The HOLY MOLY of Cold Steel's XL ESPADA...

nephron said:
Nice but I would want all the shiny aluminum engraved. I validate my own knife purchases, keeps me somewhat sane. 😁
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True, one has to validate one' own purchases 😊

That said, sometimes folks will read this or that about the Espada series, and possibly garner them as just being a gimmick. That especially happens a lot with many people that put all sorts of negative things out there about almost anything having to do with a Lynn Thompson founded Cold Steel product. Much of that is done because of their despising the man and the company, not so much the product(s) themselves.
So, someone that may have been on the fence about buying a CS item, (like an XL Espada), could come across an article like this and see that some knowledgeable people do in fact find quality in some of Cold Steel's products.

In this particular case, the article revolves around an XL Espada that a custom knife maker purchased for himself and had it personalized by having it beautifully scroll engraved.
He made it a point to share his opinion about the knife's quality, which again, can help others reading the article in seeing that good opinions about them are out there. With the gentleman being a custom knife-maker, he likely knows a thing or two about what the word "quality" is, and when something should be described as such 😊
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
True, one has to validate one' own purchases 😊

That said, sometimes folks will read this or that about the Espada series, and possibly garner them as just a gimmick. That especially happens a lot with many people that put all sorts of negative things out there about almost anything having come from Lynn Thompson's Cold Steel. Much of that is done because of their despising the man and the company, not so much the product(s) themselves.
So, someone that may have been on the fence about buying a CS item, like the XL Espada, could come across an article like this, and be able to see that people do find quality traits in some of these products offered by this company.

In this particular case, the article revolves around a XL Espada that a custom knife maker purchases for himself and has it personalized by having it beautifully scroll engraved.
He makes it a point to share his opinion about this production knife's quality, which again, can help others that may read the article, see that kind of good opinion coming from a man that pretty obviously knows a thing or two about the term 😊
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That is true. However with what I am reading here, the CS Customer Service is not high quality, I would not recommend CS to anyone until this changes.
 
Yeah, I agree... If the customer service isn't there, no use in one taking chances with one's hard earned cash.

I purchased my own XL Espada, (for my collection), after GSM's takeover. Luckily, everything was nicely executed, and everything worked as intended.
I sure wouldn't have been happy if there were to have been an issue with it and then received the run around/no service thing.
And... a full bling XL Espada is not exactly priced in the chump change category, so that would have made things feel even worse 😱

PS.
I will admit that I was quite hesitant about placing my order for my XL Espada a few months back. I had/have no idea on how the new GSM ownership would be with such things as customer service, or even if the products would be changed in any way in their specs.
So, yes, I admit to rolling the dice by placing the order for a knife that cost me about $350. To some that indeed may be chump change, but that is not the case in my personal budget. I took the chance because I had seen them here and there online for many years, and always kind of thought it would be such a cool item to obtain for my collection. With GSM buying CS recently, I knew that big changes could occur. With Lynn Thompson having still been at the helm when the 2021 Cold Steel catalog products were decided on, I figured my last best bet to get Cold Steel items was sooner than later, since later, (2022 and beyond), may or may not see a lot of discontinuance of the existing models.
I lucked out by receiving a good specimen, and so I dodged the need for CS's customer service, (or lack of).

Again, I am very thankful to have lucked out when buying my XL Espada, since I really wanted one.
I had also been hesitant on getting their Cinquedea dagger/short sword, especially since it was from their India made line, (which can be quite a bit more hit or miss than their Taiwan made products). But, I lucked out big time with what I received. I received it with no blemishes, and it's execution is awesome. It was another that I had been eyeing, actually, since they had first come out with them.
I recently noticed that the online vendor I purchased the Cinquedea from a few months back, has since risen their price on them. They were selling for $150, and as of today, it's at $173.




Such uncertainties about everything right now, and I don't just mean about Cold Steel, but literally EVERYTHING!
Life is always changing in oh so many ways, but the changes we've seen, and continue to see, in so many aspects of our lives now, have been coming at us fast and hard.

Oh, well, time to end my tangent now, I do wish all you folks out there still buying Cold Steel items, all the best luck with them. I hope you wind up being happy with your purchases and have no issues with them 👍😊👍
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
Yeah, I agree... If the customer service isn't there, no use in one taking chances with one's hard earned cash.

I purchased my own XL Espada, (for my collection), after GSM's takeover. Luckily, everything was nicely executed, and everything worked as intended.
I sure wouldn't have been happy if there were to have been an issue with it and then received the run around/no service thing.
And... a full bling XL Espada is not exactly priced in the chump change category, so that would have made things feel even worse 😱

PS.
I will admit that I was quite hesitant about placing my order for my XL Espada a few months back. I had/have no idea on how the new GSM ownership would be with such things as customer service, or even if the products would be changed in any way in their specs.
So, yes, I admit to rolling the dice by placing the order for a knife that cost me about $350. To some that indeed may be chump change, but that is not the case in my personal budget. I took the chance because I had seen them here and there online for many years, and always kind of thought it would be such a cool item to obtain for my collection. With GSM buying CS recently, I knew that big changes could occur. With Lynn Thompson having still been at the helm when the 2021 Cold Steel catalog products were decided on, I figured my last best bet to get Cold Steel items was sooner than later, since later, (2022 and beyond), may or may not see a lot of discontinuance of the existing models.
I lucked out by receiving a good specimen, and so I dodged the need for CS's customer service, (or lack of).

Again, I am very thankful to have lucked out when buying my XL Espada, since I really wanted one.
I had also been hesitant on getting their Cinquedea dagger/short sword, especially since it was from their India made line, (which can be quite a bit more hit or miss than their Taiwan made products). But, I lucked out big time with what I received. I received it with no blemishes, and it's execution is awesome. It was another that I had been eyeing, actually, since they had first come out with them.
I recently noticed that the online vendor I purchased the Cinquedea from a few months back, has since risen their price on them. They were selling for $150, and as of today, it's at $173.




Such uncertainties about everything right now, and I don't just mean about Cold Steel, but literally EVERYTHING!
Life is always changing in oh so many ways, but the changes we've seen, and continue to see, in so many aspects of our lives now, have been coming at us fast and hard.

Oh, well, time to end my tangent now, I do wish all you folks out there still buying Cold Steel items, all the best luck with them. I hope you wind up being happy with your purchases and have no issues with them 👍😊👍
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Are you looking for the brother to it, the Large?
 
Jimmy, thanks for all the great photos and observations in this thread! Just FYI, the Espadas were all hollow ground originally. They were redesigned with the flat grinds after the switch to upgraded steels.

I don't mean to be an enabler, but you might want to take another look at the Large Espada. It's one of my absolute favorite knives--a truly pocketable version of Lynn's and Andrew's brilliant big-knife design.


-Steve
 
The Whip said:
Jimmy, thanks for all the great photos and observations in this thread! Just FYI, the Espadas were all hollow ground originally. They were redesigned with the flat grinds after the switch to upgraded steels.

I don't mean to be an enabler, but you might want to take another look at the Large Espada. It's one of my absolute favorite knives--a truly pocketable version of Lynn's and Andrew's brilliant big-knife design.


-Steve
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I do like a bunch of Cold Steel' goodies, but since I wanted it simply as a collectable, I picked the biggest and baddest one of them all! 👍😆👍
I am in the process of getting all of their Chaos series, (the only one I still don't have is the Bowie version). But, my getting that series is because each model only shares the basic handle design/shape, but their blades are drastically different... So the entire set will be kind'a cool to add into my collection of "interesting objects".
And, they will not amount to enough money to break the bank 👍

The Espada's, well, they are different in size, but not much else. So, the cost for another smaller version Espada model would be money I would rather spend on something less redundant to what I may already have. Better yet, just save that amount of money, rather than spend it on another knife 👍

Oh, and thanks for the kudos, buddy! 👍😊👍

Btw... The cost for my buying the following Chaos series models...

Double Edged Dagger
Push Knife
Tanto
Kukri
Stiletto

... All costing me just shy of $220 total, (including any shipping charges).
Even after I get the Chaos Bowie, my total cost for the entire series of Chaos will amount to just under $300!
Now, if I take that $300 and divide it by the 6 pieces that are in the entire Chaos series, that amounts to a cost of $50 each piece... Not too shabby! A true bargain! 🤓

The XL Espada alone cost me about $350 😱

👍😆👍
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
I do like a bunch of Cold Steel' goodies, but since I wanted it simply as a collectable, I picked the biggest and baddest one of them all! 👍😆👍
I am in the process of getting all of their Chaos series, (the only one I still don't have is the Bowie version). But, my getting that series is because each model only shares the basic handle design/shape, but their blades are drastically different... So the entire set will be kind'a cool to add into my collection of "interesting objects".
And, they will not amount to enough money to break the bank 👍

The Espada's, well, they are different in size, but not much else. So, the cost for another smaller version Espada model would be money I would rather spend on something less redundant to what I may already have. Better yet, just save that amount of money, rather than spend it on another knife 👍

Oh, and thanks for the kudos, buddy! 👍😊👍

Btw... The cost for my buying the following Chaos series models...

Double Edged Dagger
Push Knife
Tanto
Kukri
Stiletto

... All costing me just shy of $220 total, (including any shipping charges).
Even after I get the Chaos Bowie, my total cost for the entire series of Chaos will amount to just under $300!
Now, if I take that $300 and divide it by the 6 pieces that are in the entire Chaos series, that amounts to a cost of $50 each piece... Not too shabby! A true bargain! 🤓

The XL Espada alone cost me about $350 😱

👍😆👍
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I got my XL for $189 and the Large for $85, years ago and not new though. As the Whip says the the Large is very carry friendly.
 
I think that not only time has risen the XL Espada pricing, but also the blade material, (which I believe was AUS-8 at it's start), now being S35VN.
The full bling XL Espada is usually found now in the $330 to $360 range.
Not sure what the Large one goes for nowadays, but I'm sure it's for a pretty penny! 😆

Just checked on the Large version... KC has their price at $288.95
 
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PocketKnifeJimmy said:
I think that not only time has risen the XL Espada pricing, but also the blade material, (which I believe was AUS-8 at it's start), now being S35VN.
The full bling XL Espada is usually found now in the $330 to $360 range.
Not sure what the Large one goes for nowadays, but I'm sure it's for a pretty penny! 😆

Just checked on the Large version... KC has their price at $288.95
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One of mine is Aus-8 and the other is CTS XHP.
 
The large G10 goes for around $129 if you can find one they've been delayed by the manufacturer. I got a feeling they're not going to make this one anymore guys
 
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nephron said:
I got my XL for $189 and the Large for $85, years ago and not new though. As the Whip says the the Large is very carry friendly.
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Yup. I himmed and hawed over the XL or the large. Then I saw a video of the large being more pocketable. So I got one in AUS10. Zero buyers remorse, but the XL always had some pull for me. I "get it ", and at this point of my life, couldn't give a flying dang if someone else doesn't. I have more than enough big folders....Still thinking about an XL or large drop point Voyager now and then though.
 
I wonder if we would ever be let in on the total numbers of each model produced?
I'd guess, just based on the posts put up in this forum, that the G10 handled versions have outpaced the sales of the blinged aluminum/G10 handle models by far. Also, because of the Large model being a more realistic size for actual pocket carry, they likely outsell the XL sized versions.
I guess for now, there would be no way to know.
I would love for Lynn Thompson to come out with a book telling his Cold Steel story, and maybe have a chapter or two dedicated to giving a rough idea of total production numbers and years of their production.
Again, for now it would all be just guesses.
 
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