Ever heard of GSM Outdoors? They just bought Cold steel.

spoonrobot said:
I've never understood this logic. IP creation is the main engine for many industries, of which Cold Steel has been one of the tops in the knife sector for several years. They pay someone else to stamp/grind/heat treat/assemble, to their specifications. What they create in IP, design, and technology is a tangible asset as much as a company that stamps blanks or heat-treats those blanks. They may not manufacture knives, but they certainly make them. Lynn is a titan of this industry and his helmsmanship of Cold Steel will be missed.
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Nah. The only thing resembling IP in the Cold Steel lineup are Andrew Demko's designs. Everything Lynn Thompson has put out are just carbon copies of long established blade designs and shapes put out in small/medium/large sizes. Not saying they don't make good beater knives, they certainly do. But the idea that Lynn has done anything seriously innovative in terms of knife design and engineering is absurd. He's just a salesman and hey, he's made it work for himself in a big way, so good for him.
 
craytab said:
They don't make knives. Sorry.

You are conflating a lot of things that are true with one thing that is not true.
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You don't know, what you don't know.

halden.doerge said:
Nah. The only thing resembling IP in the Cold Steel lineup are Andrew Demko's designs. Everything Lynn Thompson has put out are just carbon copies of long established blade designs and shapes put out in small/medium/large sizes. Not saying they don't make good beater knives, they certainly do. But the idea that Lynn has done anything seriously innovative in terms of knife design and engineering is absurd. He's just a salesman and hey, he's made it work for himself in a big way, so good for him.
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This is obviously not true, they had enough intellectual property to find a buyer for what is apparently a significant asking price. The rest of your post is lacking substance as well. Such is life.
 
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halden.doerge said:
Nah. The only thing resembling IP in the Cold Steel lineup are Andrew Demko's designs. Everything Lynn Thompson has put out are just carbon copies of long established blade designs and shapes put out in small/medium/large sizes. Not saying they don't make good beater knives, they certainly do. But the idea that Lynn has done anything seriously innovative in terms of knife design and engineering is absurd. He's just a salesman and hey, he's made it work for himself in a big way, so good for him.
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Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man
 
spoonrobot said:
This is obviously not true, they had enough intellectual property to find a buyer for what is apparently a significant asking price.
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It seems that what Cold Steel has and what the buyers bought was the brand name and it's reputation. I don't really follow Cold Steel products but from what I have seen halden.doerge halden.doerge is correct.
If there is some innovation that LT or CS have come up with and own, what are they?
 
Sharp & Fiery said:
That is an awful video. Why is the Bada$$ cruiser guy wearing sportsbike gloves?
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Bigfattyt said:
I wear reinforced knuckle gloves when I ride.

pavement eats skin.....even low speed. I've felt it myself, and gloves with knuckle/finger protection is important!
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Probably spends too much money on bikes and knives, so can only afford one pair of gloves. Being ready for whatever's around the next corner, he went with a pair of gloves he can wear on his cruiser or the dirt bike.

gatorsnake said:
Thompson announced on the CS forum August 03,2020:
A2 , Which had been in catalogs almost TWO YEARS, would not be offered
4034 steel would be used instead
Does anyone really believe sale of the company was at least in the talking stages if not final?

I have heard talk on other forums of buying from cold steel's website of orders not being shipped.
Has anyone actually ordered from them and had issues or had positive results?

Another point: CS had an Arizona office which they used to send sword canes and the such they could not from California.
Any news from them???
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It's very possible that the deal was already in the works, but that doesn't really explain why LT would go out of his way to put a lie on the record regarding why there was a change. If he was selling the company, just keep your mouth shut and let them deal with the fallout. Coming to BF to say that they tested steel from two vendors and neither one passed is completely gratuitous, so it makes much more sense that it was the actual reason rather than an unnecessary cover story.

It doesn't really make business sense to take on the overhead to create an office in another state just for handling those items. More likely they contracted with a vendor in Arizona to receive and distribute the sword-canes (which are illegal to possess in California), which was likely a relatively sporadic thing.

skyhorse said:
I looked at the companies employee numbers and revenue, it wasn't that different than a successful privately owed McDonalds restaurant franchise.
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The average McDonalds franchise store makes around $1.8M in revenue per year. DNB says Cold Steel was pulling in close to $10M.
 
Norcaldude said:
It seems that what Cold Steel has and what the buyers bought was the brand name and it's reputation. I don't really follow Cold Steel products but from what I have seen halden.doerge halden.doerge is correct.
If there is some innovation that LT or CS have come up with and own, what are they?
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https://patents.justia.com/assignee/cold-steel

https://patents.google.com/?assignee="cold+steel"

https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Lynn+c.+Thompson&oq=inventor:(Lynn+c.+Thompson)
 
sabre cat said:
You would think that it would be a lot more than that.
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Depending on the location some of those franchises make a boat load of money. Cold steel is sorta like the former Quartermaster knife company only bigger with a smarter owner that doesn't have a secret Texas knife factory. :)
 
OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
https://patents.justia.com/assignee/cold-steel

https://patents.google.com/?assignee="cold+steel"

https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Lynn+c.+Thompson&oq=inventor:(Lynn+c.+Thompson)
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The original comment was "The only thing resembling IP in the Cold Steel lineup are Andrew Demko's designs" which is what it seems like many of the patents you link to are.
There are some for things like "Disposable broad head arrowhead" and "Plastic broadhead arrowhead' that are from Lynn Thompson. I doubt anybody bought CS to get control of those, though I might be wrong.
 
jlauffer said:
Just be careful of clones. They were pretty easy to spot before when they were selling for like $50, but now I'm seeing them listed for what the real ones go for, so harder to tell. Some are still easy to spot cuz they claim CF scales, have blue lockbars, and/or M390 blades.
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I got it from knifecenter.
 
No other company even begins to match the huge range of beguiling products that Cold Steel offers. As a result I have over 100 CS products including spears ,swords, pole arms, hawks, sword canes, fixed blades and at least one version of every XL folder they have ever offered. If CS stops being the old Cold Steel as a result of being sold it will be very sparse pickings for me in the future. A future in which an "XL" folder will likely be anything over a hair longer than 4 inches.
 
DocJD said:
I actually do agree with this !

Explains a lot of the weirdness near the end .

Like LT claiming they couldn't find any A2 to meet their high standards , but had found some really great 4034SS ?

I knew right then SOMETHING was bad wrong .
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:eek: Think I finally understand the purpose of that whole thread .

It was designed to be insulting and inflammatory , for the very purpose of provoking an extremely negative response .

LT never wanted to see a cheap stainless on his special babies , (Trail Master , etc ) but was being pressured to do just that .

So he crafted a negative sales pitch , knowing exactly how it would be received by fans on BF .

He wanted to show that this was not a good decision for the new owners to push forward , while appearing to cooperate .

One clue is that the mod introduced the thread by saying " I've got on my flame suit " ( something like that ) .

Some people seem to think LT is stupid or incompetent at marketing . Just the opposite . Hell of a salesman .
 
Norcaldude said:
The original comment was "The only thing resembling IP in the Cold Steel lineup are Andrew Demko's designs" which is what it seems like many of the patents you link to are.
There are some for things like "Disposable broad head arrowhead" and "Plastic broadhead arrowhead' that are from Lynn Thompson. I doubt anybody bought CS to get control of those, though I might be wrong.
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It was definitely for the pistol-grip cane patent.
 
I own, carry and use Cold Steel knives - have for a long time; I like them.
I own and ride Harley Davidson motorcycles - have for a long time; I like them.
I watched this CS video and feel less fulfilled than I did mere moments before watching it.


 
skyhorse said:
LMAO , oh hell I don't think some people here could handle it . We'd need an intervention with mental heath professionals. :)
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That would be an upgrade for the forums. We should have a shrink available online to conduct group therapy. Now where can we get a really big virtual couch?

n2s
 
DocJD said:
:eek: Think I finally understand the purpose of that whole thread .

It was designed to be insulting and inflammatory , for the very purpose of provoking an extremely negative response .

LT never wanted to see a cheap stainless on his special babies , (Trail Master , etc ) but was being pressured to do just that .

So he crafted a negative sales pitch , knowing exactly how it would be received by fans on BF .

He wanted to show that this was not a good decision for the new owners to push forward , while appearing to cooperate .

One clue is that the mod introduced the thread by saying " I've got on my flame suit " ( something like that ) .

Some people seem to think LT is stupid or incompetent at marketing . Just the opposite . Hell of a salesman .
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That’s quite a interesting premise. Who knows? Business cultures and tactics are fascinating and unpredictable sometimes.

At the end of the day, the new owners will do what they think will yield the highest rate of return. The question being if it will be a sustainable rate.

I think in many cases, investment companies like this capitalize on the existing brand baselines by offering up products that are less expensive to produce. Eventually people realize they are not high quality and the brand denigrates to cheap junk that is sold at big box stores.
 
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