Question about Cold steel Trailmaster

[patch]

I've recently bought Cold Steel Trail Master San Mai III. I see that laminating line is not placed equal on left and right side (where is the Trail Master logo).
The line on the right side is wider on top of the blade than on left side.... I see that is probably from the hand grinding of the blade.
Other - the blade is not so sharp, as i supposed it to be. I assumed that the blade supposed to shave, but it doesn't.

Is this production failure. The knife was bought at the authorized reseller in Croatia (Europe) that had bought it from Cold Steel, USA. It came in original packing with all copyright and using and warranty notes.

Is it possible that this is "acceptable and tolerable failure" or should I report it to Cold Steel?

Anyone who knows something about this, please answer...

[Noss]

I don't know about the trail master but My Fällkniven A1 lamination lines are uneven on the left and right also. The lamination line on the right side of the blade is higher then the left side. I guess this is how they are made. The A1 is made in Japan like the San Mai trail Master.

If your concerned about it contact cold steel and ask them if this is normal.

[Not too bad, man]

Yeah, send them a pic and ask it if it is normal. I got a funky blade from CS one time (really uneven edge grinds), I sent them a pic and they told me to send the knife to them so they could replace it. Easy as that. :rockon:

[patch]

Yep. I just wrote them a longer letter with pics and asked them about my issue.... I hope than answer will satisfy 'cause I'm not so eager to make replacement from southern east Europe to USA.... And on my fallkniven there is almost no difference between left and right side... I also think that is in a function of workman and grinding process...

[patch]

Thanks guys

[Noss]

No problem. Let us know what they tell you about it ? Maybe I have a bad falk also ? There is clearly a difference in the lines. I don't have to look at it hard to notice it.

[kiah]

My CS Black Sable's lamination lines are uneven too. I'm guessing it's common if not normal. Laminated Moras tend to be even though.

[Gman1128]

I was looking at my trailmaster and it is just like yours. The line on the side that says "Trailmaster VG1 San Mai" is about 2 mm higher then on the side that says "cold steel". Never noticed that before but it seems like it must be pretty common.

As for the sharpness, mine came razor sharp and easily shaved. It must be luck of the draw there.

[patch]

This is the mail that I received yesterday and explains it all. So if you're interested here it is:
"Good day,

We thank you for your email and appreciate all the feedback that you've given us. As a company, we try to make sure every one of our products perform with the high expectations and standards that we give them. As for the San Mai II Trail Master, the laminated lines almost never equal nor are perfectly straight on each line. We do not advertise them as being perfectly straight or aligned properly. This is a standard production process where the steel is being created as at alarming rate where production can not oversee each individual blade and lamination line. As for the sharpness, this does startle me because as far as my knowledge is concerned all of our San Mai III blades should be razor sharp at their initial state. It definitely should have the capability of shaving arm hair and should not be dull at all.

This then leads me to my next suggestion, which would be to have you send in your fixed blade along with a letter explaining the extent of your dissatisfaction with the item and we will be glad to inspect it and then send out a replacement, if possible. Unfortunately you are located overseas so we do realize the costs you'd have to incur to ship back your item to our warehousing location. I would first suggest you trying to replace it at the location of your original purchase. If you'd be willing we'd have no troubles looking into the blade and replacing the item at our convenience. Once again we thank your for your e-mail and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Regards,

Cold Steel, Inc."

[Not too bad, man]

^^^ I could sure do without LT and his rifle, but their customer service seems to be excellent. :thumb:

What do you plan to do next, patch?

[Noss]

To bad they won't cover the shipping costs to return it. I have had company's do this when I got something faulty. They weren't knife company's though.

[Thecarotidpulse]

TBH I have never been too impressed with Cold Steel... Ever since they tried selling me one of their blowguns. I figured that in Ontario I could import it as a collector's piece - not a user. Good thing a friend of mine at Customs caught it before I made the order and warned me that i'd be blacklisted...


Anyway about the lamination lines:

You guys know i've been following the Fallk and BRKT threads (amongst many) on KF... this issue has come up a few times over time. I've seen it happen once on a FK forum, and 3 times CS related...

What happens is that the steel is pressed together by having 3 sheets of metal: the laminates and core.
The 3 sheets are pressed together, then ground.

What happens is exactly what would happen if you were to handmake an Oreo cookie by hand: sometimes one side of the cookie would be smushed thinner than the other side, or the distribution of the white part wouldn't be the same.

Does it really make a difference? In the threads i've seen - no. Other than looks and appeal.
Fallk which does have a better support than CS will not cover it under warranty as they say that it doesn't change much in the performance of the knife.

They also say that if they had to rule out all the knives that came out like this, and also with other minute deviances, then the price of their knives would increase exponentially. (you can't recycle laminate knives by melting or delaminating or any)

So they let them pass.

When I go to the store to look at Knives, I make sure to check the height of the lines before hand to check that all is well... other than that= danger of buying these sort of things online.

Btw, i'm not sure if the Trailmaster is convex edged... I think it is. If this is the case, as it is done by hand, its also possible that it may have been irregularly erm.. convexed.

Vexing? Right well erm.. that's the pros and cons...

(someone shoot me)

[Templar]

By the way most of clad steel used for industrial knives (Cold Steel, Fallkniven, ecc) are produced by e-tokko.

www.e-tokko.com

I should you to write to Cold Steel.

Hello.

[Thecarotidpulse]

Templar,

Welcome to the forum!

He did write to CS, see first page of thread.

And you're right it was Takefu that designed VG10 steel.

Cheers,

and btw, Pro utilitate hominum frater.

[Templar]

Oh, i'm sorry, i don't have seen that.

Hello.

[patch]

^^^ I could sure do without LT and his rifle, but their customer service seems to be excellent. :thumb:

What do you plan to do next, patch?

I'm not unsatisfied with the Trail Master. Their answer was correct and there is no need for replacement, shipment overseas etc. I'll try to sharpen it at a local dealer (they do the sharpening also). I think that will solve my problem...