COLD STEEL...

THE LUXURY OF QUALITY KNIVES

 by paco

The first time I meet Lynn Thompson, the owner and President of COLD STEEL was in Colorado...in a small town in the high mountains, in the early 1990s. I was impressed because he didn’t just manufacture knives, he lived them.....

Thompson is probably the world’s best knife fighter. He has beaten in organized competition so many of the top rated knife fighters of the world..that many others are afraid to face him and lose their titles to him.

Please select the small photo for a larger view

In addition to being a Master with knives, Lynn is also a Shootist and a Handgunner.
This Hippo was taken with one shot from his .454 Casull

From his knife fighting experience Lynn Thompson had designed and built the finest, strongest, and most useful fighting knives on the market. But he hasn’t stopped there, this zeal has carried over into the rest of his line. Hunting knives, pocket knives, self-protection knives, survival knives...you name it Cold Steel has it in it’s line up. I couldn’t put photos of all of the Cold Steel line in this article...but if you go to www.coldsteel.com you will find them all.

I bought my first Cold Steel knife in 1989...I still have it....it has dressed out more game, dug out more bullets, explored more game animals to seek bullet performance, than I can count. I never need to really sharpen it...just dress the edge occasionally to bring back it’s gilt-edged sharpness. How sharp is sharp? I don’t know how to explain this...other than to say you can’t just lightly touch a Cold Steel edge...as so many do to ‘feel test’ it’s edge..because it will cut you, every time.....

Please select a small photo for a larger view

I was at a gun show in Tucson last year, there was a booth selling what they called the world’s sharpest knives. The seller was cutting slices of leather about a 1/4 inch think and about an inch wide with relative ease...it was somewhat impressive. I asked him if he was ready to cut a long strip off of the cow hide he had behind the counter.... He held it up, and straight not believing what I was about to do was even possible. With my Cold Steel pocket folder...not the big heavy style knife he was using....in one stroke I cut the leather in half...a 15 plus inch slice. And then said to everyone gathered around..."That’s sharp, that’s Cold Steel..." The seller asked me not to come back....poor baby...

I can open a deer from throat to anus faster then a zipper, skin a coyote so fast he’ll catch a chill, and cut thru hemp rope....inch thick or more like it’s butter. And the strength of Cold Steel knives is almost legendary....Thompson is competitive, one of the most competitive men I know...and I know a lot of them. You can tell the quality of a knife by the number of manufacturers that won’t compete against Cold Steel head to head. Lynn Thompson has a standing offer to test any manufacturers knife under the same standards that they test their own knives...in a video...what ever the results the video is offered to the public. None..nada..trust their own products to compete against the strength of Cold Steel knives and let the public see the results...

Please select the small photo for larger view

Cold Steel puts out one heck of a video showing the sharpness and the strength of their products. And not just the strength of the steel...but the strength of the grips, the hinges on the folders, everything about their products. They lock down one of their folders and start hanging weights from it to test the strength of the lock and the handle...a hundred pounds or more later you are wondering why you would ever want to carry some other brand. And then you realize why Cold Steel can offer a life time warranty on their products...

Check out their web site...beside everything else it’s fun.

Cold Steel knives are the best in the world...like Freedom Arms handguns...quality and strength are their by word....

Please select the small photo for a larger view

Elephant taken by Lynn Thompson using a .454 Casull
and Cor-Bon's 360 gr. Penetrator load.