CS Beaver Tail

if you look at that knife and think to yourself "i bet this will work for hammering through wood!" you probably have no business handling sharp objects in the first place.

and the fact that you're surprised and dissapointed by their response just baffles me.
 
Batoning a knife like that is abuse.

However, they probably spent more mailing your broken knife back than it cost them to produce the knife in the first place.
 
It's a tactical knife. Batoning is abuse unless you define tactical as "batoning through the bones of your enemy".

Seriously, though, that blade looks like it was way too brittle. CS warranty service is pretty half-assed here, IMO.
 
knifenut1013 said:
I don't understand the obsession with batoning, especially when its a folder or small and thin blade. Physics will always win.
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My thought exactly! Obsession is the right word to use here.
What is it about? I do not mind batoning now and then, when there is nothing else available. But if I had to do it so often - I would certainly get a proper tool, like hatchet or axe.
 
FFG knives are obviously not the right tool for that job, never have been an never will be. That particular knife looks as if it would be a good skinning knife or general utility.
 
pantucci said:
Understood. Obviously I don't consider this a "bushcraft" knife, but I was considering it as a stainless pocket neck knife for occasional light-duty hiking. Obviously, this knife no longer qualifies for much more than a slicer. CS shouldn't advertise it as a "camp" and "outdoor" knife, or use the term "tac" in any way indicating tactical use. Light use? Not unreasonable. Remember, CS positions themselves as having super-tough products.....

Maybe not so much any more...

BTW, what really is deflating to me is the attitude of the company-- I mentioned to them that as an enthusiastic and loyal customer, I own and have owned many CS knives since the 80's and get a box mailed back to me with my broken knife, a catalog, and a corporate letter stating "Cold Steel considers batoning to be abuse of a knife, and is not considered proper use." as a defensive dodge for a simple replacement. C'mon... You can be correct, but not right.
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Pantucci, what right do you have to expect them to replace a knife you OBVIOUSLY used improperly (batonning, really?)? When I jam my SAK in a block of concret and try to chisel it apart and, surprise, it breaks, why should Victorinox replace a knife abused? YOu did something blatently stupid and they kindly told you they don't reward your stupidity. THat is not bad customer service, instead smart business. Batonning with a Beaver tail..... duh!
 
RevDevil said:
FFG knives are obviously not the right tool for that job, never have been an never will be. That particular knife looks as if it would be a good skinning knife or general utility.
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I think this failure has less to do with the grind than the hardness and tempering of the blade.
 
Liveitloud said:
But it will kill a cardboard bad guy and eat up some rope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phgJSCf2hRI&feature=player_embedded#!

Sorry about your busted beaver.
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I felt like I was watching a bad South Park episode, with Lynn "Cartman" Thompson yelling "respect my authority" as he sliced up up the cardboard bad guy. CS makes some good knives but he is such a tool. Sorry that your Beaver broke but batoning with that thin of a knife was only going to end badly. That said CS customer service should have still replaced it, along with a note that said "here's a new one, now no more batoning stupid" :D
 
wow, cs really should have replaced it. Post like this really affect my thinking when buying knifes. True it probally cost them less to make the knife then to pay for return postage but they lose a shit load of money from buyers! Word of mouth advertising works for and against a company.

I myself have a lot of cs knifes and after seeing something like this, it does make me think twice about buying and recommending them in the future to others. They really should advertise their knifes as the strongest/sharpest in the world if they dont wanna back them up.
 
I think that the problem here, is that Cold Steel expects a modicum of intelligence from it's customer base.
 
jimh0220 said:
Pantucci, what right do you have to expect them to replace a knife you OBVIOUSLY used improperly (batonning, really?)? When I jam my SAK in a block of concret and try to chisel it apart and, surprise, it breaks, why should Victorinox replace a knife abused? YOu did something blatently stupid and they kindly told you they don't reward your stupidity. THat is not bad customer service, instead smart business. Batonning with a Beaver tail..... duh!
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What right do I have? I've bought their products for 25 years, and they have always positioned their products as indestructable. And for a long time they were. Then their quality goes dramatically down, and they hide behind "proper use" of inferior products. If you only knew how gingerly I was batoning that thing and how easily it broke--but hey, you don't know, you spout off just like their sales rep. It's not good business Jim. It's a large company defending decreasingly poor quality products. You can defend their decreasing quality too if you like, but I'm done with them.
 
No matter what a company posts about their knives, it is the users responsibility to use the product wisely and within the inherant limitations of the steel/product. No knife or product is completely indestructable. Common Sense is key to usage.
 
I see it this way. I have one cold steel knife. It's a kukri machete that I got a couple of weeks ago. It came with a smashed tip and dull as a butter knife. For 15.00 I really had no big aspirations that it would rival my fiddleback machete. That said, I shouldn't have to do a lot of work to make a tool usable. But, I am going to beat the hell out of it. I am going to chop, baton and just use the hell out of it because that is what the knife is designed for.

Going on the cold steel web site the description of the beaver tail is as follows:

Offers a super wide blade with a long shallow "V" cross section that's ideal for cutting and shearing or piercing. It makes a great all around field knife too and will prove equally useful outdoors at camp or at home in the kitchen.

Its description or the knife's profile does nothing to lend me to think that this is a hard use knife. Honestly I am kind of neutral as far as cold steel goes. Their marketing is simply embarrassing but I have not had enough hands on experience to judge the quality of their products.

You don't fight a bear with a pea shooter. Buy a good sturdy knife that can take that kind of impact/abuse. I have a HI Khukuri that I will go after a tree with and not think twice. I have a Becker BK2 that I would not hesitate to pound through a log. I doubt I would skin a quail with the HI. Pick the tool for the job and you should be okay.
 
pantucci said:
What right do I have? I've bought their products for 25 years, and they have always positioned their products as indestructable. And for a long time they were. Then their quality goes dramatically down
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You used an almost paper thin knife to baton with, and blame its quality when it fails. Right. :rolleyes:
 
I was looking for a stainless alternative to my Izula, and I wanted to give CS a shot for a light-hiking small knife. The Minitacs seemed like a close bet. But I chose wrong.
 
pantucci said:
Did some LIGHT batoning and this thing busted on me the first day. Sent it back to Mr. Thompson explaining that I've been a big CS fan and have owned many of their knives over the years. Got a package back from a customer service guy. In that package was my broken knife, a catalog, and a corporate letter telling me, "Cold Steel considers batoning to be abuse of a knife, and is not considered proper use.", basically GFY...

It's unfortunate that they tout this "tac" knife as being excellent for the outdoors and camp......even more unfortunate is my disappointment in the quality and customer service of a company I once admired. I suppose if I want to behead cardboard vampires, or cut slivers of leather, or apples, this is the knife for me. It's a shame--from now on I go with ESEE or Becker for real quality.
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Hey Pantucci. Don't feel too bad about your CS mishap. After seeing some of their ridiculous marketing videos, I can understand why you may not have bothered to read the fine print: Cold Steel promotes themselves as the manufacturer of sick-tough knives. Unfortunately, it would seem that this Beaver Tail isn't one of 'em. Thanks for posting your experience though--you may have spared someone else the same end result.

Cheers! :)
 
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