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Cold Steel Trail Master Aficionados Thread

fulloflead

fulloflead

Joined
May 3, 2002
Messages
6,192
I have a new love in my life.

Wait... allow me to beat around the bush a bit.

Years ago I purchased a Cold Steel Trail Master that was black coated Carbon V. It was nice and beefy and fun, but I eventually sold it to buy some other toy or other.

Recently I decided to trim down my collection and figured I only needed one or two fixed blades so I made one a mid-sized Chris Reeve and made the other a brand new CHINESE black-coated Trail Master. I figured it was cheap and if I ever needed a big bowie that would do me just fine.

Well, during my selling and trading recently I ended up purchasing (out of curiosity mostly) a new-condition but kind of tarnished with a few tiny rust pits and stains an OLD, OLD Cold Steel Trail Master that has an uncoated satin Carbon V blade with a full convex grind all the way to the edge! It has a brass guard too.

When I took it out of the box I was a little disappointed with the few pits on it and the slight tarnish of it, but I spent an entire evening with it, a box of Q-tips and a tube of Flitz. I fell in love with it that night. This thing is freakin' amazing!

And I wouldn't even put it in the same catagory of knife as the newer Chinese version.

I had a custom sheath made for it which is coming in the mail this week. If there's interest in this thread and lots of replies, I'll post pictures of both knives and three sheathes.

This this is my love and my zombie-slayer now! This is my second-best weapon. (First comes my Glock 20, second comes my Satin Convex Carbon V Trail Master.) I'm going to keep this one forever.

I know there are many other versions of the Trail Master out there so I wonder about the rest of them. I don't plan on buying any others but maybe other people might want to talk about their particular model and how it relates to the rest of them.

.
 
I love my trailmasters.

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Carbon V - I sold all but 4 of the knives in this pic

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San Mai III - I only have 3 of the knives shown in this pic

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ashtxsniper said:
I love my trailmasters...
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Nice! Which did you keep? What's your favorite?

I'm not familiar with the ones with the stainless guard but I think I prefer my brass guard.

Do you have a convex one?

My convex one is clearly hand ground. The tip on my convex one isn't as pointy as some of the others but it does look stronger. Can you show me a close-up of the tip of your convex grind if you have one?

What's your favorite sort of sheath for these? I like the factory leather sheath of my Chinese one slightly better than the nylon/condura one that my old one came with but I really think the Trail Master needs a nice custom leather sheath. Though, I'd like to see what some of the Kydex ones look like.

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Awesome knives, to be sure. I only have the Carbon V's, both black and satin. I would like to try one of the SK5 ones also...
 
Glad you like your Trailmaster ! I bought my satin carbon V Trailmaster 14 years ago,w/brass gaurd.It was and is a great knife !
 
I have one of the old style carbon V trailmasters and it is a good knife. Mine is the early ricasso type.
 
ashtxsniper said:
SK-5 is the steel they are currently made out of. When they were made in the US they were made out of Carbon V.
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Oh, right... My Chinese one is made of that. I don't know of anyone who really knows the difference in performance between the SK-5 and Carbon V. Or, at least, I haven't ready anything educational here or anywhere else about the difference.

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Here's a couple pics. Bottom is old ricasso type. Sheaths are Southern Comforts. There's been tons written on performance comparisons between the Carbon Vs and the SK-5s. Carbon Vs are preferred, but performance of SK-5 is not far behind. Carbon V holds edge a little better.
 

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In general I like the Trailmaster, but only the older Carbon V models with the satin finish. And I dislike the rubber handles enough that I replace them with micarta or hardwood. I also like the old Flight of the Intruder Bowie.

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vjb.knife said:
You should not pay more than $90 plus shipping for a new model.
Click to expand...


Really? Knifecenter has pre orders for $140, I thought they had
decent prices. The retail on the new made in Taiwan model
is about $220. I thought $140 might be a decent price. I see
the Chinese made ones going for around $100(one was sold on this board
a few days ago). No way I'd pay $100 for a Chinese one but the Taiwan
made ones are supposed to be a step up in quality. Do you know
any other place that will sell the new one for a better price?
 
vjb.knife said:
You should not pay more than $90 plus shipping for a new model.
Click to expand...

Would love to know where you are going to get a new Taiwan made Trailmaster for $90 plus shipping. $140 is a Very Good price.
 
yerscattergun said:
Really? Knifecenter has pre orders for $140, I thought they had
decent prices. The retail on the new made in Taiwan model
is about $220. I thought $140 might be a decent price. I see
the Chinese made ones going for around $100(one was sold on this board
a few days ago). No way I'd pay $100 for a Chinese one but the Taiwan
made ones are supposed to be a step up in quality. Do you know
any other place that will sell the new one for a better price?
Click to expand...

Sorry my bad, I have an incorrect price in my catalog I see that the correct retail for the CS39L16CT is currently $239 so $140 is not too bad. I see it is SK-5 also which should be about as good as the old Carbon V.
 
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