Still worth buying Recon 1 from GSM Production?

Z

Zenturio

Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
171
Hi together,

what are your experiences with GSM produced Recon 1 models? I sold an old production Recon 1 Tanto (S35VN) which i miss hard now... So I wanted buy another one, but it is hard/impossible to find a new product from pre GSM era.

I handled a GSM produced Recon 1 Clip Point and American Lawman a few months ago where the edge bevels were way overground. I do not want that.

Also, I wanted to ask if the newer Recon 1 models are still hollow ground (I think the Spearpoint models were flat?)?

I love these models and I want to buy one, but I am very afraid of what I have seen/heard/read about the newer production.

Thanks in advance and best regards,
Oliver
 
Zenturio said:
Hi together,

what are your experiences with GSM produced Recon 1 models? I sold an old production Recon 1 Tanto (S35VN) which i miss hard now... So I wanted buy another one, but it is hard/impossible to find a new product from pre GSM era.

I handled a GSM produced Recon 1 Clip Point and American Lawman a few months ago where the edge bevels were way overground. I do not want that.

Also, I wanted to ask if the newer Recon 1 models are still hollow ground (I think the Spearpoint models were flat?)?

I love these models and I want to buy one, but I am very afraid of what I have seen/heard/read about the newer production.

Thanks in advance and best regards,
Oliver
Click to expand...
The new Recon 1 tantos are actually a little better than before. I’ve had lots of pre and post GSM folders. Quality control seems to be the same. They are now ground all the way to the sharpening choil as seen below.

The steel/heat treat has not gone down. Keep in mind, they now offer DLC and a new flat black PVD coating on the R1. Depending on the seller, it may be hard to know which one you are ordering. And yes, still a hollow grind on the tanto only.
EC0E628E-97B3-4FE9-B276-A7FA2A5C4400.jpeg
 
Hi together,

thanks for your input.

I was able to score a new in box Recon 1 Tanto in CTS XHP steel. I got it from a reputable dealer. The only thing that bothers me is the missing ® sign between cts xhp. What do you think about it? It looks and feels like a genuine model. Also the DLC and factory edge bevels.

Thanks and BR, Oliver





 
Zenturio said:
Hi together,

thanks for your input.

I was able to score a new in box Recon 1 Tanto in CTS XHP steel. I got it from a reputable dealer. The only thing that bothers me is the missing ® sign between cts xhp. What do you think about it? It looks and feels like a genuine model. Also the DLC and factory edge bevels.

Thanks and BR, Oliver





Click to expand...
See my response to your other post. It’s not a counterfeit.
 
All my cold steel knives are post gsm, but theyve all been great, except an ad15 lite, but that was my fault for buying a non stainless blade
 
crk1984 said:
All my cold steel knives are post gsm, but theyve all been great, except an ad15 lite, but that was my fault for buying a non stainless blade
Click to expand...
The AD15 Lite is AUS10, which is stainless. If you got something else, sounds like you got a fake.
 
jlauffer said:
The AD15 Lite is AUS10, which is stainless. If you got something else, sounds like you got a fake.
Click to expand...
Unless "gun website named after THE BATTLE OF ..." is in the business of selling fakes, its real, and rusted in one day.
 
crk1984 said:
Unless "gun website named after THE BATTLE OF ..." is in the business of selling fakes, its real, and rusted in one day.
Click to expand...
Don't know what to tell you. Someone could have bought one and then returned a fake and they resold it unaware. What steel was it marked as?
 
jlauffer said:
Don't know what to tell you. Someone could have bought one and then returned a fake and they resold it unaware. What steel was it marked as?
Click to expand...
Aus 10, and no, it came in the plastic bubble package, sealed. Its authentic and rusted. In one day. Minor, and it was exceptionally wet and hot where i work, but none of my better steel knives rusted. It was simply a lesson in buying cheap.
 
crk1984 said:
Aus 10, and no, it came in the plastic bubble package, sealed. Its authentic and rusted. In one day. Minor, and it was exceptionally wet and hot where i work, but none of my better steel knives rusted. It was simply a lesson in buying cheap.
Click to expand...
Ahh ok, when you said "my fault for buying a non stainless blade" I thought it was marked as something else (D2, etc) which is pretty common for fakes.
 
Not since they stopped making them hollow grind (spearpoint). They may be sharpened all the way now, but the hollow ground ones were much better at cutting. They also ruined the Lawman in a similar way, but in that case I'm more upset about them using thinner scales than moving to FFG. As it is now, the lawman is unusable, for me every point of contact is a hot-spot with the scales digging in. Old AUS-8 version had thick scales like on the older Recons, edges were much rounder and it was really comfortable. I was really disappointed when I finally got around to getting a Lawman, should not have waited this long.
 
It's very likely the knives are made in the same Taiwan factory as before. If the quality degraded, it's unlikely GSM's fault, it's more likely the factory itself is in a slump. It's not like Cold Steel made 100% flawless stuff before the GSM acquisition. IMO, much of the dislike of the newer production stuff is people wanting to hate on GSM more than it being GSM trying to take the brand to the crapper. So far, I have not seen evidence where GSM is trying to cheapen things and they are actually doing some things I like, such bringing back older models that people really wanted, like the talwar, offering more than just black handle colors more often, and running exclusives.

I guess they do have some evidence of crapping the brand, and that's some of their abhorrent marketing videos, but I haven't seen the products themselves go to heck. I don't keep up with all the hoopla, so maybe I'm just missing all of the of real evidence.

Z Zenturio All of the recon 1's have been flat ground for the spear and clip points for a while, since they used CTS-XHP at least (currently using S35Vn, of course). The tanto has their compound ground as usual, a hollow ground flat section and flat ground tip. They still slice quite well in my experience, having owned both the clip and spear point.

K Kryme it's been a fair number of years since cold steel ran their mainstay of blades in AUS-8. I'm not sure when they did a FFG on the lawman, but they aren't FFG now and I've honestly never seen them with FFG. I can't comment on the scales.

From BladeHQ:
You can clearly see from the picture it's not FFG. Specs list it as hollow.
1703679107008.png
1703679158006.png
 
bikerector said:
It's very likely the knives are made in the same Taiwan factory as before. If the quality degraded, it's unlikely GSM's fault, it's more likely the factory itself is in a slump. It's not like Cold Steel made 100% flawless stuff before the GSM acquisition. IMO, much of the dislike of the newer production stuff is people wanting to hate on GSM more than it being GSM trying to take the brand to the crapper. So far, I have not seen evidence where GSM is trying to cheapen things and they are actually doing some things I like, such bringing back older models that people really wanted, like the talwar, offering more than just black handle colors more often, and running exclusives.

I guess they do have some evidence of crapping the brand, and that's some of their abhorrent marketing videos, but I haven't seen the products themselves go to heck. I don't keep up with all the hoopla, so maybe I'm just missing all of the of real evidence.

Z Zenturio All of the recon 1's have been flat ground for the spear and clip points for a while, since they used CTS-XHP at least (currently using S35Vn, of course). The tanto has their compound ground as usual, a hollow ground flat section and flat ground tip. They still slice quite well in my experience, having owned both the clip and spear point.

K Kryme it's been a fair number of years since cold steel ran their mainstay of blades in AUS-8. I'm not sure when they did a FFG on the lawman, but they aren't FFG now and I've honestly never seen them with FFG. I can't comment on the scales.

From BladeHQ:
You can clearly see from the picture it's not FFG. Specs list it as hollow.
View attachment 2435769
View attachment 2435770
Click to expand...
I agree with everything except that American Lawman’s have been flat/saber ground since the move to S35vn. That picture and info from BladeHQ just haven’t been updated.

This picture is from Cold Steel’s website. You can see the grind is flat and runs all the way to the choil. The hollow grinds used to stop short of the choil.
1703683185138.jpeg
 
bikerector bikerector I forgot to mention these "issues" I have predate the GSM acquisition by a year or two. Recon and Lawman hollow grinds stopped when they moved to S35VN, I believe the scales on the Lawman were changed around that time as well. Since I still have the newer flat ground Lawman, here's a picture of it, clearly flat ground. BHQ's image and description is outdated by a lot.

https://imgur.com/zAJJKop

The old Lawman (AUS8) and maybe (I'm not sure) the CTS-XHP version had the same scale thickness and texture as the Recon. Here's a side-by-side Mini Recon (in AUS8). Notice how the scales on the Recon Mini are thicker and more rounded, it was the same on the old Lawman, now it feels more in line with a Benchmade Bugout. Funnily enough you can see an image of the XHP Lawman on the box.

https://imgur.com/M6cBosP

Picture of the old Lawman I found on the internet.

https://imgur.com/dG9YTeC

Now compare that to the picture from CS's website posted above, you'll clearly see the difference. Since I see the same texture as the Lawman on newer Recons I sincerely hope they haven't done the same there, because the new scales on the Lawman are straight awful. Instead of replacing my Recon it made me love the Recon even more, for the record my Recon is the older version with XHP.

Again, my very subjective issues were a thing way before the GSM acquisition, but who knows, such acquisitions can take years to reach a stage where its made public. I'm not trying to hate on GSM, as a matter of fact I haven't even heard of them before the CS acquisition or know what they do. I thought it was a cell phone company :D
 
K Kryme and jux t jux t

Interesting they moved to flat grind and never updated the specs. Appreciate the correction. Usually, BHQ does a good job and are one of the few who list the grind type.

It's not a FFG, evident by the pictures, but a very high flat so pretty close. Maybe that was just a slight oversight so I took it to think it wasn't flat at all, instead of not FFG but also not hollow.

I actually really like their thick hollow grinds myself, and use my golden eyes a lot. It's why I stopped looking for an American lawman a few years ago, but do keep an eye out for a good deal on the exchange same for a code 4.
 
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