Cold Steel 2021 New Knives

whp · Dec 28, 2020

I m going to stay positive about Cold Steel for now. The new owners didn t spend the purchase money for a successful company to do away with the business model that made it successful.
Did they?

Chris_Texas · Dec 28, 2020

whp said:
I m going to stay positive about Cold Steel for now. The new owners didn t spend the purchase money for a successful company to do away with the business model that made it successful.
Did they?

They invested to make money. That is their only concern. That is ANY p7blic corporation's only concern.

You don't know how successful Cold Steel actually was at the time it was sold. It could have been on death's door, there is no way to know. The new owners have something in mind that they believe will make them a return on their investment. That's the only thing we know for sure. The plan might well be to lower the quality and material costs across the board (while lying about the materials they actually use), move all manufacturing to China, cut prices a pittance to spur quick sales, and rake the profits in until the public figures out that new Cold Steel is trash. And they could be funding the entire thing by borrowing against the Cold Steel name and assets-- paying themselves off with the borrowed bucks and leaving the company doomed.

Or... perhaps they see an opportunity for significant long term growth with proper investment. That was the position my business was in. We saw an opportunity to make significantly more money, but doing so required more money than we could possibly save. Fortunately we found investors, and our idea worked (until 2020 anyway).

I want to believe that this later scenario is what we see here with Cold Steel. I prefer being positive and giving them a chance. It's not my business, or my money on the line, so being optimistic costs me nothing. If they make great stuff I will buy it, if they start sucking I will move on. And I will continue to have nothing but gratitude to Lynn C Thompson and the Cold Steel crew for all the great things they accomplished.

Houlahound · Dec 28, 2020

Chris_Texas said:
The plan might well be to lower the quality and material costs across the board (while lying about the materials they actually use)

How could they lie about the materials, that would be a criminal offence that would be super easy to detect.

oxman198 · Dec 29, 2020

Larry Turko said:
The inexplicable fascination with blade steels seems to rage on judging by the comments above. [ If steel nerds ever had a girlfriend would they be more interested in her DNA than her t_ts and a_ _? ] I only care about fit and finish and, above all, great designs. I'd love to see some more unique XL folders like the Kris voyager and the Kris Ti-lite. Failing that I'd to see an XL version of the Immortal, a serrated Rajah 2, a serrated large Luzon with a green handle to more accurately represent the segmented "bamboo" handle, an XL spearpoint Recon 1 folder to complement the XL Recon 1 tanto and XL Recon 1 clip point... I could go on but I'll stop there for now.

Haha perfect analogy. It seems like most people that actually use their knives daily on a jobsite or active hobby could not care less about steel. All of my work knives now are "cheaper" steel, with s30v probably being the highest end steel for my users. When you use them hard and frequently, all steels dull. I actually prefer the softer steels now because I can get that sharper than factory edge back on with a few swipes of a ceramic rod. I look at the construction and functionality of the knife, with blade steel being very low on the list.

Chris_Texas · Dec 29, 2020

Houlahound said:
How could they lie about the materials, that would be a criminal offence that would be super easy to detect.

It would be difficult or impossible to detect, and totally impossible to prove intent. How? The factory in China tells you it is Aus8 or 10 at an unbeatable price, they make it from whatever cheap crap they have lying around, stamp it with whatever label they promised, and thats that. This already happens today, but not with Cold Steel. AD talked about just this in his recent interview, but it shouldn't be a shock.

kakefat · Dec 29, 2020

I’m personally hoping for a Warcraft Bowie and a broken skull 5.5”

MaxFisher · Dec 29, 2020

Chris_Texas said:
You don't know how successful Cold Steel actually was at the time it was sold. It could have been on death's door, there is no way to know.

I’ve been thinking on this a lot lately. I think this year (and maybe the last couple) has been hard on CS. Stock levels have seemed low every time I’m looking for a product. I don’t think Lynn made the decision to sell easily or because he wanted to leave the business behind. I think this was a move borne out of necessity.

Your Name Goes Here · Dec 29, 2020

MaxFisher said:
I’ve been thinking on this a lot lately. I think this year (and maybe the last couple) has been hard on CS. Stock levels have seemed low every time I’m looking for a product. I don’t think Lynn made the decision to sell easily or because he wanted to leave the business behind. I think this was a move borne out of necessity.

Also, as others have said - no 40th celebration of any kind. No event, no knife - nothing. No catalogs - I know some companies don't send out catalogs anymore - but on a 40th year. To me, with the continual lack of inventory, etc, etc, I think the theory that Cold Steel was having problems, has some merit.

Houlahound · Dec 29, 2020

Probs be some chronic CS haters gloating now.

The world has lost something special.

Fuk em.

whp · Dec 30, 2020

Chris_Texas said:
They invested to make money. That is their only concern. That is ANY p7blic corporation's only concern.

You don't know how successful Cold Steel actually was at the time it was sold. It could have been on death's door, there is no way to know. The new owners have something in mind that they believe will make them a return on their investment. That's the only thing we know for sure. The plan might well be to lower the quality and material costs across the board (while lying about the materials they actually use), move all manufacturing to China, cut prices a pittance to spur quick sales, and rake the profits in until the public figures out that new Cold Steel is trash. And they could be funding the entire thing by borrowing against the Cold Steel name and assets-- paying themselves off with the borrowed bucks and leaving the company doomed.

Or... perhaps they see an opportunity for significant long term growth with proper investment. That was the position my business was in. We saw an opportunity to make significantly more money, but doing so required more money than we could possibly save. Fortunately we found investors, and our idea worked (until 2020 anyway).

I want to believe that this later scenario is what we see here with Cold Steel. I prefer being positive and giving them a chance. It's not my business, or my money on the line, so being optimistic costs me nothing. If they make great stuff I will buy it, if they start sucking I will move on. And I will continue to have nothing but gratitude to Lynn C Thompson and the Cold Steel crew for all the great things they accomplished.

Of course the buyers are going to try and make money from their purchase. The Cold Steel name has value. But the main value of the company is its income stream, based largely on the business model. If the buyers intend to completely change the business, then they are just buying the name. That shouldn t have been very expensive.

A company that mislabels junk products won t stay in business long. At least they won t do business with knife nuts. Hopefully good products will continue to be made.

Raku · Jan 4, 2021

For me the question is not what but when. When will they announce 2021 knives? When they usually made the announcement?

GCG199 · Jan 4, 2021

Well, there isn't going to be a 2021 SHOT Show.

So I expect social media will play a large part in getting the word out on new cutlery products for 2021.

sledbot · Jan 4, 2021

Raku said:
For me the question is not what but when. When will they announce 2021 knives? When they usually made the announcement?

The new for 2020 products were revealed on January 1st 2020. You can still see the Instagram posts, knife news articles, and probably other places too.
I was really hoping they would be announced today as this is the first workday of 2021... crickets so far unfortunately. So who knows. The thing that will be really interesting to me is how long it takes for the 2021 models to hit retailers. In the past, many new knives weren't widely available until Q3/Q4. Probably just going to be a day by day thing I'd guess. At least we are finally getting closer to hopefully gaining a little clarity on this. So far, the dedicated fan base does not seem to be a top priority, so that's kind of a bummer. But I'm sure they all have their hands full trying to deal with this over the holidays and lock downs and all. Hoping for the best and keeping a close eye.

Raku · Jan 5, 2021

sledbot said:
The new for 2020 products were revealed on January 1st 2020. You can still see the Instagram posts, knife news articles, and probably other places too.

I don't follow Instagram, so maybe I should just a little bit

I was really hoping they would be announced today as this is the first workday of 2021... crickets so far unfortunately. So who knows.

Who knows who knows

The thing that will be really interesting to me is how long it takes for the 2021 models to hit retailers. In the past, many new knives weren't widely available until Q3/Q4.

Here in Poland some were early and some quite late in the stores.

Probably just going to be a day by day thing I'd guess. At least we are finally getting closer to hopefully gaining a little clarity on this. So far, the dedicated fan base does not seem to be a top priority, so that's kind of a bummer. But I'm sure they all have their hands full trying to deal with this over the holidays and lock downs and all. Hoping for the best and keeping a close eye.

Let's hope it will be announced. Better late than never!