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Cold Steel Success
- Thread starter Thrustus
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2012
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- 299
its my understanding that cold steel does a tremendous job with the heat treat on its aus8. so much so that it performs slightly more like a higher end steel. Is that wrong? like, hows its edge holding?
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2006
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- 7,039
Interesting...... I hope that the future will bring upgraded Voyager steel also, although I quite enjoy them currently as is. Also, I love my Enduras but I can actually flex\squeeze the waist between thumb and finger and an Endura feels borderline flimsy to me. Maybe when the Voyagers reach a sales saturation point they will bring out steel revisions\up grades to revive sales ?
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2005
- Messages
- 2,910
I've used my American Lawman a lot, I stripped the blade and brought the edge to a ridiculous high polish. CS did a good job with the AUS8, but it's still AUS8. It does need sharpening more often than higher end steels with equally proficient heat treatment. My Al retains a working edge for a decent amount of time, but the initial super sharp edge dulls rather quickly.
It's good enough for most chores, and it does respond wonderfully to a little stropping. I don't think I NEED something better than AUS8 for 90% of the stuff I do, but I would like to have something a bit nicer because I'm a knife knut.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2006
- Messages
- 7,132
And those are words of truth to live by.
I think that CS does in fact run it's VG-1 hard in it's San Mai blades. At least I have never heard anyone complain about the current San Mai offerings, but that doesn't mean much.
I have a fairly hefty collection of CS knives and I have found them to be perfectly serviceable for my applications. In fact, when I spend money on a CS knife, I know that I'll get my money's worth out of it and more. Their AUS-8 is as good as AUS-8 gets and their VG-1 is perfectly acceptable to me as a hard use steel. Now, I don't do silly things like cutting cardboard with my pocket knives, which is what a use specific box cutter is for, neither do I cut Manilla rope and sandpaper. If I was going to perform such activities, I would grab my S90V Military and have at her. No, my uses are fairly pedestrian, such as around camp for cooking, carving out the occasional spoon from Holly, trimming the occasional shrub and things of a related nature. The ability to quickly strop a knife back to a shaving edge, is far more important to me than a thousand cuts of sisal. The reality is that I could shop for all my needs at the Cold Steel 'watering hole' and never feel wanting. In fact, around the house, a Kudu in Krupp 4116 is one of my most used knives. I have never broken one, but if I did, I am fairly sure that I could come up with seven bucks to replace it.
A favorite pass-time on the boards is a good pissing contest about steel. Such are interesting contests to watch, but there can never be a winner, as each person's usage and applications of steel, blade shape, edge profiles, et al, must in the end be subjective. Does the knife, blade and steel work for them? Where people are concerned, the answers can be fuzzy: yes, no and maybe, not absolutes. This doesn't mean that I am not interested in Jim's (Ankerson) testing, or Jack's (Yablanowitz) anecdotes about the latest 'super steel' he sent crying home to mama. Far from it. These guys bring valuable lessons to us that we don't have to pay for out of pocket and I appreciate their work.
Back to Cold Steel. I have found their products for the most part to be a good value, well made and they do actually deliver what their sometimes 'off the wall' advertising suggests. Many will disagree and that is just fine. AUS-8 and VG-1? I like them just fine. I also like Buck's 420HC (with a tip of the hat to my knife brother Confederate) and Kershaw's 440A, which keeps a sharp edge for a surprising length of time. Perhaps if I had one wish, I would like to see CS do a San Mai using M390, but I know that I wouldn't like the price.
I have to agree 100%. I have the SRK and a Voyager in VG1 San Mai and it is an outstanding knife in my opinion. The Voyager is more like a straight razor in fact. I too like their AUS 8 and have the Leatherneck in SK-5 which is a fine blade IMO. CS does seem to take a lot of guff on the board and I'm fairly sure a lot of it is really directed at L. Thompson.
When I spoke with Mike Fuller of TOPS at the Blade Show he said they realize they can never be all things to all people. This should apply to all brands.
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I ordered the Hold Out 1 and 2 , and both had defects out the box. The HO 1 had a spring much too stiff and the blade appears to have been botched during the heat treatment process, the metal has a brown tint to it, and rust within 2 days unless i baby it (i dont think a knife should be babied)...and the HO 2 had problems with the blades round part that slides against the spine lock, felt like grit and wouldnt spin smoothly. All the metal corners on the spines are not square.Quality control just isnt there, its like they use their feet to make knives.
After two consecutive orders from two different sellers and two different models, these are the last two folding knives i buy from Cold Steel. If i spend $100 on a knife i dont want to have to repair it to make it right. Besides this they have the worst serrations in the business, snag city.
3 emails and 1 month later still no reply from customer service regarding the HO 1.
The videos on their site crack me up. They go hunting for water buffaloes. I was stationd in Thailand for 15 years and water buffaloes are the most docile peaceful animals youll ever meet, you can go up to one and kick it in the nuts and itll just look at you and smile. Probably paid some poor farmer in Thailand to kill it.
Cold Steel? No thanks Ive had enough.
I had a peacekeeper 1 and a safekeeper 15 years ago and those were good knives, but that was then this is now.
After two consecutive orders from two different sellers and two different models, these are the last two folding knives i buy from Cold Steel. If i spend $100 on a knife i dont want to have to repair it to make it right. Besides this they have the worst serrations in the business, snag city.
3 emails and 1 month later still no reply from customer service regarding the HO 1.
The videos on their site crack me up. They go hunting for water buffaloes. I was stationd in Thailand for 15 years and water buffaloes are the most docile peaceful animals youll ever meet, you can go up to one and kick it in the nuts and itll just look at you and smile. Probably paid some poor farmer in Thailand to kill it.
Cold Steel? No thanks Ive had enough.
I had a peacekeeper 1 and a safekeeper 15 years ago and those were good knives, but that was then this is now.
SRK made in San Mai, but previous Voyager was just standard VG-1. Unless there was some option back when of which I am unaware?
- OS
To be fair, all the videos deal with either African Cape Buffalo or Feral Asian Buffalo in Australia. I don't know the relative danger rating of the feral ones in Australia, but of course Cape Buffalo, along with hippos, rank highest in number of folks killed through the years in Africa.
- OS
COMING FROM ME WHO BOASTED COLD STEEL AND MY MINI-AK-47 EVERY DAY
I have stopped carrying it because:
IT. DID. NOT. STAY. SHARP.
Period.
Now, stuff like Case, Kershaw, and Spyderco are in my eyes.
And that's something coming from me, a FORMER CS thumper.
(I still like its design, but what good is a knife that doesnt stay sharp???)
I have stopped carrying it because:
IT. DID. NOT. STAY. SHARP.
Period.
Now, stuff like Case, Kershaw, and Spyderco are in my eyes.
And that's something coming from me, a FORMER CS thumper.
(I still like its design, but what good is a knife that doesnt stay sharp???)
What is it I cant communicate in an email that I can with a phone call? If I send 3 emails and there is still no response I dont feel compelled to phone in. I do however feel compelled to stop purchasing their products.
The problem with the HO2 has already been fixed by myself. The HO1 is still awaiting response from Cold Steel. Until they do respond, I will tell it like it is.
If they man up and actually respond, I'd be more than happy to tell people that they stand by their warranty against defects in workmanship.
Two different knives from two different sellers with four different defects (spring,catch,rust,serrations) doesn't exactly inspire confidence with Cold Steel products any more.
If you hit Youtube, you'll be able to view numerous failures with Cold Steel products, my situation is neither isolated nor unique to me in particular.
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- Joined
- Mar 3, 2006
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- 7,132
By that metric, all knives are no good, because all knives will require sharpening at some point and none will stay sharp. At the moment, I have a Byrd Cara Cara in pocket, that uses 8Cr13MoV (Chinese AUS-8) as a blade steel. Before it went into the pocket, I spent 30 seconds on a strop to restore the edge to hair whittling sharpness. If it starts to dull through the day, I always know that a small amount of time with a strop will make things right. I like that.
You're right. I worded it wrong.By that metric, all knives are no good, because all knives will require sharpening at some point and none will stay sharp. At the moment, I have a Byrd Cara Cara in pocket, that uses 8Cr13MoV (Chinese AUS-8) as a blade steel. Before it went into the pocket, I spent 30 seconds on a strop to restore the edge to hair whittling sharpness. If it starts to dull through the day, I always know that a small amount of time with a strop will make things right. I like that.
But for what I was using it for (woods) I could actually see shiny spots on the blade from edge-roll-over right after use. It got dull really fast
ron_m80
Tempered Member
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- Mar 1, 2009
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- 8,155
Cold steel would be more successful if they sold the same knives made domestically from domestic steel of any kind. That is just an opinion though.
1084 Tomahawk anyone?
ats-34 folders?
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- Joined
- Aug 28, 2009
- Messages
- 217
I think the point that everyone is missing is that Cold Steel has moved away not only from VG-1 (I don't think there are any plans for making any new knives with VG-1 steel) but they might be moving away from the current VG-1 SMIII also (they both come from the same steel company). I wish they were only pushing AUS8 as their main steel but in fact Krupps 4116 may becoming the Steel of choice for them. Phil used to say that they were too concerned with the bottom line. I don't see any other explanations for the way they do business anymore. They tend to use steel that are in large quantities from many vendors so they can keep their costs down. Cold Steel hasn't been able to stay with a single supplier of material for very many years as far as I can tell. Because of this it has been noted that when you buy a Cold Steel Blade the knowledgeable buyer of their blades not only needs to know the type of steel but the country in which it was produced and which year it was produced to better the odds of getting one of the higher blades they made (past tense). In other words, each time Cold Steel moves their production (and they move often) you have risks.
I do admire some of the knives they sell (or used to sell) and have owned more than a few. But IMHO there has been a steady decline in their quality that seems to have an inverse relation to their profits. With all the money Cold Steel now makes selling their imported "Big Macs" and "Whoppers" LCT has had a good run of Prime Rib dinners. I just bought one of their SK-5 Natchez "Whoppers", it didn't pass my inspection, should have never gotten past their QC and was sent back for a refund.
LCT has always said that he loves his customers, he has focused that admiration on the part of his customers that he loves most: their wallets. For as much as he says he loves his customers after 3 years he has never posted in a single thread in his own forums, he has never written a single post to his facebook page and has hired never blogged once on his twitter. He exploits the new forms of electronic marketing well but only with the use of employees that had little to no knife experience before they were assigned to be the face of Cold Steel online.
LCT boasts a "Warriors Lifestyle" and that is all that it is, a puffed up "Like Style". He has never been in actual combat, never been on police patrol other than as an observer, only hunts for trophies not for need, and has never competed in an event that was sanctioned by any accredited non biased organization. He pays a lot of money each year for Experts to train him and to get beat up by him, he pays well to win. All while wearing less protective gear than anyone he trains with not because he is that skilled but because he knows they dare not make him look the fool or hurt him. He has gone to great lengths puffed up some of his "experts" credentials in order to make himself look even that much better . Even a cursory examination of sad story shows that he is no Warrior, never was one and never will be one.
My opinion is that if you are waiting for Cold Steel to upgrade their steel that will only happen if they can find a better steel for cheaper. In this present environment you will have a long wait.
I do admire some of the knives they sell (or used to sell) and have owned more than a few. But IMHO there has been a steady decline in their quality that seems to have an inverse relation to their profits. With all the money Cold Steel now makes selling their imported "Big Macs" and "Whoppers" LCT has had a good run of Prime Rib dinners. I just bought one of their SK-5 Natchez "Whoppers", it didn't pass my inspection, should have never gotten past their QC and was sent back for a refund.
LCT has always said that he loves his customers, he has focused that admiration on the part of his customers that he loves most: their wallets. For as much as he says he loves his customers after 3 years he has never posted in a single thread in his own forums, he has never written a single post to his facebook page and has hired never blogged once on his twitter. He exploits the new forms of electronic marketing well but only with the use of employees that had little to no knife experience before they were assigned to be the face of Cold Steel online.
LCT boasts a "Warriors Lifestyle" and that is all that it is, a puffed up "Like Style". He has never been in actual combat, never been on police patrol other than as an observer, only hunts for trophies not for need, and has never competed in an event that was sanctioned by any accredited non biased organization. He pays a lot of money each year for Experts to train him and to get beat up by him, he pays well to win. All while wearing less protective gear than anyone he trains with not because he is that skilled but because he knows they dare not make him look the fool or hurt him. He has gone to great lengths puffed up some of his "experts" credentials in order to make himself look even that much better . Even a cursory examination of sad story shows that he is no Warrior, never was one and never will be one.
My opinion is that if you are waiting for Cold Steel to upgrade their steel that will only happen if they can find a better steel for cheaper. In this present environment you will have a long wait.
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Ankerson
Knife and Computer Geek
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- Nov 2, 2002
- Messages
- 21,094
After almost 3 decades in business I don't think it matters much anymore as he has made enough money to do pretty much anything he wants, whenever he wants and wherever he wants to do it.
In the end he has had a very successful business model and that's what CS is all about... Selling knives and they do sell a ton of them.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2006
- Messages
- 7,132
I hear ya. I have done that myself and I am sure that you know that those pesky rolls may be helped a bit with a more obtuse edge angle. I usually just carry a 6" spike to 'steel' the edges when I must. That said, it does sound like you could benefit from a steel upgrade alright.