What's the story on this "Zytel" Black Talon?

[Tyrone Schmidling]

I've heard some people say that this is a Chinese fake, but when I bought it about 20 years ago there were no Chinese fakes that looked remotely like the real thing.
If memory serves me correctly I bought it from a brick & mortar store that carried most of Cold Steel's product line at the time.

It looks and feels like an early 2000s Cold Steel product.
I admit my experience with Chinese counterfeit knives is limited, but the Chinese copies of Spyderco, Benchmade, and Microtech that I've held in my hands were obviously fake and cheaply made.
Does anyone have a definitive answer?

Here it is in the 2003 Cold Steel catalog where it briefly appeared:

 

[tltt]

I definitely remember these, they were indeed a brief item. I remember two things happening around then, Cold Steel had supply chain issues., and there was bad-ish blood between Spyderco and Cold Steel over the hole, and it coming out close to a time when a new Spyderco Civilian was introduced. The BT disappeared, then came back as the new version, sometime after.

 

[rycen]

It’s legit but quickly discontinued. At the time the reverse S Blade shape was patented by Spyderco

 

[jux t]

Yep, it’s real and it’s spectacular.

 

[Dadpool]

Man, I wish they still looked like that! Or heck just put the current blade in the old handle.

 

[WValtakis]

It was a budget version of the original Custom Series Black Talon, they did a similar thing with the original Talwar and the Zytel handled Scimitar.

 

[Man with no name]

It was a budget version of the original Custom Series Black Talon, they did a similar thing with the original Talwar and the Zytel handled Scimitar.
View attachment 2675109

I had one of these along with a 6" Ti Lite taken by some dirty cops. When I asked for a property receipt they became angry and placed me under arrest! Since then I don't carry anything too rare or expensive. May the Knife Gods send Karma their way.

 

[Muchblade]

Thanks for this info. I got one years ago from a brick and mortar store that carried Cold Steel knives. I never saw it anywhere again and wondered what happened.