QKShooter

I had an early Trailmaster Bowie and gave it to my Brother years ago and he is still using it.

The only Cold Steel knife that I own right now is one of their Bushman knives.


You can usually pick one up for dirt cheap on Ebay.
I got lucky and bought mine on Ebay for less than $10.00

It certainly does win "The Worst Sheath Ever Made For Any Knife" award.

It sucks for chopping but, I beat the hell out of mine.

I use it for digging weeds out of my sidewalk and all Knife Chores around the house that I don't want to ruin a more expensive knife doing.

My Wife uses it for gardening tasks like digging tulip bulb holes in the dirt and digging out or cutting weeds.

It takes a fast sharp (initially agressive) field edge but, will not hold it very long because it is not super hard steel.

You sure can beat the living crap out of it though.
Check out the youtube knife tests VID and watch that guy beat the crap out of his with a 5 Pound hammer.

Buy one if you can get one cheap and toss it into the vehicle or your SHTF Bag just for the heckovit.

r0rtiz

Thanks for the input everybody. I appreciate it.

__________________
"Surely the preservation and enjoyment of the freedoms vouchsafed to us by the Constitution of the United States will require eternal vigilance even to the guarding of it with our lives. We must ever keep faith with our founding fathers by keeping faith with our Constitution."

flyby

Heh, I'd hardly call the quillons on the ti-lites a rip off ..it's just part of the traditional italian stilletto design, that later was discovered could be used to catch the pocket and other things(marginally at best).
If they were originally intended for that use, they would have reversed the direction of the quillons as the hook side would have worked much better..and been more comfortable on the thumb as well.

They started advertising the snag feature after user's started discovering it could be done.

__________________
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36

rocky

Good review of this knife. I also have one, mostly for backwoods foraging and lightweight camping/hiking. I replaced the sheath with kydex . I have moderately beat my knife so far. It works o.k. for chopping but is a bit light to get a hefty swing.
I think with most of Cold Steel products you get what you pay for. Inexpensive = less quality.

__________________
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." Thomas Jefferson


Nemo Me Impune Lacesset

Link to my kydex builds:http://rocknloadkydex.blogspot.com/

Vic303

I've got a CS LTC (I think) Khukri. Decent enough blade once it got reprofiled after my neighbor used it to cut sod with. The black coating on the blade sucks--I plan to have it beadblasted off, next time DH sets up the sandcabinet. The blade is loads smoother, and should cut better, once that coating is removed. It's worn off the tip already, so I can tell how much smoother it will be 'in the white'.

SIGP250

Cold Steel makes some excellent product. It must be understood that a company such as this not only sells knives to hunters but also sells kitchen knives.

They also sell many Katana and other swords, tomahawks, etc. If you can narrow your inquiry it would be helpful.

SIG

__________________
If you understand, things are just as they are... If you do not understand, things are just as they are....
- Zen Saying

p230

I have a SRK that I got about 15 years ago. I really like it. I use it rarely but the last time I did was to field dress a Pronghorn. It did a great job. Sharp and plenty heavy to cut through the tough stuff and the grip was long enough to use with gloves (I have small hands though) and the no slip surface worked well. I can't comment on the other things in their lineup though.

ASHTXSNIPER

I like them

unloved

I'm not talking about the Ti-Lite. Have you seen the AK-47, Spartan, the two larger knives of the Espada family, Rajah (both models), and the Talwar?

__________________
...he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature. - George Bernard Shaw (paraphrased)

SamRudolph

They're way overblown, but some of their knives, particularly their older folding knives, are pretty decent.

The problems:

The materials are relatively chintzy. They use cheap blade steels sold at premium prices. What gets you S30V, 154CM, or VG-10 from Spyderco, Kershaw, or Benchmade, gets you AUS8 from Cold Steel. Their San Mai is nothing to write home about, making San Mai layered steel from average to crummy steel still makes it average to crummy steel. They like to come up with fancy names for their steel that bear eerie resemblances to good knife steels but are in fact the same mid-to-low quality stainless steels they have always used. I'm not saying that AUS8 can't make decent knives, I'm just saying for what you pay, you should get more than that.

Their DVDs are ridiculous. If you do anything they do in those movies with your Cold Steel knife, you void the warranty, which to my way of thinking kind of defeats the purpose of making such movies.

They have a tendency to copy elements or whole knives from other makers without permission. There's a long-running spat between Lynn Thompson and Emerson Knives about knives with wave-like features.