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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1980; 45 years ago (1980) |
| Founder | Lynn Thompson (President & Founder) |
| Headquarters | Irving, TX 75061 , |
Key people | Andrew Demko, Robert Vaughn, Ron Balicki, Luke LaFontaine, Anthony DeLongis |
| Products | Knives, swords, tomahawks, pepper spray, machetes, spears, blowguns, axes, martial arts & self defense-related products and training tools |
| Parent | GSM Outdoors |
| Website | www |
Cold Steel, Inc., is anAmerican retailer ofknives/bladed tools,training weapons,swords and othermartial artsedged andblunt weapons. Founded inVentura, California, the company is currently based inIrving, Texas, after an acquisition by GSM Outdoors in 2020.[1] Cold Steel products are manufactured worldwide, including in theUnited States,Japan,Taiwan,India,Italy,China, andSouth Africa.[2]
The company's products include fixed-blade knives, foldingknives,swords,machetes,tomahawks,kukris,blowguns,walking sticks,Tantōs[3] and othermartial arts items and training equipment. The knives are used by military and law-enforcement personnel worldwide.[4][5]
Cold Steel is credited with popularizing the Americantantō in 1980.[6][7] Cold Steel marketed knives made in the U.S. byCamillus using acarbon steel given the trademarked name "Carbon V" (read "carbon five"). Their imported knives were nearly all made inSeki,Japan, usingAUS-8 which Cold Steel labelled "400 Series Stainless". They also had two models made inTaiwan, both of which switched to Japan in 2000. In 2007 Camillus New York went bankrupt and Cold Steel was forced to find a new manufacturer for their carbon-steel fixed blades. Cold Steel first went toChina (People's Republic of China), but allegedly due to quality issues switched toTaiwan for production. At the same time Cold Steel moved all folding-knife manufacturing from Seki Japan to Taiwan. The carbon steel wasSK5 and stainless was AUS-8A & 10A both imported to Taiwan from Japan. However the Sanmai III models remained strictly Seki production. The largest Sanmai III fixed blades are made by Hattori.
Seki City production knives are made using VG1stainless steel and VG1 core Sanmai III. Current and past models have used: German 4116 stainless steel, D2, 1055 high carbon steel, O-1 high carbon, SK-5 carbon steel, AUS 8A & 10A, CTS XHP, CPM S35VN, and CPM 3V tool steel.
Cold Steel's folding knives are renowned for their lock strength, due to the TRI-AD Lock, designed by custom knifemaker Andrew Demko.[8]
Cold Steel's swords are primarily made from 1055 high-carbon steel and pattern welded steels that mimic ancientDamascus steel.[9]
Many of Cold Steel's products are designed by company President Lynn C Thompson and based upon traditional knife designs from all over the world, but Cold Steel has also collaborated with custom knifemakers such as Andrew Demko, Phil Boguszewski, Zach Whitson, Steven Likarich, Keith Dehart, Rich McDonald, Bob Koga, Fred Perrin and Lloyd Pendleton on certain designs.[10]
Cold Steel is known for their graphic marketing videos and DVDs (entitled "PROOF") which demonstrate their products' strength, sharpness, edge retention and durability. Featured tests include piercingcar hoods, usingfolding knives asmonkey bars, slicing through large free-hanging pieces of meat and animal carcass, stabbing/slashingballistic gelmannequins, and cuttingtatamirolls and free-hanging polyester rope with a single stroke.[11]
Cold Steel's products feature heavily in movies, TV shows, games and web series. Their knives have seen prominent use in numerous action movies since the early 1980s.[12]
Many of Cold Steel's employees are martial artists and weapons experts, who feature in their infamous marketing videos. Some of the members of their "crew" are alsoHollywoodstunt men,fight choreographers and trainers, most notablyRon Balicki, Luke LaFontaine andAnthony De Longis.[11]
Thompson also writes regular articles regarding the use of knives for self-defense.[11]
Special Projects was a division of Cold Steel Inc. that sold a line of tools and weapons such asSpetsnaz-type shovels,sjamboks, andspears. The Special Projects division was closed and many of its products discontinued after Cold Steel's acquisition by GSM Outdoors; those remaining were absorbed into the main Cold Steel brand.[1]
Additionally, a line oftomahawks, axes, and hammers was marketed under the name of The American Tomahawk Company.[13][14]
