Apparently - Cold Steel Has Been Bought

[cabfrank]

Very true.

[Ankerson]

Nothing but good things to say about the CS knives I've owned. The large Voyagers are one of the best budget folders on the market, and the kopis machetes I bought on clearance work great on brush. Hope things go well for them, the market would be less interesting without them contributing.

I liked the old original lock back Voyagers in VG-1, very light weight and solid.

[Gsg9]

From what I've been reading on the bladeforums topic it seems the employees were let go.
It will probably go Al-Mar route after they've been acquired by Edge Technologies Engineering LLC, with cheap SERE folders made in china with 8CR and D2. If you want some CS knives probably now it's the time to get some.

[James Y]

We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Interesting how contentious the thread about this subject is on BF.

Jim

[Naperville]

We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Interesting how contentious the thread about this subject is on BF.

Jim

After you mentioned it, I went over there and looked. It's the usual argumentative suspects(Quiet, CryTab, and others) with the mods fully in support of them tearing in to Cold Steel and Lynn Thompson. Just terrible.

[James Y]

We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Interesting how contentious the thread about this subject is on BF.

Jim

After you mentioned it, I went over there and looked. It's the usual argumentative suspects(Quiet, CryTab, and others) with the mods fully in support of them tearing in to Cold Steel and Lynn Thompson. Just terrible.

Yeah. Last time I checked the thread, some were looking into Lynn Thompson’s private property holdings, or whatever. Weird how far some people will go.

Jim

[Ankerson]

We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Interesting how contentious the thread about this subject is on BF.

Jim

After you mentioned it, I went over there and looked. It's the usual argumentative suspects(Quiet, CryTab, and others) with the mods fully in support of them tearing in to Cold Steel and Lynn Thompson. Just terrible.

Yeah. Last time I checked the thread, some were looking into Lynn Thompson’s private property holdings, or whatever. Weird how far some people will go.

Jim

Petty really.

I haven't looked at it personally and I really don't care what they think.

CS was Lynn's to sell so.

[Doc Dan]

It was Lynn Thompson's company to do with what he wanted. I do not know what the laws are in his State, but some of these people might be breaking the law.

[JRinFL]

It was Lynn's company to do with as he wished, but not telling the employees and not working a deal where they would have had some time to find other work is poor form. His employees were let go during a pandemic & just before Christmas. As long as he got his, right? <Bleep> everyone else is the way of the World.

[James Y]

It was Lynn's company to do with as he wished, but not telling the employees and not working a deal where they would have had some time to find other work is poor form. His employees were let go during a pandemic & just before Christmas. As long as he got his, right? <Bleep> everyone else is the way of the World.

I do agree with that.

Jim

[Ankerson]

It was Lynn's company to do with as he wished, but not telling the employees and not working a deal where they would have had some time to find other work is poor form. His employees were let go during a pandemic & just before Christmas. As long as he got his, right? <Bleep> everyone else is the way of the World.

That how MOST Corporations do it, that time of the year so it's not surprising.

If they are going to cut, layoff etc it all happens this time of the year.

I am sure he didn't have much of a choice in the matter so.

[cabfrank]

It is common, but that doesn't make it right. Long time employees, at least, deserve better.

[Ankerson]

It is common, but that doesn't make it right. Long time employees, at least, deserve better.

Like I said I doubt he had much of a choice one way or the other.

Lynn and Andrew will be working for the Company that bought them out so that pretty much says it all right there.

Companies that buy out others normally bring in their own people, cutting out a majority of the workforce.

And CS didn't make any knives in house so.

Been a long time customer of CS, bought my 1st one back in the mid 80's and I still have it.

[cabfrank]

You're probably right. It is very rare for companies that are being sold, or closing, to give much notice to their employees. I don't like it, but I know that's how it usually works.

[Ankerson]

You're probably right. It is very rare for companies that are being sold, or closing, to give much notice to their employees. I don't like it, but I know that's how it usually works.

Yeah, the Corp world is very cold and all about making MONEY and the bottom line period.

People and or feelings etc. just don't factor into it.

MONEY, profit, and the bottom line and that is it. That is the sole purpose of the Corporations.

Sure some of the lower level management likely cares about their people, but once you get into Corporate Management level that all stops. They just don't care about anything other than money in THEIR pockets and looking good to the stockholders etc. It's all very cold and calculating and all about numbers.

Lynn and Andrew are around for now really because Lynn is brand recognition and Andrew is the designer.

I would not be surprised if they too are cut in the not to long future once things are rolling along. If and when the Corporation finds they don't need them anymore they will be gone too.

[James Y]

You're probably right. It is very rare for companies that are being sold, or closing, to give much notice to their employees. I don't like it, but I know that's how it usually works.

Yeah, the Corp world is very cold and all about making MONEY and the bottom line period.

People and or feelings etc. just don't factor into it.

MONEY, profit, and the bottom line and that is it. That is the sole purpose of the Corporations.

Sure some of the lower level management likely cares about their people, but once you get into Corporate Management level that all stops. They just don't care about anything other than money in THEIR pockets and looking good to the stockholders etc. It's all very cold and calculating and all about numbers.

Lynn and Andrew are around for now really because Lynn is brand recognition and Andrew is the designer.

I would not be surprised if they too are cut in the not to long future once things are rolling along. If and when the Corporation finds they don't need them anymore they will be gone too.

I heard that people in top corporate positions are usually those with sociopathic tendencies, so they can do things without any hesitation or regret...aggressive acquisitions, mass layoffs, etc. The bottom line is the only thing that matters in life. Compassion for others doesn’t exist. Those are considered valued traits. Of course, they don’t call those tendencies sociopathic, but that’s what they are.

This is not being overly-dramatic.

A few months ago, our family finished dealing with a predatory equity company that had put a lien on my late mom’s property. They tried their hardest to screw us over. Dealt with them for months. Fortunately, we’re done dealing with them; the lien is off, and they are out of our lives forever. I won’t go further into it. But these corporate-type people are predatory; make no mistake about it. We had to deal with them and treat them like predatory people, not like good-hearted human beings, because they’re not. No matter how ‘polite’ they may initially come across over the phone. The only difference between them and sociopathic criminals is they wear suits and use false claims, lawyers and legalese as their weapons.

Many people cannot comprehend that some people have those sociopathic tendencies, and expect that everyone should think and feel like most “normal” people. That would be like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. That’s how they’re wired; they cannot change, and they’ll never be any different. In my lifetime, I’ve known a few ‘sociopathic/anti-social disorder’ types. So those types neither surprise nor baffle me. I’m not a shrink; I don’t have to be. I simply know many of these things from personal experience and observation. Luckily, I’ve always had good intuition about people when I meet them, so I’ve never been taken in by those types. But I’ve known people who have.

My only hope for those types is that their karma is a (bleep).

Jim

[cabfrank]

Scary, sad, true. I also hope, and believe, that what comes around goes around.

[Naperville]

What I wish is that people quit kvetching about the issue of the sale and concentrate on the knives. We are here for them and care about the products being made, so prove it.

BUY NOW! SHUT UP AND BUY!

If you have $1,000 burning a hole in your pocket, spend $500 on Cold Steel products, and $500 on Spyderco products this Christmas. Show the manufacturers, designers, bladesmiths and c-level managers what you expect from them by voting with your dollars.

This will have a larger influence on what they do moving forward than anything else.

[JRinFL]

The parable of The Scorpion and the Frog comes to mind.

[Naperville]

I like Sal, Eric, Lynn, and many more in the knife world. They are the movers and shakers. But everyone has their limit on what they will absorb in running their companies. Some will stay. Some will go. I'd like to meet all of them and give them a hug for the products that they produced and the memories they gave us.