Cold Steel - Hype or Not?

[Dorky_D]

OK, this is a question, and I am not really wanting to start a war of opinions. Here is the deal.... Cold steel has numerous videos on Youtube. To tell you the truth, I love seing them butcher, slice and dice sides of beef and roasts and stuff with a great sword or whatever. We see them cut through some tough things and see what their blades can do.

I also know there are not many Cold Steel fans on this forum. Why?

Are the videos not good demonstrations of what a blade can do? Do the videos not represent the products (over marketing)? Are people just 'haters'?

I am curious. I am not a hater, nor a fan boy.

Thanks!

 

[tradertator]

This has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum, and almost every other that deals with knives. In a nutshell:
-Cold Steel doesn't make anything but those corny commercials. All of their knives are subcontracted out, and often built somewhere in the third world. They aren't junk, and they aren't great. They are however, over priced. Show me any Cold Steel knife, and I can about guarantee you can find something better for less money.
-Many knife companies have made copies of other each others designs; Cold Steel has has taken this concept, and built their business with it. Many of their products use patent infringements, or are blatant knockoffs of reputable knife companies designs.
-And finally, Lynn Thompson is a turd. Plain and simple.
As far as the videos go, smoke and mirrors. Most of the crap you see them do could be done with a knife in your kitchen if it was sharp enough.

 

[DaKruiser]

This has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum, and almost every other that deals with knives. In a nutshell:
-Cold Steel doesn't make anything but those corny commercials. All of their knives are subcontracted out, and often built somewhere in the third world. They aren't junk, and they aren't great. They are however, over priced. Show me any Cold Steel knife, and I can about guarantee you can find something better for less money.
-Many knife companies have made copies of other each others designs; Cold Steel has has taken this concept, and built their business with it. Many of their products use patent infringements, or are blatant knockoffs of reputable knife companies designs.
-And finally, Lynn Thompson is a turd. Plain and simple.
As far as the videos go, smoke and mirrors. Most of the crap you see them do could be done with a knife in your kitchen if it was sharp enough.

If I'm going to spend that kind of money, I want somthing real world proven, not just on some video.

 

[Dorky_D]

As far as the videos go, smoke and mirrors. Most of the crap you see them do could be done with a knife in your kitchen if it was sharp enough.

It would be nice to see other companies test their knives right then. Here is my deal, I am always using Youtube to lean stuff. I know it is not the only source of info, but you can see stuff in use and see what people do with stuff, to help when forming an informed opinion. There are things in video that you cannot do in print and/or pictures as well.

I would love to see ESEE thrash a knife to show how tough it is!

 

[grunt soldier]

It would be nice to see other companies test their knives right then. Here is my deal, I am always using Youtube to lean stuff. I know it is not the only source of info, but you can see stuff in use and see what people do with stuff, to help when forming an informed opinion. There are things in video that you cannot do in print and/or pictures as well.

I would love to see ESEE thrash a knife to show how tough it is!

it has been done many many times. unfortunately the person who did all the real true knife tests pulled all his videos due to health reason and all the new google tracking stuff. he tested every knife to breaking point. his absolute favorites were busse and busse kin. I'll see if I can find any but I know they were removed off the web a couple weeks ago.

but there are a ton of video's out there where people have beat on there knives. hell there is a lot of threads here on INGO where people have beat the **** out of their blades doing way worse than what cold steel does and I know because I have made a few

 

[grunt soldier]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xquzGhKDg1k[/ame]

here is one to watch for a minute. it's decent

 

[tradertator]

It would be nice to see other companies test their knives right then. Here is my deal, I am always using Youtube to lean stuff. I know it is not the only source of info, but you can see stuff in use and see what people do with stuff, to help when forming an informed opinion. There are things in video that you cannot do in print and/or pictures as well.

I would love to see ESEE thrash a knife to show how tough it is!

As far as marketing, my hat is off to the folks at Cold Steel. Your absolute right about the videos being an asset for many folks shopping for a knife. But in all honesty, it doesn't take that much of a knife to stab through meat filled cowboy boots, slash rope, etc...

 

[tradertator]

I would love to see ESEE thrash a knife to show how tough it is!

Not a video, but here are some steamy pics in the field. Decapitated crocodile with South American bad asses.
ESEE Knives

 

[M67]

I would love to see ESEE thrash a knife to show how tough it is!

Here's a vid my friend did with an esee/Becker Eskabar collaboration knife. He was bored and drinking so...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89RWA_Sw8ik[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD0ePWBCHio&NR=1&feature=endscreen[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGS7AllFzOI[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3GdAs5axwo[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1MQVMcp6FQ[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPrb87YxkZI[/ame]

He's got no problem with Becker, but he's not a big Jeff Randall person so he destroyed it because it said "esee" on it.

Noss4 on youtube was great at making destruction test vids but they've vanished for the time being. That's what led a lot of people to Busse Combat knives, they could survive anything you could put them through.

 

[Knife Lady]

It would be nice to see other companies test their knives right then. Here is my deal, I am always using Youtube to lean stuff. I know it is not the only source of info, but you can see stuff in use and see what people do with stuff, to help when forming an informed opinion. There are things in video that you cannot do in print and/or pictures as well.

I would love to see ESEE thrash a knife to show how tough it is!

I can see you did not do your homework before making this statement.

 

[Dorky_D]

Yeah, I hear what you are saying on the meat boots and some of the tests.
The ones that mean the most to me are when I see them cut through meat and bones. I would also think bamboo a bit tough, but I have not cut it myself. Some carboard tubes could be tough. He talkes about them in one vide, but I do not recall seing how thick they are, and they could be thick and soft.

 

[Dorky_D]

I can see you did not do your homework before making this statement.

Wow, let's not jump to conculsions here. I also am not intending this to get ugly either. I am asking questions to learn. That usually not a bad thing right?

I have looked for VIDEOS on ESEE doing their own videos tests and/or demonstrations, and I have not found them. Do they exist, please share. I have no doubt ESEE has thrashed their own knives. I could have been more clear, but I was speaking in context of ESEE making their own videos.

 

[Knife Lady]

Wow, let's not jump to conculsions here. I also am not intending this to get ugly either. I am asking questions to learn. That usually not a bad thing right?

I have looked for VIDEOS on ESEE doing their own videos tests and/or demonstrations, and I have not found them. Do they exist, please share. I have no doubt ESEE has thrashed their own knives. I could have been more clear, but I was speaking in context of ESEE making their own videos.

I have only seen videos on how they make their knives and how much they will bend before one will break by putting it into a vice. My comment was not intended to be ugly sorry if it came out like that. If I can find the video I will be happy to post it. You may want to look on their site it may still show how they make their knives.

 

[Dorky_D]

I have only seen videos on how they make their knives and how much they will bend before one will break by putting it into a vice. My comment was not intended to be ugly sorry if it came out like that. If I can find the video I will be happy to post it. You may want to look on their site it may still show how they make their knives.

It is all good! We are all on the same team!

I have seen the one where they bend a knife and it eventually breaks as all will unless made of foil or something. Pretty impressive!

 

[ghuns]

I have a Cold Steel pro lite. It has a tanto blade in the old carbon V steel. Bought it on ebay for $45 straight from Taiwan almost 10 years ago. Great everyday folder. Holds an edge, easy to sharpen when needed, takes lots of abuse from me. It's nowhere near any of the high-end stuff out there but for what I paid, I'm happy. The videos and the guy in them are annoying as hell but they are marketing genius.

 

[bingley]

The "cutting ability" and the toughness of the knife aren't the only things that count. The ergonomics and the fit with the user count a lot, too. Cold Steel knives don't really work very well for me in that regard. Maybe it works for others.

My personal preference is for something well-balanced, highly maneuverable, & fits nicely in my palm with no hot spots. The blade geometry matters, too, and can vary from task to task. Sure, durability is important, but I am not going to use a knife like a pry bar or an axe. So most of the "torture" tests don't give me useful data.

The Cold Steel videos do nothing for me for several reasons. One of them is that I usually can't learn from watching what I need to learn by handling the actual item.

 

[Pizza The Hutt]

I can't say that I'm a huge Cold Steel fan but I have a knife of theirs called the G.I. Tanto. It has to be one of the best values when purchased with the kydex sheath. Around $30 I bought a knife that can take any abuse I could throw at it.

While heavy, it would make a great knife to keep near your B.O.B..

 

[trillobite]

Never found a reason to buy anything from them, until a co-worker brought in a K5 for a prep knife, at work. Has been through a lot of onions and peppers without dulling. First knife we've had in the kitchen that hasn't dulled yet (3 years of abuse now), or been broken from abuse. There's been a lot of kitchen knives through here, too.
So, now my home has a kitchen set from Cold Steel, and my wife loves it. She loves it enough, that she gave away all 40+ of the assorted knives in the kitchen drawer.
I don't see any of my carry knives being replaced by Cold Steel products, though.

 

[M67]

This doesn't say anything about their quality of knife, but I thought it was appropriate

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGWtcFAHFII&feature=g-u-u&context=G2d387d1FUAAAAAAABAA[/ame]