Fantasy Blade?

[Sgt127]

There seems to be an awful lot of the sharpened crowbars out there right now, for some reason, people buy them. I'm sure it would be dang near indestructible. But, I've found you give up some cutting quality with the big chunky blades. If you are interested in one of the best all around knives ever made, at a reasonable price (for a hand made knife) Check out Bob Dozier.

www.dozierknives.com

Super grind lines, very fair pricing, great reputation. And, he specifically says that he makes knives to "cut" and keeps them reasonable for real users. Kind of refreshing with alot of the other stuff on the market right now. And, no Tanto points.

By the way, a matched set of Japanese swords is called a Daisho.

[Quartus]

for some reason, people buy them.

Yeah, and a lot of people watch Rosie, too!



Bob does make some sweet knives. "Refreshing" is a good word to describe his stuff.

[ahenry]

They were brought to the American knife market by the least knowledgeable knife purveyor in the business - Cold Steel. They are good at marketing, but they are NOT knife people.

I’m not a huge fan of Cold Steel, but for all their hype they do make some good knives. I only own two of their knives and I don’t foresee purchasing more, but I’d be interested to see see/read what you really have against them. They do produce good knives that are scarily sharp and the don’t cost a whole hell of a lot. That doesn’t quite translate into a sale for me, but it does translate into a recommendation. Perhaps you know something I don’t though? It wouldn’t be the first time.

[Quartus]

good knives that are scarily sharp

Well, sir, for starters, how sharp a knife is when you buy if has NOTHING WHATEVER to do with how good the knife is. A crummy knife can be made sharp, and a quality knife could slip past Quality Control and ship with a dull edge. In the first case you'd have a sharp knife that will be dull soon. In the second you'd have a dull knife that will take a fine edge and HOLD it. (I often sharpen a new knife anyway. I can do it better than any factory can.)

That said, please note that I haven't said that Cold Steel makes crummy knives. They get their knives made in Japan with good quality steel. But their DESIGNS are hokum - pure marketing hype. Lynn Thompson (the founder) is an arrogant, blowhard know-nothing, the knife world equivalent of a gun store commando. The only difference is he is a great marketing man. He is not respected by real knife people, and probably never will be.

You take a guy like Loveless, Randall, or Dozier (and the list goes on) and you are talking about a man who loves and knows steel - someone who has the heart of an artist and the mind of an engineer. Even the "corporate" knife makers like Emerson or CKRT have people who love steel. With Cold Steel, you have people who love to sell knives.

That's a big difference.

[Stray1]

Skunk, I carry an Extrema Ratio T2000 w/ my combat load and have used the on many operations and deployments. I first ran across them in Europe and have put them to extreme use. I think they are a very versital combat/fighting knife.
Good luck w/ your choice. Just don't choose "cold steel".



AIRBORNE!
Liberating the Oppressed!

[ahenry]

Well, sir, for starters, how sharp a knife is when you buy if has NOTHING WHATEVER to do with how good the knife is. A crummy knife can be made sharp, and a quality knife could slip past Quality Control and ship with a dull edge. In the first case you'd have a sharp knife that will be dull soon. In the second you'd have a dull knife that will take a fine edge and HOLD it. (I often sharpen a new knife anyway. I can do it better than any factory can.)

You have a good point (hahaha). Like yourself I sharpen my knives and get them sharper than they are when I bought them anyway. However, since I do own a couple of CS knives let me explain what I meant by bringing up how sharp they are. The quality of the edge when it leaves the factory can be a good measure of the quality of the blade. For instance if the blade doesn’t even come from the factory sharp then you can be fairly certain that it isn’t worth much, no guarantee but it’d be a good bet. Granted judging a knife based solely on its factory edge is pretty silly, but it is a mark in its favor. I know you didn’t say they aren’t, but all the CS knives I have messed with have a great edge, and they retain that edge very, very well. His knives do have some good steel and he does put a quality bevel on them. Over-hyped to be sure, but it’s hard to really find that much wrong with the knives he makes, and you really have to respect the price.

But their DESIGNS are hokum - pure marketing hype. Lynn Thompson (the founder) is an arrogant, blowhard know-nothing, the knife world equivalent of a gun store commando. The only difference is he is a great marketing man. He is not respected by real knife people, and probably never will be.

I hear all the comments about Lynn Thompson and I have to wonder just how he pissed everybody off. Cause lets be honest, Cold Steel does make good quality knives and he does put a good price on them, or at least he did, recent knives have gotten a little pricey. The only difference in design between CS knives and any others is the tanto. I completely agree that a tanto blade is not all that important. But it is true (not just hype) that a tanto tip will be stronger than another blade design (unless its like a sheepsfoot with no point at all). The hype comes in how much of a need there is for that type of point. Personally I don’t see it, however I also don’t see how superior a Sebenza is (at least not several hundred dollars superior). You will not see me bad mouthing them though. Lynn Thompson is no Chris Reeves or Darrel Ralph and he does think pretty highly of himself, but then so does Heckler and Koch. Can his knives do everything he claims they can? I have tested them myself and they sure can. Does anybody need a knife that can go through a car door? Nah, not in an EDC they don’t. Does that make the knife useless or a joke? Not in my book. Just because a bunch of knife makers are pissed off because he wont release what is actually in carbon V steel is no reason to knock what is actually a good knife at a great price. Cold Steel is a great company for knife beginners that don’t really know what they want and haven’t formulated what they like in a knife. They can get a good knife for a little money and later on decide that they would be better served with an Emerson Commander, or a Kershaw Boa, or a Chris Reeves Sebenza, or yada, yada, yada.

[Quartus]

I have to wonder just how he pissed everybody off

Spend 5 minutes with him and you'll understand! He's got the knowledge of a gun store commando, the arrogance of Hillary, and pure smarminess of Schumer.

Unless you are fawning over him, of course. Then he's nice. :barf:


I knew him when he was nobody. He's still nobody.