Why are some people so biased on Cold Steel?

People with no experience or understanding of martial arts training see those proof videos as glorifying violence .

Others just hate seeing their expensive favorite pet knife brand / model get trounced by CS in a fair face off test .

LT is a genuinely passionate about turning out a great quality , hard use product at the best possible price .
 
I also find price/performance ratio of Cold Steel products to be top notch.

I have 2 of CS knives, both are in use, and the more I use them the more I love them..
 
I have not bought a cold steel product this year.

I have "enough" knives. I still buy and sell customs. I went to Blade Show West last year. I ended up with 3 custom knives. I still made time to visit the CS booth and chat. Lynn was there. He and a few guys were sparring with large knives and safety equipment. All hot and sweaty and smelly. He was in sweats.

I got three matching neck knives for me and my boys.


Cold steel has many quality products and designs.

I have 5 axes and tomahawks, 5? folders, three fixed blades, a machete, throwing knives and such, and 3 big bore blow guns from them.

I've purchased their knives as gifts, and recommended them to people looking for a quality folder or fixed blade.

Some of my knives are 20 years old from them, still going strong.


I have, at any given time, $2k of knives on me. Often one is a Cold Steel. Not every day, but often.

I have 4 customs and 3 production slipjoints and one Spyderco with me.

I still look at their catalogue/online adds. I watch all their videos. I chuckle at the over the top-ness of some of it. But I enjoy it.

They continue to improve their designs. They use great locks, and I enjoy their designs.

Even though I am not an fan boy, I still like their stuff. I've gone down the rabbit hole of customs and higher end production knives, but still have a soft spot for CS.
 
Because cold steel marketing is ghey. I like the heck out of my Code 4 and I’ll probably like the AD10 I’ll pick up tomorrow but I’d probably not own either if my intro to CS was YouTube.
 
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Their most recent marketing videos aren't bad. i do like the lock strength test video Demko did. It made a lot of people butt hurt, but reality hurts. What is so ridiculous about showing people what you said your product can do? Isn't it more ridiculous to *talk* about what your knives can do, but never show it? Like "the #1 harduse knives"... or "built like a tank"... etc.

It's also funny people find cold steel publicizing the testing of their product ridiculous, but they don't find it ridiculous about people crying on social media over not getting some neon green or micarta handle sprint run of the some knives they are never going to use.
 
The cold steel videos are great lol..

My first knife from them was a recon tanto Id bought in store. Around 2003 I think. Been awhile

I went and ordered their catalog online, and it came with one of the dvds. Seeing the actual knife in the video being used instead of just seeing pictures in a catalog really fed my blade lust, and I started buying like crazy

I reckon its worked quite well for them
 
There wasnt any YouTube really back then to check knife videos out.

I guess in 2019, their dvds are pretty useless
 
Watched 3 of their throwing knives fail catastrophically due to poor heat treat (indicated by large grain structure seen in the break). The QVC knife salesman gimmicks don't help.
 
I don't think there is any mystery about it. There is a significant proportion of knife people who inanely believe that if you always, always and only refer to knives as tools and never, ever mention that they can also be used against human beings, that little fact will slip the minds of all the hoplophobes and bleeding heart liberals out there and they will leave knives alone. Then along comes this fat huckster with the temerity to produce videos showing knives, swords, axes, etc. slashing, stabbing and chopping sides of beef and thereby demonstrating to all and sundry just how deadly these things can be - of course they are going to hate him and his company. They're going to attack and ridicule on every front they can - from personal appearance to marketing to materials to design. Anything to show that they stand on the right side (or should I say left side) of civilized society. They are as delusional as Neville Chamberlain at Munich.
 
...or framed differently, the marketing doesn't appeal to any of the reasons I own a knife. I have a several pragmatic reasons I carry a knife and the 'you should carry the biggest knife you can' position - which happens to match their niche - doesn't appeal to me at all. The hyperbole approaches a cartoonish level to me.

Now, I totally get how it would appeal to others. And I have no doubt they produce solid products. I'm just not their target market - and thats fine.
 
45Shooter said:
I don't think there is any mystery about it. There is a significant proportion of knife people who inanely believe that if you always, always and only refer to knives as tools and never, ever mention that they can also be used against human beings, that little fact will slip the minds of all the hoplophobes and bleeding heart liberals out there and they will leave knives alone. Then along comes this fat huckster with the temerity to produce videos showing knives, swords, axes, etc. slashing, stabbing and chopping sides of beef and thereby demonstrating to all and sundry just how deadly these things can be - of course they are going to hate him and his company. They're going to attack and ridicule on every front they can - from personal appearance to marketing to materials to design. Anything to show that they stand on the right side (or should I say left side) of civilized society. They are as delusional as Neville Chamberlain at Munich.
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That makes sense too, any tool can be used against humans tho, like hammer for example... baseball bat is part of sports equipment and you can kill someone with it... same goes for golf club.
 
I like the lock test strengths they do. The triad lock really is rugged as hell. You can just feel it when you snap that sucker open

They meat slicing tests are silly lol. Unless they show the same knife slicing 1000 cuts of beef in a row, it wont prove anything.

Any sharpened steel blade is going to do extreme damage against soft meat, the first cut

The meat tests are directed towards young males who watch violent tv, movies, or cartoons. Noobs who will say "oh I want that!"
I think those of us who have been in the hobby awhile, know exactly what we are looking for already

Anyways....before I babble too long....

I think some people are just programmed in their minds already to dislike or like knives. Some people are just scared of them
 
I think lynn might be setting people up for fail lol...
Anyone relying on simply a knife, ANY knife for personal protection will likely get owned very quickly against any assailant armed with a pistol

I Guess people like to pretend
 
I like Lynn tho lol...I think he'd be a riot to work for.

He is the Phil Swift of the cutlery world
 
I think that rope/bamboo cutting is simply awesome, also I do enjoy watching knives getting bent without snapping and punching holes on car hoods. And marines doing pull-ups on knives was just simply awesome

Parts with cutting meat?
Well I get it that some people might use a knife for self defense so I get it why CS would like to show them performance of their knives on meat.
I also understand that people buying swords would like to see that the sword can perform too.
However, hitting cow's/pig's head with a kukri was "???" for me.
And human shaped ballistic gel torso filled with blood is also kinda "???" for me.
 
Love cold steel.

They arent the prettiest blades, but gosh they are effective.

Look at the recon 1

S35vn steel: same as the famous SEBENZA

triad lock: stronger then a frame lock I bet

Is coated black so enemies cannot see you

And its only 80 bucks so you dont need to worry about beating it up a little

Bargain if I ever saw one
 
Crikeyyy said:
Love cold steel.

They arent the prettiest blades, but gosh they are effective.

Look at the recon 1

S35vn steel: same as the famous SEBENZA

triad lock: stronger then a frame lock I bet

Is coated black so enemies cannot see you

And its only 80 bucks so you dont need to worry about beating it up a little

Bargain if I ever saw one
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That's true. I paid my Recon Tanto around 62€, used it at construction site, at home... and so on. And never had an issue with it.

My friend paid around 160€ for Fallkniven F1 and the blade chipped on first use! And people on this forum then tell me it's common with Fallkniven...

So, yeah CS really is a bargain!
 
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