May be a dumb question about CS...

G

Glockmeister

Joined
Jul 12, 2006
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I recently had afriend of mine who I work with let me watch two of the cold steel DVD's and it somewhat got me interested in CS. I have never owned one but the Recon series looks pretty good as well as the Gunsight series. Anyway, I was out at a shopping center and there was a guy there who had a knife stand and among other things, he had the CS Recon there and I noticed it had Taiwan stamped on the blade and the shopkeeper told me that all of CS knives are made in taiwan. Is this true? I am somewhat reluctant to buy a knife made in Taiwan. I do have CRKT that is and it is ok, but I think it may be the exception and not the rule when talking about Taiwan steel. I would imagine The quality control would be spotty.
So, are all CS blades made in Taiwan or are soem made there, some in the U.S., etc?
 
Taiwan is a multiparty democracy, there is nothing wrong with buying products made there. Cold Steel products are made various places. They do not make knives, they are a marketing company. Some of their products are quality, others less so- look around here for info on the models you might be interested in. In many cases you can find a better product for a similar price.

One thing about cold steel that I don't like, is the fact that they never use any high-end steel in their knives. They instead try to hype up the AUS-8 used to be something special.

The most important thing to remember if buying a cold steel product, is to never buy from them direct- they charge way too much.
 
Some are made in Taiwan, some are made in Japan, etc.
The country of origin really has nothing to do with quality. It's determined by the specific factory/manufacturer that produces them, and by the standards of the company who commissioned the manufacturer.
You'll find mixed opinions of CS. Some like them, some hate them. I don't know of many people who love them. Most negativity is brought on by their marketing hype and their (some would say) shady business ethics. By and large, however, their products are pretty solid.
 
I don't own any Cold Steel products; because Cold Steel is a marketting company that doesn't manufacture their own knives. IMO their videos are nothing but propaganda to the uninitiated.

If you'd like some feedback on the Cold Steel Recon Tanto, check out these threads:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=328256&highlight=recon+scout

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=360675&highlight=recon+scout

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=275791&highlight=recon+scout

This isn't to say that every Recon Tanto is bad, however as a consumer you may want to weigh the good vs the bad.
 
The ColdSteel knives that are made of Carbon V steel are "Made in USA".

Their folders and ColdSteel knives made of AUS 8A steel are "Made in Japan".

"Made in Taiwan" are only a few fixed blades, most likely you have seen
one of them.
 
Not a question about the country of manufacture, but about
the ColdSteel Solid Proof video....

Does anybody know in which year they replaced the video tape
with the current DVD :confused:
 
Andy_CN said:
The ColdSteel knives that are made of Carbon V steel are "Made in USA".

Their folders and ColdSteel knives made of AUS 8A steel are "Made in Japan".

"Made in Taiwan" are only a few fixed blades, most likely you have seen
one of them.
Click to expand...

No, What I saw was a Recon folder, not a fixed blade knife.
 
Glockmeister said:
I recently had afriend of mine who I work with let me watch two of the cold steel DVD's and it somewhat got me interested in CS. I have never owned one but the Recon series looks pretty good as well as the Gunsight series. Anyway, I was out at a shopping center and there was a guy there who had a knife stand and among other things, he had the CS Recon there and I noticed it had Taiwan stamped on the blade and the shopkeeper told me that all of CS knives are made in taiwan. Is this true? I am somewhat reluctant to buy a knife made in Taiwan. I do have CRKT that is and it is ok, but I think it may be the exception and not the rule when talking about Taiwan steel. I would imagine The quality control would be spotty.
So, are all CS blades made in Taiwan or are soem made there, some in the U.S., etc?
Click to expand...

interesting test with the outcome of cs,ck out the testing a MS Scagel
in this same forum.
 
Glockmeister said:
No, What I saw was a Recon folder, not a fixed blade knife.
Click to expand...

When the new Recon 1 Folder (AUS 8A) is "Made in Taiwan" it seems that
ColdSteel is outsourcing some of their folder production to Taiwan, too.

The CS Ultimate Hunter, also made of AUS 8A steel, is "Made in Japan".
At least the knife I've seen in a local shop recently.

You really have to check the blade for the country of manufacture.
Only the CS Carbon V knives seem to be always "Made in USA".
 
I got a factory second from Cold steel about 4 or 5 years back. I think it was a master hunter in carbon 5. I felt it was reasonably priced for what I got. It was a good knife, but I have also had coldsteel folders that were so dull from the box ; I couldn't do much with them. There are many knife companies that make a quality knife useing quality steel. Rather have 1 Benchmade or Spyderco than 5 cold steel knives.
 
I reckon you're talking about the Recon 1 folder rather than the Recon fixed blade. The latter may be made in Taiwan now, but you'll probably like whichever one you get. I like the Gunsites way better, though.
 
Confederate said:
I reckon you're talking about the Recon 1 folder rather than the Recon fixed blade. The latter may be made in Taiwan now, but you'll probably like whichever one you get. I like the Gunsites way better, though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if he woulda had one of the gunsight knives there I probably woulda went home with it.:D
 
out of the 9 knives i have 5 are cold steel, i have never had an experience with any of their knives that warrant the rep they have on bladeforums.com. as far as the recon 1 goes, i love it, i have the tanto version and im very satisfied with it, it came very sharp, opens and closes smoother than any other folder i have, its a peaty big knife though might not be the best edc if your concerned about weight or size, though i personally like a knife with weight to it. and Rat Finkenstien has a great point never buy from there site, i got my recon for around 70 a good deal for a high quality folder (i think it was over 100$ on the cs site).

and as far as there videos being propaganda, the cold steel knives i own have stood up to the quality, strength, and sharpness the videos portray, i may have never stabbed my tanto into a car door, or through a concrete block but time after time they have withstood massive amounts of abuse. i think i got my first cold steel about a year ago, every single one has held an edge so well i have yet to sharpen a single one.

im not saying cold steel is the best company in the world but its certainly my favorite, and deserves a better rep.
 
for the $$ cold steel is "ok" actually there fixed blades are pretty good all in all, the folders are mostly old designs which havent changed much thru the yrs, which is good in some ways bad in others, i dont care for the zytel/FRN whatever it is handles at all, while the folders are "ok" i dont see them being any tougher/better made/etc than any good spyderco/BM/EKI/MT/etc, toughest around like portrayed in the DVD?- no way imho.

i wont buy one because most of the designs are old, FRN handles look cheap to me(though they are perfectly functional), they advertise too similar to dork ops imho, and that owner, man he's something else.
 
I don't think it's an issue of them being an tougher or better made -- it's that they offer big beefy blades that are difficult to find at reasonable prices with other knife companies. My EDC now is a very light Gunsite which sports a 5-inch blade and is nearly indestructable, even without liners. The zytel handles don't conduct cold or heat, can survive a truck running over it and is very resistant to scratches. If I fell out of a moving car going 120 mph, the only thing that wouldn't be marred in the deal would be that knife!
 
I've had much luck with the cold steel folders. Reasonably priced and they were the sharpest knives out of the box that i have ever gotten. Even more so than my spyderco and benchmade.:thumbup:
 
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