Looking for info about Cold Steel

master shake

master shake

Joined
Jan 26, 2010
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39
*This not meant to be a rant or a I hate ....thread*

I'm asking this here because this is the only manufacturer forum I frequent and trust.

With that being said, what's the story with Cold Steel? Why don't they have a thread page? And recently, I've heard a lot of discouraging things about them. I believe it was Mike who commented favorably in a previous thread about Lynn Thompson and Cold Steel. Again, I'm not looking to bash anybody I just want to know if I have a quality product or not.
 
Their marketing is kind of hokey if you watch some videos on youtube or their site, but every Cold Steel product I've held was really nice.

I owned a Carbon V SRK which was an awesome knife, wish I never would have sold it..
 
a few years ago, I sold my carbon V SRK on ebay. I even uploaded the SRK portion of the solid proof dvd to youtube and embedded that in my ebay auction. Lol, I think I am responsible for having the first ever cold steel video on youtube. It's still there and gets tons and tons of hits. The marketing maybe shady, but I can tell you I got double what I paid for it on ebay and I directly relate that to having the vid embeded in the auction page.
:D:thumbup:

Sorry for contributing to the CS hype all these years. :eek:

As far as their products, I don't fall for hype and only judge by what i feel first hand. I absolutely love their machete line. I don't buy the expensive crap so I can't comment on those. My AUS8 SRK does just fine but has been replaced by my ESEE so now it just sits on a shelf. The recon 1's are ok, but I have seen first hand (twice) that locking system jam up leaving the knife stuck half open. I have a safe maker 1 that looks nice but never gets carried. I like it, but its not practical. Truth be told, the only things i really love are the machetes and the SRK.
 
someone brough up COLDSTEEL not to long might want to try and do search on the forum. they seem to have some decent stuff.
 
I have nothing bad to say about Cold Steel. As far as I'm concerned anyone can hate Lynn Thompson all they want but he does go and do stuff and has done some pretty good designs.

Do I buy Cold Steel products? No, but not becasue I have a dislike for them. Just never had a need. With that said, if this thread becomes a "hate Lynn and Cold Steel" thread then it will be locked quickly. It is not in this forum's interest to have passionate debates about other knife manufacturers.
 
R.A.T. said:
I have nothing bad to say about Cold Steel. As far as I'm concerned anyone can hate Lynn Thompson all they want but he does go and do stuff and has done some pretty good designs.

Do I buy Cold Steel products? No, but not becasue I have a dislike for them. Just never had a need. With that said, if this thread becomes a "hate Lynn and Cold Steel" thread then it will be locked quickly. It is not in this forum's interest to have passionate debates about other knife manufacturers.
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I respect your products and by no means was u trying to get into a hate/ bashing thread. As I mentioned in my OP, I trust you and the members here to be honest and forth coming. If this topic was inapropriate please lock it now to prevent any problems.
 
No, you were not out of line. Wasn't meanign that towards you. I've just seen way too many Cold Steel threads become a worse debate than who's the best candidate for President. Some people on Bladeforums wear their heart on their sleeve too much. ;)
 
Again, my comments were not directed towards anyone who had already posted on this thread. I just know the shitstorm that's possible when certain topics are brought up ;)
 
As a side note, I carried one of their SRKs forever. One of the BEST knives I have ever owned, hands down.
 
I guess my question to Master Shake is what he really wants to know?

Are the "things" he's heard about the company true? Or do they make a good product?

For me, I've used several Cold Steel knives and I think some are great and some could be improved, but all in all they make a good, reliable product.

The rest will come from each person using them and deciding for themselves. :thumbup:
 
I had an SRK Carbon V as a camp knife back in the day.....was a good knife .....Dont own anything CS today though
 
I have 4 cold steel knives, two of them rotate through my edc line up which is mostly spyderco...
 
CS has a wide range of price and quality. Not all of their stuff is cheap.
 
The only cold steel product I own is the srk in aus 8. The coating on the knife is not durable but the knife definately is. Not an esee but for the money I think its a good choice. I have completely tortured that knife!
 
master shake said:
With that being said, what's the story with Cold Steel? Why don't they have a thread page?
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Manufacturers need to request a forum here, and support it with a regular working moderator. We have no fan forums except for 3 collectors forums.

They don't have a forum here because they don't want one. Cold Steel actually did open a forum here but it didn't last long.
 
As mentioned they have a wide variety of stuff and all price ranges.

As with most any manufacturer, they make some stuff I think is pretty neat and some stuff that makes me think WTF.

The only CS product I own is a Trail Hawk. They don’t make anything that is what I really look for in the knife departmen. Again, some great designs, some I consider borderline ridiculous and gimmicky. Everyone has different tastes though and to each their own.
 
I have a couple of their knives, and I like them quite a bit. I'll likely be getting a couple of their folders in the future, as I love the Tri-Ad lock.
 
Cold Steel products I have first hand experience with and what I feel about them:

CS Ready Edge: During E&E "practice" i used this little knife to cut an escape hole in a sky light in an abandoned warehouse. Took about 10 minutes to make a hole big enough for me to squeeze through onto the roof.

CS SRK - Aus8 & C-V: Both are excelent knives that served me well for years each. That is until I found ESEE. :D

UWK - Picked this up intending to resell it and ended up using it quite a lot. Nice knife, sharp as a razor, but definately raises eyebrows in non-knife friendly situations. No question that knife is made for fighting.

Recon 1 - My first impression was really good, but then I saw that if a person was applying downward pressure to the lock while opening it (to release tension and make the knife flip open faster) it would jam up halfway open and took tools to get it to close again. Not a big deal if you don't do that, but it is enough that I wouldnt trust my life on a knife that may not open when i need it.

Safe Maker I - Bought it as an emergency backup to conceal, but it was way too big for that purpose. Awesome little push dagger, but in everyday life I have no practical need for it.

Kukri machete: LOVE IT! It chops like crazy. For the price, I absolutely had no problem hand sharping it.

Kukri Magnum Machete: Got it at the same time as my kukri machete. Sharpened it but haven't field tested it yet. Frankly, the way the little on perform, I may never get around to messing with the big one.

Latin machete: Eh, its ok. Rather have the ESEE light machete though. Easier on the hands.

Urban pals - Had a few of these kicking around to open boxes and cut cord. They do fine. Nothing special to note about them. My izula handles all the tasks i used to use the little urban pal and ready edges for.

FGX Karambit and delta dart - Nothing bad to say about them.

Full set of the rubber training knives: Love them all except the black bear. Used them extensively for training Kali before i switched to metal trainers. Some times break out the rubber ones anyway. The blackbear trainer just wasn't realistic enough for a knife i would carry or encounter on the street and the extra finger guard thing was personally annoying and limiting in handling the trainer.
 
Cold steel is what it is. They make decent knives. Yes their marketing is sleazy and LT is not my favorite person but their knives are very solid for the price. Ive owned several and they've all been solid. Not on the level of Busse kin or ESEE for the same price but decent enough. But if it comes down to it Im buying an ESEE 6 over a SRK san mai every day of the week.

Their Kukri's are a great value and for the price I dont think their AUS 8 line can be beat. But I generally don't buy ~$60 knives when for a little bit more you can get much better performance and warranty with ESEE or busse kin.
 
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