CS San Mai Trailmaster anyone ?

Z

ZombaiO

Joined
Sep 30, 2007
Messages
1,175
Hi all ! :)

I've had a CS san mai Trailmaster for a month or so.I've used it for choping and batoning wood - it's a very good chopper with the thick blade (8mm) and the full convex grind.Despite it's size it can also be used for a various of tasks that are normally done with a smaller blade - fuzz sticks,notches in wood and precise cuts are no problem for that beast.It's especially good for food prep with that long blade - thanks to the quite thin convex it cuts like a much thinner blade ;) The VG-1 steel really surprised me - I am a fan of carbon steels,but that is some really good stainless :thumbup: It doesn't chip or roll from impacts with wood and stays very sharp after all the use it has seen - it still cuts newspaper withous problems.The handle is comfortable and secure.The sheath is OK - comfortable and secure but for the price it could have been better - strangely the cheaper SK-5 version has a leather sheath.

I would be happy to hear your oppinion on the knife,because there isn't as much info on the web for the san mai 3 as there is for the carbon V and SK-5 :)
 
i have one with sk5,no complaints here.i'm very happy with it when it comes to splitting logs,most of the time i dont use the baton.
 
I have an older TM in Carbon V, it's one of my all time favorites. It is big, but it does a lot of tasks very well, and has a great grind.
 
I wants one! I have 2 in Carbon5, and a Recon Scout in SanMai..its a great blade.:thumbup:
 
I have a stag handled carbon V older model. Of course I had to reprofile the edge.
Scott
 
Have you convexed the Carbon V's and SK-5's or you've kept the original full flat grind ?
 
ZombaiO said:
Have you convexed the Carbon V's and SK-5's or you've kept the original full flat grind ?
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Just the edge, not the entire grind. Being a full height flat grind, it wasn't too thick behind the edge. I have reground a Cold Steel carbon V SRK. They are very thick behind the edge.
Scott
 
AFAIK VG-1 is actually carbon steel (as opposed to VG-10) but some "carbon steels" have enough alloy to make them quite "rust resistant" (although I didn't bother to check what's the trail master made of).

About the trailmaster, I've actually been looking into it recently. Looks like a solid no fuss design. Looks a lot like a Fallkniven A2 in carbon which is what I've been looking for for quite a long time.
Probably would be a good "workhorse" big knife. The kind you which makes the job done but is basic enough so feels expandable.
A few short comings are:
* lacks protruding tang like on Fallkniven
* from those old pictures of broken Trailmaster, the tang doesn't seams radiused enough resulting in (sort of) brittleness (that said those pics are old maybe they adapted design in the mean time).

Price for "San Mai" version is a joke. It is far too expensive for what it is. It is funny that the "San Mai" feature is considered a "luxury" feature, warranting a premium price. If you've been in Japan or have browsed Japanese online store, you'll realised that "laminated" blades are actually a very common feature that can be found on inexpensive items.

San Mai is probably useful, while it doesn't help with shipping, it surely helps preventing "gross rupture". A feature I'd like to see more often.
But again too expensive, I'd probably get the SK-5 version (about like 1080) which is far less expensive and probably convey most of the performance.
 
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Considering price of Fallkniven knives I don't think the San Mai is overpriced - the Trailmaster is larger than the A2 and has a thinner full convex grind - I've used them both side to side and the Trailmster is far better at choping and cutting.For the short time using both steels (VG-10 and VG-1) I haven't found difference in their edge holding - both steels are good IMHO.
 
ZombaiO said:
Considering price of Fallkniven knives I don't think the San Mai is overpriced - the Trailmaster is larger than the A2 and has a thinner full convex grind - I've used them both side to side and the Trailmster is far better at choping and cutting.For the short time using both steels (VG-10 and VG-1) I haven't found difference in their edge holding - both steels are good IMHO.
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I agree! I have owned the A2 ..(very cool knife by the way) and the Falkniven Tor (also a very nice knife), and while they were awesome. I like the fat spine and thin grind of the CS just a tad bit more.
I wouldnt say the San Mai blades from CS are to much money, their MSRP is stupid, but you can get them at good prices on the secondary market.
I do want another Fallkniven A2 though..I liked the overall package..good survival knife.
 
ZombaiO said:
Considering price of Fallkniven knives I don't think the San Mai is overpriced
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looking at the prices of knives from some other manufacturers (Busse and CRK come to mind), i don't feel that Fallknivens are overpriced.

i think they represent pretty damn good value for money actually.
 
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