Now that Cold Steel is upgrading its blade steels, the prices have increased considerably. This is only to be expected...after all, everyone had been wanting it. Had I been Lynn Thompson, I would most likely have upgraded my folders to VG-1 and incorporated the CTS-XHP into a San Mai IV. The BD1 stainless isn't fantastically better than AUS8A, so I hope to see those prices come down a bit.
But now that we're in this transition, what do you think of stocking up on the previous AUS8A class of knives at their presently low prices? Had I known in advance, I would have bought up some of their older VG-1 Voyagers before CS went back to AUS8A blades. CS likes to put a lot of steel into its Voyager XL Tanto/Recon 1 XL Tanto, so when they use expensive supersteels, the prices may go up dramatically.
I'd love to see an actual cutting test between AUS8A and XHP blades. CS does a fantastic job in heat treating its blades, but if I'm going to spend $135+ for an XL knife I used to spend $68 for, I want to know if I'm better off with one of the new knives, or two of the old knives. When Cabelas advertised its Buck 110 Alaskan w/S30V stainless, it said while the standard 110 (w/420HC) could clean and process one buck, the S30V Alaskan could do one and a half without resharpening -- and this by way of comparison. So until someone actually tests these blades, I'm unsure which to buy. I'm leaning towards buying several AUS8A knives as I've never had a cutting project that my old Voyager couldn't handle. And yet there's the cool
factor. But at twice the price I'd want at least twice the performance. And yet the Buck Alaskan could only do 1.5x better than the 420HC standard (according to the advertising). So with AUS8A being a teeny bit better than 420HC, and XHP being just a teeny bit behind S30V, how much of a difference should one really expect, practically speaking?
So what do you think? Snap up the remaining AUS8A knives or just embrace the change? (BTW, I love 154CM steel.)
Thanks!

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But now that we're in this transition, what do you think of stocking up on the previous AUS8A class of knives at their presently low prices? Had I known in advance, I would have bought up some of their older VG-1 Voyagers before CS went back to AUS8A blades. CS likes to put a lot of steel into its Voyager XL Tanto/Recon 1 XL Tanto, so when they use expensive supersteels, the prices may go up dramatically.
I'd love to see an actual cutting test between AUS8A and XHP blades. CS does a fantastic job in heat treating its blades, but if I'm going to spend $135+ for an XL knife I used to spend $68 for, I want to know if I'm better off with one of the new knives, or two of the old knives. When Cabelas advertised its Buck 110 Alaskan w/S30V stainless, it said while the standard 110 (w/420HC) could clean and process one buck, the S30V Alaskan could do one and a half without resharpening -- and this by way of comparison. So until someone actually tests these blades, I'm unsure which to buy. I'm leaning towards buying several AUS8A knives as I've never had a cutting project that my old Voyager couldn't handle. And yet there's the cool

So what do you think? Snap up the remaining AUS8A knives or just embrace the change? (BTW, I love 154CM steel.)
Thanks!


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