New Cold Steel Knives

[Fat_Tony]

So. There I was. Happy. My USLs ordered and paid for, ditto a couple of Lioncubs. I ordered a few of the new 3-watt Pelican lights from BatteryStation.com, too. I'm thinking: "sure, I'm broke, but at least there's not much that I want to buy coming over the horizon." Then I went to Cold Steel's Special Projects website. Big mistake. Check it out. You, too, may feel inexplicably pulled toward these knives (the 1st 5). So, anyone know of a source for really low interest loans? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif Just curious. On a more serious note, have any of you heard anything about these? As opposed to being mass-produced, Cold Steel says that they are made by hand. (I assume that this means assembled, and maybe fitted by hand).

http://www.ltspecpro.com/new.html

 

[paulr]

CS knives are reasonably good quality mass produced knives, occasionally a bit gimmicky. I've had several Voyagers and been happy with them. They are well made and generally good value. I'd say they're below Benchmade and above Gerber. The idea that they're handmade knives on a par with what I think of as a real handmade knife (e.g. Chris Reeve, which are of course still CNC machined) is ridiculous.

 

[Fat_Tony]

Paul, as the title of my post is "New Cold Steel Knives", I wouldn't be talking about a Voyager, now would I? I largely agree with your first 2 sentences, but did you click on the link? Instead of the usual zytel handle, these new knives have titanium frames and Micarta scales. Their blade geometry is different from anything that I have seen Cold Steel offer before, and the price of these 5 new knives would place them in the semi-custom to custom range, hence my confusion about whether they are actually hand made (as was claimed on CS's website), or not. If you would be willing to view the items in question, I would be happy to read your feedback about them. Thanks.

 

[TimAckerman]

I was intrigued so i checked out the knives, and i don't really like their designs. They sure are unique, but i will save my money for an upcoming Chris Reeve Sebenza purchase!!

 

[Joe Talmadge]

Tony, one of the things that bothers me is that the first knife, the Black Sable, appears to be an unlicensed ripoff of Brian Tighe's Tighe Stick. This is scum-baggedness at its worst, and it really irritates me when production knife companies rip off custom makers this way. I don't expect everyone to be as irritated about it as I am, but couldn't resist pointing it out.

 

[paulr]

Oh my, those do look fancier than the CS knives I'm used to. I hadn't clicked past the front page pics. Anyway for that kind of money I'd still stick with a good custom or semicustom maker.

 

[cdf]

Yuck ! ,price seems high in relation to C/S's run of the mill quality . There is at least one if not two blatant knock offs .

 

[Steve C]

While I haven't seen them all (or even a current-production model), every Cold Steel knife I've handled that had a serrated blade portion were impossible to sharpen well using conventional serrated sharpeners; i.e., a Lansky or Spyderco SharpMaker.

I'll agree with paulr's characterization; they're above Gerber and below Benchmade. IOW, an okay knife, but there is better available at reasonable prices.

 

[chmsam]

Well, San Mai III is very good steel. G10 handles are nice. CS knives are usually good, middle quality knives.

However, "leaf spring locks" description is a pretty generic term that covers everything from pretty crappy to pretty good (but I'm spoiled by lock systems like the Axis lock). Also, it's really nit-picky, but "Skean Dhu" isn't the way I've seen it spelled and if they are advertising a pricey, semi-factory knife line, and their copy work is even a little cheesy, it makes me wonder.

But, as with any knife, I'd want to handle one before I bought it, and the new line does have some nice styles. Pricey even for high end semi-customs, but that site had list prices and I've seen CS discounted quite a bit.

BTW, seems to me one of the triangle sharpeners -- Gatco Tri-seps or maybe one of the Lansky pocket triangles -- advertises as being sized specifically for the CS-type serrations, so I think there must be a way to touch them up without using a small triangle file.

 

[Fat_Tony]

Joe T, I didn't realize that knife was a "clone", or ripoff. I haven't been keeping up on knives as much since I joined CPF. Lights have been eating up a lot of my disposable income. Thanks for pointing it out, though.

 

[_mike_]

[ QUOTE ]
Joe Talmadge said:
Tony, one of the things that bothers me is that the first knife, the Black Sable, appears to be an unlicensed ripoff of Brian Tighe's Tighe Stick. This is scum-baggedness at its worst, and it really irritates me when production knife companies rip off custom makers this way. I don't expect everyone to be as irritated about it as I am, but couldn't resist pointing it out.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is a rip-off, and I too am quite irritated about it.

 

[Shanghaied]

The qualities and designs aside, just the pricing is ridiculous enough. I mean the black sable costs 399, and a Brian Tighe custom with S30v, micarta, and titanium costs only about 475.

Sure there might be discounts too (let's say 50%), but there are still a lot of knives out there with similar or better materials and better quality available for similar or less, e.g. BM 630 - $140, Emerson HD7- $250, Microtech Amphibian - $200, Kershaw Bump - $160, Spyderco ATR - $200,Spyderco Manix - $120.

And with these other knives one is also spared of all the hypes of CS.

Just my $0.02.

 

[revolvergeek]

I have not seen these knives, but I cannot imagine that the quality is there to justify the price. I have been very underwhelmed in the overall fit and finish of the current production versions of classic Cold Steel models (The Tanto and the Safekeepers in particular), not to mention the fact that they have gone to cheaper steels for many of their models.

Speaking of design rip-offs, I can't help but see a very strong resemblance in the second knife to a Spyderco Civilian.

http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=60

 

[redcar]

chmsam - you are correct. It is a version of the Lansky dog bone that has the serration pattern of the Cold Steel knives. I have one and it works great. Ordered it from Cold Steel directly as I recall.

 

[BlindedByTheLite]

well, it looks like they're obviously above their "average" quality, but i dunno how they compete with their competition. i really like their fixed blades with Carbon V tho.

 

[Samuel]

Too pricey for me. For the cost of some of those CS knives, if I didn't have too many knives already, I'd probably just spend $75-100 for a blade and use the rest for edged weapons training...

 

[DarkLight]

I love my cold steel knives and I use them and abuse them in real world conditions that most people would never attempt with theirs.

Cut out a boat deck full of carpet to trim with your benchmade?

I bet you wouldnt....Slice tomatoes next..yes.....

Open large cardboard boxes? big screen size?.....slice like butter......

I have no use myself for museum pieces.......

 

[_mike_]

[ QUOTE ]
DarkLight said:
I love my cold steel knives and I use them and abuse them in real world conditions that most people would never attempt with theirs.

Cut out a boat deck full of carpet to trim with your benchmade?

I bet you wouldnt....Slice tomatoes next..yes.....

Open large cardboard boxes? big screen size?.....slice like butter......

I have no use myself for museum pieces.......

[/ QUOTE ]

Bet I would, and do.

 

[Joe Talmadge]

Ya, I can't imagine why I wouldn't do those things with my Benchmade, particularly considering Benchmade uses better steel and the edge will last longer. Carpet and cardboard are both rough on an edge, and BM's steels will outperform CS's, for the comparable knives (folders and small fixed blades; BM has nothing to compete w/ CS's large fixed blades).

 

[GarageBoy]

Jeez, I can have a Seb for that