Initial Impressions: Hinderer XM-18 Wharncliff 20CV Regrind by Josh @ REK....

JR88FAN

JR88FAN

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May 5, 2013
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Hey Guys.

I thought I would continue to share my impressions of knives that I regrind, maybe this helps someone, maybe it doesn't....

It's something that if you would have asked me about 6 months ago, I would have ran away to find a place to hide my knives from the clutches of anyone with a grinder!

Not going to go on about Josh much more then to say that he has changed my perception of what can be achieved through this process....
It's obvious that most production knives are not optimized to their maximum capability, but my worry was always sending someone a knife and getting back something that underwhelmed me in function and form.

I never even thought about 'regrinds' until I saw Josh's work and spoke to him A LOT....
He is magic, and I will just leave it at that.

Back to the story....

I picked up a minty fresh Hinderer XM-18 3.5 Wharncliff in CPM 20CV from the exchange and had it drop shipped directly to Josh.

We talked a lot about where to go with this, and I settled on 18DPS with 0.20 behind the edge. (I will explain why later)

Here's what I got in the mail:





 
I am a huge fan of the Wharncliff grind.
In my opinion, it's the best all around utility blade....

After looking at the amazing regrind for about 5 miniutes, I just had to go cut something!!
I am not sure if the pictures do the grind justice, but man, this knife makes you look for work...

First up was dirty thick cardboard.
This is a great test for the regrind, and since this is my first time using CPM 20CV, of the edge retention of this steel as well.

I made about 250-300 cuts:



I had an old planter lying around, and decided to get that ready for recycling as well.
The plastic was unfortunately old and brittle, however the lip was about a 1/2 thick and made for some more aggressive work:



 
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I can tell you (this is not my first RHK) that it was a joy to cut with.

Cardboard felt like paper, and I can thank that to the regrind.

CPM 20CV is really something special.
(I have cut much more cardboard since these photo's)
The edge has felt the same from the first slice to the last...

I would say I am easily past 500 cuts through some nasty gritty cardboard and there is no hint of anything but the same edge I did cut #1 with.

It only took about 15 minutes to look like a knife should!!

 
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After all this fun, I decided to test the edge on some Phonebook paper.

(For me personally, if an edge can slice PB paper CLEAN, as in no pull or tear, it's good enough)

I didn't bother to wipe the edge down or clean it in any way.
I left all the glue, paper fibres, dirt and soil on it.

The results where exactly what I hoped that they would be:



Now that I have the edge retention question out of the way (I will report back and let everyone know how long this steel can retain this edge without a strop or any kind of sharpening) I will be doing some work that will test the toughness of this steel with this geometry.

I will let you guys know how it holds up.
I hate micro-chipping more than anything, so if this steel can handle the work I use a knife for, have top notch edge retention, and not chip, I will be a very very happy guy!

If not, I am back to 3V!
 
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I like the regrind mark from josh, most Ive seen look somewhat annoying but his looks kinda classy or high performance.
 
I love your torture test threads JR88FAN!!!!!!!

If this were Youtube, I'd totally be hitting the subscribe button. Seriously can't believe what that thing did to the telephone book paper after cutting all that cardboard.

Thanks for sharing. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
 
Clinto. said:
I love your torture test threads JR88FAN!!!!!!!

If this were Youtube, I'd totally be hitting the subscribe button. Seriously can't believe what that thing did to the telephone book paper after cutting all that cardboard.

Thanks for sharing. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
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Thanks Clint.

I expected 20CV to hold up really well when cutting through a ton of cardboard.

I am much more interested to see how it does when I do more impact type work, which should be this weekend.

I will update this thread as I get into some of that.
 
Hey man, this should go in testing and reviews, I almost skipped past it because i thought it was just showing off the regrind alone. I'm looking forward to the rest of your tests, and that regrind looks great!
 
bodog said:
Hey man, this should go in testing and reviews, I almost skipped past it because i thought it was just showing off the regrind alone. I'm looking forward to the rest of your tests, and that regrind looks great!
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Hey man.

I don't put regrinds there because that's more suited to this sub-forum.

I am testing a regrind for the most part, which is 'tinkering and embellishments' not a standard RHK...

I will update when I do something worth posting!
 
JR88FAN said:
Thanks Clint.

I am much more interested to see how it does when I do more impact type work, which should be this weekend.

I will update this thread as I get into some of that.
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Imaginary subscribe button = pressed
 
Nice pics and grind on your XM. I'd love to shred a couple sheets of cardboard with that modded blade. I've liked every grind I've seen from RE, looking forward to having some work done on a blade of mine in near future.
 
Thanks for the awesome write up Alex! Glad you are doing what should be done to a knife - using it! 😀

Bludgeon said:
Nice pics and grind on your XM. I'd love to shred a couple sheets of cardboard with that modded blade. I've liked every grind I've seen from RE, looking forward to having some work done on a blade of mine in near future.
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What about this.... Thinking about doing a passaround with a couple RAT's... Mod one to tanto and leave the grind a little thicker but still optimized, the other leave as stock and design thin for slicing only. Curious as to whether there would be much interest in this to see if a regrind would be right for you.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
Thanks for the awesome write up Alex! Glad you are doing what should be done to a knife - using it! 😀



What about this.... Thinking about doing a passaround with a couple RAT's... Mod one to tanto and leave the grind a little thicker but still optimized, the other leave as stock and design thin for slicing only. Curious as to whether there would be much interest in this to see if a regrind would be right for you.
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I would be very interested in this! I really want to get my hands on this knife above that alex has^^. Then send it to you for the same treatment. It now looks to be the superior EDC workhorse.

Cant wait to see how the steel holds up. I have never had any first hand experience with it.


Amazing job as always Josh.
 
razor-edge-knives said:
Thanks for the awesome write up Alex! Glad you are doing what should be done to a knife - using it! 😀



What about this.... Thinking about doing a passaround with a couple RAT's... Mod one to tanto and leave the grind a little thicker but still optimized, the other leave as stock and design thin for slicing only. Curious as to whether there would be much interest in this to see if a regrind would be right for you.
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I think that's a really good idea man...
We talk so much about edge angle's and overall geometry, but I wonder how many people really understand what all that means in a pracical sense.

I think that by doing something like that, you put all those ideas into someone's hands, and it all becomes very real.
What these knives can do based on their geometry's becomes real.

Make it happen man!
 
Just a quick update, and some of you might be like 'what's the big deal?' But for me, this really is.....

Yesterday was recycling pick up, so I went through a bunch more cardboard and plastic.

Not sure if anyone here shops at Amazon, but included in that where 3 of their large and thick cardboard boxes. Dirtiest cardboard on the planet, hands down!

I am not sure how much cardboard I have cut, but I am well north of 500 cuts.
I have used 3V and CPM 154 exclusively for a long time now, so this is a bit of a revelation to me.
Both of those steels would have lost their ability a while ago to:

Continue to slice through the cardboard with ease.

Continue to hold an edge that can still do this:



Oh, and If you want to know how to clean the glue gunk off of your blade real quick, just cut up some cardboard boxes from Amazon. The glass content in that stuff leave's your blade looking fairly clean and polished!!!!
 
Gizler00 said:
Great to hear Buddy! Now I really need one of these!!
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Thanks bro.

Got a lot of work to do around the property tomorrow so I should be able to get some kind of idea in the toughness of the edge. I know you're very interested in that, and no, I won't be beating it through cinder blocks!

Just normal stuff that I do. Will post results.....
 
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