I have some observations and present them here as just that, not a truth and only an explanation but something that has been fairly evident for many years. Cold Steel is a distributor and as far as I know does not own any factories. Rather, they outsource work and thus may indeed "produce"/underwrite some swords and knives.
Some of the swords appear to be India made and that they have collaborated with Windlass Steelcrafts has been borne out in a few examples. However, Windlass themselves are an exporter and agent of sword production as much and more so than actually owning the forges and shops making the items. Then there is Huanuo and other conglomerates in China and if one were to look at recent Dynasty Forge medieval line and the Cold Steel medieval swords side by side, you are going to see quite apt comparisons for a good many of them.
I would avoid the Huanuo site as it is listed as containing malware but that may be a false representation in and of itself. However, right back to the earlier Cold Steel medieval swords, Huanuo was offering a comparable line as produced by them. My feelings are that a lot of the newer Cold Steel sword line is being sourced from China with some of the more obvious still coming from India.
One thing for sure, the Cold Steel stuff seems to come blazing sharp and with the passage of time, construction itself could only have been getting better. Some of the rapiers for instance were coached into production by some of the theatrical and traditional fencers out there (tax me to come up with a name and I'll dig that up but it has been a couple of years now). This is not unlike the older association Medieval Replicas had with Eddie Floyd in designing some of the rapiers before it was controlled by Windlass entirely.
At any rate, I would think that if an item from Cold Steel is appealing and a buyer can overlook some of the anachronistic nature of some of them, why not? Make sure of return policy and take advantage of that. Some of both the Chinese and India made stuff has gotten fairly rave reviews.
Unless someone is in an immediate rush, I would suggest waiting and reading until one can make the choice themselves and not be swayed by some that think they have seen it all and dislike most. Instead spend some time looking at historical examples and galleries such as myArmoury. There was not really that option when I bought a reproduction but I still looked and watched for about a year before making my decision of a less expensive version of a historically known sword. IN some ways I'll always regret buying the Windlass and not the Del Tin, I still enjoy that sword bought more than a decade ago while kind of saying "no, I would not suggest the Cold Steel Norman". As mentioned though, it may really appeal to some. There are subjectively better and worse swords out there for the money and my thoughts were simply to put this one in the context of Chinese manufacture and constructions looking better than they used to (kinda pleathery looking grips though).
Let us know how you like it if buying. I would honestly avoid peer pressure in buying but keep what you have read in mind. Some will knock whatever they see despite their saying they have owned hundreds and handled a lot more. What does that prove to me aside from their own preference and bias? What does that imply other than maybe not having had much time to really explore the potential of any of them?
In the end and I direct this to any buyer of any experience; Why on earth would you jump at buying something without a lot more due attention than so and so said it was a must have?
Don't mind this crusty old fart.
GC
