Yooooo... GSM customer service is straight Garbage!

I agree. You can't even get a replacement clip from them. I won't buy anymore from them.
 
PsychoSword said:
Yea it's hard to tell what is new and old stock. I've been trying to figure that out myself. I really don't want to buy a dull Khrukri or Gladius again. And then mail them down to GSA in Texas to have them possibly butcher the blade, and then Fedex Ground drives around town with your package for a week in the back of their truck because they also suck. What's the point.. You can't even cut weeds with the damn things when they arrive unfinished, dull as crap.

I did get some D-Guard 24" Latin machetes recently as well. They were sharpened and I THINK they were newer stock. But not sure. Maybe they are correcting things.. only time will tell.
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One telltale sign is the logo or packaging that comes with the product you have. Older pre GSM stock will have the California address and 800 255 4715 phone number, while GSM will have a Texas address and 877 269 8490. GSM also has a newer modified logo with what looks like a Bowie blade between the words Cold and Steel.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url...ved=0CBIQjRxqFwoTCLDZldeevYIDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE
 
PeteyTwoPointOne said:
sorry state of affairs when "Pre-GSM" becomes a selling point
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I've purchased many Cold Steel products "Post-GSM" and have had no problems with quality other than a poorly sharpened Black Bear Bowie Machete which I promptly returned. The vendors or subcontractors in Taiwan and elsewhere have been doing excellent work in my humble opinion. As long as the quality is maintained I will continue to be a loyal customer.

I do miss the semi annual parking lot sales in Ventura, the catalogs, flyers, Proof DVD's and Cold Steel's facilities being just a six hour drive from my location. But the products are still very good for the money.
 
There are two types of questions relating to determining whether a product is old or new stock.

One is whether it is pre or post GSM.

The other is if it is GSM with current quality control problems (no-grind machetes and poorly ground Bowies) or GSM knives with quality control problems fixed, although the "new stock" with the quality control problems fixed is just hypothetical until evidence is shown that it exists.

I would have thought that a company would see posts on forums and reviews on retailer sites complaining about quality control issues that are so common it appears that all or almost all pieces of certain products have them and take action to correct them, and maybe issue a statement saying that they are aware of the issues and are working on fixing them, and sell the defective items at a deep discount as seconds.

I was tempted to buy a 3V Trailmaster but it appears that no one has even heard of any quality control corrections of an issue that has been known since early this year.
 
Benjamin Liu said:
There are two types of questions relating to determining whether a product is old or new stock.

One is whether it is pre or post GSM.

The other is if it is GSM with current quality control problems (no-grind machetes and poorly ground Bowies) or GSM knives with quality control problems fixed, although the "new stock" with the quality control problems fixed is just hypothetical until evidence is shown that it exists.

I would have thought that a company would see posts on forums and reviews on retailer sites complaining about quality control issues that are so common it appears that all or almost all pieces of certain products have them and take action to correct them, and maybe issue a statement saying that they are aware of the issues and are working on fixing them, and sell the defective items at a deep discount as seconds.

I was tempted to buy a 3V Trailmaster but it appears that no one has even heard of any quality control corrections of an issue that has been known since early this year.
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I've seen several other samples of the 3V Trailmaster and every single one is ground that way, so apparently, it's normal. Ugly as hell and makes no sense, but that's the way they are grinding them.
 
I recently returned 9 Cold Steel Trailmaster san mai made in Japan. Yes 9. I have very good eyes picking up flaws. I wanted a perfect TM and did not mind paying restocking fees. Well, I returned every single one of them. Here are defects and lack of QC I experienced.
1) crooked guard
2) crooked kraton handle and torn kraton.
3) overground bevels. San mai lines very uneven.
4) blade not perfectly straight/warped looking from bird's eye view.
5) blade primary grinds are not symmetrical.

Yeah I am done with Cold Steel too.
 
H3baton said:
I recently returned 9 Cold Steel Trailmaster san mai made in Japan. Yes 9. I have very good eyes picking up flaws. I wanted a perfect TM and did not mind paying restocking fees. Well, I returned every single one of them. Here are defects and lack of QC I experienced.
1) crooked guard
2) crooked kraton handle and torn kraton.
3) overground bevels. San mai lines very uneven.
4) blade not perfectly straight/warped looking from bird's eye view.
5) blade primary grinds are not symmetrical.

Yeah I am done with Cold Steel too.
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Made in Japan….that’s very surprising. I would think the QC would be top notch. Nine of them being out of spec is ridiculous. Sorry to hear that.
 
H3baton said:
I recently returned 9 Cold Steel Trailmaster san mai made in Japan. Yes 9. I have very good eyes picking up flaws. I wanted a perfect TM and did not mind paying restocking fees. Well, I returned every single one of them. Here are defects and lack of QC I experienced.
1) crooked guard
2) crooked kraton handle and torn kraton.
3) overground bevels. San mai lines very uneven.
4) blade not perfectly straight/warped looking from bird's eye view.
5) blade primary grinds are not symmetrical.

Yeah I am done with Cold Steel too.
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HOLY... I definitely would not have expected that from the Japan knives. My last Trailmaster in San Mai was perfect, but that was a few years ago. Maybe I should have kept it. I'm definitely keeping my old Japan San Mai Tantos and everything else pre-GSM. I saw how they butchered my South African made Gladius when I sent it down to Texas to get it sharpened this Spring. Surprisingly they did good on the Kukri in comparison. Yikes. The edge on the Gladius is all chewed up and there's burn marks on it and the handle. They even managed to screw up the tip of the blade. Must have been two different folks working on each one, one was drunk and the other was sober. :oops:
 
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H3baton said:
I recently returned 9 Cold Steel Trailmaster san mai made in Japan. Yes 9. I have very good eyes picking up flaws. I wanted a perfect TM and did not mind paying restocking fees. Well, I returned every single one of them. Here are defects and lack of QC I experienced.
1) crooked guard
2) crooked kraton handle and torn kraton.
3) overground bevels. San mai lines very uneven.
4) blade not perfectly straight/warped looking from bird's eye view.
5) blade primary grinds are not symmetrical.

Yeah I am done with Cold Steel too.
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Fascinating. I have owned 6 San Mai III Trail Masters over the years, still own/use one, and not one of them have had any flaws. I've been to the factory making them.
I think you must have some seriously really bad luck.
 
KenHash said:
Fascinating. I have owned 6 San Mai III Trail Masters over the years, still own/use one, and not one of them have had any flaws. I've been to the factory making them.
I think you must have some seriously really bad luck.
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Yea, mine was perfect as well. I wish I had kept it now. Even though I don't normally like knives that large.
 
H3baton said:
I recently returned 9 Cold Steel Trailmaster san mai made in Japan. Yes 9. I have very good eyes picking up flaws. I wanted a perfect TM and did not mind paying restocking fees. Well, I returned every single one of them. Here are defects and lack of QC I experienced.
1) crooked guard
2) crooked kraton handle and torn kraton.
3) overground bevels. San mai lines very uneven.
4) blade not perfectly straight/warped looking from bird's eye view.
5) blade primary grinds are not symmetrical.

Yeah I am done with Cold Steel too.
Click to expand...

You went thru 9 different Trail Master returns? That sucks. Did you buy them all at once or did you check out and return 9 individually?
I plan on picking one up before Cold Steel eventually moves production from Japan aka Hattori. I really like Hattori and Japanese made blades in general. I'm not sure how much longer Cold Steel will have any offerings from Japan.
 
V-1 said:
You went thru 9 different Trail Master returns? That sucks. Did you buy them all at once or did you check out and return 9 individually?
I plan on picking one up before Cold Steel eventually moves production from Japan aka Hattori. I really like Hattori and Japanese made blades in general. I'm not sure how much longer Cold Steel will have any offerings from Japan.
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The Taiwan knives are still good, but yea I hear yea. I think the Japan Cold Steel knives ship has already sailed. I don't know what else they still contract over there aside from the Trailmaster.

I have San Mai III Japan Recon Tantos from before they moved production to Taiwan. Both knives are good IMO. But the Japan ones just seemed a bit more refined when I would compare them next to the Taiwan models. Not a huge difference though.
 
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PsychoSword said:
The Taiwan knives are still good, but yea I hear yea. I think the Japan Cold Steel knives ship has already sailed. I don't what what else they still contract over there aside from the Trailmaster.

I have San Mai III Japan Recon Tantos from before they moved production to Taiwan. Both knives are good IMO. But the Japan ones just seemed a bit more refined when I would compare them next to the Taiwan models. Not a huge difference though.
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Currently, I believe only the san mai Trail Master and san mai Master Hunter are still made in Japan.
I've seen a lot more reports about bad grinds on the Taiwan made 3V Trail Master. This is the first I heard of bad examples coming out of Hattori.
 
Yea, that sounds about right. I forgot about the Master Hunter. They used to make the Mini Hunter over there too. I had one. I believe with about 98% certainty the Mini Hunter I had was VG-10.
 
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V-1 said:
Currently, I believe only the san mai Trail Master and san mai Master Hunter are still made in Japan.
I've seen a lot more reports about bad grinds on the Taiwan made 3V Trail Master. This is the first I heard of bad examples coming out of Hattori.
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It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me either. Unless they both got a bad pattern to make the blade or something at one point. But Japan does their own thing, so that doesn't seem logical.
 
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I reached the same disappointment when I called about a replacement clip for a Talwar and was told I had to send the knife back for a warranty claim! Then yet again when I asked about a replacement handle for the spetnaz shovel and was told I had to buy another complete shovel to get what I need. GSM is doing what we all thought and exploiting Cold Steels years of customer development to gut the brand and cheapen everything up for profits that will dwindle to a point they close the doors.
 
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