A2 Steel Update

BITEME said:
T

They should rename it to Trailmiser
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“Trialmuenster”, because it’s a cheesy gamble.

I’m laughing my ass off at the schmucks defending this BS. We were promised A2 blades for years and have been looking forward to them. This announcement was a slap in the face.

You feel free to buy these sharpened liners with handles. Meanwhile I’ll be bushwhacking with my Busses. :cool:
 
BITEME said:
Lre

Let Andrew Demko run Cold Steel
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With all respect, Lynn Thompson is doing a great job running Cold Steel. There is a universe worth of distance between designing knives or even running a small company (like Mr Demko), and creating and then running a wildly successful multi-million dollar multinational corporation as Mr Thompson has managed. I don't personally like what they have been doing this year. I am not personally pleased with the direction the company SEEMS to be headed. It is not what I would personally prefer to see for my own selfish reasons. But none of that means a damn thing when it comes to business.

If, like me, you are uninterested in these lower end products then don't buy them. Every knife they offer should be considered on its own merits, and most of Cold Steel's product line remains a fantastic value.
 
:) I still value LT and CS . I'm not nearly ready to write off nearly 40 yrs of his creative , unusual and mostly great stuff at affordable prices . :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Mainly , I'm on this thread to try to derail the use of budget stainless on the big legendary CS choppers .

I might be dead wrong to think this is a bad idea . I'm not a metallurgist , or even close .

I just don't want to see CS go the way of so many others . Pandering to the lowest common denominator . Ruining a hard won reputation for functional / great performance at reasonable cost .

I don't agree with the more general bashing / roasting over every other long standing complaint . All that has nothing to do with the issue at hand here and is just not helpful IMO . :(:thumbsdown:
 
One warning issued for insults.

Discuss the topic, not the other person.
 
The Whip said:
Do you know what medium-carbon, medium-hardness machetes do when they strike a hard object? They bend. Usually, the edges bend too. That the edge of the machete in that video still looks undamaged after that cut is pretty remarkable.
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about blade being undamaged - it had plenty of time to decelerate, plus we never really seen real close-up.

And 4034 is also medium carbon, and medium or even low hardness, it will be thicker than this machete, but people will also want to baton it.
This decision makes sense for Cold Steel, but it makes no sense to us, since we are minority as customers.
DocJD said:
I was thinking : "Wall Master" ! :rolleyes::p
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Maybe Flea Master? :D
 
Ultimately, it ain’t over until the knives drop on the market. Right now, I’m expecting below average toughness, decent corrosion resistance, and lacking edge retention. These are not qualities I’m looking for in a big knife like the Trailmaster. But if CS can pull some magic heat treatment or change steels at the last minute, I’d happily be proven wrong. We just have to wait and see.

Also still hoping to see more S35VN knives in the 2021 lineup.
 
Trailmaster=3V......Recon Scout=3V These are your top two survival, bushwacking type knives and I really don't see any other reason to use steel that's any less tougher that that. Look at CPK knives here in 3v their knives sell out in minutes or seconds. Maybe CS should do a run of these and see what happens, do some online testing of them to show what 3v can do, my guess would be a lot of sales. I read around here somewhere that knife sales are up 5x what they were before all the lock down stuff going on. Oh well we'll see what happens to their flagship line of survival knives in the end. Good Luck CS.
 
"took a bit of digging and translating, but 4034, or Remanit 4034 appears to be a European steel designation (had to translate a bunch of tech documents from German /shrug)

Also known as X46Cr13, this is a low allow basic stainless steel (Really, really low alloy
icon_lol.gif
) it's composition is:

Carbon: .43 to .50%
Chromium: 12.5 to 14.5#%

and that's it. Considering it takes a minimum of 13% Cr to get a stainless designation, and a minimum of .4% carbon to make a halfway decent knife steel, I'd say it's about the low end of the spectrum. Even 420HC, which in my personal opinion is NOT a good blade steel (unless you want a dive knife) has more carbon, more Chromium, and vanadium, silicon and manganese for additional grain refinement, wear resistance and hardening properties

It's better than 420J2, which is the steel used in cheap replica "fantasy" weapons....but that's about it. For reference, 440C (A very good steel) is X105CrMo17 in german steel databases."

If S&W is using it for their knives then you know you are in trouble
 
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AntDog said:
“Trialmuenster”, because it’s a cheesy gamble.

I’m laughing my ass off at the schmucks defending this BS. We were promised A2 blades for years and have been looking forward to them. This announcement was a slap in the face.

You feel free to buy these sharpened liners with handles. Meanwhile I’ll be bushwhacking with my Busses. :cool:
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I had a Trailmaster in San Mai III. Loved the blade, and grind. After a few years, I did not love the handle Krayton (I believe). It got soft and was hard to hold it straight in a cut. Tended to yaw and blow the cut.

I had a FBMLE and a B11, KZII and WTF over rhe years. (Resiprine C is the boss for a rubber handle. No twist, tight and right....just the perfect amount of give).

I should have kept the Trailmaster, and done a elk antler rehandle, but had too many choopers.

Now....I don't have any Busse, because customs.....

5ApTFj0.jpg
 
I don't get the silly talk about beating a dead horse. Cold Steel started this thread, and CS fans are making their thoughts public and letting CS know what they think. If you think we're beating a dead horse, but you're still reading this, you really do need to get a life.

Most people who buy these large bowies are going to use them hard or may run into a situation where they will do so. It is very insolent and pretentious to question life experiences and question why someone may need a knife for hard use. What's it to anyone else why someone wants good steel in their knives?

We've had a lively discussion here and it caused Lynn Thompson to come out with a letter of explanation. The letter contained some very interesting details about foreign and domestic A2. I'd say this thread has been a major success. How many times in the past has the company president ever published such a letter here?

To Lynn Thompson: Please, please do not make your best knives out of 4034 steel. Even though I already have these knives in SK-5 and O-1, I don't want to see new ones made out of low end stainless. I'm not going to be able to recommend CS to anyone. How can I explain to them that CS makes its best bowie models out of low end stainless? It's better to just put production on hold until a good carbon steel can be used.
 
AntDog said:
“Trialmuenster”, because it’s a cheesy gamble.

I’m laughing my ass off at the schmucks defending this BS. We were promised A2 blades for years and have been looking forward to them. This announcement was a slap in the face.

You feel free to buy these sharpened liners with handles. Meanwhile I’ll be bushwhacking with my Busses. :cool:
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Yeah, Busse definitely, for those who have the moo-la. And for those on a budget, maybe TOPS, Ontario and Kabar.
 
I've been a fan of CS and their great heat treatment, turning even meh steels into solid performers. But, it appear, 4034 is barely stainless and barely even qualifies as steel. Lose-lose I guess!

And, in any thread of any length, there will always be people who jump in and accuse everyone of being less macho. If you complain about a new knife with a 90* bend in the blade they call you a Nancy and say that if you used your knives like they do, you wouldn't be complaining, you'd be out killing bears like them. As CS fans, we have a vested interest in what the company does. If it goes south, we stand to lose more than the guy
spending his days playing "Quien es Mas Macho!" on the internet.

If 4034 is that awesome, as CS claims it is, that's great! Keep putting it into budget knives and we all win. Don't expect me to buy a khukuri made from it, unless it's the budget Gurkha and CS produces some very convincing videos of it.
 
"Look at the past 10 pages of this thread, who, at any moment asked for XHP or S35VN to replace A2???"

To be sure it seems Lynn either didn't really pay attention to what was being said or is so far involved with the process of making 4034 knives that anything but full throat-ed support for this steel would be undercutting his investment. The two step of comparing it t XHP and s35Vn which aren't suitable for Trailmaster style hard use is meant to convince people who aren't any more knowledgeable than to recognize what in effect are buzzwords on youtube videos seems sort of sneaky to me. Lynn himself certainly knows the difference so it's sort of insulting to have him try this. As far as toughness is concerned A36 structural steel is very tough too but it isn't suited to knives either. A good knife takes more than toughness. A great knife? Well, I have to pay for it. I don't mind.

I still think he would be better off going back to SK 5 or O1/O2, or 52100 or 5160 for that matter. Or a bunch of other steels he can choose from.
 
"Yikes. In 4034SS too?!"

Well, Lynn did say it's a "great" steel so why not? :rolleyes:

Funny but the 4034 knives I've tried were at best mediocre. Crap in fact. If it can take a pretty polish and come with a real cool CD it will sell some. Just not to us customers that have bought Cold Steel knives since the 80's. At least I still have two of my old Trailmasters. I was really wanting a better one though. A2 should have done it too.

But cheapening the Trailmaster just sits like a burr under my saddle . No matter what Lynn says 4034 will never be anything but bottom barrel 4th best stuff. Like the knives I can buy with similar steel for under $30 elsewhere. Congratulations Cold Steel. You are now competing with "Master", and some of the Frost owned names.
 
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