Anyone else had problems with quality control for 12" machetes recently?

S

silvermiketrate

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Oct 25, 2022
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Hello, a few months ago I bought a 12" bowie machete. I've had multiple Cold Steel machetes over the years- the 18" ones and 12" ones, and two 12" bowies back in the day I foolishly gave away, so was rebuying. The one that arrived was not like the ones from years ago, it had tiny pieces of metal all along one edge (almost like it was serrated) that I had to file off. Anyways I chalked that up as an outrigger. A few months later I decided to try the 12" tanto as I'd never had that 12'-13" version. Today it arrived and again it had almost a serrated edge, plus it looks like someone has taken a sharpie black marker pen on a couple of spots of the black finish to try and cover up some missed spots of the black finish. And the grinds were so uneven on each side.
So my question is- has anyone else encountered this recently? Is this related to the company being sold (and not enough oversight in the South African factory)? Or did I just get two bad examples in a few months?
 
And you kind of realise- it's not that hard i.e. 1. did your black coating cover everything it should? 2. are your grinds the same on each side? Any average workman or overseer can easily visually see these things instantly. The items were passed with at least two to three (the dipper, the grinder and the overseer) people seeing these things.
 
They used to sharpen the machetes in Ventura before the sale to GSM. So I guess it's GSM or somebody that they send them to that are sharpening them now. Some recently purchased machetes have arrived in great condition, one Black Bear Bowie not so good. In fact the Black Bear Bowie was supposed to have been a Jungle Machete but it had the wrong label applied to the plastic sleeve. I would have kept it but after inspecting the machete it was so poorly ground and had a blunt tip I sent it back.
 
I bought my Kukri Machetes last year and the edges had a huge burr on them.

I got it out in a couple minutes for each machete, though machetes in that price range should be ready to use.

Gerber/Fiskars machetes generally cost less and are ready to use out of the package.

Mine might have been old stock since I purchased them shortly after I learned about the new GSM Zero Edge on the Gladius Machete.

I think it would be difficult to determine if machetes purchased new are pre-GSM or GSM aside from the Gladius Machete.

If sharpened Gladius Machetes are being sold new from retailers then we'd know the problem was fixed.
 
years ago long before gsm, the south African machetes were terrible too.....out of about a dozen I own over many different years and runs..... i got one good edged one that was even bevels and high quality and actually sharp and well done........and that came from baryonyx and he did the work on it.

2 of the others ones done by cold steel werent badly done but had the large jagged burr. the rest that were done by cold steel looks like a beginner did the work...all terrible with the large jagged burr and very uneven and wobbly grinds and massive amounts of the steel ground away etc. bascially the way ya described yours. these were all done in cali when Lynn's still owned the company.
 
My most recent were both acceptable edge for machetes . Just needed little work with a diamond oval stick .

18" Barong and 24" Chinese (war) Sword Machete . Both South Africa made .
 
In general Lynn Thompson said in that good interview that there under his watch there were many times a whole shipment was rejected because the quality wasnt up to his standards: now w GSM i think that is out the window any any shipment that comes in goes right out to disributers and customers maybe thats why we are seeing issues ; theres slight up and down play on some AD10 knives when you push on them, among other things…
 
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