Cts-xhp?

S

sfrigon1

Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
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Haven't found much info about it ,seems pretty uncommon. Any input would be appreciated thx
 
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It's NOT uncommon at all, and a pretty good steel.
I've owned it on Spyderco Techno, Slysz Bowie, PM2, etc. I prefer it over S30v, S35VN and Elmax.
Your choice of steel should be determined by your end use of the blade...and whether you want a stainless or a tool steel.
 
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Assuming you mean CTS-XHP, it holds an edge very well in my experience. It all depends on heat treat, edge geometry, and what you are cutting, but I consider it on a par with M4, M2, M390, etc...
 
I've had one blade in CTS-XHP, the DLC PM2. Didn't use it much but I can say it takes a crazy mirror edge. Man I miss this knife, the scales mostly 😂
 
Mahoney said:
Assuming you mean CTS-XHP, it holds an edge very well in my experience. It all depends on heat treat, edge geometry, and what you are cutting, but I consider it on a par with M4, M2, M390, etc...
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That's funny.
 
Its "like" stainless D2. Not as tough as AUS8 and wear resistance under S30V. Those are the 2 steels I would use to describe its performance. Geometry will have a bigger impact on performance than the alloy in these three steels.
 
In my experience very similar to RWL-34 and CPM-154. Think there was a thread asking the same question about two weeks ago with similar comments? You can use the search function, just search for xhp.

Similar thread started by OP initially here.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1477525-cold-steel-ultimate-hunter?highlight=edc

The search function will give you a lot of threads on the steels performance. You have a good steel. Now just learn how to sharpen it.

Here is my initial testing of the steel in an Ultimate hunter

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1413017-Cold-Steel-Ultimate-Hunter

You can see I thinned it out.

marthinus said:
That has to do with the sweeping grind. It creates that flat spot.

Update to this:

I have used the Ultimate hunter on and off for some time now, light processing of some poultry and some meats. I did not like the thick grind. Rather than copy what REK I decided to do a hollow grind.

Average thickness behind the edge is 0.25mm with 0.5mm (0.0020 inch) about a centimeter up from the edge. I did a full mirror to see how it feels on the belts, then went back to 60 grit with a light 800 grit over the 60 grit to smooth it out a bit.

CTS-XHP is still far more similar to RWL-34 than I anticipated, polishes, grinds the same way on the belts. RWL-34 for me is the bees knees of balance between properties so this has been a pleasant surprise.

The lock has settled in deeper than when I received it.

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IME easy to get scary sharp, nice corrosion resistance and good retention, not like modern "supersteels" but way above AUS8, VG10 and the good old classics

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sfrigon1 said:
I'm guessing that he thought it was funny that I said hxp instead of xhp , hehe
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I'm guessing it's because he put XHP in the same category as M4,M2 and M390. Don't get me wrong XHP is an awesome blade steel and I have/carry a few but it doesn't hold a candle to those steels listed in most areas.
 
ceptor781 said:
I'm guessing it's because he put XHP in the same category as M4,M2 and M390. Don't get me wrong XHP is an awesome blade steel and I have/carry a few but it doesn't hold a candle to those steels listed in most areas.
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ahaa , that seems to be a more likely scenerio
 
ceptor781 said:
I'm guessing it's because he put XHP in the same category as M4,M2 and M390. Don't get me wrong XHP is an awesome blade steel and I have/carry a few but it doesn't hold a candle to those steels listed in most areas.
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A cookie for you, Sir.
I thought he was joking, but maybe not?
 
I usually see it described as having the properties of a stainless D2 steel, or an extra tough 440c. So basically the toughness of d2 with the stainlessness of 440c. All in all it is a good steel. In my personal experience it seems to want to take a toothy edge.
 
I have generally followed Jim Ankerson's steel tests: cutting rope, wood, cardboard. His testing shows that M390 and M4 demonstrated superior results to CTS-XHP. OTOH, CTS-XHP placed well ahead of such familiar steels such as S30V, S35VN, VG-10, N690, D2 and INFI. Previous posters have correctly stated that your choice of blade-steel should place much emphasis on your intended use, sharpening skills, heat-treat as it affects toughness, edge-holding and other factors.
 
XHP ease of sharpening (carbide volume consist mostly of Cr form) is a big plus. Compare to steels with more Vanadium Carbides, XHP can't compete on pure wear resistance against material with hard abrasives. Since XHP is almost (depend on ht) stainless(1.6%C), so more fair to compare with Elmax(1.7%C) rather than 20cv/m390 (1.9C%). With my ht hxp 65.5+rc is on par with Elmax 64rc in EDC/cardboard perf. Also, this hxp gave M2 (~0.96%C) 65rc a tough fight but M2 easily win at high keenness performance due to its finer carbide and lower carbide volume.

Here is break for your wall-o-text eyes
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I'm a total newbie with a CTS-XHP Recon 1 from Cold Steel.

I was able to get it hair shaving sharp the first time I ever attempted sharpening it, on a Spyderco Sharpmaker. It definitely wasn't hair shaving sharp beforehand!

For that reason alone I love CTS-XHP!
 
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