Once upon a time, Cold Steel was a innovative company, but lately they tend to knock-off stuff designed by others. The tanto, Urban Pal, Urban Skinner, and Urban Shiv were really cool in their time, and not knock-offs. Even the R1 Military Classic paid homage to the Randall #1-7. Then came the knock-off era, and the advertising hype thinly disguised as "magazine" editorials. I was really angry when CS uses a photo of MY TEACHER, Steve Tarani, in its advertising. This photo was taken from Karambit.com's website, without permission and without attribution, and used in CS's "Riposte," which masquerades as an informative editorial, but is in reality advertising hype. The article was a harsh criticism of karambits. Then, shortly afterward, CS starts selling its own karambits. This is not my opinion, just the facts; it really happened. There is nothing new about karambits, a traditional Indonesian blade; go ahead and make and sell all you want. But, to run a photo of a blade designer and martial arts instructor, stolen from his website, is poor taste at best. No, Karambit.com did not sue, being a tiny company, but those in the cutlery industry know the truth about CS. All that being said, most of CS's stuff is pretty good stuff, and the price point is right for many. I won't call it junk just because I don't like the ethics of the owner of the company, and I did not toss out my R1 Military Classic, as it's a good training knife to save wear and tear on my real Randalls. I also still have my Urban Pal and Urban Skinner, as mementos of my younger days, which I do not carry. Y'all take my rambling rant any way you want; I think I stayed, as they say, fair and balanced .
