- Joined
- Jun 29, 1999
- Messages
- 9,839
Been a while since I acquired a new blade, nearly 11 months in fact. Im a big Cold Steel fan; over the years Ive bought nearly 20, starting with the Master Hunter (still a favorite), original tanto, SRK, a handful of Voyagers, California Drop-point, that neat little liner-lock whose name I forget, a bunch of Red River blades, and never had a complaint. They all cut, well, as advertised. Lately Ive been following Lynn Thompsons introduction of new steels and models, specifically the American Lawman in CTS-XHP, which features the Tri-Ad Lock. It arrived today, and Ive already nicked myself. Usually I take a new blade right to the DMTs, but not this one. Its hair-popping sharp out of the box. Carpenter describes CTS-XHP as an air hardening, high carbon, high chromium, corrosion resistant alloy which can be described as either a high hardness Type 440C stainless steel or a corrosion resistant D2 tool steel. Possesses corrosion resistance equivalent to Type 440C stainless but can attain a maximum hardness of 64 HRC, approaching that of D2 tool steel. It's a powder steel, like Crucible's S30V/S35Vn, which I love. The 3.5 blade is also coated with a DLC (Diamond Like Coating), black, very smooth. Not unlike the grey titanium-nitride-aluminum (or whatever) coating on my BassPro 110 in CPM154, which is very slick. Gunk just doesnt stick. DLC coatings are amorphous carbon coatings that exhibit a high surface hardness and a low friction coefficient providing wear resistance. In Cold Steels video of AUS-8 vs CTS-XHP push cut comparison, slicing a LOT of hemp rope, the DLC coating showed hardly a scratch after +5,000 cuts. Good enough for me. The G-10 grip has no liners, and CS says they arent needed. I can't detect any flex by hand pressure. The knife is consequently very light, 4.5 ounces, and feels even lighter. Its also quite thin, handy for slipping into a pocket. The G-10 has a good grippy texture, not quite as coarse as some. It came with a spare clip for the left side. I had to take the right-mounted clip off and squish it slightly in a vice, as it was so tight I couldnt even force it over the seam of a jean pocket. Noted that the screws had a bit of blue Loctite, a thoughtful touch. Whoever put these together in Taiwan does a nice job. Its quite a broad knife, and the drop-point blade is deep, with a shallow grind. Should be an excellent slicer. The lock-back is a proven design; the blade swings closed rather abruptly (hence the nick), but two-handed closing should prevent any future blood loss in that direction. This little knife is going into the rotation and I expect it will see a lot of pocket time. 
