Made in Japan San Mai III Trail Masters and Master Hunters are gone

I thought that is what was said earlier on this thread.

The aircrafter carrier/island/battle store lists them as from Taiwan.

I was thinking about ordering one from a bookstore but I don't want to take the risk.

I might be willing to buy one from Taiwan with identical specs (real physical specs, not on paper) to the Japanese-made Trailmasters, but not one with bad grinds.
 
Benjamin Liu said:
I think the factories in Taiwan can make quality hollow grind knives but have problems with any other grind, even saber grinds.
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I have/had lots of Cold Steel and Spyderco knives from Taiwan and their flat or saber grinds have been great.

jbmonkey jbmonkey is your Taiwan SM Trailmaster flat or convex ground? Maybe I missed it if you already mentioned it.
 
jux t said:
I have/had lots of Cold Steel and Spyderco knives from Taiwan and their flat or saber grinds have been great.

jbmonkey jbmonkey is your Taiwan SM Trailmaster flat or convex ground? Maybe I missed it if you already mentioned it.
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I'm not sure. think convex, but maybe it's flat. I'm at my other place doing some work today. when I get back tonight I'll take some pics of it for y'all to see what I'm talkin about.....
 
so flatish ground and then to a convex edge....

20240601-203356.jpg

20240601-203303.jpg
 
jbmonkey said:
so flatish ground and then to a convex edge....

20240601-203356.jpg

20240601-203303.jpg
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Took a quick look, it does look like they tried a convex grind. Wonder if they used humans with slack belts as the Japanese manufacturer used to. If not, it would be the first I’ve heard of automated convexing. If so, that would be the first production convex from Taiwan that I can recall. Thanks for posting.

Edit: also, you’re right, that’s an oddly done San Mai outer layer thickness. Probably not necessarily a horrible thing unless you want the tougher stainless 420 to extend closer to the edge. It is a bit sloppy, though.
 
jux t said:
I have/had lots of Cold Steel and Spyderco knives from Taiwan and their flat or saber grinds have been great.

jbmonkey jbmonkey is your Taiwan SM Trailmaster flat or convex ground? Maybe I missed it if you already mentioned it.
Click to expand...

Do you have a 3V Trail Master?

So far from everything I've read there were not just a few with bad grinds, instead no one could find one with a good grind and the consensus was that they were all like that.

Many claimed it was still worth the price but I don't consider a sloppy grind on a $260.00 knife to be something acceptable.

I've heard similar things about the 3V Laredo and Natchez but there is not as much talk about these knives as with the Trail Master.

My saber grinds from Tawain (3V Magnum Tantos) are good, but what I meant was that they might have problems making them since they switched to hollow grinds on the SRK, Recon Tanto, and post-GSM Magnum Tantos.
 
Benjamin Liu said:
Do you have a 3V Trail Master?

So far from everything I've read there were not just a few with bad grinds, instead no one could find one with a good grind and the consensus was that they were all like that.

Many claimed it was still worth the price but I don't consider a sloppy grind on a $260.00 knife to be something acceptable.

I've heard similar things about the 3V Laredo and Natchez but there is not as much talk about these knives as with the Trail Master.

My saber grinds from Tawain (3V Magnum Tantos) are good, but what I meant was that they might have problems making them since they switched to hollow grinds on the SRK, Recon Tanto, and post-GSM Magnum Tantos.
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It seems like what you meant was that you read here that they were over grinding the flats of the 3V Trailmaster and possibly the 3V Laredo and Natchez Bowies. I was talking about their flat/saber folders and other fixed blades. They seem to do most of them well, still.
 
DocJD said:
That San Mai line is very high, toward the spine , compared to what I'm used to . :oops:
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yeah. that's the not so great part about it. one side isn't too bad. the other is quite high. all the angles coming together at the point isn't all that great either. it's okay and useable as a user, just not as good as the Japanese ones. kinda disappointing. it is cheaper cost wise than the Japan one, and I'm sure others are much better done than this one. so there is a silver lining.
 
jbmonkey said:
yeah. that's the not so great part about it. one side isn't too bad. the other is quite high. all the angles coming together at the point isn't all that great either. it's okay and useable as a user, just not as good as the Japanese ones. kinda disappointing. it is cheaper cost wise than the Japan one, and I'm sure others are much better done than this one. so there is a silver lining.
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My San Mai Japan Trail Master is in a cache , not readily available . But my other San Mai don't have over about 1/4" of the central core exposed .

The only purpose of the harder core is for the cutting edge , so it should best be covered as much as possible , IMO . 🤷‍♂️

Unless I got a very good bargain price , I'd be inclined to return one with too much core exposed .

Edit : Did find this old pic .
 
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jux t said:
It seems like what you meant was that you read here that they were over grinding the flats of the 3V Trailmaster and possibly the 3V Laredo and Natchez Bowies. I was talking about their flat/saber folders and other fixed blades. They seem to do most of them well, still.
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Not just here but in reviews on retail sites.

I've also seen numerous reviews trying to justify the weird grinds as well, but none with examples of grinds appropriate for a $100.00 knife, much less a knife that sells at $260.00 on discount sites.

I don't collect folders.
 
Benjamin Liu said:
Not just here but in reviews on retail sites.

I've also seen numerous reviews trying to justify the weird grinds as well, but none with examples of grinds appropriate for a $100.00 knife, much less a knife that sells at $260.00 on discount sites.

I don't collect folders.
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You said the Taiwan factories as a whole seem to have trouble with flat and saber grinds, but it’s looking even more like you were talking about 3 knife models in particular.

Just wanted this to be clear to anyone reading. I don’t see evidence that the Taiwan factories can’t do those grinds well, just that they were/are over grinding those three Cold Steel fixed blade models.
 
In the context of this thread it is obvious we are talking about the CS factories, and of course the knife in question is the Trailmaster.

It is also four knives, the Recon Scout is part of this issue.

What I said about saber grinds was not that they can't do them but they for some reason stopped doing them on multiple models.
 
I remember when the 3V Recon Scouts were on sale there was nothing but praise for their manufacture and performance during use. What happened?
 
Benjamin Liu said:
Do you have a 3V Trail Master?

So far from everything I've read there were not just a few with bad grinds, instead no one could find one with a good grind and the consensus was that they were all like that.

Many claimed it was still worth the price but I don't consider a sloppy grind on a $260.00 knife to be something acceptable.

I've heard similar things about the 3V Laredo and Natchez but there is not as much talk about these knives as with the Trail Master.

My saber grinds from Tawain (3V Magnum Tantos) are good, but what I meant was that they might have problems making them since they switched to hollow grinds on the SRK, Recon Tanto, and post-GSM Magnum Tantos.
Click to expand...
Man with no name said:
I remember when the 3V Recon Scouts were on sale there was nothing but praise for their manufacture and performance during use. What happened?
Click to expand...

I picked up a 3V RS a couple years ago when they went on a ridiculous sale. To me, the grinds are flawless. The same can be said for the 3V Laredo I ordered a year and a half ago. Both Taiwan made for GSM. I was hoping GSM would maintain the high standards ad infinitum and am disappointed to hear they no longer are.
 
DocJD said:
My San Mai Japan Trail Master is in a cache , not readily available . But my other San Mai don't have over about 1/4" of the central core exposed .

The only purpose of the harder core is for the cutting edge , so it should best be covered as much as possible , IMO . 🤷‍♂️

Unless I got a very good bargain price , I'd be inclined to return one with too much core exposed .

Edit : Did find this old pic .
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you're not wrong Doc. I'm just don't have the energy to return it and fight for a better one. it was on a sale but not that great of a price. I figure it's now a vg10 fixed blade basically. I'll just treat it as such and sure it will be fine for those uses.
 
I've gotten a second made in Taiwan san mai trailmaster now. just cause i wanted to see if i got an oddball or if all not so great. it's made very well. comparable enough to Japanese made in fit and finish visually. I'll post pics later when I get home. think my first is more i just got a bad one.....Taiwan can still make good fixed blades. I'm still weary of gsm's ability and care to watch qc though.....
 
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