Jimislash has a new Competition Chopper

Can we get Judge Judy to hear this case?

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Lee D said:
We are knife nerds Shaun, you’re not going to get any of us to buy anything that uses 3Cr. That’s gas station knife junk.
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We are knife nerds… who are willing to shell out premium prices for the knives that we want, buy multiple pieces of the same model, and will exhibit an amount of brand loyalty that many other industries would kill for…

I probably own over 30 Cold Steel knives myself, including some 3V models that I paid a premium to own.

For that brand loyalty, we have lost all semblance of customer support that the vast majority of major knife companies provide. The first sign of corporate interest appears in this manner.

The shocking lack of self awareness that GSM’s Cold Steel exhibits should show is that it is no longer a “knife brand” as we understand it. It is more in line with the Reapr brand offered by Academy Sports, or perhaps the M48 line from United Cutlery.
 
Shaun Cazin said:
I'm curious, did you buy and test these knives or are you just making an assumption based on ..... what? Buy them, test them, then come back and give me your opinion.
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The people you are questioning here are die hard Cold Steel fans/users who have not only been extremely loyal to the brand for many years but have also forgotten more about knives than anyone at GSM will ever know. The simple fact that you are on here defending the 3Cr garbage you guys are selling at a premium speaks volumes to me.

Loyal customers cannot get a peep out of anyone at GSM for close to 2 years now, but when a small stink is raised about this design conflict, GSM was swift to come in, make an account and try to defend the supposed "designer" of the knife who was too cowardly to speak up on his own behalf. Again, it speaks volumes.

I had GSM's number straight away when they tried to cancel the Lifetime warranty right out of the gate after taking ownership. The vast majority of us Cold Steel fans knows EXACTLY what's going on here. You are here to make maximum profit at the expense of destroying the brand. And destroying the brand is exactly what you are doing. It has objectively been ALL DOWN HILL since GSM acquired Cold Steel.

I personally had already reached the acceptance point of Cold Steel being dead and buried a while ago, but seeing this interaction here is just the reassurance that Lynn Thompsons creation is truly dead. GSM will receive no more of my money.
 
Josephldoyle said:
We are knife nerds… who are willing to shell out premium prices for the knives that we want, buy multiple pieces of the same model, and will exhibit an amount of brand loyalty that many other industries would kill for…

I probably own over 30 Cold Steel knives myself, including some 3V models that I paid a premium to own.

For that brand loyalty, we have lost all semblance of customer support that the vast majority of major knife companies provide. The first sign of corporate interest appears in this manner.

The shocking lack of self awareness that GSM’s Cold Steel exhibits should show is that it is no longer a “knife brand” as we understand it. It is more in line with the Reapr brand offered by Academy Sports, or perhaps the M48 line from United Cutlery.
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This….all of this.
 
All it would have taken to retain that loyalty would have been the slightest of efforts. A lot of the transition issues could have been overlooked with good communication on GSM’s part.

GSM is a corporation. Corporations need to turn a profit. I understand that knife enthusiasts are a fickle bunch… but, they are a fickle bunch who drop a lot of money on knives.

It’s pretty apparent that GSM would rather sell 30 blister packed knives to 30 people, instead of 30 fairly expensive knives to someone like me… they probably could have had both markets and reaped the sales from both sales demographics, but marketing executives who sell plastic Chinese made deer feeders are obviously not interested in nurturing a dedicated and enthusiastic brand following.


I understand the appeal of entry level knives which are available at big box retailers. Buck and Spyderco do this among others. However, if I have a problem with my 20 year old 110, Buck will assist me. Cold Steel’s market strategy of trying to sell knives to the knife community at a premium price with the zero customer service or support that usually accompanies much lower end brands is confusing
 
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The sad part about it is… other than a few hiccups like the machete sharpening issue, the quality under GSM has been stellar in my experience. My 3V Recon Scout is flawless. And I mean literally flawless. My only complaint about it is the sheath. My GSM era Talwar and Espada are two of the finest finished knives that I own.

They jumped the main hurdle with the transition…maintaining quality. The service end is where they dropped the ball.
 
Josephldoyle said:
The sad part about it is
They jumped the main hurdle with the transition…maintaining quality. The service end is where they dropped the ball.
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And that’s why this has been such a bummer. There’s a model or two I wouldn’t mind picking up. If the quality is still there, I’m in…but if customer service is failing miserably, I’m not interested. Customer service and warranty are huge factors when I buy a knife.
 
Lee D said:
And that’s why this has been such a bummer. There’s a model or two I wouldn’t mind picking up. If the quality is still there, I’m in…but if customer service is failing miserably, I’m not interested. Customer service and warranty are huge factors when I buy a knife.
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I was getting a 3V Trailmaster for Christmas… to go along with the San Mai version that I got for Christmas last year and the Carbon V version that I got for Christmas decades ago.

But, if I run into any issues with my $400 Trailmaster a couple of years down the line… what are my options? I can’t rely upon any sort of warranty coverage or assistance. Loose guard? Loose grip? I am out of luck.

I am still getting a new knife, but it won’t be the one that I wanted. It will be less awesome knife from a reputable company.
 
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This has a vibe like Jimislash called his daddy to take care of the bullies.

Answer this GSM representative: What changes did Jimislash make to the original design?

I see one handle rivet/tube and a piece of string. "Lots of things" or "you'd know if you held it" are BS answers. If GSM said he was part of the design team or provided input, it may be a totally different thread here, but when I chose leather seats for my F350, it didn't become "jdk1 designed this truck."

This whole thing is pretty obvious. I know a lot of those competition knives look alike, but Jimislash needs too tell people what he did to design this knife. Wallace showed us the knife he designed for GSM and it appears almost identical and Jimislash wasn't involved in the development of that knife. This appears an obvious attempt by GSM to capitalize on Jimislash's name recognition to make a fast buck. It also appears to show questionable integrity on the part of Jimislash for going along with the scheme. A GSM rep saying "it isn't so!" doesn't change any of it.

We can see GSM's business model for Cold Steel: low cost knives made from inferior materials and intended to be marketed to non-knife enthusiasts, with some exceptions , maybe. Add poor customer service and no loyalty to the customer base to the mix as well. We've seen this before with many other brands. You don't have to be a knife designer or have a marketing degree to understand what's happening. It's sad, but this is the modern business culture. Good luck with it.
 
Coincidentally, some of my thoughts in this post are the same as jdk1's above (clearly we were typing at the same time, me just a bit slower). But at the risk of being repetitive I'll post them anyways.

I'm late to the party. Here's my take.

I see a bit of contention regarding how similar or different the two knives are, and the general similarity between all "competition choppers". To me this issue is irrelevant. What is relevant to me is this-

Mr. Wallace, a knife designer, designed a knife, or participated in designing a knife.

The design that Mr. Wallace created, or helped create, was submitted to GSM.

GSM then gives the design to Jimislash, a youtube personality, to make a few minor design changes.

Jimislash and GSM then promote the knife as a "Jimislash design", with no credit given to Mr. Wallace or any other design contributors, because GSM believes that Jimislash's youtube celebrity status and popularity will increase sales as a "Jimislash design".


It seems to me that at the very least GSM should have given Mr. Wallace some public recognition for his contribution to the final product. To put the name "Jimislash" on the knife, and promote it as purely a Jimislash design looks like just another example of dishonest corporate marketing. Another example of profit over integrity. But speaking frankly, I'm not the least bit surprised.

As far as the future of Cold Steel, who knows. Gerber is still around, and look what Fiskars did to that brand. I imagine Cold Steel will survive, they will simply continue going down the road of producing cheaper, lower quality products that will appeal to people who are content with cheaper, lower quality products, or who don't know any better. Cold Steel may survive as a knife company, but the reputation that Lynn Thompson created for Cold Steel as a top-tier knife company will not survive. It really does look like the corporate policy at GSM/CS is- "We don't care about our customers, we only care about taking your money".

On a related note, I can't help but wonder if the reason Jimislash didn't respond to this thread is because he chose instead to contact GSM and say "Hey, I'm taking a lot of heat on this chopper. You guys need to send someone over to Bladeforums to defend me". Enter GSM rep, who otherwise could not be bothered to join this forum and address customer issues with GSM products. Top Priority of GSM- defend the new corporate spokesperson, Jimislash, and protect our investment.
 
Shaun Cazin said:
oh but am I....
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excellent.

so off topic from the thread. thank you for coming to the forum Shaun.

we have been begging for a gsm rep to come and monitor the cold steel forum.

many of us are fans of the brand and the products....my wants are as simple as this.......i just want to see cold steel be as good as it ever was and stay affordable for the high quality Lynn always did......strongest, sharpest, innovative....that stuff that made the brand desired......

that 3c13 knife set isn't gonna meet that. I like that it's affordable and said as much in my post on it, but the steel choice isn't gonna do it for many of us.
 
Josephldoyle said:
My problem is that a $400 Trailmaster will receive the same level of after-sales service and support as those $10 blister pack knives. Which is basically none at all.
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This is something we are working diligently to improve on. We are not perfect, we understand that... but we do care about the Cold Steel Nation and want to do right by you guys. It's a work in progress.
 
Shaun Cazin said:
This is somehting we are working diligently to improve on. We are not perfect, we understand that... but we do care about the Cold Steel Nation and want to do right by you guys. It's a work in progress.
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If that's true, please work with the mods to get someone assigned as the moderator for this subforum so there is a Cold Steel/GSM presence. Stickman has an account but has only posted a few times about contest stuff.
 
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