In general, what are your opinions of Cold Steel knives?

I like their Carbon V and AUS 8 knives. The Carbon V knives like the SRK and Recon Tanto are good knives for the money, especially if you get factory seconds. My $35.00 2nd Recon Tanto is just as good as my $70.00 Recon Tanto. They also are good for other things like their spears and the Bushman is the ultimate "beater" knife IMO. It is good enough for most jobs but cheap enough that I'm not worried about it breaking.
 
Got an AUS 8 bush Ranger that is perfect for the sort of bush that I run around in. Very light, great chopper for vines and thorn bushes that clog the river banks here and cuts and slices like a kitchen knife. I recently got a BK7 which is a superior blade but I often go back to the bush ranger

It's bastard to try and keep a sharp edge on but that doesn't matter greatly for what I use it for.
 
Originally posted by VampyreWolf
Ankerson> I always have at least one Serrated Spyderco model with me... either my new (3 months)Combo (50/50) Military, SE FRN native, or SE Tufram Cricket.

I just don't like CS's "serrations" as they don't sharpen on my 204.
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VampyreWolf,

I never really liked Spyderco knives myself, they are good knives and there is nothing wrong with them at all, just personal preference.

And I don't like serrated blades in general, but that is my personal opinion only.

I do have one Spyderco knife though, it's in a drawer somewhere, it was given to me as a gift, but it has a serrated edge..;)

I guess everyone is different, that's why we have many great choices of products on the market. :D
 
Well made knife that ranges from fairly cheap to collectable. I'm thinking of an Arch Angel myself. I like the San mai and carbon V steel too.
 
nobody mentioned TFT yet. It's my favorite outdoor knife, I don't know why, maybe because it does what other knives do and it can fly!
 
I used to buy, collect and use knives, I now make them. I think CS make good knives. Someone already said that they maybe USED to make BETTER knives. I find it sad that major makers, after years of making a mark with good quality steel, choose to go for steels like 420HC. Its very stainless and when heat treated well, will outperform the throwaway made in China knockoffs. But what sort of comparison is that ? Lets get into mass production, they say, quoting that 420HC costs about 1/6 the price of AUS-8 or similar steel. When you consider that the price of the steel makes up less than 10% of the production costs, its a small issue.

I do like their products though, from about 4-5years ago. I have various sized Voyager lockbacks, a couple of ElHombre lockbacks an AUS-8 Master Hunter and Carbon V Bush Ranger (both of which I lost in the field), 2 Bushman's. They all held up and didn't disappoint. I like things similar to the URban Pal and their push dagger relatives but they aren't legal in the police state of Victoria, Australia.

The lockbacks are solid pieces, the closing bias and stiffness is inherent to lockbacks with tough mechanisms. I don't like serrations in ANY maker's knives.

NB.- these aren't custom knives. You aren't paying custom prices and the quality is definitely appropriate to your cost out-of-pocket. They are perhaps no better or worse than any other manufacturer - Kershaw, Benchmade, etc. CS certainly venture into the realm of "unusual items." Like the spears, sjamboks and very tribal choppers like the Bushman.

Those of you concerned about the strength of the Bushman, take heart. I've beat mine up so bad, it should have broken long time ago, but it hasn't. The reason I own 2 is so that one can be used as a spear. No point throwing away your only good knife ...

Cheers.
 
Jason Cutter,

For the money the Bushmans are really nice and make very good general purpose knives..I have a mini Bushman and it is very tough, sharpens very quick to a razor edge.
 
Ankerson, those Bushmans are great value, as you know. It seems the temper is a little softer but it makes "bush" sharpening easier, on a rock or other smooth hard object. I could buy 10 Bushmans for the price of a single semi-custom "Camp Knife" and rig out my entire team for the same money. And people would be afraid to whack the hell out of them and use them like what a real field knife is supposed to be for.

It's been said that Carbon V isn't anything specific or special. Its whatever carbon steel it has available. I've found that CS does a reasonably good heat treat on their Carbon V and they get good performing knives. Its rare to have a major manufacturer make carbon steel knives anymore, but I welcome the use since I much prefer the performance of carbon over stainless anytime.

If anyone has specific details about what Carbon V has been analysed to be, I'd love to hear from you. I'm told people feel it was 1095 / 1094, 5160, O-1 or others.

Cheers.
 
Originally posted by Jason Cutter

Those of you concerned about the strength of the Bushman, take heart. I've beat mine up so bad, it should have broken long time ago, but it hasn't. The reason I own 2 is so that one can be used as a spear. No point throwing away your only good knife ...

Cheers.
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I put mine on the end of a stick to use as a spear and it held up to a lot of throwing. I wasn't really counting how many throws I did with it though.
 
Originally posted by Jason Cutter

It's been said that Carbon V isn't anything specific or special. Its whatever carbon steel it has available. I've found that CS does a reasonably good heat treat on their Carbon V and they get good performing knives. Its rare to have a major manufacturer make carbon steel knives anymore, but I welcome the use since I much prefer the performance of carbon over stainless anytime.

If anyone has specific details about what Carbon V has been analysed to be, I'd love to hear from you. I'm told people feel it was 1095 / 1094, 5160, O-1 or others.

Cheers.
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I think it has to do more with how Cold Steel heat treats the steel, I don't know what steel they use, it is good whatever it is. :D

My 10 1/2" CS Carbon V Larado Bowie is like a razor blade.:D

Carbon knives tend to sharpen alot easier and seem to hold an edge longer that most stainless knives.
 
From CS website:



Q: Why is Carbon V® steel better than others?

Some Cold Steel knives are made from Carbon V®, a high carbon, low alloy cutlery grade steel. This steel is superior in performance to most other steels due to its chemistry and also because of the close controls that we maintain at every stage of the manufacturing process. These controls begin at the steel mill where Cold Steel specifies the desired microstructure of the steel. Once smelted, each steel shipment is microscopically checked for structural quality, cleanliness and chemical content by an independent metallurgist not in the mill's employ. The blades are then blanked parallel to the rolling direction of the steel plate to optimize grain flow along the length of the blade. The final step is a precise heat treatment sequence that was developed by Cold Steel specifically for this custom steel. This heat treatment process is one of our most highly guarded trade secrets. It was arrived at over several years by using an exhaustive series of practical and metallurgical tests and observations. Overall, we believe that attention to detail in every phase of the manufacturing process is the primary reason for the superiority of our blades.
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The following is from an earlier forum Q&A about Carbon V, possibly from Joe Talmadge's steel FAQ:

"Carbon V is a very good steel. It is 50100b which is almost the same as 52100 except that is has less chromium. It has about .4% and 52100 has about 1.5%. Also 50100b has about .15% vanadium in it whereas 52100 has none or very little, like less than .05%. It is a pretty good balance between hardness, sharpness, and toughness. For a tougher blade you could go to multi-quenched 5160 or 52100. Carbon V would work well for a large knife if you aren't going to use it extensively as a crowbar. It is pretty similar to O1 which has been used for Randall fighting knives for decades."

I like it because it holds a great edge -- I've used a Master Hunter to field dress a moose without having to retouch the edge (providing you don't go sawing at the coarse hair, which will dull practically anything!) -- and it resharpens very easily, much more quickly than VG-10, which is the only stainless in my experience to rival a good carbon steel blade. 52100, cryogenically treated, may hold a tad better edge longer, but Carbon V is darned good steel. It is likely very similar to what Camillus uses in its Becker line, and as Ethan Becker said somewhere, the boys at Camillus know their heat treat. I believe Camillus also produces the Carbon V blades for Cold Steel, and they are one of the premier US knife makers IMHO.
 
Bladeswinger :

I've long been an admirer of Cold Steel & Lynn Thompson. Scary sharp,
good quality ;) I acquired the El Lobo PE from SMKW for a mere $19.99!
( www.eknifeworks.com ) I say, go for ANY Cold Steel blade that tickles your fancy!


AET ;)
 
Total crap for blades with piss poor designs with cheap ass materials. Blades cannot hold an edge worth sheit and Zytel is my fav! But hey, there advertisements blow too.
 
I have a mini-culloden, master hunter, and el lobo, all with plain edges. I really like them all and the master hunter has been used hard on deer and wild hogs and the edge has held up very well and sharpens easily. It was used to cut up 15 deer last year as I past it to others to try in camp and everybody liked it a lot and ended up ordering their own. The mini-culloden is a great neck knife that is comfortable to carry yet comes out faster than any folder that I had plus could be accessed with either hand. For the money, I think they are all right and wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
 
Originally posted by Jason Cutter


Lets get into mass production, they say, quoting that 420HC costs about 1/6 the price of AUS-8 or similar steel. When you consider that the price of the steel makes up less than 10% of the production costs, its a small issue.

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Thats not entirely true. Big manufacturers will move heaven and earth to save pennies (literally) in material costs for their products. Squeezing even 7 cents out of the per piece cost of a car is considered to be a major victory. If they will go out of their way to save 7 cents on a 25 thousand dollar car, you can bet knocking almost ten percent off of the cost of a hundred dollar knife is a big deal.

Cold Steel's product line has never appealed to me. I have found that other companies offer better products in the categories of knives which I'm most interested in (medium folders and smaller fixed blades). For my money there is no folder that I have ever seen out of Cold Steel that can favorably compare to a Benchmade Griptilian or 710. Its just two completely different worlds in terms of quality and functionality.

Some of their bigger fixed blades look to be a good deal though, especially the seconds.
 
Originally posted by knifedaddy84
But the carbon V is more prone to rust than the stainless, right?
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Sure is! I forgot my Recon Tanto in its sheath for a few days (during summer in the desert no less) and it was rusted! It came right off, but Carbon V will rust fast!
 
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