What's up with the Cold Steel hate around here?

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The West Coast Corporate Model and Motto goes something like this "As we Wish to Conserve Our Efforts, Why would We EVER Tell a Full Truth when a Half Truth, Stated with Enough BS and Bluster, will do? We, at Cold Steel, have a Near Inexhaustible Stock of both BS and Bluster and it is MUCH cheaper to Maintain and replenish that BS and B Supply than to muster that same amount of Honesty and Integrity about our Products, Customer Service and Policies. We at Cold Steel have found that Most times Doing the Right thing just takes Too Much Effort."
 
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Go to minute 16:22, yup, all BS here! Say what you want about CS but don't try this at home:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjfnRfyHAs4



Lots of bluster when Perrin tested throwing the Lawman here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1JyaTXdA1I

Don't do this with no ordinary lock back folks. AUS8A deforms by rolling not chipping, I think they are appropriately priced. A voyager with 4" blade can be had for about $45, it will have zero blade play and fit and finish that rival ANY Taiwanese made knife. Put the marketing aside, what's not to like? If it bothers you so much that they use video to test their knives, don't watch it? I for one wish other makers would video test their stuff.
 
unklfranco said:
I used to purhcase thier products because I liked the some of the designs. I stopped buying from them because they sold me a $20 Bushmaster that had a weird grind. I spoke with their customer service and was politely blown off. I then sold off my CS knives that I wasnt using anyway and wont buy from them ever again. Customer service is just as important to me as the product. Now I only buy ESEE, Busse, Ontario, Spyderco and Benchmade. I even have 2 Enlans which I really like. Now that I know what quality knives are, I would not recommend Cold Steel to a friend or family member with the exception of the Magnum Kukri machete. It comes unsharpened so no worries about grinds with that one. I do like the look of the trailmaster but a friend of mine has an M-Tech 151 which is a copy of the TM and he has put it through some serious work and has had no problems. BTW, the M-Tec is a $22 dollar knife that is stainless too.
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To the OP, even though I don't trust Cold Steel's warranty/customer service, I still don't hate them or consider people who purchase their products fools or mall ninjas. Based on my personal experience with them, I am unwilling to risk my hard earned money on their products. I even wrote to LT personally and he never tried to make it right, which says alot about the company. Jerry Busse, Ethan Becker, Jeff Randal and Mike Perrin and Jusin Gringrich are busy guys yet they still find the time to be very responsive to their customers.
 
I still have a couple of CS Voyagers that I use as shop knives. I can't carry them because the pocket clips have broken off, and CS won't fix them. CS knives are scary sharp when they are new, but I found that they loose that edge quickly and you will never get it back to that level. I hate the marketing, and I hate the mall ninja owner. I would never buy another CS, mostly because I don't want that fat mall ninja to have any of my money. If you want some entertainment, find the video where Daniel Tosh tests the "Meat sword". It doesn't hold up.
 
Freak Show Scott said:
The West Coast Corporate Model and Motto goes something like this "As we Wish to Conserve Our Efforts, Why would We EVER Tell a Full Truth when a Half Truth, Stated with Enough Bullshit and Bluster, will do? We, at Cold Steel, have a Near Inexhaustible Stock of both Bullshit and Bluster and it is MUCH cheaper to Maintain and replenish that BS and B Supply than to muster that same amount of Honesty and Integrity about our Products, Customer Service and Policies. We at Cold Steel have found that Most times Doing the Right thing just takes Too Much Effort."
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Wow... Did Lynn Thompson hook-up with your sister or something? This was shaping up to be a relatively civil discussion with quite a few insightful and interesting posts on both sides.

Take it to another thread, man. And quit cussing, this is a family friendly forum.
 
Probably 95% of what they make doesn't interest me in the least. I do have a Heavy machete that I really like though. I've worked it hard and it's performed admirably. And now I have purchased my one guilty pleasure, a Cold Steel Spartan. I really like this big almost useless blade. Sometimes badass s*** is worth it just hecause it's badass.
 
Bought a few hawks, Voyagers and a machete from them. All dandy bush beaters. I like them because they are inexpensive and functional. If lost or broken I'm not out big bucks. Yes CS's marketing is semi repulsive unless you are attracted to all that tactical mentality..... However I also enjoy their attitude of bringing out many new, and at times unusual products. They are kind of ballsy that way.
 
I dont know what it is but I havent been able to buy a CS knife?! They just seem cheap and most of them are obnoxious. Their swords on the other hand look nice and I would love to cut a pig in half with one sometime!! lol
 
G. Scott H. said:
Most of their machetes have been made by a known South African maker (don't recall the name atm, but 42Blades mentioned in in a recent thread), and their Carbon V blades were made by Camillus. Their swords are mostly made by a subcontractor of Windlass Steelcrafts in India (I've heard Windlass is actually just a supplier/distributor), and I believe some were/are made by Fred Chen in China (no relation to Paul Chen/Hanwei, afaik). I think much of their folder and fixed blade stuff is just contracted to various factories in Japan, Taiwan, and China.
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If I recall its SA 's Lasher Tools that make the machetes .

SA also has Okapi machetes but I dont know if they made stuff for Cold Steel
 
I was looking at the voyager series for a while, but (and a picture would be really useful right about now) what I don't like about it is that squared off part at the end of the blade. When the folder is closed, the rear corner of the blade, the part that locks when open, is exposed. Just screams low quality to me.
 
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TwinStick said:
You can still get quality knives that are Made in America !!!
They simply needed to fill a niche, for those that do not want to spend over $10-$20 on a knife. Good business sense if you ask me, unless you want to make them for .15 cents an hour/day like they do in China.
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I am in this group. I spent $15 at Aldo's for some 1084, $5 at flea market for old files, a dollar here a dollar there so I can work steel on my woodworking tools, and now I make my own. I now have knives with very fine edges(20 degrees total or less) made of hard steel (Rc 61-63) with custom wood handles (figured maple, koa, dogwood) that cost less than $5 for materials and maybe 2 hours total labor.
the old sailor
 
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scott.livesey said:
I am in this group. I spent $15 at Aldo's for some 1084, $5 at flea market for old files, a dollar here a dollar there so I can work steel on my woodworking tools, and now I make my own. I now have knives with very fine edges(20 degrees total or less) made of hard steel (Rc 61-63) with custom wood handles (figured maple, koa, dogwood) that cost less than $5 for materials and maybe 2 hours total labor.
the old sailor
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Pictures please? :)
 
Cold Steel fills a niche for me, I have used them very hard and they hold tight. So CS's AUS8 ( which is good for the price) isn't the latest super steel and needs sharpened more often. I like higher end Spydies, and would not do to them what I have done to my Recon's and Lawman. They are what they are.
 
PharaohX3 said:
Wow... Did Lynn Thompson hook-up with your sister or something?
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Hmm, saying BS is just horrible but inferring my innocent family member sleeps around with married men is Okay? Nice. No my sister did not get hooked up with LCT.

Yes I have had Several bad encounters with their Service Department. Yes I do believe they have seriously downgraded many of their knives in the name of there bottom line bean counting. Yes I do believe they have lifted many designs while taking similar product names without giving credit to the people should have been given Credit. Yes I do believe they have Jacked over the U.S. Marines by taking the name "Leatherneck" saying it Honors them when it was in order to Honor their own bottom line. Yes, I do think it is strange that they changed the steel in that same knife that their promo says Honors our American Marines Corps from a reasonable high carbon to a lower grade German kitchen steel to meet large "Foreign Contracts" Specs. And finally I don't care for the fact that they were willing to aid certain dealers, by providing space on their company server, to ship their products to countries that would not let Cold Steel ship those item as a company thus circumventing Customs and Trade Agreements made by the U.S.
 
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No hate. They're just easy targets to make fun of because of their marketing.

On this forum, the American Lawman folder is consistently cited as one of the best, toughest, and most economical folders that money can buy. To a lesser extent, so too the Recon 1 (which would make the list if it weren't so big).

Their Tri-Ad lock is one of the best folder locking mechanisms in the business.

Their problem, image-wise, is that they seem not to care too much about the real hard core knife afficianado...guys who like high end or even "glamorous" steel and that sort of thing. They are not particularly innovative with the VERY notable exception of the aforementioned Tri-Ad lock.
 
5 pages of wasted band width, all because some cold steel fan boi is not feeling the love. Geez, what a dog's breakfast of a thread. :rolleyes:
 
Cold Steel knives can be a great deal. I have a Trailmaster, 2 Recon-1s, and an American Lawman. All very tough, inexpensive knives. Sure, they are made in Taiwan, but that is what keeps them inexpensive.

And people not digging on the advertising? Agree to disagree. It is hilariously awesome. The image it portrays? Since when do people on this forum admit to caring what non-knife people think? :eek:
 
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