Off Topic Tanto - Cold Steel Inc. - Ventura Ca.

Frank Kruse

Frank Kruse

Joined
Jan 21, 2019
Messages
43
Hi All, i have read the histories of the Cold Steel Tanto etc. I have in my possession a Cold Steel Tanto and it says ventura Ca. My question is, I see that the CS Tanto start with brass bolsters and end cap, and switched to stainless, which is still the material they use today. My question is, when did they use aluminum? The Tanto that i have doesn't have neither brass nor stainless bolsters, but faded old looking aluminum. Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it.


btw, I couldn't find anywhere where it told us when aluminimum was used in the forum.
 
Frank Kruse said:
Hi All, i have read the histories of the Cold Steel Tanto etc. I have in my possession a Cold Steel Tanto and it says ventura Ca. My question is, I see that the CS Tanto start with brass bolsters and end cap, and switched to stainless, which is still the material they use today. My question is, when did they use aluminum? The Tanto that i have doesn't have neither brass nor stainless bolsters, but faded old looking aluminum. Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it.


btw, I couldn't find anywhere where it told us when aluminimum was used in the forum.
Click to expand...

Have never seen or heard of aluminum being used at any point. Pictures may yield some clues. Maybe someone got a bare blade and had custom fittings made?
 
Frank Kruse said:
Hi All, i have read the histories of the Cold Steel Tanto etc. I have in my possession a Cold Steel Tanto and it says ventura Ca. My question is, I see that the CS Tanto start with brass bolsters and end cap, and switched to stainless, which is still the material they use today. My question is, when did they use aluminum? The Tanto that i have doesn't have neither brass nor stainless bolsters, but faded old looking aluminum. Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it.

btw, I couldn't find anywhere where it told us when aluminimum was used in the forum.
Click to expand...

Awesome! It looks to be yet another variant of the original Buck-manufactured 13A Tanto. Now that I see this one, I'm wondering if my blackened hardware model also possesses aluminum fittings rather than brass. I believe it's significantly easier to apply a bonded coating to aluminum than to brass.

Thank you for sharing those photos of your knife. It's a very rare one (I've never seen another). Please consider adding the pictures to John's Tanto History thread. That period of Cold Steel's manufacturing history remains very murky, and we're left to piece together what we can amongst ourselves as collectors within this subforum.

Since yours is such an unusual piece, if you don't mind my asking, how and when did you acquire it? The knife's ownership history could be informative, particularly if you're the original purchaser.


-Steve
 
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My brother and I own a store in Austin Texas, call Austin Blades, that sells retail knives and have a sharpening service. I had a gentleman come in with his inherited (from his dad) collection. There were about 25 to 30 knives total, one being a Bill Bagwell bowie and the Cold Steel was part of the collection. I bought all the blades he brought in. I'm not sure where he lived before moving to Austin though, so I don't have much info on that. He does have more that he wants to sell, but the ones he has left has his dads name stamped in them. I have several cold steel items in the store, and also bought a collection of the Ichiro Hattori San Mai blades in the past. I had all different lengths of the San Mais down to the 4 inch and up to the 14 or 18 inch, and including the daggar. Very nice stuff. I'm a little hooked on Cold Steel, but with their sale, I am hoping we don't see a drop in any of the qualities.
 
By the way, i'm not try to advertise here by any means, i'm simply trying convey that i'm a knife guy and i'm sincere in my questioning.
 
Thanks much for the information, Frank. I don't think you need to worry about accusations of free advertising. You didn't come across as trying to advertise anyway, but your Platinum status authorizes you to go a lot farther with your inquiries than most other members.

Since the seller inherited the collection, I doubt there's much more we'll learn about this knife. Perhaps you can ask him where his father lived. Pure speculation on my part, but I'm guessing California, as that's where both Buck and Cold Steel were headquartered back in the 1981-3 time period when I believe this knife was made.

By the way, I just looked at your Web site. Was your father Martin Kruse? If so, I grew up admiring his knives in the magazines and annuals.


-Steve
 
No, my dad was Kenneth Kruse, he made knives, but not to the extent that he was well known outside his circle of knife makers and friends
 
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