Yooooo... GSM customer service is straight Garbage!

The $25 Mtech clone has higher build quality than ALL the 3v trailmasters, that is absolutely shameful. GSM could not care less, that is absolutely unforgivable.
 
I hate to say it fellows but it's time to move on to a new company. Cold steel is dead as far as I'm concerned. While I am glad I have the ones that I have, I will not ever purchase another one.
 
sledbot said:
I emailed Knifecenter asking them to check out the knife prior to shipping.

They inspected it, aaannnnddd it was OVERGROUND and thinner than factory specs. This means that I have never seen a 3V Trailmaster that was not horribly made from the factory, way out of spec. This is a joke, GSM is a Joke.
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That's just insane. I wonder if all the 3V Trail masters are like that, or have similar problems...

If they are, then no chance of getting one that's properly made. On the other hand, if there are some that turned out right, maybe other dealers have them. Knifecenter is a good dealer, unfortunately they don't have much (if any) input as to what they get sent by GSM or any other manufacturer. No doubt same with the other dealers. They can pick what knives they want to sell, but after that, they get whatever is shipped to them.

You could check some of the other internet knife dealers, or you might just be better off having a similar knife custom made.

Either way, it's still insane. Thompson sold who knows how many Trailmasters made of various steels when he ran CS and the vast majority of them were good to go right out of the box. Pretty screwed up how GSM can't seem to manage getting a 3V Trailmaster made right...
 
nighthawk86 said:
Either way, it's still insane. Thompson sold who knows how many Trailmasters made of various steels when he ran CS and the vast majority of them were good to go right out of the box. Pretty screwed up how GSM can't seem to manage getting a 3V Trailmaster made right...
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I think the answer lies in the fact that Lynn loved knives. (I'm sure still does) The current owners probably have zero interest or understanding of the hobby. The bean counters now have it.

In order to produce a good product, you have to understand the product and love the product. Not just the sales, marketing and bottom line.
 
I was wondering if these improperly ground Trailmasters were not uncommon (since I've heard of multiple examples in a short period of time,) common, or maybe represent all or most of them.

Has anyone here purchased a 3V Trailmaster that is properly ground?

Maybe with a big retailer like Knifecenter being aware of the problem GSM will listen to them and practice a bit of quality control and make all their improperly ground knives into seconds. Lynn Thompson considered knives to be seconds for far less obvious flaws.
 
I'm not sure why everyone is surprised by the issues with the currently made high end Cold Steel knives. GSM makes junk level camping and outdoors gear, about the same as the Walmart house brand stuff. Why would they do well making knife guys happy? Why would they do well making a fairly "high end" , "super steel" Bowie knife. Cold steel customer service wasn't great before, but it would eventually get worked out however, now you are dealing with a brand, not a company owned by a knife nut.
 
sledbot said:
There is no greater Cold Steel fanboy on earth than I. My personal Cold Steel collection as it stands is somewhere in the neighborhood of $8K+, so this is extra painful for me.

I just received my $460 (knife center) 3V trailmaster.

It is waaay overground on both sides just like all the others I've seen online. So there's a problem, okay let's see what GSM says...

After being on hold for 15min and explaining it's not a trail cam, I directed her to the review images on the CS website showing the problem. I s#it you not she said it looks like he did it at home and the person who sold me mine, also ground it before sending it to me and there's nothing to do about it.

WTF?

I'm so angry, hurt, disappointed, confused. This is probably more of a cautionary tale about not being a giant fanboy than anything.
QC problems are not rare for CS or most companies in general, but the price point, customer service, general modus operandi of GSM is straight F-ing garbage. Literally makes me want to liquidate all my Cold Steel pieces. Maybe look for a big CS collection in the sale area soon. So done with this brand...
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I visited couple of knife collecters around me, they all got the latest 3V TM. I have examed their knives in person. Believe or not, you are not alone.

One exception: San Mai TM, Made in Japan, perfect from any direction. Bought back in 2017 for $150. Now asking price: $280.

I have to say, we now happen to be in Cold Steel Dark Era.
 
bramley02 said:
I visited couple of knife collecters around me, they all got the latest 3V TM. I have examed their knives in person. Believe or not, you are not alone.

One exception: San Mai TM, Made in Japan, perfect from any direction. Bought back in 2017 for $150. Now asking price: $280.

I have to say, we now happen to be in Cold Steel Dark Era.
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I have yet to see a single 3v TM that is not defective. Knifecenter said theirs is Defective, but not defective enough to send back. So they will sell it to some unsuspecting collector. I thought that was pretty s#itty. The way they put it was that the knife was not up to my standards, but they personally did not deem it enough of a defect to send it back. Canceled my knifecenter order and went to Blade HQ to do the same thing. I called and emailed prior to ordering, but they emailed me back saying that it was not inspected prior to shipping. So I'm sure that one will be going back as well. What a stupid waste of time Cold Steel has become. I'm thinking about the custom route, but didn't really want to spend $800 on a bowie. I really wish I could get a Bark River. Cold Steel sucks, GSM sucks. Breaks my heart.
 
I'm curious as to the sales figures. What were they before GSM and what are they now? How much money have they lost? I'm sure there's no way that they are selling the way they were prior to the sellout to GSM. Of course I have no proof of this and it's all speculation.
 
Vlade said:
I'm curious as to the sales figures. What were they before GSM and what are they now? How much money have they lost? I'm sure there's no way that they are selling the way they were prior to the sellout to GSM. Of course I have no proof of this and it's all speculation.
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Meh, I bet they’re doing fine. Most cold steel purchasers are probably one and done folks that don’t really need warranty support… and they probably sell enough that they don’t care if they lose a few customers. If sales decline, they’ll just sell it.
 
sledbot said:
I have yet to see a single 3v TM that is not defective. Knifecenter said theirs is Defective, but not defective enough to send back. So they will sell it to some unsuspecting collector. I thought that was pretty s#itty. The way they put it was that the knife was not up to my standards, but they personally did not deem it enough of a defect to send it back.
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Their attitude makes it less likely that CS will improve their quality control on the Trailmaster.
 
Wow... This is disappointing. At best.
Especially since reading it made me go look at the 3v Recon Scout I got from Smokey Mountain Knife Works just over a month ago for a birthday present to myself.... It's badly overground, and just a few days over the 30 day receipt date. It's still brand new and unused, just can't return a defective product because of a few days date technicality. I wonder if it'd be worth driving back to see if maybe they have a better one in stock to buy, swap out and return the first one? I don't know...
 
nighthawk86 said:
That's just insane. I wonder if all the 3V Trail masters are like that, or have similar problems...

If they are, then no chance of getting one that's properly made. On the other hand, if there are some that turned out right, maybe other dealers have them. Knifecenter is a good dealer, unfortunately they don't have much (if any) input as to what they get sent by GSM or any other manufacturer. No doubt same with the other dealers. They can pick what knives they want to sell, but after that, they get whatever is shipped to them.

You could check some of the other internet knife dealers, or you might just be better off having a similar knife custom made.

Either way, it's still insane. Thompson sold who knows how many Trailmasters made of various steels when he ran CS and the vast majority of them were good to go right out of the box. Pretty screwed up how GSM can't seem to manage getting a 3V Trailmaster made right...
Click to expand...

Yeah, for that price and that big of a headache you might consider getting a custom at this point.
 
sledbot said:
I have yet to see a single 3v TM that is not defective. Knifecenter said theirs is Defective, but not defective enough to send back. So they will sell it to some unsuspecting collector. I thought that was pretty s#itty. The way they put it was that the knife was not up to my standards, but they personally did not deem it enough of a defect to send it back. Canceled my knifecenter order and went to Blade HQ to do the same thing. I called and emailed prior to ordering, but they emailed me back saying that it was not inspected prior to shipping. So I'm sure that one will be going back as well. What a stupid waste of time Cold Steel has become. I'm thinking about the custom route, but didn't really want to spend $800 on a bowie. I really wish I could get a Bark River. Cold Steel sucks, GSM sucks. Breaks my heart.
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Cold Steel used to make art pieces, but also with a price tag of a art piece. How many of you will pay $290 for a folder back in 1998 (black salber)?

I just bought a discontinused Marauder, satin finish, hollow grind. It was PERFECT! I just ingnore the current stone-wash, flat grind version, it just look so cheap.

GSM is adopting cheaper manufacturing process. I will not be surprised that, in some very near future, the SRK SK5 will adopt back a flat grind as well. Go get a hollow grind SRK as you can now.
 
I’m not knowledgeable enough to understand if this is a cosmetic defect, or if it has performance implications and sacrifices the safety of the blade. Can anyone explain it please?
Also a defect is a defect, so I’m not asking in bad faith. I really don’t know
 
EveryDayIsHalloween said:
I’m not knowledgeable enough to understand if this is a cosmetic defect, or if it has performance implications and sacrifices the safety of the blade. Can anyone explain it please?
Also a defect is a defect, so I’m not asking in bad faith. I really don’t know
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To me it is purely cosmetic. I suppose it could be argued that the blade, being a tiny bit thinner than it should be, is also a tiny bit weaker, but it is still plenty stout. That said, if they can't get that right, who knows what else may be a bit "off" where you can't see it, like the tang.
 
It makes the blade thinner so it would be weaker, but the knife and steel is probably tough enough for it not to matter for most people since they won't push it past the point where the extra thickness would have mattered.

That is assuming that this is the only place on the knife the quality control failed.

If such an obvious visible flaw got past their quality control, what else did they miss?

CS used to sell knives with far less obvious defects as "factory seconds" at a discount.

My SRK factory second doesn't have any visible defects that I can see. One of my Recon Tanto seconds has a blunter than normal tip and the other had a patch of coating missing.
 
Thanks fellas.
I had an issue where the tip of my 3V Laredo bowie was so incredibly lopsided that it would have needed a professional sharpening job to fix and a lot of material would have needed to be removed. Thankfully I was able to exchange it and I got a perfect one back in just a few days. But that was really annoying. I overpaid in the first place as it’s much cheaper now. The place I often buy from is excellent with returns and customer service.
 
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