Whats up with noone liking Cold Steel!?

I was once a big fan of cold steel. I love my master hunter in carbon V steel. I bought a large serrated folder and out of the box it was dull. I like their idieas and designs , but they need some good quality metals to build a reputation of dependable performers. Untill then I am steering clear of cs
 
Cold steel have a couple of knives I like, the Trail Master in San Mai and the Loredo Bowie in Carbon V. I also like their Kukris.

Can't say I agree about them being innovative. I see little innovation coming from Cold Steel.
 
Originally posted by Keith Montgomery

Can't say I agree about them being innovative. I see little innovation coming from Cold Steel.
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Whadda' ya mean? Their knocking off designs left and right:rolleyes:

Sorry, couldn't resist:D
 
I'm sorry, but I have a problem with a company that uses a "Proof" video to market their products and then will not back up the claims by warranting the tests performed in the video. I like the Himilayan Imports and Busse warranty; if the customer isn't happy, neither are they. I'm sure there are other companies and custom knifemakers with similar policies, but these two come to mind. I'll place my faith in a solid warranty instead of overmarketed hype.
 
Too much hype, too much Zytel, not enough interesting designs & innovations, and way too much hype.

Did I mention too much hype?


I will never own a Cold Steel folder.
 
like the fixed blades but the folders are not my cup of tea, pick one up (any of them) and compare it to a MT or BM, and most will understand, too much zytel, suspect steel, not a great warranty, and some are pretty expensive (ie ti-lite),

i would much rather have a MT/BM/EKI/etc



greg
 
I don't like them because:

- The controversy over the American Tomhawk name.

- Hyping their steel

- San Mai is just a relatively plain carbon steel with 420 on either side.

- Things got "hot" in their forum and they left. "Not enough time" they said.

- I'm not impressed by the proof video, it's style over substance.

Just like United Cutlery has fantasy design as a market niche, Cold Steel has theirs, and they are not usually bad knives.
 
I only have 13 Cold Steel folders and one fixed blade, so I'm not much of a Cold Steel fan.

The good:

The liner lock on their Scimitar, while not necessarily "the strongest", engages firmly and solidly each and every time I use it and it gives no indication that it will fail or accidentally disengage.

The fully serrated AUS-8A blades cut really well and seem to be what AUS-8A needs to be a solid performer (maybe not for woodcarving, but they grip and slice through plastic well).

Under the odd assumption that you clean your knives, their lockbacks are strong and reliable. Also, barely any people have reported failure with the locks on their fixed blades and none of the people who did were serious.

The Nogales clip point design (Americanized yataghan?) is slice-a-riffic.

They made Lavan happy with their Carbon V lockback.

All but one of the ones I've owned were absolutely perfect out of box (or out-of-bubblewrap in two eBay buys) in terms of fit and finish. One Vaquero Grande wasn't as pointy as the other two, but AUS-8A isn't that hard to work with.

The could be better:

Offering ambidextrous carry on ambidextrous opening folders would be nice. Same for non-leather belt sheaths (the neck sheaths are single neck carry, too, which puts off two-headed knife collectors). Yeah, they do on the 'Black Talon' and 'Recon-1' series, but I have reasons not to buy those.

If most of their folders have that cool serration pattern, then resharpening it should be no problem for the company. It would be like an automobile dealership refusing to work on automatic transmissions.

Comments about AUS-8A outperforming ATS-34, but not saying how. In the needing to be resharpened department, I agree.

Making really cool, inspiring videos, but not having a cool, inspiring warrantee.

Those are just suggestions for what I perceive to be improvement. Not once having chaired Cold Steel or doing anything to pay their expenses or handle their shipping, receiving, or anything else, I know that it's not my place to say how they should run their show. I'm just a fool and when I have money to soon be parted with, I like companies that give me more compelling reasons to do so.
 
If you shop around, most CS folders can be found
in the $30-$70 range. Not really fair comparing
CS folders any high end knife.
Yes, Microtech builds a better knife.
But MT has nothing in this price range.
Or anything even close to this price range.
CS and MT are apples and oranges.
To me, CS is king of the low end, and MT king
of the high, concerning production folders.
 
looked at ltspecpro.com for copy of warranty but it was not shown.

But it says in plain english don't try what is shown in the video with your shiny new fancy dancy knife.


here's a quote of the SWKW warranty:
"... We will honor any guarantee that you give your knife against major damage. Makes sense doesn't it? It is your knife. We're telling you to trust your life with our knife. Shouldn't we trust you with being the warranty claims specialist?

TRANSLATION: LIFETIME WARRANTY... NO QUESTIONS ASKED! "

see the difference? :D
 
I have a number of CS FB's in Carbon V and SK-5 and I like them. I'm not in the market for 420 anything That lets out most of the CS line. I don't like the hype and the blatant ripoffs of others designs.Did I mention that I didn't like the hype
 
I'd forgotten about the American Tomahawk thing. Copying the leaders (ala ultralock, which they eventually had to license from BM, from what I can tell) is one thing, but actively moving to confuse the market to get a windfall off a real leader's hard work is really bad form. It's difficult to separate CS's products from moves like this.

On the other hand, I do want to give CS some credit. They came out with megafolders back when no one else thought there was a market for them. I have an XL Voyager and a Vaquero Grande, and CS gets credit for having the huevos to come out with these products.
 
Correct me if I am wrong. If you see a car in a crash test commercial and you buy it and scientifically repeat the test is the car still covered by a warrenty?
 
How would you guys compare the CS fixed blades to the Ontario Freedom Fighter series? or even Ka-Bar fixed blades?
 
I had just bought a CS Voyager for a little over fifty bucks. I wish I had bought something else. I needed a knife there and then and it was the only one cheap enough at the time.It sits in a drawer now, and I'll probably send it to my dad. He likes Cold Steel. I was not impressed with the "one year warranty" I read on the box. They are the only knife company that I have bought from that has this.(I'm sure there are others, I just haven't experienced it) Everyone else has a lifetime warranty(usually with restrictions, like gross abuse). Busse and Strider have very liberal warranties on their knives, if you break it, they make it right, period. I understand CRK has a similar warranty, though I don't own a Chris Reeve at the moment. (I will buy a lg Sebenza on my B-Day this year). I bought a Master Tanto back in the 80's when Cold Steel was the rage, I passed over a Randall #1 for it. Though I like the knife, it's a dissappointment to see them not trust the users. It makes one wonder that maybe their knives are inferior if they don't back them with more than a one-year warranty. I think people want to believe in their product, but evidence seems to suggest maybe they don't believe in the consumers.
 
I have a Cold Steel XL Voyager, and a Gunsite. Decent knives for the price. Here are the reasons I don't like the company, and won't give them my future business.

1) Their behavior in regard to American Tomahawk company was just plain low.

2) Their serrations break off easily, are very difficult to resharpen, and they won't resharpen them for you.

3) The secrecy, silliness, and hype regarding what Carbon V is, and how it performs, in addition to seemingly misleading statements about "subzero quenched" 420, and AUS 8.

4) Saying the following:

"Simply put, our competitors grossly exaggerate, they SUGGEST and IMPLY high performance, rather then PROVE the worth of their products We back all of our claims with horrendous torture testing and graphic demonstrations. We prove that we make the WORLD'S STRONGEST, SHARPEST KNIVES and document it all on video tape."

When, in fact:

A) Their knives are not the world's strongest (the world's sharpest claim is absurd, too, though they do make 'em sharp), are less strong than those of many of their competitiors.

B) Their tests on tape are relatively simple for other's knives to meet, and are misleading.

C) Their warranty doesn't back customers performing the tests shown, unlike Himalayan Imports, Busse, Strider, Chris Reeve, Swamp Rat, etc.

D) Their competitors DID also perform toture tests, viewable on video. The only difference is that those were serious torture tests.

--Mike
 
Yes, way too much zytel, Spyderco needs to stop production on all Clipits.

Oh wait, we're talking about CS. :)

I've had a med clip voyager for 2 yrs. as my work knife. I also have an El Hombre. Couple of pretty nice folders for under fifty bucks.

I don't use my MT LCC for work, don't wanna scratch the ano aluminum bolsters.
 
I thought top-notch knives were meant for top-notch abuse. Unless they're too cool and too costly to replace. Then again, my favorite knives are my favorites because they're too busy looking good while I'm cutting stuff with them. My 921 Switchback is the type of knife that can say "Bull---, Mr. Han Man!" like Jackson in "Enter the Dragon", but not be killed by Mr. Han. Instead, it would survive the otherwise fatal beating, remain hair-popping sharp, and still look prettier than my Cold Steel folders (it's not they're fault they're not as pretty, but I'm not going to lie about my 921 to spare their feelings. They know their strengths).
 
Being Asian, this really brought a smile to my face. Thanks.

Originally posted by thombrogan
I thought top-notch knives were meant for top-notch abuse. Unless they're too cool and too costly to replace. Then again, my favorite knives are my favorites because they're too busy looking good while I'm cutting stuff with them. My 921 Switchback is the type of knife that can say "Bull---, Mr. Han Man!" like Jackson in "Enter the Dragon", but not be killed by Mr. Han. Instead, it would survive the otherwise fatal beating, remain hair-popping sharp, and still look prettier than my Cold Steel folders (it's not they're fault they're not as pretty, but I'm not going to lie about my 921 to spare their feelings. They know their strengths).
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