Cold Steel has taken some hits over the years from hard-core knife enthusiasts.
First, some people were turned off by president Lynn Thompson’s proclamations of the best knives around. Then, others complained about issues with quality control. Many are not on board with the fact that the knives come from places like Taiwan and China. Finally, Cold Steel’s recent lawsuit against CRKT for making unfounded marketing claims riled up people even more.
Say what you will about Cold Steel, but the company does put out some durable knives. Cold Steel just has to put their heads down and let their knives speak for themselves (something I said in the article about the lawsuit).
Well, it looks like Cold Steel is taking my advice and letting their knives speak for themselves instead of going after other company’s marketing tactics.
In a slate of entertaining videos, the brand has been matching up two comparable knives (one from Cold Steel and a similar one from a competitor) in a head-to-head battle of strength and dependability.
I’m not necessarily taking this as 100% fact. I understand that this is from the marketing team of Cold Steel and we don’t necessarily know whether the other knives were defective in any way. However, the videos do give some insight into how they test the knives and just how much they can withstand.
Here are all the knives pitted against Cold Steel. It doesn’t end well for most of the competitors.
Let us know what you think of the videos in the comments.
CRKT M16-14ZSF vs. Cold Steel Voyager
Spyderco Tatanka vs. Cold Steel Voyager
Benchmade Bedlam vs. Cold Steel Talwar
Kershaw Leek vs. Cold Steel Hold Out III
Benchmade Contego vs. Cold Steel Medium Espada
Spyderco Manix 2 vs. Cold Steel Ultimate Hunter
Zero Tolerance ZT0301 vs. Cold Steel AK-47
SOG Pentagon Elite II vs. Cold Steel XL Vaquero
Extrema Ratio Fulcrum II vs. Cold Steel Pocket Bushman
CRKT Otanashi Noh Ken vs. Cold Steel Recon I
Hogue EX-01 vs. Cold Steel Recon I
Spyderco Paramilitary 2 vs. Cold Steel Hold Out II
Wildsteer WX vs. Cold Steel Espada
Zero Tolerance ZT0350 vs. Cold Steel Medium Espada
Chris Reeve Sebenza 21 vs. Cold Steel Code 4
November 10, 2015 at 9:05 pm
Always been a fan of your machetes but seeing this I will now definitely be buying some of your knives. In fact gonna get online and buy some now!
July 6, 2016 at 12:05 am
Cold Steel is pushing-again-at an open door.We all know the triadlock is the most strongest lock on the market.Good for them,but there is so much more in a knife then the lock strenght.Steel,design,ergos,are much more important,because every lock from a top knife company will do great for your every day tasks.If you need so much rigidity in a knife,go with a fix blade.But if you need to use your folding knife as a weight rack,then by all mens you should buy one of those.
July 7, 2016 at 10:55 am
Is the Triad all they have to stand on? They need some new designers. Andrew Demko is a genius, but they need some new ideas/talent/designs. I am glad to see them up their game a little with XHP steel, but they need to add some new designs. I have a couple of newer CS knives. I like them, but I don’t love them. The lock is too stiff and I don’t ever plan on hanging 300 lbs from m y knife.
Also, these tests don’t take into account grasping/squeezing a framelock. That has to add some strength to the lock. I bet if he zip tied the frame locks to simulate grasping the knife, they would hold considerably more.