Rating Cold Steel Knives?

i give their fixed blades a 10, ive had many, they were all great. even a 75.00 trailmaster cut wood great,never had any problems, all were very sharp. i finally got a san mai recon scout, its real nice,convex edge,perfect in every way.i think all san mai knives are from seki city,the city of swords,which i have the highest regard for....
 
Focus only on the knives themselves and I'd say they are a solid 7-8 on the 10 scale with ten being the highest. As an older man I find most of the designs geared more toward a younger generation of users but that's fine. I do find enough in their offerings to allow me plenty to play with and even some of those that did not appeal to me visually have performed well once I got over the look of them with the warrior or gladiator look to most that are being offered these days. I have found many of Cold Steel's knives very useful and durable over the time they have been around to market the designs they come up with. I still own many of them from the 80s and 90s to present day. While they don't rate as highly as Spyderco or Kershaw for me I do find a lot that I like about their Triad lock and the team up with Andrew Demko. So at this time I'd have to give Cold Steel third place in my own personal pref for where I'm spending my $ anymore.
 
7 out of 10. Tri Ad lock, nuff said.


EDIT: the tri ad lock itself is a 10 out of 10, but its one of the only few good things about their products, so I give an overall 7 out of 10 rating.
 
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I've never owned a CS product and things continue this way I never will. I've read to much about them refusing to honor their guarantee/warranty. Generally, I don't like to buy products where the manufacturer doesn't stand behind it.
 
If Benchmade and Spyderco are 10/10, then Cold Steel is 6/10. This is because of CS's pricing and warranty/customer service. I enjoy Cold Steel's marketing (since most marketing is lying/misleading bullshit anyway). Some products are 8/10. The HT of Aus 8 is fine (good enough), but would be greatly improved if raised to Rc 60-61. A few of the products are a joke, but even an over priced gimmick can be entertaining. The most cost effective items are the discontinued products with close-out pricing. I own and use (or at least play with) over a dozen Cold Steel Products. For comparison, I own over three dozen items from: Benchmade, Spyderco, CRK, Kershaw, CRKT, Buck, Ka-Bar, Victorinox, Lion Steel. The greatest detriments to CS are inflated MSRP, very inconsistent Quality Control and mediocre customer service. The last time I purchased a Cold Steel product was two years ago.
 
With this thread, I believe we've moved past beating a dead horse, and right into humping a rotting moose.
 
I would rate them as high as any other respected knife company.

I don't want to get into brand hoisting or bashing at all , there is only brand that is an absolute TEN in all areas - in my opinion - the rest of them leave something to be desired but still put out some good blades , Cold Steel is in that category. I have not bought a single knife from them that I was disappointed in , I cannot say the same for a couple of the others and , I payed a LOT more for their knives , made in America or not. ( also in my opinion Made in USA is not always synonymous with top quality , sadly ).

The way I see it Taiwan is an American ally , as is Japan. I see nothing wrong with supporting a product made overseas as long as it does it's job , but this subject to me , is not about where or who made the knife as much as it is how dependable the knife is.

Tostig
 
I owned and have used the Kobun, Recon 1 Tanto, Double Agent II and Recon Scout (love it but too heavy for its size). May soon pull the trigger on a Leatherneck-SF.

They're fantastic for the $. I'd give them a 8-9 out of 10 for design and quality (price considered). For their advertising, I'd give them a 6 out of 10.

We all enjoy knives and all knife manufacturers have their place. Cold Steel has some odd stuff now and then (gladius machete, viking swords, etc), but I'm glad there's a company like them out there. The knife world would be a bit boring without them.
 
I think they make decent quality hard use blades. I would never buy something high end, such as the espadas, for over $300 with AUS8 steel? are you kidding cold steel thats outrageous! but their cheaper stuff holds up well and is without a doubt a great value, id give them a 7/10
 
Contrary to what many newcomers seem to think, pretty much anyone who has fancied cutlery for any amount of time has owned Cold Steel products at one point.

Most of those who bad mouth CS do so from the perspective of a current or former owner.

IMO, the quality of their products are fine. They even manage to make a fun or unique product from time to time. Most of the time though their products seem overtly gimmicky to me, or worse, intended to prey on the fantasies of those ignorant of blades in general... And that is not commendable in my eyes.
 
Id like to know what you think of the big Trailmaster in Carbon V versus the same knife in San Mai . I know San Mai is lots more expensive, Has anyone given either of these two knives a good workout or had them for years, if so? have you had the rubber handle come loose an want to come off an how easy or hard is San Mai to sharpen versus carbon V , plus does anyone know what the real steel is in either of these. thanks for any info
 
9/10 for my cold steel gurkha kukri ( 1095 one) for that price you get an AWESOME chopper and very useful blade for all sort of things, i love the handle design (even the crayton material ) and the balance is just ... awwwwwwwsome, feelas really light in hand, even lighter than heavier blades O_o
i use it a lot in the woods and i'm very happy with it, the 1095 blade hold up great.
The san mai version is way too expensive , i would never use it by fear to scratch it :p and i have seen the new kukri version as of 2012 and HATE the weird spike/choil/ weird thing they added, totally design disruptive for the knife and sheath, unless you use the kukri for fighting only, its totally useless to me ... glad i got mine before they did that because i would never buy it with that thing on it :D
 
I like Cold Steel for the most part. Some of their products are a bit silly, but I find that their folders that I own have fairly good ergonomics, ride well in the pocket, and are a great combination of cheap and tough that allows me to do stupid stuff with them without blinking an eye. For a big, tough folder at or under $50 I'm not sure they have much competition, so 9/10 for that niche.
 
I have little experience with their fixed blades so I won't critique them but I have a bit of experience with their folders I EDC a Medium sized Voyager on a regular basis and feel that it was a pretty nice knife for the money also my brother has an American Lawman and thinks very highly of it I feel overall that their folders are somewhere around a 7.5 out of 10 all in all a very solid buy for the money I believe Cold Steel could make the improvement of offering a higher end blade steel of some sort like VG-10 or S30V as an option with that being said their AUS-8 is more than servicable and can take a downright scary edge but I'd prefer something with higher wear resistance.
 
Too broad of a question. You would have to break it down by model.

Some are stellar for the $ and some have design flaws that make them a total rip off for the money.

The good ones are the norm, from my experience.

You also have a huge price spread. What I expect from a 30$ knife is not at all the same as what I expect from a 300$ knife.
 
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