No more Carbon V

And here I thought it was the Roman numeral for five all this time, and that a new one might be Carbon VI:confused:
Last I heard, Cold Steel was not a manufacturing company, but more of a marketing company, and it would be hard for them to cease production of anything.
I know for a fact that Carbon V is 0170-6C by Camillus, so it's hard to imagine what difference a Japanese steel manufacturer has to do with anything, not to mention that the Carbon V knives have been advertsied as being "made in the USA".

From the CS FAQ:
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.
:foot:
 
For whatever it's worth, when you talk to the Cold Steel people on the phone they pronounce it "Carbon Five." So if they were to change the trade name they might change it to "Carbon VI" -- but they haven't changed the trade name in the past, why should they now?
 
According to the news from Camillus, a local paper said CS had pulled out a little while ago, which certainly doesn't help any chance Camillus has of recovering.

Possibly "problems with Japan" means nothing more than CS can't find a Japanese company to cover their Carbon V production.

On the other hand, we don't know who is answering the phone at CS, or how much they really know. It's not as if Lynn Thompson has been totally open about his operations in the past, either.

Wait & see. :)
 
I would have to first have some notion of what kind of work the person on the other end of the line did at CS before I took their statement as being accurate or reliable.
 
Could this be the latest marketing ploy perhaps ? Tell everyone theirs no more Carbon V so they buy them , and then produce the same knives with a different steel but same name ?
 
Could be, but the steel they've been calling Carbon V is not unique to them, it's available to other manufacturers, and they could conceivably get someone else to buy up a batch & make the knives for them once more out of that same steel.
 
Carbon V
Question: Would this be the same stuff that is used for the Becker line?
To quote the The Becker Knife and Tool Company site
"...0170-6 high carbon tool steel has been specially selected to give the BK&T line clear superiority in the edge-holding and toughness departments among its chief competitors...".
Damn shame for Cold Steel to loose "...one of our most highly guarded trade secrets...".
 
Guys, sounds like it is a case of get your CS MH while you can! They are awesome working knives - you can get them razor sharp on just about anything and the edge just goes on and on and on and on.... If CS loses this they'll be in for a hard time!

Greg
 
OwenM said:
And here I thought it was the Roman numeral for five all this time, and that a new one might be Carbon VI:confused:
Last I heard, Cold Steel was not a manufacturing company, but more of a marketing company, and it would be hard for them to cease production of anything.
I know for a fact that Carbon V is 0170-6C by Camillus, so it's hard to imagine what difference a Japanese steel manufacturer has to do with anything, not to mention that the Carbon V knives have been advertsied as being "made in the USA".

From the CS FAQ:
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.
:foot:
Click to expand...
From the AG Russel site regarding the Marble's Exclusive Series:
"These knives are made with today's knife buyer in mind. Instead of the very thin double guard of the original, these have a thicker, longer, sturdier, single guard and the blades are thicker, using 0170-6 at 57-59 Rc. This is a very respected cutlery steel, so highly thought of by one young knife company that they gave it a name of their own to hide the source of such a fine steel. ;)

~Paul~
 
Troop said:
For whatever it's worth to you guys, Cold Steel advised me today that they are ceasing all production of their Carbon V steel blades... problems with the steel manufacturer in Japan.
- exact quote for ceasing production, "problems with Japan". Whatever that means...
Click to expand...

Pathetic that they feel the need to lie, or obscure the truth.

Why not say "Camillus made our Carbon V knives, and we have been unable to find a new manufacturer". . . ?

I guess when you make a habit of being dishonest, you do have to be consistent.

company policy must be to maintain the facade of Cold Steel being a manufacturer of knives. My guess is the guy who called did not tell them that he knew Camillus made their Carbon V knives. . . I wonder what the scripted rebuttal would be if you asked a question directly about Camillus?

Maybe the company shill can chime in here and explain to us how we are all just haters and there are no lies.

I highly doubt CS is going belly up, but they will undoubtedly take a severe blow from the discontinuation of the Camillus-made knives.
 
Why don't they just use the 5160? Tough, easy to heat treate and still a Carbon V, "5"160.:)
 
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