I really miss the custom series cold steel line

[Crikeyyy]

My first cold steel knife back in the mid 2000s was a recon tanto. Then I bought one of their titanium ti-lites. I liked it so much I ended up buying a cold steel black sable...then a Caledonian edge....then a black talon, talwar, spectre, and hamamoto.
Also picked up 2 natchez bowies in san mai, a black bear classic, and an r1 military classic. Oh and a light cavalry sabre too.

Fast forward to 2019: what the heck is going on? While the knives are still pretty strong, it seems like theres been a quality drop as far as anesthetics go.

What happened to san mai iii? All my san mai blades were fantastic. Held a great edge and could put in work.

No more high quality mirror finished blades? Everywhere I look these days its satin, stonewashed, and black coatings. The mirror polished blades were really something else.

Heck....cold steel doesn't even really use micarta anymore from what I've seen.

And now most of their stuff is made in china?(taiwan: same thing really).
I have a cold steel taiwan recon 1, and while its a great knife, it pains me to see made in taiwan stamped on the blade. It just isn't that cool

I look through the cold steel catalog now, and there simply isn't anything out right now I can get into...

Makes me sad. I was such a fan back in the day. Everything is ugly now.

Anyways...rant over

 

[Crikeyyy]

Dont get me wrong: I still like their stuff

Just wish they had more of the higher end stuff like they used to.

I suppose maybe the cast majority of their sales have been with their less expensive offerings, and they just said "heck with it"

 

[ron finkbeiner jr]

The Black Sable was a sexy beast!

 

[Crikeyyy]

The Black Sable was a sexy beast!

I remember say back then, ordering it off ebay from some store named "the cherokee outpost"

It was actually only my 2nd time ordering from online (1st was the tilite")

So I order.and wait...and wait and wait.

Finally I message the guy a week later like what's going on?
Jerk tells me oh sorry: we dont HAVE any of these right now. I can send you some trash auto knives instead.

I'm like nah Im good. Finally a week later he sends it. Itd been like 3-4 weeks by now


Left a negative review and the dude was pissed. What did he expect?