Has Anybody seen a Trail Master San Mai III broken?

T

tuxtex

Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Messages
82
Dear All,

a couple of weeks ago I got my first Cold Steel Trail Master San Mai III and I love it! I bought a Recon Scout San Mai III as well.

I found a few reports about broken Trail Masters and Recon Scouts in Carbon Steels, but I haven´t seen any report about broken Trail Masters or Recon Scouts in San Mai III.

Has Anybody of you all seen a Trail Master San Mai III broken?

Many thanks for your answers!

Best regards,

tuxtex
 
I have a TM, but it is carbon. I do have other models in SM III, and have found them to be fantastic. My oldest is a Master Tanto I purchased in 1984. It is one tough beast but very easy to maintain and sharpen. I would suggest that you give it a try.
 
I too have a san mai 3 TM. I really like it. Bigger handle which fits my hands much better than my dogfather. Love the guard and its blade is pretty easy to maintain. I have only seen pics of broken guards,never blades, and they really look beat on. I have learned to take others tests with a grain of salt. My knives are for woodwork, camp stuff. I hope I would never have to pry a door open with it but I would if I had too.
 
The only broken Trailmasters i've seen are Carbon versions - never seen a SMIII broken. Honestly, i've only seen one broken Trailmaster - most others were Recon Scouts.

I am really, really partial to my Trailmaster - though it's not a perfect design. While i was shopping around for a new knife, i found nothing in it's price range that's even close.

Congratulations on your purchases!!!!
 
There are thousands of Trailmasters out there and many of them have been used hard whithout breaking. Don't let that put you off.
 
tuxtex said:
Has Anybody of you all seen a Trail Master San Mai III broken?

/QUOTE]

I spend more than a bit of time perusing BF. Have since 2006. I have never seen any report of a San Mai III blade breaking.
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Part of the reason that there is no broken san mai 's is do to
the expense.Not many people like me are willing to hard use
these well finished pieces.
 
The thing I've been told about laminated steels (San Mai), is that even if one layer of laminate is abused enough to crack, there are still two other layers holding it all together... In my opinion, apart from maybe some of the Busse family steels, laminates are probably about as abuse resistant as any.
 
After 3 or 4 hits from batoning the guard on my carbon TM came loose. I sent it back to cold steel explaining how the guard came loose and they sent me a new one. I have since put that knife threw lots of abuse and everything is still intact and holding up great. With as many knives as cold steel sells, the odds are a few lemons will get past quality control, but they make it right. The carbon TM remains one of my favorites.
 
FuriousPace said:
After 3 or 4 hits from batoning the guard on my carbon TM came loose. I sent it back to cold steel explaining how the guard came loose and they sent me a new one. I have since put that knife threw lots of abuse and everything is still intact and holding up great. With as many knives as cold steel sells, the odds are a few lemons will get past quality control, but they make it right. The carbon TM remains one of my favorites.
Click to expand...

And that was the guard, not the blade itself. If I recall, a certain tester managed to break one layer on a Fallkniven, but only after some of the most ridiculous amounts of abuse ever. I seriously can't see a well made San Mai type blade breaking unless your only intent is to do so, and I think you could do that with ANY knife.
 
tuxtex said:
Dear All,

Has Anybody of you all seen a Trail Master San Mai III broken?

Many thanks for your answers!

Best regards,

tuxtex
Click to expand...

No. Truthfully, I have not heard of many Carbon versions with major problems either, but being it is the economy line there are a couple that pop up every now and then due to the volume of them out there. Use it reasonably and enjoy.
 
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