Trust me, I fought this fight for years on bladeforums.com and banned more than a few over it...custom and production both. Once it gets to China, you can only deal with the local connections.Originally Posted by GearFondler
Anyway, I've simmered down quite a bit from back in those days...I have more constructive things to do with my time.
There's nothing civil about this war.
Yep, I'm in the same boat... Hence why I didn't immediately comment on this thread. What would it accomplish? Lynn got paid and what I think about it all isn't likely to cost him any sleep so why should I waist my energy getting angry?
I like big things ..Dogs ..Guns and Knifes.... My Wife is 6 foot tall.
Carry this blade every day.
It’s true that a lot of the CS designs were blatant goddamn rip-offs; his version of the Spyderco Civilian comes quickly to mind, only without the sexy, impractical lines. Lynn’s version retained the impracticality of the Civilian, but had all the sex appeal of the old lady in the “where’s the beef” commercials.
That said, aside from Lum and maybe Hartsfield doing it first, it’s hard to argue against CS’ early marketing of their various “American Tantos” which only very loosely rip off the entire epoch from the Heian through the Edo. Fair (chisel) point. And now I finally have a sale-priced recon tanto, after kindasortamaybe wanting one since I was in middle school, thanks to this thread.
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
I actually got a CS Recon Tanto when I was in middle school, from a "Soldier of Fortune" ad back in the mid-80's. It was only $19.95 (with S&H).It’s true that a lot of the CS designs were blatant goddamn rip-offs; his version of the Spyderco Civilian comes quickly to mind, only without the sexy, impractical lines. Lynn’s version retained the impracticality of the Civilian, but had all the sex appeal of the old lady in the “where’s the beef” commercials.
That said, aside from Lum and maybe Hartsfield doing it first, it’s hard to argue against CS’ early marketing of their various “American Tantos” which only very loosely rip off the entire epoch from the Heian through the Edo. Fair (chisel) point. And now I finally have a sale-priced recon tanto, after kindasortamaybe wanting one since I was in middle school, thanks to this thread.
Sadly, I forgot to remove it when I sold my Prelude in the mid-90's.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
I bought a Cold Steel tanto out of the back of a van in '91 from a travelling knife salesman/sharpener. Thing had to be a foot long.
Dude even had a grainy VHS tape playing on a TV in the van of Lynn chopping a cinder block in half with it then slicing a free hanging 2" rope.
21 year old me had to have it as the perfect addition to my shitty generic butterfly knife collection.
It was confiscated out of my car by the cops after the "great titty bar incident of '93".
I miss the early '90's.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
This is fantastic. I would love to hear more about the year ‘93.
That said, at least you have some idea where the knives of your misspent youth went. I too had a shitty generic butterfly knife collection, and I have absolutely no recollection of where they all went.
I’m missing the early 90s.
”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
I never got into the Cold Steel mall ninja subculture with the goofy 'tactical' blades, the beyond-gigantic folders, the impractical blades shapes, the weird 'knife tests', etc. Heard about the instances of design rip-offs and don't condone them, but I have better things to do than spend time arguing about who ripped off whose knife design, I figure the patent guys will work that out, and I was never interested in the hotly disputed ones anyway.
But I still like quality knives, even those that come from Cold Steel. They've made some blades over their history that are perennial, high-quality knives, the folders with rock-solid triad back locks, quality steel and heat treat, razor sharp factory edges, and high quality G10 or similar material handles. These are consensus good buys, and for these types of knives, I consider them high value and glad that I own them, they compare quite nicely along with Spyderco's, ZT's, Bucks, customs, and many other good knives I own. The three best Cold Steel folders I've owned, and still have these btw:
* Recon drop point (CTS XHP)
* Ultimate Hunter (CTS XHP) reground by Razor Edge knives to a full convex grind, the sharpest folder I've ever had period)
* AD10 (S35vn -- this knife has one of the sharpest edges I've ever seen from the factory on any knife, including my many Spydercos, it's a high quality folder in anybody's book)
Without approving of some of their company culture that they promoted, or business practices that were controversial, they still managed to put out some great knives where the quality and materials would be a bargain at twice the price, the AD10 listed above is more robust than some similar profiled customs I've seen at 3x the price.
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