What's up with the hate on Cold-Steel?

[Que]

HEAR YE INGO, LET IT BE DECLARED FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, TYLER34 IS NOT A FAN OF COLD STEEL KNIVES. SO IT IS WRITTEN, SO SHALL IT BE DONE!

 

[Fenway]

I prefer 9mm

 

[22lr]

I prefer 9mm

I couldn't resist.......

 

[TiminMishawaka]

And Benchmade was sued (successfully) by Spyderco for patent infringement yet nobody accuses them of "shady business practices"...and I hate to think of how many folks have copies the Loveless Drop Point over the years.

Not to mention copies of Cold Steel's tactical kukri designs from the early 90s that nearly every knife manufacturer has ripped off since. They seem to forget that part.

 

[tyler34]

HEAR YE INGO, LET IT BE DECLARED FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, TYLER34 IS NOT A FAN OF COLD STEEL KNIVES. SO IT IS WRITTEN, SO SHALL IT BE DONE!

you should here what I have to say in person. oh wait you have.

 

[tradertator]

Wow, here we go again . I would jump in, but what do I know. I'm just an "anti cold steel fan boy parroting what I read on the interwebz,"

 

[prowland]

I think it is time we do a scientific head to head of a particular design from CS and a few other brands... Any suggestions on which knife???

 

[jd4320t]

I'd just like to add I think that new Behr Grylls knife is super ghey but I saw the display was empty at WalMart!

If you like Cold Steel then that's great but other people may not and that's their right.

9mm v 45acp
HiPoint v everyone else
1911 v Glock
Ak v AR
556 v 7.62x39


Having a different opinion in any topic doesn't make you wrong. Also, if you read something and spread the word it doesn't make you a parrot

 

[flatlander]

Get the best tool you can afford. If they work well for YOU, screw what ever anybody else says unless you're looking to move up to something else. I've used most things from pure crap to high end. If it works, use it.
my .02

Bob

 

[anewrnn]

I have a trailmaster in San Mai

Loved the blade style. Held an edge/sharpness well too. Sweet handle. Got a small knick in the blade and Cold steel sharpened her up real pretty like though for free. I baton some nasty stuff w my Busse, which Ill admit I paid alot more for, and it just begs for more. I have a scrapyard that is equally as tough but a little harder to sharpen. Now once I get my kalamazoo 1x42 belt grinder Ill be into something.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I'm honestly flattered your respecting my opinions about knives. so as not to make you avoid my future knife opinions I will let you know where I'm coming from on the CS issue.

That was a very well done explanation, thank you.

It's a great example of the finer points (pun intended) of what I don't understand about knives and why I would trust your opinions in this matter. You may have a dislike of the personalities of the people involved, but you can also explain why your opinions of the materials and workmanship are such as they are. I may or may not agree with those opinions (I have no stance on this particular issue), but you can go beyond the "Bruno say Cold Steel Bad, *grunt*" point of the discussion.

As far as the finer points involved though, consider me a representative of the average guy who actually uses equipment more than most, doesn't care that much about tacticool, but will probably not use the equipment to the bleeding edge (again, PI) of its capability. I made my choice of the SRK (I'm not defending my choice, just explaining it) because it had the blade style and ergonomics of what I was looking for. I was looking for a replacement of the AlMar knife (similar to the Sere Operator) I had lost in my house fire that was my hiking, hunting, SAR, and kitchen knife. The Kydex sheath it came with was about 20% of my decision making process (as a manufacturer of similar things, that's where my eye for finer points comes in).

I was looking at what Knife Lady had side by side and based my decision because the SRK came closest to my requirements of a knife that had a full tang through the handle, blade size, and durability. I've spent much of my life out in the woods, and probably a couple of years of my life over time sleeping somewhere other than in a bed or near my car, hiked a few thousand miles, and been on numerous SAR missions. Until I started skimming this knife forum I'd never even heard of "batoning kindling" as I've never had a problem starting a fire, or felt the need to use a knife for half the things I hear people claim to need to do with them. I wanted a blade I could use for self defense under my mission requirements as well as a few other tasks I'd used my AlMar for 20+ years for.

So while I don't doubt for the slightest that you might have been able to steer me to a better quality knife that still fit my ergonomics, but cost less and didn't come with the associated negative company baggage, it really didn't matter that much to me (I'm not trying to be flip, just explaining my point of view). To be sure had we been discussing this as we are now (and I thank you for taking the time rather than simply dismissing my questions as "we've discussed this all before, go do a search") I'd have been listening intently, as I am now, and may have made a different decision at the time. Regardless, it boils down to the fact that the $83 I spent on the SRK wasn't enough money, and my mission requirements aren't such that I'm going to use the knife to even 50% of the full capabilities of the tool, that if I decide I hate it in the future I'll sell it in disgust and buy something better. It simply isn't that important to me like it is to some folks. Again, I bring this up not in defense of my purchase, but as an example of the average person who isn't a fanboy, his decision making process.

 

[prowland]

I like the CS videos!!

 

[dom1104]

I have had good luck with CS knives... buying them for almost nothing that is

I paid 10 bucks for a Large Gunsite Tanto, and I use it all the time. Cheap knives have a place too ya know. IMO CS is good so long as you buy used, and cheap. Which is easy.

 

[451_Detonics]

quick example a cold steel ti-lite-

IMO a generic enough looking blade no wow factor design wise, then you get to the meat of it AUS8 steel and aluminum handles again nothing great, no options for tip up or tip down carry or left and right hand carry. then you see the price $90 and most likely coming from a low end factory in china. now lets take that same $90 and see ho much better we can do.

No..it comes from the same country as those $250 Spyderco's...Taiwan.

Cold Steel haters will come up with things like knife breakage when abused...well I can break any knife if I abuse it. Then they say CS rips off designs...well trust me it that was true they would be getting sued for it just a Benchmade got sued. They down rated the steels even tho quite a few high end makers use the same steels.

It just boils down to some folks don't like the knives...all I can say is don't buy them. I like some of them...others I don't. I own a few and have never had a problem but then when I need a hammer I use a hammer...not a knife.

But let's look at one of my Spydercos...

The Spyderco Salsa

AUS-8 steel
Aluminum scales
nothing special in the design
doesn't allow for tip/up tip/down
made in Taiwan
Price $90

WOW! Must be a piece of cheap junk....

 

[Knife Lady]

I try to keep in my inventory what customers ask for. Plain and simple and regardless of my opinion of the knife. I used to have many guys ask me for CS and I did not carry it att hat time. I have carried some for a while now to please some customers. I cannot carry all name brands and all types. I will answer any questions honestly and to the best of my knowledgeable ability about any of my knives. Most people like Cold Steel so when they pick up one of my knives and they voice their opinion I do not disagree unless it is to only educate them . Nothing else. Everyone is entitled to their likes and dislikes inlcuding myself. I do not have to love every knife I sell nor do I have to like every manufacturer. I just try to make the customer happy with a knife they like not what I like.
This is not about me but about my customers and what they want.

 

[Que]

Tyler, will you sharpen my Cold Steel?

 

[shibumiseeker]

I try to keep in my inventory what customers ask for. Plain and simple and regardless of my opinion of the knife. I used to have many guys ask me for CS and I did not carry it att hat time. I have carried some for a while now to please some customers. I cannot carry all name brands and all types. I will answer any questions honestly and to the best of my knowledgeable ability about any of my knives. Most people like Cold Steel so when they pick up one of my knives and they voice their opinion I do not disagree unless it is to only educate them . Nothing else. Everyone is entitled to their likes and dislikes inlcuding myself. I do not have to love every knife I sell nor do I have to like every manufacturer. I just try to make the customer happy with a knife they like not what I like.
This is not about me but about my customers and what they want.

Which is an excellent attitude to have. If, when I'd been looking at the selection you had on the table at the 1500, you tried to push me one way or another, it would have turned me off. You answered the question or two I had, and by the fact that you didn't exhibit much of the same crap that is too often seen at gunshows of trying to show how much you know, you got my sale. Before I bought, I'd been listening to you talking with a couple of other customers and I saw you give the same thoughtful respect and advice to the questions they asked. Hence why I decided to buy from you.

Heck, I'm a manufacturer of equipment and I've told customers that they may be happier with my competitor's product, even though I think mine is superior, simply because you are right, it's about what they want, not what I think.

 

[Gamez235]

Tyler could make Cold Steel, hot!!!

 

[tTotalProvidence]

Remember those retarded internet videos where fatass "knife experts" go to town on their dinner? That's why I never bought a cold-steel product, to be honest.

 

[chraland51]

I guess I must be some kind of ignorant moron since I happen to like the cold steel knives that I have. They might have cost a little too much, but I do like them. I have found them functional, but have not tried to use them as a pry bar or anything else that a knife was not intended to be used for. I have never had to deal with the DPMS customer service department either, but I also like my two DPMS rifles even though some of you might think that I was mislead into buying such junky pieces of trash weapons. I guess that I will just have to wait until SHTF day when my CS knives all break and my DPMS weapons both malfunction to come begging to borrow some of your equipment which you acquired because you were much better informed and know better quality when you see it. I will humbly and willingly eat some crow put up with a few "I told you sos" so that I might continue to survive. On second thought, I had just better toss my CS knives and DPMS rifles into the pond behind my apartment and go out and buy the brands that the experts all know to be the top of the line. No one bothered to trash the Mossberg 500s in this thread. I have never tried to chop down a tree with either of mine. I have to confess that was not the reason that I bought them many years ago.