CS Trailmaster SK5

[Alberta Ed]

I suspect that Marble's farmed out a lot of their blades to Camillus, after Mike Stewart left, so if you have a Trailmaker you may have a real treasure. Haven't heard anything about where Marble's will have their high carbon blades made now that Camillus is gone. Hope it's not China.

 

[Bowie Mike]

Thanks for the opinions - I'll take a second look at the Trailmaker and Thor:thumbup:

 

[Dr. Mudd]

Mrostov, thanks for the additional information. Sounds like you know your stuff. We appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us. :thumbup:

 

[the possum]

Now that their higher end knives in carbon are in the same league as the Bushman, I'm curious to see if there is a suitable price drop in the SK-5 blades now that they are using lower grade, cheaper Asian steel and the knives are mass produced in Asia.

IMHO, for the prices that I've seen for some of Cold Steel's stuff, they should start making some it out of S30V or ATS-34 (aka 154CM).

I'm all for dropping prices, but again I think it would be incorrect to write this steel off as "lower grade", unless it really is a lower grade with a higher content of impurities, and less stringent control over the alloy content or something. I like ATS-34 and its brethren in smaller knives and folders, but considering this thread is mostly about large chopping knives, such steels truly would be a step backwards from SK-5 or other carbons. They may be more expensive so you feel like you're getting more for your money, but I only see disadvantages from a performance standpoint.

 

[ashtxsniper]

I'm all for dropping prices, but again I think it would be incorrect to write this steel off as "lower grade", unless it really is a lower grade with a higher content of impurities, and less stringent control over the alloy content or something. I like ATS-34 and its brethren in smaller knives and folders, but considering this thread is mostly about large chopping knives, such steels truly would be a step backwards from SK-5 or other carbons. They may be more expensive so you feel like you're getting more for your money, but I only see disadvantages from a performance standpoint.

I use my knives for more than just chopping. I like a good tempered steel that holds an edge so for me the new knives would be disadvantage. As far as prying if you break 5/16" blade then you are prying to hard.

 

[the possum]

I use my knives for more than just chopping. I like a good tempered steel that holds an edge so for me the new knives would be disadvantage.

And that's fine. Maybe you could benefit from some amount of wear resistance if this is how you use your knives. That's not generally what happens with my "choppers" though, so I'm coming from a different perspective.

However, if the edge of a decent carbon steel loses its bite through abrasive wear, you can usually get it back in action with just a couple swipes on a pocket stone to restore that microscopic bit of steel at the very edge. But if you switch to something like S30V or ATS-34, the chopping can induce micro (and macro) chips in the edge which take considerably more time on the stones to remove. Thus rendering their wear resistance advantage moot. Heck, my 154-CM Benchmade folder has taken significant damage while chopping.

As far as prying if you break 5/16" blade then you are prying to hard.

I did not mention anything about prying because I'm not talking about prying. That's a strength issue, and stainless steels have strength in abundance. However, they do not have very good impact resistance, which is a different animal. You can't cure this by making the spine thicker, because the edge is always the weakest link.

 

[ashtxsniper]

I agree. I wouldnt use a s30v knife for camping either. Wow you did get a few good chips knocked out of the blade of that benchmade.

 

[Random04]

I suspect that Marble's farmed out a lot of their blades to Camillus, after Mike Stewart left, so if you have a Trailmaker you may have a real treasure. Haven't heard anything about where Marble's will have their high carbon blades made now that Camillus is gone. Hope it's not China.

Hmmmmmm, maybe I'll re-think that hacking down the lilac "tree", clearing the wild grape vines, and "trimming" the Pin Oak tree. I've got a RTAK that's getting kind of beaten up that might work almost as good.

Thanks for the input

 

[Zylon]

I ordered a Trailmaster in sk-5.. i like the design and the store i went to they had a san mai version i could hold and feel. all i was thinking was "gotta get me one of those but in sk-5."
I like the black coating somehow and after seeing the destruction test of the bushman thats also made out of sk-5... i figured if its near imossible to break a thin bush man I'm sure a trailmaster that's many times thicker would be fine.

will let you know what country it was made in when i recieve it, since some of you seem to care about that.