Why is there sometimes snobbery against Cold Steel knives? They are great!

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Viper2

Joined
Mar 15, 2012
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Like it or not, Cold Steel knives (especially their folders) are some of the best value knives out there! Their folders, in particular, have the best locking system on the planet (Tri-Ad Lock) and some of the best designs as well. Also, no other company has as much variety of truly large folders available as Cold Steel.

Even many of their fixed blades knives are a very good value. And their knives, whether folders or fixed blades, have demonstration videos to prove just how tough and sharp they are. The old "but AUS 8A isn't the best blade steel out there" argument is so pointless. AUS 8A steel is very strong and holds a very good edge for any task that is expected of a knife. And even if AUS 8A does dull a little faster than the most high-end blade steels on the planet, it can still be sharpened rather easily, no big deal. And of course, the other steels (SK-5, San Mai III, etc.) that Cold Steel offers with particular knives are all high quality steels that are great as well.

There is really no reason to hate on Cold Steel. I think most of the Cold Steel hate out there stems from one or more of the following:

  • People who want to feel elite and don't want to buy a brand of knife that is well known by non-collectors of knives and sold at shopping malls.
  • People who are bitter of the fact that they overpaid for their knife and therefore want to insult the much better value (and possibly stronger - especially folders with Tri-Ad Lock) Cold Steel option.
  • People who are against any knives made in non-1st world countries (even though these knives may be better than the knives they currently have).


Opinions?
 
I really like my CS Mini AK-47 (I just did a review on the review forums :))
Some people hate on them because of thier shoddy warranty and somewhat cheesy demonstrations. Pretty much everyone will agree that the tri-ad is one of the best, and AUS-8/AUS-8A gets thrown around on here for better or for worst.
I would buy another CS. The next one in my sights i think is a Recon-1 Tanto or spearpoint (im leaning on tanto)
Alot more people on here like them than you may think. They get mentioned quite a bit.
 
Vanguard41xx said:
I like CS, but come on? These threads show up everyother week or so.
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I was going to say something alone these lines but i figured id actually try and answer for once.....
They just wont go away. I think its a phase. I finally moved on from doing it myself.....
 
a lot of cold steel products are fantasy blades and they market them as the best option for destroying your enemies.
lynn thompson had me rolling with the two-handed great sword video.
 
I like Cold Steel, but I think most of the snobbery is mythical. I see far more threads like this than I do threads bashing CS.
 
It generally boils down to a few things

1. While his products are not bad in some peoples opinion he overcharges for what you get on some of them AUS8 is not a bad steel but don't charge me SV30 prices for it because it has Cold Steel on it and don't get me started with San Mai III (this my personal big issue with Cold Steel)
2.Some people find those videos in poor taste and emphasizes the weapon aspect of knifes to the detriment of the tool aspect and thus hurts knife owners in the court of public opinion
But the two biggest are
3. The owner Lyn Thompson has been known to shoot his mouth off and offend certain respected people and thus him and his product gains the disrespect of those people and their followers. (don't remember the specifics on this one but I remember the controversy)
4.He copies other peoples designs without permission and does not pay them for it.
 
I dunno why, but I can't see this thread going anywhere good anytime soon.

That having been said, I think the cheese/mall ninja factor of and the way they advertise their knives has a lot to do with the way they're perceived by anyone who knows anything about knives. You simply don't see the same kind of boastful marketing with any of the big three as you see out of Cold Steel. On top of that, the quality of materials and workmanship of a knife made by Benchmade, Spyderco, or Kershaw is likely to be better than a Cold Steel knife in a similar price point, at least in my experience. That all having been said, I like some of Cold Steel's products, but their marketing is way over the top and turns me off on actually buying them.
 
I don't have a thing against Cold Steel. Except for China on their stuff.

Other than that, they are great, but I would like to add, that all the recent success of their new lock systems, are because of Andrew Demko, not Cold Steel. They bought into a great design, and a great designer/maker. Thus, giving them a lot of success. Very smart.

I would love to have the Tri-Ad on several of my blade, but if its Tri-Ad/China, or framelock/American, I'm buying ZT.

I think the marketing is over the top, but hell, CS is sellin' some knives. I think the owner has some issues, but the business is doing its job, which is making money.

I have several of their blades, I didn't buy a single one of them, but I do own them. I spend my money on blades with USA on the tang.

Moose
 
MJF said:
On top of that, the quality of materials and workmanship of a knife made by Benchmade, Spyderco, or Kershaw is likely to be better than a Cold Steel knife in a similar price point, at least in my experience.
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I would highly disagree on this. And none of the Benchmade, Spyderco, or Kershaw folders can hold a candle to the Tri-Ad Locking system on Cold Steel folders.
 
I've strongly considered an Recon 1, however I really can't see paying that much for AUS-8, while you may consider it just as good or half a step below 3V, S110V, Elmax, etc I do not, actually I can only think of a couple steels I would choose it over (AUS-4, 420J2, AUS-6, 3cr, 5cr, 440a and thats about it). CS's main selling point is their very strong lock, however I've never broken a lock on a folding knife or had one fail on me, therefor have no need of a stronger lock. I have had knives become dull from use (all knives), that's why I buy knives that stay sharp longer rather than stay open against more pressure. While AUS-8 is easy to sharpen with a belt grinder that I use all steel is pretty much the same (5 min or less), however when I'm using a knife I don't always have the option to stop what I'm doing go and resharpen the blade, and continue what I'm doing (like at work).
 
Viper2 said:
I would highly disagree on this. And none of the Benchmade, Spyderco, or Kershaw folders can hold a candle to the Tri-Ad Locking system on Cold Steel folders.
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Care to quantify your statement?
 
Viper, did you honestly want opinions (like you stated at the end of your original post), or just debate those that disagree with you?
 
Lock strength is overrated. Use a fixed blade or prybar if you need strength. A knife is a cutting tool.

Kershaw/ZT, Spyderco, and Benchmade all give you steels with better edge retention than AUS8.

Edited to add: Yes I have owned Cold Steel knives.
 
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At the end of the day, a lock doesn't cut a damned thing. I'll take a better blade steel with a compression lock/liner lock/axis or bb lock/backlock any day over a Tri-Ad lock with crappy materials surrounding it. If the most important feature of my knives were it's lock, maybe Cold Steel would be a contender, but it isn't. My knives are for cutting things with, not locking tighter than a nun's ass. If the blade steel isn't up to par, nothing else really matters. That's just my 2 cents. Toss in handle materials and workmanship, and Spyderco, Benchmade, and Kershaw still come out on top.
 
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