Rating Cold Steel Knives?

LOL. Exactly how impressed am I going to be with a MH today? Click my link.;) But seriously, even if I did not make knives, i would not dream of buying a knife with a Kraton handle these days, especially for $150.
wave man said:
I have a new model Master Hunter san maiIII, and they feature a distal taper now. Revisit the MH you will be impressed I reckon.


I have 19 Cold Steel knives, ranging from their top of the line to their budget versions, from that point of view I rate CS as 9/10.
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You can get a Master Hunter shipped for $85-90, I can believe some would try to sell it for $150 though. It's hard to find a cheaper fixed blade that size that isn't also using cheaper materials.
 
Overall. For me, they get an 8 out of 10. I have had no issues with performance with anything from them, a few designs weren't what I would have liked. I agree on the handle issues. ...frankly, if they went to hidden tang with micarta...there would be no company that could compete with them...for ever.
I have had and used many of their folders, and they all did pretty great. I like a lot of their fixed blades to.
My 2 point deduction is for the overpricing of some of their "better" knives...and the fact that they have a wide line between "low end" and "high end" ...with only a small line in between.
Also, some of their cheap stuff is untouchable in the knife and tool world...for the price, they can't be beat. Like their Special forces shovel, machete's and throwing knives...to name a few. Also, the Bushman is one of the best survival knives ever produced main stream, and its still around $30.
 
jdm61 said:
LOL. Exactly how impressed am I going to be with a MH today? Click my link.;) But seriously, even if I did not make knives, i would not dream of buying a knife with a Kraton handle these days, especially for $150.
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Soon Getting a San Mai III blade with or without Kraton (or Kray EX??) might be a moot point.
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Can anybody tell me what the Cold steel marketing consists of? All of their marketing I know is some youtube uploads and a free dvd+catalogue.
 
I have the lawman, and considering the price point, I give it a solid 9.9 out of ten (only reason not a full ten is I had to sand down the g10 under the clip, otherwise it would rip my pocket to shreds). I think cold steel makes great knives for the money.
 
I personally only have 2 Cold Steel knives, I have the new Recon 1 folder and I have a older Carbon V USA "UWK" which is basically a SOG bowie clone. For both of them I'd give them a 8/10 for their price range, I think they're both good deals and I haven't had issues with either of them at all.
 
Gobbo_the_civet said:
Can anybody tell me what the Cold steel marketing consists of? All of their marketing I know is some youtube uploads and a free dvd+catalogue.
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I've been wondering that myself. I bought some knives online maybe 10 years ago and the seller threw in a Cold Steel DVD. I watched it and it all seemed reasonable stuff to me. Actually it was very eye-opening because they did things with their knives that I didn't think you could do, and I didn't think knives could be that strong. Of course they could have faked all of the tests and demonstrations, but assuming that they were upfront about what they filmed I didn't see anything to criticize. After reading negative opinions on the web I went back and looked over their website again. They have little videos here and there for specific knives and they have a few videos linked on the home page including a long one about Mr. Thompson. I watched it and he seems to be a bit unusual but again other than him being able to pay for a lot of people to do things for him or with him, I didn't see anything to criticize. If I was going to criticize anything about the company I would say that their prices on some of their products are too high for offshore-produced goods even if they do have steel as good as they claim. Other products of theirs are very inexpensive and their videos show the products to have very high performance.

Whatever people say about them, the videos and tests should speak for themselves. I have not seen ANY other knife manufacturer do the same kinds of tests or make the same claims about their products.

I watched some of the videos on knifetests.com and again assuming that it is all above board and nothing is faked, the few Cold Steel products that they tested beat the pants off of much more expensive knives in terms of strength and toughness. They have a few products in their catalog that I'm interested in and will likely buy.
 
I think the issue with people and Cold Steels marketing is that they claim their knives are superior to almost all other knives. While I think they make some good knives, I obviously disagree with their claim. I think it also has to do with their owner Lynn C Thompson's attitude in the videos they produce, still though both of those things don't drive me away from their products. I judge the company not by their marketing practice, but by the product they produce.
 
bdmicarta said:
I've been wondering that myself. I bought some knives online maybe 10 years ago and the seller threw in a Cold Steel DVD. I watched it and it all seemed reasonable stuff to me. Actually it was very eye-opening because they did things with their knives that I didn't think you could do, and I didn't think knives could be that strong. Of course they could have faked all of the tests and demonstrations, but assuming that they were upfront about what they filmed I didn't see anything to criticize. After reading negative opinions on the web I went back and looked over their website again. They have little videos here and there for specific knives and they have a few videos linked on the home page including a long one about Mr. Thompson. I watched it and he seems to be a bit unusual but again other than him being able to pay for a lot of people to do things for him or with him, I didn't see anything to criticize. If I was going to criticize anything about the company I would say that their prices on some of their products are too high for offshore-produced goods even if they do have steel as good as they claim. Other products of theirs are very inexpensive and their videos show the products to have very high performance.

Whatever people say about them, the videos and tests should speak for themselves. I have not seen ANY other knife manufacturer do the same kinds of tests or make the same claims about their products.

I watched some of the videos on knifetests.com and again assuming that it is all above board and nothing is faked, the few Cold Steel products that they tested beat the pants off of much more expensive knives in terms of strength and toughness. They have a few products in their catalog that I'm interested in and will likely buy.
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It's more to do with Cold Steel not at all being shy about marketing their products as weapons. Look at the Mall Ninjary they are regularly charged with because they have so many oversized, weapons oriented designs. Many people do find their car stabbing silly but it is mainly the weapon's angle that upsets the appeasers in the knife community. Personally, I think it's the appeasers who are silly – if Cold Steel never slashed another piece of meat or tatami mat in their proof videos the anti-knife hoplophobes would still do everything in their power to restrict or eliminate any piece of steel with an edge or a point no matter what the claimed intended use is. As for claiming that they make the best knives in the world, what knife company doesn't? Some may be a little more subtle about it basically everybody does it. After all, who's going to try to sell knives by claiming that they are so so, nothing really special?
 
I wonder if these many posts and photoshops were being made of say..Spyderco if they would have been allowed or at the very least moved to W&C by now.
 
45Shooter said:
Many people do find their car stabbing silly
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I read a knife book that contained a story about someone that cut through a locked steel fire door to escape a burning hotel, and another story about someone trapped in a van that ran into a river and they cut a hole through the roof to escape. I cannot substantiate either story but I have a friend with a body shop and I intend to do some tests with some of the car body panels that they throw away. I've seen people baton through wood, I've seen knives stabbed through sheet metal, but I haven't seen a knife batoned through sheet metal yet.
 
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