Rating Cold Steel Knives?

I like the Tri-Ad lock quite a bit. I hate blade play and this fixes it. The deployment on some of them is also very smooth for a lockback.
 
I have owned and used Cold Steels knives for many many years now. Ive had my ups and downs with them as I have with most all other knife companies. Overall all I would rate them 8 out 10 and say they would be hard to beat in overall performance for what they cost. Their knives will do what they say they will do. I've never had one fail. I do wish they would use better steels in their folders but then they do have (my opinion only) the strongest lock on the market so to me that kinda counters their use of mediocre blade steels. I like them and I will continue to buy them.
 
Hi
I love CS for 2 decades.
From Trailmasters to XL Voyagers.
This is where I love them: in bigger than life gears.
My Trailmasters is a factory 2nd and I've got a wooden handle shaped by a woodturner of my friends in Bokote wood. I was not able to get rid of it in a decade. Luv it.
Now my first XL clippoint Voyager has been stolen by my 70 (now 80) year old mother. This is her main chef knife and she is a known cook with a reputation to uphold. It was impossible for me to have it back and she is really not into anything tactical. Simply she loves it. She keeps it sharps in her drawer.
Now I got one of the new xl clippoint voyager with triadlock: smooth balanced solid sharp impressive... The superlatives go on and on... Huge and beautiful.
I'm going to write a review soon.

My experience with that company is pure joy.
So it's a 10.
 
What I have bought from C.S., a machete, a couple of hawks, some folders, have performed exactly how I wished them to. Their marketing is embarrassing psycho slasher crap but their product range is wide enough, and some designs\materials decent enough, to be a good value. 8 out of 10.
 
Alberta Ed said:
Lynn Thompson has been one of the most innovative knife designers of the past couple of decades IMHO. The Master Hunter, SRK, tanto and numerous other designs are classics. I'd bet my life on a Voyager. People who have problems with his marketing are making a mistake by dissing his blades: they all cut as they are supposed to do.
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as said above.
 
Let me put it like this:

Marketing is can lead to sale of a knife...or NOT. In my case it is NOT.

They may be fantastic knives, but I have yet to be convinced to buy one. I am not dissing or hating on anything or anyone...I have just never felt the desire to buy a Cold Steel product, and their marketing has a lot to do with it.
 
For Christmas I bought a really nice Cold Steel Espada Large for my best friend and I had a bit of time to play with it prior to giving it to him and I was very impressed.

The Espada is easily a 9/10 and thats because I wasn't able to put it through it's passes without making it look like a used knife. I liked it so much that I picked up Cold Steel Counter Point 2 and I absolutely love it. It holds an edge, it feels good in my hand, as with all CS knives the lock is just unreal with no play whatsoever.

Just great knives that I'm really glad I investigated and bought. So for all the positive reasons mentioned in this thread and the experiences I just mentioned I'd give it a 9/10 as there is always room for improvement.
 
Spontoon said:
When you gave him the knife, he did give you a coin in return right?
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Oh yeah, absolutely. I'm not one to tempt fate. Cool thing is that the Cold Steel Espada really got him interested in Knives. He went on-line a couple of days later and bought the Murray Carter knife sharpening DVD packages which comes with two Japanese King Waterstones. So I think he's really digging this hobby and the CS Espada. (I honestly find the Espada to be a very beautiful knife)
 
I have been a fan of many of Cold Steel's Knives from the time I got my first SK-5 Gurkha Kukri. As far as the Marketing and Proof DVD I just sort of took them with a grain of salt, Chuckled and figured they didn't do any harm. I think some others have described it as marketing for knuckle draggers. There is some great value in the Fixed blades. The light series Krupps 4116 do everything they are supposed to at a great price.

As a Company they do have a habit of stepping in it. IE: the unsuccessful buyout of the Carbon V mill, The botched SMIII Voyagers, the botched VG-1 Steel Deal, huge backorders on any of the San Mai III Master Tantos and Kukris and now the Leatherneck debacle (which was redesigned to satisfy Large Off Shore Orders according to Cold Steel).
Historically, Cold Steel has been a lot of both Sizzle and Steak but now there is just a lot more cheap Bacon Sizzle that they call Steak. And that's fine if you like the taste of Bacon. I mean Really. Who could have guessed that Cold Steel would try to become the Mini and Micro Folder Mavins of the Knife World??

And the way they deal with people that disagree with them? Well . . . .

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most of their lover priced knives are excellent knives for money, I just wish they used vg10 for knife blades.......their triad lock is excellent!8-1/2out of 10!
 
At this point you should be happy to get even VG-1. Cold steel is down to 3 Steels it seems. AUS8, Krupps 4116, and SK-5 High Carbon. Nothing new in San Mai III or any other Steel.
 
I find that cold steel are decent inexpensive knives ...their business goals are smelly but in terms of getting a decent 25 dollar knife they are def worth getting to do some damage to ...I like customs but I love cold steel...I also hate them but I can tell you besides the long wait time, if you are ever lucky enough to pick up some of their old knives with brass accents for cheap on eBay...send it into them and for 10 bucks they do an incredible job at sharpening that pays for shipping to which is a great deal


I'm a noob what do I kno but they make several models I'd feel comfortable taking into combat with...I can't comment I'm edge retention
 
I have the OSI, Rajah II, and XL Voyager tanto. Both the OSI and Rajah are very comfortable and I wouldn't change anything about them, but I have a few gripes with the Voyager. For one, a knife this size (5.5" folding blade) DEMANDS a thumbplate to be waved open. Why they didn't put one on it is beyond me, especially since quite a few of their models already have this feature. Second, the texture of the handle feels like it will shred my hand if it moves around even the slightest bit. Shouldn't have to take sandpaper to a brand-new knife to make it so you can actually hold it for more than a few minutes without getting blisters. That's not too much to ask for $60, is it? It's a good knife as-is, but it could be so much better with just two small changes. I'm just glad I got mine for thirty dollars at a gun show instead of the regular street-price, and much better than the MSRP of $90.

I have lusted after several of their eye-catching models (namely the kuk, R1 Military Classic, and Black Bear), but I think the prices on most of their knives are simply too high compared to what you can get from the likes of ESEE, Benchmade, ZT, or Scrapyard. I think the same can be said for SOG's fixed blades. The design is there (for the most part) but the materials used don't justify the excessive price.
 
Looks like this dead horse has gone past rotting and straight to liquified goo.
From now on, those who continue to beat it will be covered in goo.
 
Plenty of people have abused this knife to Failure. But this Fail is not caused by Abuse. It is just poor fit and finish.

Pocket-Bushman-FAIL.jpg


As is the Fit and Finish on the XL Espada G-10
XL-Espada-Fail.jpg
 
Alberta Ed said:
Lynn Thompson has been one of the most innovative knife designers of the past couple of decades IMHO. The Master Hunter, SRK, tanto and numerous other designs are classics. I'd bet my life on a Voyager. People who have problems with his marketing are making a mistake by dissing his blades: they all cut as they are supposed to do.
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Classic Yes. New and innovative? Not so much
Posturing-Imitators.jpg
 
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