Cold Steel's new steels?

I too am curious about the steel. so i just orderd a voyager to test it out.
If anything i hope it's like vg-10 .. i'd be sweet to have a six inch blade that can take and edge like my spyderco calypso jr.:cool:
 
I now have the Trail Master with VG-1 San Mai. I had a little trouble sharpening it due to the size of the blade and the rolled edge. But I have it sharp enough to shave now.

I live a few miles from the coast so I didn't want to pick up my knife after a month of being in the closet to find it rusted. I paid under $300 for it. I've had some second thoughts that I should've gotten the Carbon V but didn't like the brass guard and, again, was worried about corrosion.

Those second thoughts were actaully the reason for the question about whether the Carbon V TM can do anything the VG-1 San Mai can't. I figure I'll justn push aside any doubts and use it to cut and chop. If the edge is ruined by chopping bone or wood, then I'll finally have something valuable to say on these forums.
 
I'm not sure if any of SOG's other fixed blades were SK-5, but the Tigershark was until a few years ago
Click to expand...
They still make one other fixed blade with SK-5; unfortunately, I don't remember the model's name. It's a stacked leather handle knife.
I figure I'll just push aside any doubts and use it to cut and chop. If the edge is ruined by chopping bone or wood, then I'll finally have something valuable to say on these forums.
Click to expand...
That's the spirit! It's alwayswise to fully test a blade before trusting it in the wilderness anyways, so your usage of the knife will satisfy two demands :thumbup:
 
I was in my parent's neck of the woods today and brought my San Mai III Trail Master with me because I knew they had a few pieces of firewood in their back yard. Living in an apartment precludes me from chopping up wood at home.

I hacked on a piece of wood until I got tired. It cut OK. The wood was hard and I wasn't doing my best. But most importantly, the edge of the knife was just fine. Then it was suggested that if I just came over to destroy things, I should destroy the 3' palm tree that is growing in the middle of the garden that they can't get rid of.

So I did.

I chopped the hell out of that thing. I started with the palm froms and then chopped rings out of it from the top down. Every now and again I had to hack the up-and-outward turned tough outer layers off. Then I could chop away at the meat.

Although it began with my wife and mother rolling their eyes at my childish endevor, when they saw a healthy swing pass straight through the tree (only 3' tall but it was fairly thick) they admitted that they were impressed with the knife.

When I got home, I sharpened it the best I could on my Spyderco Sharpmaker (I know the knife is twice the size of the Sharpmaker but it's all I've got and I'm not good at using anything else). The knife can now shave in some sections of the blade but not in others. That's progress at least.

Overall, the knife performed better than I thought it would. It should do just fine delimbing game animals this season which is why I bought it.
 
Glad you are pleased with your new blade. Sounds like it does what you want it to do. :thumbup:

Thanks for the review.
(sounds like a night for some ibuprofen for sore muscles :D )
 
I just received three model 13RTK Recon Tantos from wholesalehunter.com; I bought them on clearance (I just checked, and they appear to have sold out). They were listed as being Carbon V, so I jumped on them because of the price ($38 ea) and because I heard that CS stopped making knives in Carbon V.

The blades aren't marked as being Carbon V (they're just stamped Recon Tanto on one side and Cold Steel Japan on the other). Looking online, I discovered that 13RTKs were made first in Carbon V and later in AUS-8. A magnet sticks to the blades, so I assume that they really are as advertised, but I don't understand why anyone would sell knives made of different steels under the same model number, and then not even stamp the blades with the type of steel to differentiate them.
 
The Savage Rabbit said:
I was in my parent's neck of the woods today and brought my San Mai III Trail Master with me because I knew they had a few pieces of firewood in their back yard. Living in an apartment precludes me from chopping up wood at home.

I hacked on a piece of wood until I got tired. It cut OK. The wood was hard and I wasn't doing my best. But most importantly, the edge of the knife was just fine. Then it was suggested that if I just came over to destroy things, I should destroy the 3' palm tree that is growing in the middle of the garden that they can't get rid of.

So I did.

I chopped the hell out of that thing. I started with the palm froms and then chopped rings out of it from the top down. Every now and again I had to hack the up-and-outward turned tough outer layers off. Then I could chop away at the meat.

Although it began with my wife and mother rolling their eyes at my childish endevor, when they saw a healthy swing pass straight through the tree (only 3' tall but it was fairly thick) they admitted that they were impressed with the knife.

When I got home, I sharpened it the best I could on my Spyderco Sharpmaker (I know the knife is twice the size of the Sharpmaker but it's all I've got and I'm not good at using anything else). The knife can now shave in some sections of the blade but not in others. That's progress at least.

Overall, the knife performed better than I thought it would. It should do just fine delimbing game animals this season which is why I bought it.
Click to expand...

What is your take on how well the blade holds this razor sharp(at points) edge?
 
It seems to me that CS has missed a tremendous opportunity to get into, at least a small portion, of the higher end market, by not replacing their Carbon V with M-2!

Nobody else is using M2 today except custom makers, and they would have a small niche completely to themselves if they would offer mass production knives like the Master hunter, and perhaps the Voyager series in M2. Might be a little pricey for start up costs, but what's a monopoly worth?:D

OTOH, I'm an historian, not an economist!:p
 
So overall, how do you guys think Vg1 compares to a folder made from a traditional, pocketknife blade carbon? I was contemplating the larger plain clip point voyager as an alternative pocket folder for civilian camping, but am a little skeptical with stainlesses I've never used. I myself am a carbon only man, but the one knife I got in 440c was VERY durable, and held an edge like nobody's business. (old 'lifeknife trailmaster' from the 80's) So I'm thinking of giving VG1 a try, if you guys reccommend it.
 
I wish they would have at least used SK5 on the combat knives they started making out of Krupps. I do have a Fin Bear though that I like a lot.
 
Thank you for posting the information. It actually cleared a few things I had been wondering about CS steels :thumbup:
 
Any comments about the swedish steels such as the sandvik? type or have they been covered ysing another name. Also the swedish use of laminated blades seems to turn out easily sharpened and very sharp knives. As for sustained work and sustained sharpness, damascus blades seem to be among the best.
 
Buddiiee said:
So overall, how do you guys think Vg1 compares to a folder made from a traditional, pocketknife blade carbon? I was contemplating the larger plain clip point voyager as an alternative pocket folder for civilian camping, but am a little skeptical with stainlesses I've never used. I myself am a carbon only man, but the one knife I got in 440c was VERY durable, and held an edge like nobody's business. (old 'lifeknife trailmaster' from the 80's) So I'm thinking of giving VG1 a try, if you guys reccommend it.
Click to expand...


Based on composition, VG1 should be in the ballpark with 440C. It won't perform like 1095. Stainless steels don't.
 
BRASMAN said:
I wish they would have at least used SK5 on the combat knives they started making out of Krupps. I do have a Fin Bear though that I like a lot.
Click to expand...

Same here! I've had my eye on they're new UWK in the Krupps steel (just because it's cheap cheap cheap), but man, I'd be willing to pay a premium for one in SK-5. A CSK in SK-5 instead of the new AUS-8 would be great, too.
 
VG1 would be expected to have lower wear resistance than VG-10 but higher edge stability. It is inverted in relation to AUS-8.

-Cliff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top