Is cold steel junk? OR as good as the video says?

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basko152

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I just saw the "more proof" video that Cold Steel puts out. I'm fairly new to the knife game, but I know a little about metal. I'm quite certain that 420 is 420 even with the "sub zero quench".

However, some of the cutting demos are pretty convincing. Is the cold steel line for real or is it just marketing. I've done some searches but can't seem to find anything to clear this up for me.
 
Many, but not all of their knives will stand up to abuse. But their warranty will not cover you for some of the things they demonstrate in the video. That pretty much sums it up.

One example is the triple action folder. Looks great in the video, but on these forums some have indicated that it won't handle a lot of abuse.

My personal experience in abusing cold steel knives is with the voyager. I've dug holes with it, split wood using a brick as the baton, punched it into support beams and twisted out pieces of wood, etc. Never had a problem. Still is tight and locks good. The AUS8 steel is easy to resharpen and sand paper out deep knicks in the spine.
 
Cold Steel is very over hyped. But, having said that, their knives are not that bad for the price, and their Carbon V stuff is actually very good. They do not make any of their stuff, so quality may depend on which model you are buying.

n2s
 
"Is cold steel junk? OR as good as the video says?"

well... neither.
it's definitely not junk, that's for certain.
the video, however, includes knife torture that i would never inflict on a blade, no matter who made it.
cold steel's products are generally very good. they're reliable when it comes to their traditional items (fixed blades, locking folders). i wouldn't necessarily go for their more gimmicky stuff, like the triple action or the bad axe.
most of their items are relatively inexpensive, compared to the quality of the tools.
peace.

edit: for my buck, i'll also skip the country classics line. if i want a traditional slip-joint, i'll get a real traditional slip-joint.
 
For my money, Cold Steel knives are hard to beat. I'm not saying there aren't better out there, but there are alot worse. I currently carry an X2 Voyager with a fully serrated blade, and it is one tough knife. It stands up to punishment that other high-quality brand name knives would fail under. I have also found the Recon 1 folding knife to be extrememly tough. For fixed blade knives, the Cold Steel Trail Master Bowie with the Carbon V blade is alot of knife for the price.
 
For the money Cold Steel is OK, but for the same money you could have something like a Swamp Rat which is a lot better.
 
It think Lynn Thompson has some very different ideas about things and probably a large ego (I said probably I don't know the man). A lot of their ideas are very original, some more useful than other IMO. Some unorthodox stuff like the Desperado I've found to work very well, where as some of other stuff like the Tomahawk line I would quantify as "junk". The Knives are good to go for the price...they are shipped sharp, stay sharp, and sharpen easily. All the designs I've tried have been as good as advertised (Tomahawk excepted). Several such as my SRK and Kukri have seen a lot of hard use and are still as good as they were out of the box.
 
Cold steel makes some quality stuff. I think most of it, in my experience also, tomahawks excepted. I like the vaquero folders and the tanto bladed voyagers very much. There carbon V is sharp tough stuff and can be had at low prices. The SRK and Recon Tanto both are well regarded by folks who use them.
I haven't ever dealt with there customer service or warranty stuff so I don't know about that end.They do have a lot of good knives at very fair prices.
 
they make some quality stuff and some crap.

a lot of the fixed blades, like the recon tanto and the trailmaster are great.

i'm not a big fan of the voyager because of the hollow ground blade.



However, I will continue to buy from them because of the warranty. For example, my ti-lite fell out of my hand as i was taking it out of my pocket, and landed blade first on concrete, chipping the tip off the blade. it sent it back in, paying only shipping, with a note on what happened, and a week later i got a brand new ti-lite in the mail.
 
If you duplicate the videos it consitutes 'abuse' and voids the warranty. Swamp Rat and Busse ENCOURAGES abuse and it will not void the warranty. They do draw the line on intentional abuse (a vise and cheater pipe for example), but as the customer you get to decide if it was intentional or not. Anything done with just arm strength is not intentional BTW. The concrete block chop test for example is not considered intentional, just a bit extreme. Wouldn't affect the warranty though.

Rob
 
If you're getting a knife with a AUS 8A or Carbon V blade the knife will serve it's purpose. I've got an SRK and Master Hunter in Carbon V and the knives are tough and hold an edge well. The AUS 8A Voyager is decent but if you're getting a folder I'd check out Spyderco or Benchmade before you make your decision.
 
Col steel has great marketing
basko152 said:
I just saw the "more proof" video that Cold Steel puts out. I'm fairly new to the knife game, but I know a little about metal. I'm quite certain that 420 is 420 even with the "sub zero quench".

However, some of the cutting demos are pretty convincing. Is the cold steel line for real or is it just marketing. I've done some searches but can't seem to find anything to clear this up for m
basko152 said:
I just saw the "more proof" video that Cold Steel puts out. I'm fairly new to the knife game, but I know a little about metal. I'm quite certain that 420 is 420 even with the "sub zero quench".

However, some of the cutting demos are pretty convincing. Is the cold steel line for real or is it just marketing. I've done some searches but can't seem to find anything to clear this up for me.
Click to expand...
Cold steel is cheaply made in Taiwan. Comes with no instructions whatsoever. My folding knifes locking mechanism broke the second time I used it, the expandable baton took so much damage to the head just trying to re collapse it....I'm imbarressed to carry it. Talked to 14 people with one and nobody has figured out why it takes batteries...batteries + told me you have to get ones from overseas if you want it to work but nobody knows what it does when you do. Basically cheap stuff made by people who hate America and refuse to tell you how it works...my experience.
Click to expand...
 
My 20 year CS collection. Edit- I know I've got a few more somewhere.
GIvk9Ic.jpg
 
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