These video from Cold Steel are hilarious: the Italian longsword, Großes Messer and the two-handed great sword.
Being split straight down the middle from crotch to head with a two-handed sword…. Ouch!!!
These video from Cold Steel are hilarious: the Italian longsword, Großes Messer and the two-handed great sword.
Being split straight down the middle from crotch to head with a two-handed sword…. Ouch!!!
That is funny, what a bozo. Why is he wearing a shirt and tie?
Jenny — that Lynn Thompson, he wants you to know he’s the president of Cold Steel, not just some fat fuck chopping shit up with replica mediaeval swords, like most of his workforce.
@ Rob
Just because you want their job.
Yeah, hmmmmm, I think I’m still going to opt for my handgun(s) against any of those swords.
I might have to run a bit to get out of reach, but I’m pretty sure I could outrun the heavy guy in the first flick.
I like swords. Who doesn’t? I have a sword similar to the ones used by some of my Scottish and Irish relatives. Although I read the post about bringing a gun to a knifefight, I’d still lean towards the gun in most circumstances, including swordplay.
It would be cool for experienced swordsmen and women to be able to arm themselves with swords, however.
Swords, switchblades and Glock M18′s. Self defense in a free country.
El Fish —
You mean, you’re not going to keep a two-handed great sword by your front door and a big sign saying trespassers will be decapitated?
I think the tie MAKES the outfit!
Usano la spada da mano e mezza in una mano e assieme alla daga.
E io soffro.
Soldo — Io dubito che lui conosca la differenza tra una spada bastarda e una spada da due mani, stocco, schiavona, spada da cavallo, spada da fante, spada da lato o stricia.
He must buy a lot of pork, huh? Who would want sword like that and what would you do with it?
Heather — he eat a fucking lot of it!
me want the Grosse Messer.
Ian — I’ve got one. I was watching those videos with Stefi and I said I’ll buy two-handed great sword just for a laugh. Shopping with Stefi ain’t a good idea: I ended up buying the bastard sword, Italian long sword and dagger, and grosse messer. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with them because you can’t fence with them. I keep the grosse messer for home defence though. It tell you what, opening the door with a sword in your hand soon gets rid of door-to-door salesman and scroungers.
@ Rob
I’m a great shopper, I hunt out the best bargains and then pounce on them like a she-wolf.
@ Rob
Well, as you say, opening the door with one of these in your hand DOES send a non-verbal message to the unwanted visitor.
There is a sign they sell in some Texas beer joints that goes something like this.
“Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be violated”
I’d like a good old Celtic two handed sword, if for no other reason than to answer the door with it. But I’d still keep my 12 gauge or handgun nearby…
@ El Fish
You mean the Claymore? I’m not keen on any two-handed swords – probably because I’m 5′ 3″ and a 110lbs but I love swords, I have a schiavona, spada da lato, stricia, sciabola, and braquemart but I keep them for display. I would reach for a firearm for defence first too. I’m going to do a post about home defence later today.
Aww don’t hate on Lynn! I met him at IWA in Germany and he was an exceptionally nice fellow
@ Mark
I’m sure he is and there is no doubt that he makes some very good functional replica swords, actually outstandingly goof for the price, but he really needs to lose the tie and learn to fence or at least do something about his footwork so he doesn’t over balance and nearly slice off his leg every time he cleaves through a pig.
@Rob
Già. Lo si nota dal fatto che impugna qualsiasi arma come un martello da carpentiere.
Mah.
Ave!
Great Blade!
Of course with it not going to walk in our time …
But as a hobby is super!
But too early for me.
I like:
http://www.salvatorfabris.com/img/RapierCollection2.jpg
@ Sergery
For me too.
You have a misunderstanding.
I haven’t looked at the videos that you are linking to – but Cold Steel makes very reputable products. Lynn Thompson has a background from the special forces and since he started the company he tries to make genuine re-creations of various bladed weapons (modern and ancient). So if he has duplicated medieval swords … this means he has gone to significant lengths to actually reproduce a real weapon with the same dimensions, cutting power and weight as the original swords.
These are not mere replicas that would be used for a stag show. They are fully functional. I have held all of Cold Steel’s weapons, including the two-handed swords. They tend to be very heavy, as you can imagine. But if you have a fascination with medieval weapons – you can purchase one.
Cold Steel often does various enactments to show that their weapons work. They are not made from bad alloy or poor designs. That’s generally the point of the video’s. The guys at Cold Steel are not saying that you are going to go to your front door and chop up the postman … just because he delivered some letters too late. They are simply demonstrating that these weapons are real and posess enormous cutting power.
Generally I avoid the heavy swords from Cold Steel because they are far too slow. They might be effective in a real medieval battle – but don’t have a lot of relevance to today’s world. But some people do like to collect them, and swing them about.
Overall, many of the knives from Cold Steel are excellent. The steel has excellent edge-holding capabilities and it is very sharp. Lynn Thompson is nobody’s fool … he knows blades. Don’t judge too harshly from a couple of video’s.
P —
Who’s misunderstand what? No one has said his swords aren’t functional, I got the two handed sword, Italian long sword, Italian dagger
hand-and-a-half sword and grosse messer, as I’ve said they only cost me around euros 1500. Lynn Thompson does recommend using the two-handed sword at the front door. Maybe he’s had a run in with the Pope’s halberd wielding Swiss Guard. As far as his knives excellent ain’t the adjective I’d use; there are better alternatives. I wouldn’t buy any of his tactical knives either because most of them are made in China or Taiwan out of Japanese steel and not really designed for combat. I think the the Natchez and Laredo Bowie are probably very good knives, but the Bowie is a bit outdated, there are so many better options.
Rob
I can’t imagine why Lynn Thompson is suggesting that people use a two-handed sword at their door. He does have a personal love affair for ancient weapons – but that’s probably carrying things just a little too far. Don’t you think? That’s pretty funny.
But we’ll have to agree to disagree about the other Cold Steel weapons. The company has their weapons made in China or Japan because of pressures from cost reductions. If you look at typical pricing of retail knives in the USA, Cold Steel is under tremendous retail pressure to keep their prices reasonable. So that’s why they do the manufacturing overseas. However, the folks at Cold Steel are very particular about the quality of their weapons – they will not sell a knife or weapon that does not work as advertised. So they do make very big efforts to ensure that the genuine products that are being made in China are kept to very tight tolerances. There are certainly some people in the world who are ripping off Cold Steel – by making cheap knockoffs of their designs. However, Cold Steel does address that problem on their Web site, and encourages people to buy only authentic weapons from the company.
I can tell you that Lynn Thompson takes great pride of ownership in his products. He will withdraw any knife or sword from his production line if he feels if falls short of high standards (metallurgy or workmanship). I have seen him do this. I can also tell you personally that I have tried out these weapons on a wide variety of targets made of different materials – and so has my trainer. They do work as advertised … there are no weaknesses in the knives.
As far as the videos are concerned, it might be helpful to make a distinction between the Cold Steel “product videos” and their “training videos”. I can understand why Stefi might get a laugh from seeing guys in shirts and ties who are swinging large swords. But I think that Cold Steel primarily makes the product videos so that they can show the cutting and slashing power of the weapons. If you want to see good quality fighting skills, then you actually need to see the training videos made by people like Ron Baliki and Willie Laureano in the Cold Steel series. Those guys know what they are doing, and their footwork and knife skills are excellent.
I won’t dispute with you that specialized companies like Extrema Ratio make an outstanding product. There’s absolutely no doubt that they do. But i can tell you that i have had no problems at all with the Cold Steel knives that I have bought and used. They have very good edge holding, excellent sharpness, and the folding mechanisms have been strong and fully functional. I do think that any user needs to be selective about what products they choose – but to some degree that comes down to personal preference.
cheers,
P
P —
Cold Steel don’t make good tactical knives. There are lots of bad reports about how their knives performance in Iraq and Afghanistan by soldiers who privately purchased them because AUS 8 steel is fine for civilian use but not so reliable for military use in extreme conditions. But durability isn’t my main gripe, my issue is functionality. The primary purpose of carrying a military, police or civilian tactical folder is to use in combat, not for chopping wood. The blade and handle should be designed for fighting, not cleaving slices of ham. The Spartan is a classic example of a bad tactical folder. It looks cool but it built to cash in on the film 300 and the result is a large folder that’s not at all intuitive, with an uncomfortable handle that allows for no finger control of the blade. The Ti-Lite on the other hand is a practical tactical folder but it’s not in the same league as the Frank Beltrame Tactical Teflon, and when they’re both in the same price range, which one are you going to buy?
Rob
I don’t use either of those particular folders from Cold Steel.
I would encourage any US military folks who are dissatisfied with their Cold Steel blades to contact the company … and see if they can get a credit towards a better knife or a replacement. I generally don’t use AUS-8 myself, and I am a bit leery of various stainless steel grades.
It’s a question of what people are willing to pay. If I was looking at the possibility of serious close quarters combat then I’d probably look at something like an Extrema Ratio, or perhaps some other custom blade. A lot of civilian customers are probably not aiming for such demanding applications.
cheers,
P
P
I agree cost is a factor but when I’m buying a tactical folder, there are other factors too: it’s needs to be big enough to fight with but small enough to carry easily, the opening mechanism needs to be fast to deploy and the lock sturdy enough not to fail when I’m stabbing someone because that’s what I’m buying it for. It needs to have a good ergonomic non-slip grip in the sabre grip and reverse grip positions (foil grip is a bonus). The blade needs to be designed for thrusting — cutting is secondary — and aligned with the handle so the knife is intuitive. The knife needs to be balanced so that I control the the blade with thumb and index finger and grip with the other three fingers. And the quality of the steel and handle matter too. Extrema Ratio make the best fixed blade tactical knives but I don’t like their folding knives, which ain’t cheap — the ROA was made by an idiot, it’s the slowest opening folder I’ve ever seen.
I’ve had a look at the Cold Steel folders again. There is nothing there I would buy. Three of their more popular knives, the Recon 1, American Lawman and Rajah II, are made in Taiwan from Jap AUS 8A steel. They’re in the same price bracket as some Fox tactical folders. Lynn Thompson obviously couldn’t help himself and had to make a folding Bowie, the Extra Large Espada, retails at €440, it’s made in Taiwan from Japanese AUS 8A. There is only one tactical folder there I think is any good and that’s their version Emerson CQC-8, the “Ultimate Hunter”, but again it’s made in Japan. If I wanted the CQC-8, I’d buy it off Emerson. Cold Steel make good Bowie knives but that doesn’t interest me, I not confident in Japanese steel or production, but I like their swords and the Spetznaz shovel looks wicked.
Rob
You actually saved my bacon today. I was thinking about your comments about Cold Steel folders … and I suddenly realized I was late for one of my martial arts training sessions. Had to jump in my car, hit the accelerator, and jam over there! But managed to make everything work out.
I’ve got a number of fixed blades from Cold Steel – but none of them have AUS8 steel. However, I need to go back and re-check the steel in the 2 Cold Steel folders I’ve got. I’ll take a look at it.
It’s likely that the feedback you mentioned (about problems with AUS8 on military missions in Iraq) has already reached the people at Cold Steel. I will watch with interest to see how Lynn Thompson deals with this. Maybe he will come out with a new tactical folder design … we’ll just have to see. In the mean time, if I get a chance to look at Fox knives then I’ll take the opportunity.
cheers,
P
P — Lynn Thompson hates tactical folders so why make ‘em? I think he would be better off making fixed blade knives, historical European swords and knives, and martial art weapons. He’s good at that. Fox are well worth checking out. If you want to buy American though, I’ve heard good things about Bench made. I don’t own any so I can’t attest to the quality but that’s what I’ve heard.