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In the big picture the right guy's arm looks super shiny, almost like plastic. Of course there is the possibility that he's just waxed and oiled.
Cold Steel Knives In Combat
- Thread starter The Whip
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I think the Malaysian guy who did them sculpted a lot of that gear, but you can get a LOT of 1/6 scale kit on ebay.
Wow, that's cool! Will it punch through a 1:6-scale toy ammo can? More significantly, I wonder if Cold Steel is receiving compensation for that reproduction of its registered design?
I'd still like to see evidence rather than conjecture, but I'm willing to concede that the photo might be of well-dressed, well-outfitted, well-staged toy figures. If so, I'm mightily impressed with the illusion! Perhaps someone else can start the "Cold Steel Toy Knives In Make-Believe Combat" thread.
In the meanwhile, if we've truly resolved the Great Doll Caper of 2016, can we get back to the topic? I believe we were talking about which Cold Steel knives guys have carried to war.
-Steve
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Outta here.
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Awesome! Now this is the kind of post I was hoping to see a lot more of when I started this thread! You also hold the distinction of being the first to supply a picture of yourself with your knife. Thanks for taking the trouble to dig out the photo!
Come on now, guys, Jim has thrown down the gauntlet! We've had a two-front war waging for going on fourteen years, plus there have been plenty of other crises, hot spots, and general conflagrations all over the world involving our servicemen throughout the past few decades. There must be some more stories and pictures from Forumites who carried Cold Steel on their deployments.
-Steve
[NOTE: This post contains a misidentification of MSG Richard A. Smoot, as well as factual errors. Please see post #120 for correct information.]
SGM (ret.) William "Billy" Waugh: Legendary Special Forces veteran who served in the 187th Parachute Regiment in Korea and in MACV-SOG in Vietnam. Upon retirement from the Army, he went to work as an officer for the CIA's Special Activities Division, where he hunted notable terrorists like Carlos the Jackal and Osama Bin Laden. In October 2001, at 71 years of age, he was in Afghanistan for the CIA attached to Special Forces ODA 961, preparing the offensive against the Taliban.
What did Mr. Waugh carry for bladeware during his Afghanistan trek? Cold Steel Trail Master.
-Steve
P.S. - For the record, none of us will EVER be as tough or as cool as this gentleman!
SGM (ret.) William "Billy" Waugh: Legendary Special Forces veteran who served in the 187th Parachute Regiment in Korea and in MACV-SOG in Vietnam. Upon retirement from the Army, he went to work as an officer for the CIA's Special Activities Division, where he hunted notable terrorists like Carlos the Jackal and Osama Bin Laden. In October 2001, at 71 years of age, he was in Afghanistan for the CIA attached to Special Forces ODA 961, preparing the offensive against the Taliban.
What did Mr. Waugh carry for bladeware during his Afghanistan trek? Cold Steel Trail Master.
-Steve
P.S. - For the record, none of us will EVER be as tough or as cool as this gentleman!
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That dude is legendary.
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None of us? Don't know about that. There are some pretty tough and cool people in here. Most don't even mention anything even if the topic arises. After all its a blade forum and not one for Ironman winners, ultramarathon runners or Karate world champions for example, though these guys are here no doubt and chances are that they are cooler and tougher in their fields than Mr Waugh could be. Maybe some of them wouldn't do half bad in his line of work, if they had just tried or even wanted to.SGM (ret.) William "Billy" Waugh: Legendary Special Forces veteran who served in the 187th Parachute Regiment in Korea and in MACV-SOG in Vietnam. Upon retirement from the Army, he went to work as an officer for the CIA's Special Activities Division, where he hunted notable terrorists like Carlos the Jackal and Osama Bin Laden. In October 2001, at 71 years of age, he was in Afghanistan for the CIA attached to Special Forces ODA 961, preparing the offensive against the Taliban.
What did Mr. Waugh carry for bladeware during his Afghanistan trek? Cold Steel Trail Master.
-Steve
P.S. - For the record, none of us will EVER be as tough or as cool as this gentleman!
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SGM (ret.) William "Billy" Waugh: Legendary Special Forces veteran who served in the 187th Parachute Regiment in Korea and in MACV-SOG in Vietnam. Upon retirement from the Army, he went to work as an officer for the CIA's Special Activities Division, where he hunted notable terrorists like Carlos the Jackal and Osama Bin Laden. In October 2001, at 71 years of age, he was in Afghanistan for the CIA attached to Special Forces ODA 961, preparing the offensive against the Taliban.
What did Mr. Waugh carry for bladeware during his Afghanistan trek? Cold Steel Trail Master.
-Steve
P.S. - For the record, none of us will EVER be as tough or as cool as this gentleman!
very cool, thanks for sharing. yeah some of these guys are fierce in many ways. no one i'd want to tangle with in any shape or form.
OK. Obviously I delivered that line somewhat tongue-in-cheek. But since you've ignored the goodnaturedness of it and instead interpreted it as some sort of ultimatum in a Tough Man Contest, I'll defend my statement.
First, before you make any declarations about the relative toughness of Mr. Waugh, I suggest that you read his book, Hunting the Jackal. It opens with his regaining consciousness on the battlefield in Vietnam to discover that he's so grievously wounded that the NVA/Chinese regulars have stripped him and left him for dead after overrunning his unit's position. I don't know too many people who can talk about surviving such a situation, let alone include it as just one of many interesting stories in a book about their lives! After you've researched some of the things Billy Waugh has done, why don't you get back to me about how many people could have succeeded "in his line of work, if they had just tried or even wanted to."
Second, I'm well aware that there are plenty of extremely brave and accomplished individuals within this forum, and I was in no way impugning them by calling out Mr. Waugh. Just by way of one example, I know that John Larsen frequents these pages. He, too, could fill a book with exploits from his long and storied career. Yet, without speaking for him, I'm sure that Mr. Larsen would be among the first to agree that Billy Waugh is one of the most exceptional warriors that this nation has turned out.
But for those who still may believe that they're tougher and cooler, I'm happy to listen to their stories so that I may judge for myself. Any other septuagenarians out there who donned a gun and a knife and set out on horseback with a group of soldiers half their age to start a war on the other side of the world? Anyone else on these boards spend over fifty years of his life dedicated to pursuing this nation's most dangerous enemies in foreign lands? Please, by all means, sound off if you have.
Finally, since this is a knife forum and not a military or strongman site, I'd love to hear from any "tough guys" (real or imagined, self-described or lauded) who have strapped on a Cold Steel knife and gone off to serve in a war zone. That's why I started this thread. Please tell us what, where, and why. And if you include a picture of the knife, you get bonus coolness points! (But not as many as Billy unless you and the knife are also riding a horse through the mountains of Afghanistan!)
-Steve
P.S. - For those who are interested in the results of Mr. Waugh's exploits against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, I'll give you his own synopsized account from a 2012 interview: "We kicked a lot of a-- and took a lot of names. They didn't know what the h--- had hit them!"
Seventy-one years old. Full auto. Steady as a rock!
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OK OK. You win.
I agree with you to the extent that he's the toughest guy, in his field, who we have heard of, in this forum, so far.
That still leaves the possibility that there are tougher guys in his field, here at BF, who we don't know about yet, or guys tougher in other fields. Though they might still lose when it comes to overall toughness however we would want to measure that.
Waking up from a wound thought by the enemy to be mortal isn't that unheard of. There are many accounts of similar nature which include civilians or even kids. It doesn't take special toughness and skill. It's simply odds or outright incompetence of the other guys. But that's just nitpicking since the tough part in my opinion is that after such an experience he kept going and stayed active in his field. I've seen some people experiencing tough events once, even by choice, but after the ordeal nothing could have compelled them to do it a second time. Others liked the challenge and kept repeating it as often as possible. Mr. Waugh seems to be such a person. I bet he simply likes what he is doing and thus keeps going.
:-D
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Am I getting it right that you think he'd win every Ironman contest and Ultramarathon if he just wanted to? He'd probably also win every MMA competition and rule any other tough event on our planet.
If that is true, Respect.
If that isn't true, still Respect for his field of expertise.
)-- Edit: Or do you simply think all these events aren't tough and thus meaningless when talking about toughness in general. --
A man can still be great even if he isn't said to be the best at everything. Einstein would have probably failed at front line war or ultramarathons, still we can call him one of our greatest without making up powers he most likely never had. Still I wouldn't call him the Greatest who couldn't be matched by anybody, ever. That's a bit too much. Isn't it?
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...completely pedantic. Jens, if you have nothing to add about carrying CSs in combat, please just move along.
I, persoally, carried a SRK out on mission when I was in Afghanistan in all of 2012. Served me well. Handed it off to another soldier on my way out and from what I hear, it served him just as well. Which reminds me... I think I need to get another SRK.
I, persoally, carried a SRK out on mission when I was in Afghanistan in all of 2012. Served me well. Handed it off to another soldier on my way out and from what I hear, it served him just as well. Which reminds me... I think I need to get another SRK.
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I agree with you and the others, was only replying to the last comments to me and just on the way out when you called my name again. How did you think that'll help? :-D
Anything more please per PM or in a new thread, that's what I should have done.
Thank you for helping me with keeping this on topic from now on.
And so this post is a bit less useless.
I also owned a CS tanto, (the model name escaped me) while in the military though it never saw any combat or made it into my pictures from back then. Funnily enough I also passed it on; to our neighbors boy who joined compulsory service 2 years after me. Though theres no feedback on how it did, since we moved and didn't stay in contact.
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This seems to be a common occurrence. In addition to the guys in this thread who have given their knives to buddies before leaving/entering the theater, I've spoken to several others who have done the same. It's a nice goodwill gesture, and it might even create a new set of knife guys who learn to appreciate good, reliable knives. The only downside is that you can't take a picture of the knife now to show us the one that you carried!
Yes, yes you do! I'm hoping for that particular model in 3V with DLC. It would be nigh on indestructible, and the upgrade would make it an even more superior military knife than it already is.
If you'd like to describe it, I'm sure we would be able to identify it for you.
-Steve
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Thanks Steve. Just checked a few old CS Tantos and it was definitely the Master Tanto with brass fittings. Same shape and size. Was it always Sanmai? I think I remember some 400 steel. Bought it used in 95 or 96, in Germany, and looking at today's prices it was a bargain.
The owner of the shop where I got it said it belonged to a guy who either was a combat diver or attempted to become one during his military career. But no proof of course, except for lots of scratches.
The owner of the shop where I got it said it belonged to a guy who either was a combat diver or attempted to become one during his military career. But no proof of course, except for lots of scratches.
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Cool knife to carry, Jens! The Master Tanto was always in San Mai III. Your brass fittings were on the first version, which was identical to the original except for the steel. They later changed the fittings on both the Tanto and Master Tanto to stainless steel, which might have served a diver better.
-Steve
Am I getting it right that you think he'd win every Ironman contest and Ultramarathon if he just wanted to? He'd probably also win every MMA competition and rule any other tough event on our planet.
If that is true, Respect.
If that isn't true, still Respect for his field of expertise.
-- Edit: Or do you simply think all these events aren't tough and thus meaningless when talking about toughness in general. --
A man can still be great even if he isn't said to be the best at everything. Einstein would have probably failed at front line war or ultramarathons, still we can call him one of our greatest without making up powers he most likely never had. Still I wouldn't call him the Greatest who couldn't be matched by anybody, ever. That's a bit too much. Isn't it?
Yes you picked poor standards of toughness to compare. A high performance professional or Olympic athlete may have a body that's been trained and manipulated to the point of 100% performance on their chosen field of play but their human toughness is more brittle than an obsidian knife when they meet hardship. Especially when you factor in lifetime performance. They're like pure bred show dogs.
Guys like Billy are supermen. They're incredibly fit and focused and on top of it they have IQs that would suit surgeons and professors. They thrive on hardship and risk and at the same time magage to somehow suppress their ego to quietly grind away behind the scenes.