Cold steel quality?

K

kaosu04

Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
988
I own two cold steel knives. A recon tanto and a ti lite (the cheap 440A sub zero quench model) I have no complaints about the recon tanto except for the rolled edge. I could just be imagining this, but the recon tanto becomes dull while just sitting in the sheath. I can leave it there for a month and it will be become dull. There is always a good edge on it, but it loses that razor edge I always reapply. My hanwei practical katana does not do this. So maybe its just their carbon V being unreliable? The design of the ti lite is great, but I am unsure of the quality of the blade. It is easy to sharpen and holds an edge for a good amount of time, but it is easy to chip. Regardless, I payed $45 for each knife. So down to the question, are cold steel knives decent for their prices? I dislike the design of most spyderco knives, and bechmade seems to favor 440C. I like cold steel's selection the most, they seem to make the most practical knives and not worry about how they look. How does cold steel compare to spyderco and benchmade?
 
I've seen a lot of cold steels older stuff. My friend has an older version of the recon 1 folder with the aus8 blade. His newer model with the 440 sub zero quench is broken. It seems they've went to cheaper steels for a lot of their knives. But for $45 each, both of mine are very good.
 
FYI, those subzero quenched blades are NOT 440. They are 420, and that is a big difference IMHO.
 
I think the CS models you refer to are good for the price. I must say I'm not nuts about them using 440A on some folders, but I did acquire a Night Force and it's working just fine. The folders with AUS-8 are much better knives for the price IMHO.
 
actually Benchmade uses very little 440 in their knives above the red class. Most common by far is 154CM. I personally like the D2 and S30V best.

:D
 
As someone else here once said. It depends on what model you buy as to how good it will be from CS. Always remember that Cold Steel makes nothing in the way of cutlery. They are a marketing company first and foremost that for all practical purposes makes and promotes videos. The knives they sell under the Cold Steel logo are made for them elsewhere.

Some of the Seki Japan made knives are very nice. Much of the Camillus line is also very nice stuff that keeps a very good edge. Camillus makes the Carbon V steel and it is said that many of their own knives like the Becker Necker and others are the same steel.

Overall I like the products of Cold Steel that I've owned. (quite a few in fact)The Voyagers and the Vaqueros have been very good heavy duty folding knives for me. I had the Recon Scout, and the Bushman for years and beat the hell out of them and they always impressed me just fine.

Some have negative opinions of CS because their warranty sucks and they have a pretty controversial owner in the spotlight quite a bit for his antics. When you look past these things though you find a pretty good quality knife being offered to the public, and usually for good prices as long as you buy them anywhere but directly from CS.

It is not uncommon for a knife to need a few strops before using if it has been sitting a while. Most of my carving knives came with instructions stating to strop each side a few times before use after leaving them sit. It probably has to do with moisture, or the build up of some minor rusting over time and needing to wipe that off of high carbon blades to bring the biting edge back to the front. I just don't know. As a general rule of thumb, it is a bad idea to leave any knife stored for long periods of time in a leather sheath. Leather has moisture in it even after it is old so it would be better to store it outside of the sheath. I do this with all my knives. Even the ones that have kydex or nylon sheaths.
 
The trick to finding the best quality Cold Steel knives is to find the ones made in Japan. They are literally outstanding in terms of quality. The Japanese Ti-Lite, as an example, is good enough that I own one myself. I also own a Japanese Black Bear Classic - super knife. The others are not in the same league. There is no question that Cold Steel has been cheapening the line for the past couple of years. I can't tell you whether it has helped them or hurt them but there is no question it has hurt them in terms of sales through my company. So go forth and find the Japanese made Cold Steels. Great stuff.
 
How can you tell the difference as to where the CS knife came from?

I own the SRK and suspect CS just somehow fell into a great simple design with this knife.

Amen, Spyderco and Benchmade are far out on top of CS.
 
There Is One Of These Threads Made Twice A Week Please Learn To Use The Search Function
 
Have you actually tried to use the search function here Azianboy? It works when it wants to and usually it doesn't work at all. All I ever get 9 times out of 10 is 'page not found'.
 
trick: use the search function on the forums index page. before you actually go into a forum. it works fine then.
 
bell said:
How can you tell the difference as to where the CS knife came from?

I own the SRK and suspect CS just somehow fell into a great simple design with this knife.

Amen, Spyderco and Benchmade are far out on top of CS.
Click to expand...

The knives made of "Carbon V" are made by Camillus in Camillus, NY. The stainless bladed models are made either in japan or in Taiwan for the most part. If you look at the price and take a deep breath, that's a Japanese made one. If the price seems like a great deal, it is made in Taiwan. If the steel says AUS-8 or "san mai" it is made in Japan. If it says 420HC it is made in Taiwan. There might be some exceptions but I can't think of any off the top of my head. At one point, all the Taiwanese models had a C in the model number. That may still be the case. That should be enough to get you to the right models.

The SRK is one of those classic knives. It has been in the CS line for a long time. It is a good design and even made in the U.S.A.
 
i have the cold steel large and medium drop point discontinued trail guides. i love them, i put convex edges on them with wet/dry carbide silica 600 grit sandpaper over a mouse pad. chopped through a quarter size bradford pear tree limb today. took about five-six whacks with the large trail guide. still shaving sharp. not a big test, but still. i used this knife on cardboard, carpet, rubber tubing. holds up well. m2c
 
kaosu04 said:
I own two cold steel knives. A recon tanto and a ti lite (the cheap 440A sub zero quench model) I have no complaints about the recon tanto except for the rolled edge. I could just be imagining this, but the recon tanto becomes dull while just sitting in the sheath. I can leave it there for a month and it will be become dull. There is always a good edge on it, but it loses that razor edge I always reapply. My hanwei practical katana does not do this. So maybe its just their carbon V being unreliable? The design of the ti lite is great, but I am unsure of the quality of the blade. It is easy to sharpen and holds an edge for a good amount of time, but it is easy to chip. Regardless, I payed $45 for each knife. So down to the question, are cold steel knives decent for their prices? I dislike the design of most spyderco knives, and bechmade seems to favor 440C. I like cold steel's selection the most, they seem to make the most practical knives and not worry about how they look. How does cold steel compare to spyderco and benchmade?
Click to expand...
Personally I send the RECON TANTO back for Warranty and get a new one sent to me. CS knives are generally sharp and reliable. Shop mail order for the best prices than their catalog. Quality is generally excellent.
 
I've owned several CS knives and I've never had a problem with any of them. I've had no problems with the different types of steel used in the blades. I guess it depends on what you use them for. I use knives to cut, never chop or pry. Primarily cardboard, breaking down boxes and such. For their price, you could buy several of the same model compared to the cost of the 'high end' knives. There's no guarantee that the high end blade won't fail, someone could of had a bad day at the forge, and that's your fancy new knife. IMO it's just a matter of personal preference. Use a knife hard, and buy another every few years, or mortgage the house and be worried about scratching the finish on that awesome custom job. I like to collect knives, but I can't afford to collect the pretty ones that I wouldn't want to actually use. Whatever makes you happy, stick with it.
 
"Benchmade and Spyderco are both a big step up in quality over Cold Steel."

How is that?
Like a Rant being a big step up over a Master Hunter?
 
I'm considering getting a CS Master Hunter (the carbon version). Would this model be a higher quality or lesser quality one?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top