Does anything beat the Cold Steel Trail Master ?

I'm always surprised that people are so accepting of rubber handles. Be it fallkniven, cold steel, or the skrama... I've seen several start to come apart.
 
Cobalt said:
An exposed tang may or may not transfer vibration just like an enclosed tang may or may not. Remember, there isn't much rubber between the TM tang and the hand. Holding technique, chopping technique, Blade design, thickness etc, all go into absorbing shock or not. One thing that is for sure, is that an eposed full tang is much stronger and if the handle material breaks, it can be wrapped with anything and still function. Enclosed tangs are almost always to small to makeshift a wrap on them. Another issue with enclosed tangs is if they radius the transition or not.


Here is a properly radiused transition
C5NYS0V.jpg


Then in this picture you have the TM on the right that did not have a transition compared to the Basic 9 on the left, which did. Eventually, the TM will fail at that transition if you baton with it a lot.
n7cvZkK.jpg



Here is my old TM

7qz6GLq.jpg
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Do you happen to know which edition of the Trail Master is shown in your second pic? I seem to recall that earlier models had a pretty stark transition to the tang and were known to break off at that point (not all of them, obviously, but enough to notice the issue) but the transition was more broadly radiused in later releases. Judging by the style of the choil/ricasso, I think it is clear that the TM in the picture is not one of the first edition knives, but I wonder when the broader radius was added (if it was truly added at all).
 
oldmanwilly said:
Do you happen to know which edition of the Trail Master is shown in your second pic? I seem to recall that earlier models had a pretty stark transition to the tang and were known to break off at that point (not all of them, obviously, but enough to notice the issue) but the transition was more broadly radiused in later releases. Judging by the style of the choil/ricasso, I think it is clear that the TM in the picture is not one of the first edition knives, but I wonder when the broader radius was added (if it was truly added at all).
Click to expand...
I seem to remember the earlier carbon v ones had a 90 transition without being radiused much. I thought the Japanese and Taiwan made ones had improved on that...but my memory isn't good and it was long time ago when I paid attention to that issue.
 
oldmanwilly said:
Do you happen to know which edition of the Trail Master is shown in your second pic? I seem to recall that earlier models had a pretty stark transition to the tang and were known to break off at that point (not all of them, obviously, but enough to notice the issue) but the transition was more broadly radiused in later releases. Judging by the style of the choil/ricasso, I think it is clear that the TM in the picture is not one of the first edition knives, but I wonder when the broader radius was added (if it was truly added at all).
Click to expand...

That one was probably purchased in 1997-98 by Turber. So my guess is before that time. Funny thing is that the japanese made versions had the radiused transition. I am sure that
 
jbmonkey said:
I seem to remember the earlier carbon v ones had a 90 transition without being radiused much. I thought the Japanese and Taiwan made ones had improved on that...but my memory isn't good and it was long time ago when I paid attention to that issue.
Click to expand...

Cobalt said:
That one was probably purchased in 1997-98 by Turber. So my guess is before that time. Funny thing is that the japanese made versions had the radiused transition. I am sure that
Click to expand...

Here's a pic taken from JoeX's destruction of a 3V Trail Master. It looks like the transition has a nice, round radius which should be sufficient. I hope my O1 TM has a similar transition.

shunsui

Post in thread 'History of Cold Steel Trail Masters (and Recon Scout)'

I was reading an old thread about the handle and tang of the Trailmaster and someone wanted to see pictures of the radiusing at the location where the blade necks down to the smaller tang. Since no one presented one, I thought I'd post what I found in this sticky.

HtSkSd5.jpeg


This is from the JoeX video for the 3V Trailmaster: (around 36-37 minutes in)

It's interesting that the knife broke in several places but not the one's people usually worry about.

The radius apparently worked fine, and the spot welds for the crossguard broke free but did not cause any...
  • Like
 
oldmanwilly said:
Here's a pic taken from JoeX's destruction of a 3V Trail Master. It looks like the transition has a nice, round radius which should be sufficient. I hope my O1 TM has a similar transition.

shunsui

Post in thread 'History of Cold Steel Trail Masters (and Recon Scout)'

I was reading an old thread about the handle and tang of the Trailmaster and someone wanted to see pictures of the radiusing at the location where the blade necks down to the smaller tang. Since no one presented one, I thought I'd post what I found in this sticky.

HtSkSd5.jpeg


This is from the JoeX video for the 3V Trailmaster: (around 36-37 minutes in)

It's interesting that the knife broke in several places but not the one's people usually worry about.

The radius apparently worked fine, and the spot welds for the crossguard broke free but did not cause any...
  • Like
Click to expand...
I think that it most likely does.

Be it stamped from a sheet or cut with machine, the round corner are usually easier to make in these cases. The structural integrity is a plus.

Look at the width of the tang, it is more than half of the knife width, which should be able to hold up well.
 
AntDog said:
On one of your sale posts I saw you say you were selling all your knives to pursue a different hobby.

Please tell me it’s not stand-up.
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I’m not selling all of them, but I’d like to start collecting Napoleon era sabres. At this point I’d rather have a 1796 light Calvary Sabre than 20 modern Bowies
 
I've had cold steel trail masters in the past.. But for some reason, I got tired of the weight and the crappy kraton handle.. I went with a different line of bowie knife which are all custom made and tweaked to my specs.. They have handled the work and geographical local where I live and work better than the TMmodel-14LG.jpgIMG_0208.jpgthumbnail (1) special ops bowie.jpgthumbnail (1) bulldog.jpg
 
DocJD said:
I have not experienced this as yet , and I have some from the early '80's .

I have read that some solvents / insecticides can degrade Kraton . IDK .
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DEET is common in bug repellents and there were many anecdotal accounts in the past of it attacking Kraton handles. Hopefully the material grade was changed by CS at some point in response.
 
scdub said:
The 3V TM is retailing for ~$350.
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Shop around right now and easy to find it for $250 on sale . :cool: Not from a sponsor so don't ask !

Anyway , Most of my CS knives have been purchased at deep discounts .

Not every brand allows this .

I don't like to compare knives outside their cheapest price point . Not really fair IMO .

Also customs / semi-custom vs mass produced . Different ballgame entirely , not comparable .
 
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