Cold Steel-San Mai III or Carbon V?

[Jerry Reichlin]

I am thinking about buying a Cold Steel Trailmaster Bowie. Is the San Mai III steel worth the extra cost rather than a Carbon V blade? Why? How does San Mai III compare to the "laminated" steel in some of the Scandanavian blades? Is a Mad Dog worth the extra money?

 

[Benjamin Liu]

I'd go with the Carbon V. San Mai is more expensive to make but IMO carbon steel is superior to stainless in fixed blades, especially larger ones.

 

[bansidthe]

Cold Steel's San Mai has AUS8 as the cutting edge...servicible but it certainly won't hold an edge nearly as well as the Carbon V

 

[Manowar]

It´s a hard choice! The San mai 3 steel consists of:the edge AUS8A steel Rockwell 57,the laminated sides is 420J2 steel with Rockwell hardness of 54.AUS8A is a high carbon stainless steel,which holds and edge long,and is easy to resharpen as well. The edge on the San Mai 3 Trail Master is convex. It is a high quality bowie in all aspects. The only bad thing is that it has a high price tag. At discounted knife dealers you could have it for:249.95$

The Carbon V Trail Master has recently got a lower price,since Cold Steel has taken away the surface polishes,and instead applyed an epoxy powdered coating. That lowered the price by 50$ by doing so. Carbon steel holds an edge longer and is easier to resharpen than stainless steel. The Carbon V steel has a Rockwell of 59.The Trail Master can be found at discount dealers for 118,95$.

As you can see,the San Mai 3 stainless verison costs twice as mouch as the Carbon V version. If you are on a strict limited budget,i would say you take the Carbon V version. But if you have the extra money, then i would suggest the stainless San Mai 3 version! Thanks to the laminated sides and with it´s convex edge,it´s a superb knife.

Manowar