Where do you see the Trail Master San Mai III being in the near future?

The Trail Master goes back to the1980s. And while the San Mai III model did not appear until 2007, Cold Steel had a Japan made TM Model 16JS
in solid Aus6 which was a convex blade in the 1990s.
But Fallkniven contracted with Hattori in the late 1990s as well. So I'm not sure whether one can say which was earlier.
Prior to Fallkniven becoming a knife brand, they were the distributor for Cold Steel in Sweden.
 
KenHash said:
The Trail Master goes back to the1980s. And while the San Mai III model did not appear until 2007, Cold Steel had a Japan made TM Model 16JS
in solid Aus6 which was a convex blade in the 1990s.
But Fallkniven contracted with Hattori in the late 1990s as well. So I'm not sure whether one can say which was earlier.
Prior to Fallkniven becoming a knife brand, they were the distributor for Cold Steel in Sweden.
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Very good, Sir! Awesome info!
I guess it's a safe bet to guess that Falkniven was very likely inspired by the Trail Masters they were distributing for Cold Steel before they started offering their own large Bowie knives.
 
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Chris_Texas said:
Nope. The future is the "Surgical Stainless" blister pack Trailmaster sold in Walmart, perhaps with some elite operator on the packaging.
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I see GSM selling the brand to Taylor Brands, so they can add Cold Steel to their lineup of long dead brands: and, we will see those blister packs at Walmart with some mall ninja’s face on them.

Surprise, GSM wasn’t able to drum up demand for $700 V3 versions or equally uncompetitive 4034 knives. At the end they discovered that Lynn business case for making junk knives in China, and selling them without warranty or service, for 25 times direct cost was overly optimistic. GSM would be regarded as nothing more than a short footnote in future knife guides. No one will miss them.

n2s
 
PocketKnifeJimmy said:
I just did a quick online search for the TM in San Mai III, and just as another poster above mentioned, it's still currently in stock/available at a very few locations. Prices seem to be in the $280 to $330 range, (depending on which vendor).
I found one vendor listing it as "out of stock/no backorder", and another one has it listed as "discontinued".
Although I believe these have a high chance of being discontinued, I don't know if they are... At least YET!
Even if they are, there still may be further shipments of them coming in to fill CS's final orders on them. Since it's all a guessing game right now, the few here and there currently being offered, may or may not be the last of them.
I guess now would be a good time to grab one if one wants to at least guarantee getting one at these current prices. If they do in fact become discontinued, their secondary market prices will likely rise sharply.

Again, I wish good luck to anyone that decides to get one now... And I hope you score a great specimen at a decent price 👍
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Most places say"on backorder will ship..." Wonder if they are being optimistic.
 
not2sharp said:
I see GSM selling the brand to Taylor Brands, so they can add Cold Steel to their lineup of long dead brands: and, we will see those blister packs at Walmart with some mall ninja’s face on them.

Surprise, GSM wasn’t able to drum up demand for $700 V3 versions or equally uncompetitive 4034 knives. At the end they discovered that Lynn business case for making junk knives in China, and selling them without warranty or service, for 25 times direct cost was overly optimistic. GSM would be regarded as nothing more than a short footnote in future knife guides. No one will miss them.

n2s
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I can't find out any info on this other than S&W acquired Taylor Brands. Appreciate directing me to the info.
 
Taylor bought Schrade when it went bankrupt in the early 2000s. They may have purchased others as well.

The knives (and their sheaths) Taylor made in the 1980s were better than those I've had from their S&W brand.

In 1985 I got a Taylor-Seto MCR11 for my birthday, and it was a knockoff of the Cold Steel Tanto in 440c IIRC and had cast aluminum handles, which was typical of Japanese imports at the time. That summer I also bought their mini tanto.

I still have the MCR-11. It was my main fixed blade until I bought a Recon Tanto in 1997. This is the tanto in the CS ads showing a broken competitor's tanto. Mine held up well for everything I used it for, even light batonning. I don't do things to intentionally destroy knives.

It would be somewhat strange if they went from making knockoff CS products to being CS.
 
nephron said:
I can't find out any info on this other than S&W acquired Taylor Brands. Appreciate directing me to the info.
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I was out of date. Taylor was itself acquired in 2016 and is now part of Battenfeld Technologies. Here is their website:

Battenfeld Technologies - Shooting and Gun Cleaning Supplies

Battenfeld Technologies is the industry leading manufacturer of shooting, reloading, gunsmithing and gun cleaning supplies.
www.btibrands.com www.btibrands.com

n2s
 
nephron said:
Most places say"on backorder will ship..." Wonder if they are being optimistic.
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I'm guessing that even "if" Cold Steel has discontinued the Japanese made San Mai III Trail Master, they may have an outstanding order needing to be filled by Hattori before that contract with them ends.
If that is the case, vendors may still be relying on some of those heading their way once Cold Steel receives them.
In other words, even "if" this model has been axed, it's still very possible that a certain number of them are in the pipeline and heading to the market before the spigot runs dry.

Of course, if they have been axed, any remaining specimens in the pipeline could already have allotted to vendors that had placed previous orders for them, leaving other vendors with no way to replenish their sold out inventory of them.

I don't imagine Cold Steel coming out and stating that they are discontinued, (if they are), while some may still be in that pipeline. If we see them again in their upcoming 2022 catalog, then the Japanese made San Mai III will have once again avoided the chopping block. If it does not show in their new catalog, well we will know that they are gone.
 
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I wonder whether the end of Cold Steel would allow Hattori to market the Trail Master under its own brand.

They might just cut the debt loaded middle man out and bring the knife back to market at a more reasonable price point.

n2s
 
not2sharp said:
I wonder whether the end of Cold Steel would allow Hattori to market the Trail Master under its own brand.

They might just cut the debt loaded middle man out and bring the knife back to market at a more reasonable price point.

n2s
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I don't know if it would be much less money, (if at all), if it sold under the Hattori name brand. Hattori branded knives are not inexpensive.
 
Mr Hattori doesn't seem to have much interest in making synthetic material handled knives.
He only does it if his customers want them.
He already makes these as his biggest bowies under his own brand.
qVTs8u.jpg
 
I have often wished that Cold Steel would have offered, (as a standard option), the San Mai III Trail Master with a diamond checkered black micarta handle. I believe it would have been a great seller for them. Since I do like the look of a coffin handle on a Bowie knife, they could have simply mimicked their krayton type handle that they always used on their TM, but done in micarta.
 
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I took a peek this morning at Knifecenter's website, finding that they still have the following status for the CS San Mai III Trail Master listing...



I believe that has been the case for over two weeks now.

One of the other vendors I checked does list that they have 4 remaining in stock, so while most vendors are out of stock, not all are.
 
KenHash said:
PocketKnifeJimmy PocketKnifeJimmy

The San Mai III Trail Master is not "strongly believed to be" or "likely" made by Ichiro Hattori. They are.. I know this because I saw them and handled one in the Hattori Factory in Seki Japan over 6 years ago. Along with the CS Tantos.
Cold Steel contracted "most" of the VG1 core San Mai III models in 2006-2007. To my knowledge, Kinryu and Tak Fukuta are the only other
Seki factories that also did SM III models. All of these contracts ended in 2015 with, as you say the SM III Trail Master the only one remaining.
I personally was "sure" that the TM would also be terminated and moved to Taiwan construction. And that was in 2016.
I'm glad I was wrong because it gave me time to buy one, to replace the one I sold off years ago.
Even back then Mr Hattori told me that their work for Fallkniven was increasing constantly, so that dovetailed with them reducing (or getting reduced) work from Cold Steel.

Between 2016 and present day, I believe that Hattori is continuing to make the SM III TM but in very limited numbers, ie; at a schedule that Hattori can accomodate. This would explain why inventory stocks of this model seem to fluctuate and vendors are ually out of stock until another small batch comes in.
Cold Steel's website says this " This model features VG-1 San Mai III steel and is hand-made in limited edition in Japan."

Clearly though, with GSM's takeover of Cold Steel, the future of the Seki made San Mai III Trail Master is very uncertain.
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Thank You !

Very refreshing to have some first hand information rather than endless speculations .

PS . I would have dearly loved to tour the Hattori Factory ! :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
I noticed that Cold Steel's premium level priced Natchez and Laredo are now in the premium 3V steel. I also notice that their basic budget friendly offerings for these two models are now in the 4034 steel.

Now, one also sees that the new premium level priced Cold Steel Trail Master is in the 3V, but I have not seen or heard any mention of a budget friendly Trail Master being done in the 4034.

So, for at least how it now stands, the Japanese made VG-1 San Mai Trail Master IS their budget friendly version of the Trail Master.

Who'd a thunk that the once premium level priced Trail Master would someday become the "budget friendly" model 😱

The street price difference, (once everything settles), between the TM in 3V and the TM in VG-1 San Mai, will likely not be much different, with the 3V probably being no more than $50 more.
So, that further gives some weight to the "speculation" that the Japanese made version will be replaced by a more budget friendly version that will be considerably less than the 3V version of the TM.

If this becomes fact, then I wonder which way Cold Steel will go?...
Will they also go with the 4034 budget steel, as they have chosen for the budget Natchez and Laredo?...
Or...
Will they maybe go to their current Taiwan source that makes their Cold Steel V-10 core San Mai knives? I would imagine if the Taiwan source becomes the pick, the change will in fact be that they go to the VG-10 core San Mai (rather than the VG-1), and use a flat grind (rather than convexed). That would still keep the "budget" friendly Trail Master model as a pretty desirable one, but not so much if they went the 4034 route.
 
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