What if Cold Steel had a U.S. "Zero Tolerance"-like division?

I'd love to see the Voyager and Lawman lineup in some premium blade steel. While AUS-8 is more than serviceable I think they could clean up the competition with a G-10 Voyager in some kind of hot blade steel like Elmax or M390 or some of the Carpenter steels they need to be like Spyderco and experiment with new and upcoming blade steels.
 
I personally have a lot of "budget" blades as I would rather have 3 beater knives in my pocket than 1 piece of art in the drawer at home. I picked up a CS Voyager Large in plain edge tanto form as it simply looked wicked and took it on a camping trip. I used it quite a bit on that trip including some light battoning through wood and fire craft and the blade is still pretty sharp. I am very happy with the Aus8A blade on mine... I did take a couple tiny chips out of the very edge but they are very very small and for the amount of beating on it I did, to be expected. My big complaint is the design of the handle scales and the way they interface with the pocket clip, but for the 40 bucks I spent, I think it is a great user....
 
I never quite understood the love for the tri-ad lock. I have a couple, and I admit they are strong as Hell but really, how strong does a lock have to be? I compare this lock against my Skirmish or ZT0200 and think these knives aren't lacking anything in lock strength.
Cold Steel is doing what makes them money. When something doesn't perform they discontinue it.
If a ZT line would make them more money and not take away from their other sales they would do it.
 
I agree here, Cold Steel would be better off to just offer steel upgrades to their already solid designs and not go overboard.
Just make the recon series out of 4mm thick Vg-1,keep tri-ad , steel liners and smooth g-10 charge $100 and under. My wish.
 
I never quite understood the love for the tri-ad lock. I have a couple, and I admit they are strong as Hell but really, how strong does a lock have to be? ...

Without considering strength, the Tri-Ad lock will still be able to function if the spring fails, because it has a stop-pin.
A regular lockback would be almost unusable without a spring.


How strong does any lock need to be? Not very strong.

but... if you can make the lock stronger without negatively affecting the knife, why not?
 
but... if you can make the lock stronger without negatively affecting the knife, why not?

I suppose for me the difference is in the manipulation. There are other locks that are plenty strong while being easier to use.
Admittedly that cone from my own experience with only two tri-ad knives.
 
The voyager xl was THE big knife to carry back when tanto were the technical knife fad. Used to drool over it at the knife counter at the gun store when I was little.
 
I still have the L Voyagers in clip and Tanto points, from when they were made in Japan. Very good, solid knives that work very well. Unfortunately, I never carried them for too long, because IMO they are not as comfortable for me to carry as, say, a Spyderco. I also have an Older XL voyager for the novelty of it. Nice mega-folder.

I do keep a Taiwan-made Peacekeeper II near the bed.

I think CS still sells some good knives, but haven't bought any for about 7 years or so. And since I rarely buy knives anymore, not likely to purchase anymore CS.

Jim
 
There's not qualified people to actually make knives in mass production like over in Taiwan or Japan. If a US company could at the same price and quality level make knives in the US, they would have already. Price isn't the big issues though, it's the lack of people mostly. Buck for example can still make very inexpensive knives with US materials and labor, partially because they have a lot of experienced people who can train new people they hire.

There are plenty of qualified people to make knives here in the US. Don't be mistaken in thinking they are in Taiwan and Japan because that is where the only talented knife making people live. Price IS the big issue, there are plenty of people talented enough to make knives in a factory, with proper training in the US, it does not take someone above average to run machines that make knives. Designs on the other hand take more education and talent, but most manufactured knives overseas are designed int he US. Kershaw, Benchmade, and Spyderco make knives with American labor in a mass production style factory. They did not gobble up the only factory workers who know how to make knives.
 
I would have to agree with you here, they have some pretty decent designs, and the triad lock is a great lock mechanism, but aside from their dubious marketing (which I won't touch on) the only thing holding some of their designs back from being great, is mediocre blade steel. I would like to see some of their knives in high end steel.

All true. :thumbup:
 
Interesting thread...

The steels people are talking about here cost 3 to 5 times what AUS-8A does just for the raw material, that doesn't include shipping it to the factory, heat treating and making knife blades out of it, all would cost more than AUS-8A does.

So the prices would go up a lot more than people would think, then start getting into better G10 and improved F&F and the cost would get even higher.

Remember what the old Voyagers cost.... And VG-1 isn't exactly an expensive steel.

I do think they would do better with something like S30V though.
 
since i haven't read everything in the thread, if this has been said already, feel free to make fun of me.

Price isn't the only thing that separates Kershaw from ZT. Zt knives much more exotic in terms of design, materials (specifically blade steel and frame material) and tent to have substantially higher aesthetic appeal

I don't believe there's a single offering from CS that would qualify as being in a similar category as something like the ZT560. They have knives that are just as tough, but nothing with the fit, finish, steel quality, and design quality

In order for what you're suggesting to occur, CS would first have to design knives that fall into the Boutique Production category. At this time, they have none that i know of.

the other side of that coin is that before Cold steel can worry about having a line similar to the ZT line, they should first try to design a line of knives in the same quality range as Kershaw, within a similar price point

While they have knives as good as a kershaw, they typically run 4 to 5 times as much, and the ones that they have in the $15-$50 price range are nothing i would own
 
what is the best steel for stabbing car hoods?

INFI

images
 
"does it matter who put it together."
Furthermore, most of the CS knives are made in Taiwan and display a nice build quality that I'd say rivals stuff I've seen made here in the US. There's nothing cheap in terms of build quality regarding CS folders.

I agree completely. I have several CS folders and they are built extremely well. Not only are they built "tank" tough they show a very good level of fit and finish also. As far as steel goes I too wish they would use a better grade but I can live with Cold Steel's 8A. It has performed above my expectations.
 
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