, internally designed models that have better QC and less over the top marketing strategies when it comes time to get that next knife that your wife will have no idea why you need, and don't you have enough of them already? Sorry, I kind of spun off there at the end, but you know what I mean.
 
It is hype but it is also some good entertainment. I know my neices and nephews enjoyed it a bunch when I showed it to them. They particularly enjoyed Lynn shooting blow darts at the little animal figures on a stand over any of the knife and sword stuff. I don't think my sis was too thrilled at me for showing it to them though. Now they all want blow dart guns for their next birth day or xmas presents.
 
I am not suprised that what I felt about Cold Steel products is shared by others, I guess to sum it up: Their products are decent ,quality cutting tools. But on a model by model basis. Lyn Thompson is basicly a an "overzelous " promoter of their product, putting more hype into advertising than he should. And dont judge Cold Steel on part of what he say's.
 
I really like the part where they fill a glove with pork ribs and proceed to hack off several fingers with one blow. Doesn't leave much to the imagination but I got a kick out of it.
 
I used a CS Master Hunter several hunting seasons with complete satisfaction before finding this and similar forums on the web. Now it seems a little knowledge is dangerous (or expensive in my case), as the search for "just the right knife" continues. While my interests have expanded, I still have the Master Hunter ready to go. It's a fun journey.
Jim
 
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