Ever heard of GSM Outdoors? They just bought Cold steel.

Silvanus said:
I have however needed warranties from other companies for legitimate reasons and rarely has it been within 1 or even 5 years.
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Same here. The only time I've sent a knife in was to ZT years after I bought it because the pocket clip had gotten ripped off but the screw shafts were still firmly in the frame. They fixed it back up no charge except for shipping and sent it back to me within a month or so. So a lifetime warranty is definitely nice.
 
Lynn Thompson's maybe gonna start a new chapter in his life with some fun Grandpa time and the company will simply carry on with new owners.:thumbsup: :)
 
LCT has gave his contribution to knife world, he has the right to retire when he feels like.

But I still think that he could have handled entire transition thing differently. And I understand this backlash.

GSM can do whatever it wants with Sold Steel now, and we all where this is currently heading. Cheap steel and not the best warranty, it'll sell in blister packs...

But after Sold Steel is out of picture, someone else might take their place and make all that goofy stuff to fill the void...
 
Quiet said:
All of this still reads like an ultra whiny defense of Lynn Thompson, which is odd because he doesn't need you white knighting for him. He just sold his company, and is about to ride off into the sunset with a big payday. Good for him, this fact is not in dispute. What people have concerns about* is the quality of the knives going down, because everyone except you, @Arathol and @SanLuisObispo understands that things ARE going to change, and almost certainly for the worse. I really don't know how the three of you don't get it, so I'm not going to bother trying to explain it for you further. All I know is that you seem really bungstung that people are discussing this deal using the facts as we know them, and yet you and a couple other folks seem really keen that we should stop discussing things "until we have all the facts" when the actually pertinent facts are already known.

You keep making this about Lynn Thompson, when really, the rest of us are talking about the quality level of future products.



* Those same concerns that you've made it clear you don't like people sharing, because...reasons.
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skyhorse said:
Lynn Thompson's maybe gonna start a new chapter in his life with some fun Grandpa time and the company will simply carry on with new owners.:thumbsup: :)
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Not 100% accurate, with respect. The company isn't just simply moving forward with new owners. From what I understand, most of the staff was let go, and suddenly. If that is true, there are some very stressed out folks right now worrying about work and paying the bills. Not to mention the whole Christmas thing.

Like Smiling, I've had this happen to me recently, so perhaps I feel more defensive to the former employees than I should.
 
Anybody actually know how many employees Cold Steel had/has? California doesn't show a WARN Act notice being filed for Cold Steel, but I don't know that the meet the threshold for the requirement.
 
OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
Anybody actually know how many employees Cold Steel had/has? California doesn't show a WARN Act notice being filed for Cold Steel, but I don't know that the meet the threshold for the requirement.
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I found a few different numbers when I looked. I saw one figure that I think was 36 worldwide.
 
Billy The Hungry said:
Not 100% accurate, with respect. The company isn't just simply moving forward with new owners. From what I understand, most of the staff was let go, and suddenly. If that is true, there are some very stressed out folks right now worrying about work and paying the bills. Not to mention the whole Christmas thing.

Like Smiling, I've had this happen to me recently, so perhaps I feel more defensive to the former employees than I should.
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Yeah.

He could handle the situation better, he knew that for a while, that's why he changed the policies and that's why he suddenly chose crappy 4034 steel for everything, folders, small and large fixed blades.
And he even tried to convince us it's a good steel.

He could at least reimburse them or tell them about this decision some time ahead so they can get something , they simply got ditched.

He does have the right to do whatever he wants with his company, and he did contribute a lot to knife world. But, things aren't black and white. He did seem like a cool guy, but this is unfortunatley not the way I'll remember him.
EatingSarma said:
Cold Steel is pretty much dead for me, it was for a while honestly. I still want to get few of their old knives but as I'm also losing my job - not happening...

As someone who also lost his job at Christmas basically and slept bad last night because of that and I gotta study too since exams are closing in... this is pretty irritating to me.

I'm this stressed despite the fact I will be getting my salary for 3 months from government as social aid if I don't find something right away.
I don't know if people in US have that kind of social system.

But not to give them anything at all is a DICK MOVE!
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My friend is in same boat, and I agree with him.

EatingSarma said:
Only thing I can say about CS now is WHAT A JOKE!
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And this also stands...
In my eyes this is a big stain on LCT reputation, and this is sadly the way I'll remember him despite the fact it's not the way I want to remember him.

I'll remember him as the guy who ignored the fact his sheaths are made out of really poor material, tried to sell me 4034 pot metal as something good, and then fired his entire crew for Christmas without saying a word to his fans until his new owners made him do so.

I know he doesn't care, but I hope he'll be happy to know I'll remember him as scared stuttering man he was on his last video.
He secured himself some nice money, but I can't say the same about his employees.
 
I wonder if we will ever see the likes of someone like LT again. He's was the perfect combination of business savvy and carnival barker. Billy Mays with a broad sword. I think if anyone else attempted to be that, it just wouldn't come off as genuine. He really embodied the company and moved with the times without diluting his brand. He knew his lane and he kept to it. Crazy-strong folders, swords, and defense items marketed as something so utterly common place that the absurdity of the product was completely forgotten when you started to watch him beat up an employee with a scarf.

I wish him all the best. And I think what is happening in this thread is that we have a community disconnect between those being sad (and maybe a bit pessimistic) that a real cornerstone of our hobby is probably no more and those that are not ready to accept the probability that this really is the end of Cold Steel as we know it. Using educated speculation to be bummed (and a bit ticked off how the sale was handled) does not mean that we are out to get LT or run his company into the ground. It's really not been a dog pile, and those few that actually have been snarky about being glad CS is basically gone have been publicly chastised by many of us arguing our points about why Cold Steel most likely will not come out better at the end for real honest to goodness knife knuts (GSM profitability is not my concern).

At the end of the day, there are lot of things we don't know about this yet. However, there is a lot of information that we DO know that can't be ignored either. Furthermore, love, hate, or be lukewarm towards, the sale of Cold Steel is most certainly an end of an era. I think a lot of this would be been easier to digest if there had been an official statement on the subforum here. The way it was handled looks and smells like a corporate muzzle, so I don't begrudge people finding it dubious that Cold Steel is really going to move on to bigger and brighter things.
 
Quiet said:
All of this still reads like an ultra whiny defense of Lynn Thompson, which is odd because he doesn't need you white knighting for him. He just sold his company, and is about to ride off into the sunset with a big payday. Good for him, this fact is not in dispute. What people have concerns about* is the quality of the knives going down, because everyone except you, @Arathol and @SanLuisObispo understands that things ARE going to change, and almost certainly for the worse. I really don't know how the three of you don't get it, so I'm not going to bother trying to explain it for you further. All I know is that you seem really bungstung that people are discussing this deal using the facts as we know them, and yet you and a couple other folks seem really keen that we should stop discussing things "until we have all the facts" when the actually pertinent facts are already known.

You keep making this about Lynn Thompson, when really, the rest of us are talking about the quality level of future products.



* Those same concerns that you've made it clear you don't like people sharing, because...reasons.
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You have a vivid imagination... "ultra whiny" "ride off into the sunset" "white knighting" "bungstung" :) Hyperbole weakens your argument, by the way. I'm not defending Lynn Thompson. It's his company and what he does with it is his business. I don't have any experience running a knife company.

Of course I hope the quality of Cold Steel knives won't go down. I'd guess everyone on this forum does. But not everyone is claiming they know for sure it's going to happen. I'd guess the odds are good that quality will go down. But there are also odds it won't. Ever buy a lottery ticket?

You're still talking like you have a copy of the purchase agreement (and could interpret it) and can read the future. The few facts available so far that I'm aware of: 1) LT sold the company, 2) The employees were laid off. 3) The new owners changed the warranty. 4) Lynn Thompson and Andrew Demko are staying.

I don't think any of these point toward a certain reduction in quality. A lot of people would say that #3 does, but it could be a decision made for other reasons. Are you a firearms enthusiast? Do you think Browning and Ruger make quality products? Neither has a ten-year warranty. Or five-year, or even one-year. They don't provide any written warranty. Does it reflect on product quality or customer service? Not in my experience. My assumption on future loss of quality in Cold Steel is based on what has happened to some other companies' products after a corporate sale. But it doesn't happen to all companies as was pointed out previously regarding Remington and DuPont for example.

If the quality goes down, that will be a real shame for sure. I just started buying Cold Steel knives and I hope they continue to offer knives I'd want to buy. If they continue to manufacture a quality product, great. Either way, braying about it is in vain and claiming to know what is going to happen is questionable.
 
skyhorse said:
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152,698,258 views and it's not even Bob Marley. Jeez...:rolleyes:

Next on the playlist should be "Tall Cool Women in a Black Dress" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Horse With No Name" by Crosby Stills and Nash, "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Bob Dylan, "Lightnin' Strikes" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and "Do it Again" by Santana.
 
Eli Chaps said:
Interesting. Both times I called they picked up quickly. Maybe no one is left to answer.
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Automated, I pressed 3 for customer assistance and it rang two different times but put me back on hold both times.
 
Lee D said:
Automated, I pressed 3 for customer assistance and it rang two different times but put me back on hold both times.
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Yeah I had that too but when I pressed three it was only a minute or so before an answer.
 
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