Rare Gems

[jlauffer]

I nominate you, jlauffer
for the Official Cold Steel Museum, really nice collection.

Thank you! If you or anyone else is interested, I have posted 3 "History" threads over at the CS Forums in the Fixed Blade section...Tanto, Trail Master, and Push-knives. Also in their Photo Gallery section I have posted pics of various old CS catalogs, articles, and product pamphlets.

 

[Iblametheparents]

Really enjoying this thread, guys. Thank you.

 

[Man with no name]

In post #8 there is a Bowie type blade with a curved point in the center of the "Knives for life" ad. Does anybody know what this paricular knife was called?

 

[Man with no name]

"Streetwise"by Lynn Thompson. Was it a book or pamphlet on self defense tactics? Anybody ever see or read it?

 

[Klesk]

I just saw this thread... someone mentioned the Ultralock, I knew I had one somewhere but couldn't remember the blade shape. I just dug it out of the closet and it's a tanto:

 

[G. Scott H.]

I just saw this thread... someone mentioned the Ultralock, I knew I had one somewhere but couldn't remember the blade shape. I just dug it out of the closet and it's a tanto:

Nice! :thumbup:

 

[The Whip]

Since Klesk dug out his tanto UltraLock, I figured that I'd complete the series with some photos of the only model we haven't seen yet, the spear point.

_____________________________

Not exceptionally rare, but not easy to come by, either: The Trail Guide.

Note the off-kilter tang stamps (this knife isn't a Second). While I'm uncertain if it's intentional, this unusual configuration seems to be unique to Cold Steel's knives, as the Coleman/Western and Camillus versions of this knife bore stamps that were perpendicular to the spine.

____________________________

The rattan Crook Top Cane. This was a great, short-lived Cold Steel product that should come back in a revised form.

_____________________________

A special edition of the Voyager Tanto that Cold Steel had made for the stunt team of "Daredevil."

-Steve

 

[The Whip]

I was blessed to discover two rare gems at a local knife show last weekend. First up is a scarce Tanto bearing the standard Tanto markings but possessing a San Mai III blade. According to Mr. Lauffer's history, these pre-date the introduction of the Master Tanto.

_________________________________

Next is the Cold Steel Pig Sticker. Wow! I had never heard of this knife, and had no idea that it even existed. I purchased it from a former Cold Steel dealer, who told me that they were produced briefly in very limited quantities. They were U.S.-made of carbon steel (presumably Carbon V), but entirely sterile. There are no markings even indicating that it's a Cold Steel product. The blade is blued and the handle made of wood dyed or painted black. The paracord lanyard is original to the knife. The knife did not come boxed; the blade was in the standard white cardboard sleeve and the knife and sheath together wrapped in a clear plastic bag (just the way the old Hudson Bay Knife & Tool Works knives were delivered).

Obviously this was Cold Steel's homage to the Case Pig Sticker, which was pressed into service by troops during World War II.

It also bears a striking resemblance to the Ontario Knives Sticker. (I suspect that Ontario was Cold Steel's supplier for this and the Hudson Bay models, though this is purely supposition on my part.)

What astonished me was that I had never seen this knife before. I don't profess to be an expert, and certainly there have been years in which I was less attuned to Cold Steel than others, but I didn't think that there were any in which I was so out of touch that I missed the existence of an entire model! Anyone have an ad for this knife or know anything more about it?


-Steve

 

[jlauffer]

Don't really know anything about them, but I also had one for a bit years ago. Got it due to the rarity, but when I received it I was pretty disappointed...seemed way too light and cheesy to be "serious"...very un-Cold Steel like...almost like they were making fun of whatever knife they were paying tribute to (I had heard it was their version of an Ek design). Anyway, I resold it immediately. Nice score on the Tanto!

 

[The Whip]

Don't really know anything about them, but I also had one for a bit years ago. Got it due to the rarity, but when I received it I was pretty disappointed...seemed way too light and cheesy to be "serious"...very un-Cold Steel like...almost like they were making fun of whatever knife they were paying tribute to (I had heard it was their version of an Ek design). Anyway, I resold it immediately. Nice score on the Tanto!

Thanks! I understand what you're saying about the construction quality. But I think it's in keeping with the spirit of the tribute. The original Case Pig Sticker was a very inexpensive, no frills farm tool designed to do just what its name implied. During the war, both its price and its function made it useful for American fighting men. I believe Cold Steel was purposely modeling those features.

As for the lineage of the Cold Steel piece, I definitely agree that it was also mimicking elements of this John Ek quite closely.

Yet Ek called that model the No. 2 Commando.

In recent years, Ek also made this replica of Case's knife, which was aptly named the Ek Pig Sticker.

So...Cold Steel had Ontario (possibly) make a knife called Pig Sticker that looks a little like a Case Pig Sticker and an Ek Pig Sticker, a lot like an Old Hickory Sticker, and a good bit like an Ek No. 2 Commando. Then Cold Steel opted to drop the knife before anyone got wind of it. Anybody confused yet?

Still, I think it's a pretty cool piece of Cold Steel history.


-Steve

 

[jlauffer]

I believe it was actually called the G.I. Commando...there was a thread from 2012 on Cold Steel Forums talking about it: http://coldsteelforums.com/cold-steel-gi-cammando-m177990.aspx

 

[The Whip]

I believe it was actually called the G.I. Commando...there was a thread from 2012 on Cold Steel Forums talking about it: http://coldsteelforums.com/cold-steel-gi-cammando-m177990.aspx

Ah, well that explains both why I couldn't find out anything about it and why people associated it more with the Ek than the Case. Thanks for clarifying! I'm now wondering why the former dealer I bought it from said it was the Pig Sticker. He seemed pretty certain, though if it's really a 1991 knife, twenty-six years is plenty of time to forget a model name.

-Steve

 

[TheTennesseeD]

Do you know what the Coleman/Western and Camillus versions were called or model numbers? I used to have both large and medium drop point Trail Guides. Someone stole them with a bag out of my truck. I miss them so much. Really amazing users. Been trying to find them again for years, but no luck.

Since Klesk dug out his tanto UltraLock, I figured that I'd complete the series with some photos of the only model we haven't seen yet, the spear point.




_____________________________

Not exceptionally rare, but not easy to come by, either: The Trail Guide.






Note the off-kilter tang stamp (this knife isn't a Second). While I doubt that it's intentional, this unusual configuration seems to be unique to Cold Steel's knives, as the Coleman/Western and Camillus versions of this knife bore stamps that were perpendicular to the spine.






-Steve

 

[G. Scott H.]

All the broken pics in this thread. Damn you, photobucket. You broke the internet. I finally deleted my account over this. I held on for a while, thinking they'd realize the huge cluster***k they'd created, but it doesn't seem forthcoming, so screw them. RIP, my photobucket account: Sept. 3, 2004 - Aug. 19, 2017.

 

[The Whip]

Do you know what the Coleman/Western and Camillus versions were called or model numbers? I used to have both large and medium drop point Trail Guides. Someone stole them with a bag out of my truck. I miss them so much. Really amazing users. Been trying to find them again for years, but no luck.

Give me some time and I'll have my original photos back up. Sorry, but I don't have the model numbers offhand.

All the broken pics in this thread. Damn you, photobucket. You broke the internet. I finally deleted my account over this. I held on for a while, thinking they'd realize the huge cluster***k they'd created, but it doesn't seem forthcoming, so screw them. RIP, my photobucket account: Sept. 3, 2004 - Aug. 19, 2017.

I agree completely, Scott! I was thinking/hoping the same thing about PhotoBucket realizing the error of its ways, but no such luck. After many weeks of searching and experimenting with other photo-hosting sites, I finally figured out Imgur today and have spent the last few hours repairing some images in a few of my old threads. It will take me a LONG time to pull everything out of PhotoBucket and restore the images, but I'll get to them all eventually. I'll address this thread in the coming weeks.

I've learned my lesson and have started keeping every picture that I use/reference on my own computer for safekeeping. I'm never relying entirely on a host site again!

-Steve

 

[nephron]

All the broken pics in this thread. Damn you, photobucket. You broke the internet. I finally deleted my account over this. I held on for a while, thinking they'd realize the huge cluster***k they'd created, but it doesn't seem forthcoming, so screw them. RIP, my photobucket account: Sept. 3, 2004 - Aug. 19, 2017.

I think this new action by them will kill Photobucket(I sincerely hope anyway).

 

[The Whip]

I wanted to ensure that the photos of zonk's historically significant Parkerized Trail Master were preserved, so I figured this was a good place to do it. The story behind the knife can be seen in his original thread:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...without-carbon-v-stamp.1457610/#post-16805410

He also had great pictures of another original, military-issue Recon Scout. As rare as they are, you can never have too many photos of those!

-Steve

 

[nephron]

Give me some time and I'll have my original photos back up. Sorry, but I don't have the model numbers offhand.



I agree completely, Scott! I was thinking/hoping the same thing about PhotoBucket realizing the error of its ways, but no such luck. After many weeks of searching and experimenting with other photo-hosting sites, I finally figured out Imgur today and have spent the last few hours repairing some images in a few of my old threads. It will take me a LONG time to pull everything out of PhotoBucket and restore the images, but I'll get to them all eventually. I'll address this thread in the coming weeks.

I've learned my lesson and have started keeping every picture that I use/reference on my own computer for safekeeping. I'm never relying entirely on a host site again!

-Steve

When I first started with PhotoBucket years ago they were outstanding and went horribly wrong recently as well documented on many a site. Saying you will send pix is not the way to go so I guess I will try Imagur since it seems to be working for you. Kinda weird, but I am on a lot of forums and this is the only one you cannot download pictures directly from your computer.

 

[G. Scott H.]

Kinda weird, but I am on a lot of forums and this is the only one you cannot download pictures directly from your computer.

As a paid member, you can upload pics right from your computer. Not sure about unpaid members. When you go to post a reply, do you see an option to Upload a File in the tabs at the bottom right, or just Post Reply and More Options...? I'm not sure because the protocol for uploading has changed with the new software. You used to attach pics to your posts and it would show you all the pics you currently had in you attachment folder, but not anymore, at least not that I can find. If you don't see the option to upload, then it's a membership-only thing, but the basic membership is only $10 a year. http://www.bladeforums.com/pember/membership-new

 

[Lapedog]

Ah, you mean this UltraLock

which is not to be confused with the Ultra Lock lock on this Recon 1

which has very little in common with hkyew's Recon 1 shown above.

Name originality is NOT Cold Steel's strong suit!

Anyway...I purchased this UltraLock used at a knife show many years ago, though I had handled them back when they were state-of-the-art. And ahead of their time they were: Zytel handles, pocket clip, one-hand opening, and liner lock--back when those features were still new and not commonly found all on a single knife. The thumb-operated grooves on the base of the blade for opening the knife one-handed (think: activating a cigarette lighter) were not new, but to my knowledge only Tekna had tried them previously on a folding knife. You also see the forerunner of the Ti-Lite's unique leaf-spring liner lock, long before there was a Ti-Lite.

-Steve

Awesome! It is a front flipper like is commonly made by South African custom knife makers. The Boker Exskelibur is another knife that opens like this. Is there any way we can see a picture of how the linerlock adjusts?

Also why do people keep posting pictures via photobucket? Am I the only one who can't see them anymore?