By now we have all seen the Cold Steel test videos where they pit one of their Tri-Ad locks against a competitor and show how the competition fails while the Tri-Ad lock succeeds.

They are interesting to watch. Demko seems like he kind of doesn't want to go through with the tests (especially the Paramilitary 2 test, he is definitely singing that knife's praises in a subtle way), but much like the strongest kid in your elementary school he is cajoled into showing off by some big mouth. But there is more than odd interpersonal tensions in the video. They are an example of one of the oldest tricks in marketing--the false comparison.

Have you ever shopped for a car online? You go to various manufacturer's websites and do their "comparison" views. Somehow, all or almost all of the green check marks line up for their car and not the competitors. Then you go to an independent site and do the same comparison with much more mixed results. What gives, right? Well, often the devil is in the details. Those comparisons on the maker sites are stacked to give you results. For example, one comparison I did, I noticed that they used HIGHWAY MPG as opposed to both or an average of the two. When I did the same comp on Edmunds, they used an average. In the first comp, one truck one. In the Edmunds comp, the other truck did. This was a carefully selected set of criteria--choosing highway MPG--to make one truck look better than another when it really isn't. Even sneakier? When I did the comp on the manufacturer's site for another vehicle, they used Average MPG. If I wasn't looking I wouldn't have even noticed the switch.

In many ways the Cold Steel Lock Tests are doing the same thing. The Tri-Ad lock, which is unquestionably one of the best locks on the market--is very good at a large number of things. It's strong, low maintenance, and very easy to use thanks to the fact that it mimics at lockback. It's mechanical advantages are all focused on one thing--vertical strength. It can hold a lot of weight on the Y-axis, in either direction.

But that is not all a knife must be able to do. Conspicuously absent are tests that focus on horizontal pressure or torsional pressure on the blade. I wonder how well the Tri-Ad lock would fair on that account. Also missing is data on how well the knife locks up. The complex geometry and openness of the lock interface portion of the tang, in my experience, invites gunk to jam up the knife lock. In one instance, when I was testing the Mini Recon, I got some dirt and lint in there (stuff that is likely to be in one's pockets) and lock up was not automatic.

Once I cleaned out the lock interface, the Tri-Ad lock worked fine. Finally there is the fingers in the blade path issue. Lock backs and the Tri-Ad lock usually prompt the user to close the knife with their fingers, at one point or another, in the blade path. It is possible to close the knife without it, but doing so is not intuitive and can result in a less than sure grip on the knife. And let's be honest--which is more likely: you are using a folder to the point of lock failure or you accidentally close the knife on your fingers? The big, beefy blades of Cold Steel knives make the second option about 200 times more likely than the first option.

In the end, other locks would or do fair better in these three areas. But these aren't things seen on the Cold Steel videos because, shocker, their lock might not fair so well on these tests. Any time a maker does a comparison video, they are stacking the deck, no matter how transparent or fair it seems. Sure, everything is on video here, but what aspect of the knife they choose to test is the thing that makes the comparisons unfair or inaccurate. Their claim that these tests demonstrate which lock is superior (which Demko notably backs away from on a number of occasions) is absurd. It is marketing and it's a particularly old and obvious marketing trick.

Claiming that this vertical hold strength is the end all, be all of knife lock strength is silly. It's like saying the only thing that matters in pitching is velocity. Sure, velocity matters, but durability, deception, control and movement matter too. Who would you rather have? The guy that throws the ball the fastest ever or Greg Maddux? Right...

And here is the most condemning thing, at least for me, this kind of lock strength, the kind on display in these videos DOESN'T MATTER. Only morons use their knives in a way that requires this lock strength. Normal use NEVER needs this kind of lock strength. In normal use, all well made locks pass the test. And some don't have the flaws mentioned above like the Tri-Ad lock does.

The Tri-Ad lock is a great lock. One of my two or three favorites (liner and compression locks being the other two). Andrew Demko's design is truly remarkable. And if they just said "This is one of the best locks out there for the following reasons" I'd have less of an issue. But they don't. That's not the Cold Steel style. Instead they go way over the top. In fact, so over the top that the lock's inventor (and reasonable adult) Andrew Demko seems uncomfortable in a number of these tests. The lock is great. The knives are great. But Cold Steel's marketing, as it has always been, is offensive and misleading.

In the age of Blade Magazine this kind of stuff was probably not that big a deal. But today, with the online communities, content creators that work hard at getting good information to folks, and a vast number of choices, this kind of marketing is probably hurting Cold Steel more than helping. The people that love Cold Steel love these videos, but they will be buying Cold Steel knives regardless. For the rest of us, armed with better information than we were twenty years ago, these video ads are not compelling anyone to click the "Buy" button on Cold Steel stuff.

The knives are good. The steel is (now) good. The lock is great. Sell that stuff. Leave the bro science to morons on Youtube stabbing cinder blocks with their 3V knives.