CTS-XHP - chippy?

L

l1ranger

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Jan 27, 2017
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i've been carrying a spyderco with XHP for about 6 months now as my EDC.

over the weekend, i had a cap stuck on my bp rifle, and went to pop it off with the XHP.
knowing I shouldn't have done it, but being a bit too lazy to get a proper tool, I did it anyway.
it wedged just a bit in the opening, and popped a knick out of the blade where it got some side pressure on the rifle steel - just a small nick, about .02".

I chipped a lot of knives in my day, but this was just a little too easy. is this kinda typical for XHP or ...
 
It's pretty normal for a very high carbon stainless steel running fairly hard ( rc 58 or above) with a thin grind. Edges just don't have a lot of support from force coming from the side. So, sounds like normal results for what happened.

Joe
 
What model Spyderco? I had a Domino in XHP and it was thin enough behind the edge that if it chipped while I was prying something I wouldn't blame the steel.
 
I had small chips from the factory edge on a Cold Steel Recon 1. It easily sharpened out easily and I’ve not had any problems since.
 
You should get one of these. They are cheap
Leatherman brewzer
Leatherman-Brewzer.jpg

lt831678_featuresx550.jpg

Not my pics
 
CTS-XHP should be relatively tough as far as stainless PM steels go, but it's still not going to be a prybar steel - especially on a thin blade like on the Domino.
 
l1ranger said:
i've been carrying a spyderco with XHP for about 6 months now as my EDC.

over the weekend, i had a cap stuck on my bp rifle, and went to pop it off with the XHP.
knowing I shouldn't have done it, but being a bit too lazy to get a proper tool, I did it anyway.
it wedged just a bit in the opening, and popped a knick out of the blade where it got some side pressure on the rifle steel - just a small nick, about .02".

I chipped a lot of knives in my day, but this was just a little too easy. is this kinda typical for XHP or ...
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I had just cut my finger nails so I used my Kershaw Skyline blur to pry up the tab on a pop can. Snap went the tip.

Moral of the story is .. Don't pry with knives. Even the slightest force could snap or cause chipping.

You may want to try steel like M4, cruewear etc. With the right blade geometry they will be less likely to chip or snap. Higher toughness, edge stability and strength.
 
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good point Mo2 - I knew better, then did it anyways - so I was asking for it - its not major, but will take some work with the stones to smooth it out.
 
Even relatively tough steels will take edge damage pretty easily with side on impacts or prying. That is just how things work. When you apply force to something as thin as the edges ( on my knives anyways) it doesn't matter all that much what the steel is.

Joe
 
l1ranger said:
good point Mo2 - I knew better, then did it anyways - so I was asking for it - its not major, but will take some work with the stones to smooth it out.
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Yea just get the chip out first before you re sharpen it. Generally I do this by dragging it along a coarse stone until the chip is gone. I can provide a video I found on yt that shows this if you need. I'm sure there are other methods but I find this to work well for me.
 
I use it like a knife; I even debur steel parts with mine (geometry ground for that) and I have zero issues with chipping or dinging or rolling. First class steel for a work knife.
I am very pleased.
I carry one of those little pry tools in my pocket, I think it is a Gerber Shard or some such, for those times when I don't have a full on pry tool near by.
 
Mo2 Mo2 - please share
I'm not seeing how just sharpening it is an issue
or exactly how to go about removing the chip first

pic attached
i-G8D4RtW-L.jpg
 
This type of small damage is exactly why when I am away from Bladeforums and my posts cannot be tracked in my voice recorded, I am an advocate for less expensive steels at work

Like most around here I have good examples of S110v, S35, S30, 154cm, yak, yak, yak. The Benchmades, Spydercos, and Zero Tolerance knives that have those steels all go to work and do great. They are very much at home on the job site as cutters.

But for overall utility I don't mind carrying good examples of AUS8, 8cr, 440c, etc. While some of those dull fairly easily, for me, their utility value is great. Put in the right handle I actually prefer these steels over others simply because they are so easy to repair if I damage the edge. And the blades are soft enough and forgiving enough that you can use them easily for a little bit of light prying, scraping, and certainly cutting all kinds of nasty materials. These knives become more of a utility tool with an edge on it (thinking my RAT1 here in particular) for me over the years as I keep an nice slicer in my pocket to use as a cutting tool.

So instead of spending an evening repairing and rebeveling an edge, I can take any of those work knives with the softer steals and repair them in minutes with a diamond rod. And I'm not pissed off or sorry if they get a little battle damage. It always looks bad when you do something to put a hickey on or chip and a brand new blade, but after years of hard use of my Kershaw Tremor, RAT1 and all their cousins, they look like a proper work knife to me. And surprisingly, since I don't abuse them (just overuse them a bit) they all hold up remarkably well.

That being said, I do not pry, wedge, or cutcut unknown substances with my higher quality knives out on a job site because I am afraid of damage that I know I will eventually have to correct. I also have enough money in those that if I snapped a blade or even just broke the tip off I would be really pissed off at myself. So softer steels are good for me to keep from having the damage (although pretty damn slight) the OP showed. As long as they are housed in a comfortable handle, I'm good to go.

Robert
 
tomhosang said:
That's really interesting. I've never seen that method before. What would be the advantage of doing it this way versus just sharpening until the chip is removed?
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Well the chip will likely still be there just really small or even just weak steel from the damage.

I always remove the bad steel, chip or not from the apex.
 
I got some chipping on an XHP Tiger Claw from cutting a couple branches no thicker than my pinky. It wasn't even hardwood, just Ivy. It is a thin edge on the Tiger Claw, but it seems a little ridiculous to have to reprofile for such minor use.
 
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