Cold steel quality?

1

1917cutlass

Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
313
I was wondering, you guys seem to know all about swords, what do you think the quality of cold steel swords are? If its not too much trouble, is CAS any better or worse than cold steel?
 
I wouldn't personally use it for blade on blade training--the CS swords, in my opinion, are more lookers than performers. Of course, if you have a few hundred to burn, a CS could be a good trainer you don't mind heavily chipping and dinging up.

Just my thoughts--others' mileage may vary.
 
I don't have the money for CS's more expensive (read: over 200$) swords but I do have their "naval dirk". I got it for less than a hundred bucks new and IMO its a short sword that can really stand up to being used.
 
Quality varied on the European pieces from CS I had the chance to look at, fit finish, polish, etc. Their Katana line varies also. Some come sharp, others not so much. I purchased 1 CS Warrior Series Katana and it was mediocre at best in comparison to the fit\finish\polish of a comparably priced Hanwei\Chen.
I did some tameshigiri with the CS and it didn't cut very well and it's balance was way off. Their Cutlass and Sabers on the other hand seemed to be very well done. I've seen 6 samples and all were good. I'd stay away from them for Katana and Broadswords since IMO there are much better makes out there.
 
I had recently purchased a cold steel warrior katana, and in my opinion it handled just fine, however my friend also got one and it was considerable duller than mine. I do believe it depends on the individual sword in their case. I am curious about the british 1796 light cav saber. Does anybody have any info on one of these, and how about their "fighting with the saber and cutlass" is that any good?

Thank you everybody for contributing so far.
 
Their warrior katana was a bit on the heavy side, but handled okay... I happened to run into some Fred Chen (whose factory supposedly makes or used to make cold steel stuff) look-a-likes that were poorly balanced... what with that AND the whole bunch of places that sell Fred Chen stuff, it's really hard to pin down quality (though generally they're acceptable).

The wrap on some CS Warrior's have been a bit too loose (comes loose within a month or is already loose) or is a bit uneven, though tight. To be expected at this price range.

I have heard very little good things about the Euro line EXCEPT for the 1917 Saber (which people seem to really like) and the Viking sword, which handles reasonably well.

I'm not sure if this is still true (and since I'm relatively new to swords I wouldn't know) but there were quite a few threads on how the thicknesses on most of the swords were too much to avoid breakages. Either way, the problems are few and far in-between, but a good QC at the dealer goes a long way.
 
I have the following
1796 LC- nice for the price, came shaving sharp, good scabbard, blade shape is a bit off and way to thick at the tip, can be fixed.
1917 Cutlass- stunning fit and finish,great leather sheath, slippery grip, handles quite well
Basket Hilt Broadsword- nice fit and finish, hefty blade, incorrect blade cross section, can easily be corrected, cuts like a posessed chainsaw, good value for the money.
Scottish Basket hilted Backsword- same fitting as above with single edged blade and part sharpened false edge, much livelier sword, cuts almost as well, blade a bit thick, still good value, great tinkering potential.
Scottish Dirk- big disappontment, lousy fit, rubbish sheath, horrible grip, blade has been salvaged to make a proper dirk. Buy the CAS effort if you want a reasonably priced dirk.
Phil
 
They seem to be hit or miss in the QA department. FWIW, I've been happy with all of mine. Their Grosse Messer actually impressed me a bit with its handling; despite its weight, it's balanced very nicely. (A grosse messer it ain't, but it's a pretty decent sword in its own right.)
 
I just got the cs dvd where it shows the messer cut the phone book in half! I wish i had one their and then.
 
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