Sharpening CTS-XHP CS Blades

S

Stargater

Joined
Jan 1, 2015
Messages
116
I have a number of Cold Steel knives with CTS-XHP blades, and I have two questions. First, how easy is it to sharpen them with ceramic sharpeners like the Spyderco Sharpmaker? And two, what angle does Cold Steel put on their blades. I was thinking 20˚ or even 18˚ with other sharpeners. From what I've seen on YouTube, the steel is pretty decent as tested by Cedric & Ada Gear and Outdoors. (He also trashed AUS8A, which I've had a lot of good luck with, but either these new steels -- BD1 and XHP -- are that much better or his testing is off. Any opinions on his tests?)

I'm happy that Cold Steel revamped their steels and are producing better knives, but I'm unhappy that these Tri-Ad locks are turning the knives into big, fat, ugly knives with (in my opinion) ugly stone washed finishes. If companies can make el cheapo 420 knives and polish them to a beautiful mirror polish, and sell them for $8+, I'd like to see Cold Steel make slick knives like the old Voyagers. But that's being discussed on another thread.

So any idea what angle to sharpen the XHP blades to? And do the ceramic rods work pretty well or do I need something more aggressive?

Thanks!
 
I can't speak to the exact angle. I've found that the angle on each side is often quite different. You can reprofile to even the edges which wastes steel or you can just match the existing angles. I always start with the existing angles but may also lower the angles a bit. I sharpen freehand.
I have Spyderco ceramics as well as diamond stones. IMO the Spyderco ceramics are good for touch-ups or finishing strokes to refine an edge. I'd recommend getting something coarser to complement the ceramics - either the Spyderco diamond rods, the Spyderco CBN rods, DMT diamond DiaSharp plates or Japanese waterstones.
 
We're all different but I love stonewashed blades, it's my favourite finish.
As for sharpening XHP I don't know, I haven't had to sharpen mine yet, so I'll be glad to hear from others.
 
for touchups ceramic spydercos work fine. I know cause I've done it a bunch. for what angles.....its a range and depending on your knife may have different angles across the entire edge and different per side like many production knives do or may be more consistent. I tend to reprofile the worst edges rather than fight with sharpening them.

if you can get away with touching up your knife, do it. reprofiling xhp ain't fun even with diamonds. unless ya love spending valuable time and doing repetitive motions. start with the 40 and adjust your grip angle to hit the edge. try the sharpie trick if you cant seem to hit the edges. have fun......
 
Geeesh...I'm so bad at sharpening that I really envy those who can do it freehand. It's one reason I went back to AUS8A. On the older Voyagers the edges were sharpened much better. I liked the Made in Japan blades. I've heard scores of complaints about the Broken Skull knives. Uneven edges. But it's the budget priced CTS-XHP. The good ones are the Recon 1 Lrg. I don't know why CS stopped making the XL. They are the only big blades made with XHP except the really silly high priced Espadas. Perhaps too many people thought they were too expensive.
 
Yeah i just freehand the cts-xhp blades like most others, they do take a very good edge and hold it well.
 
I've noticed that CS knives often have edge bevels of a similar width that are at totally different angles side-to-side. So visually they appear to be symmetrical. I haven't noticed that with other brands. Other brands are often visually uneven but may be at similar angles or may could be visually uneven and also at different angles.
 
XHP is easy to sharpen with a ceramic rod and holds an edge amazingly well. I have that steel in a Talwar, sharpen it with a handheld ceramic rod, and like it a lot.
 
Up until now I've only had to do minor maintenance on my CS cts xhp blades. Over the weekend I had to sharpen out a dented edge on a recon 1. Someone had repeatedly closed the edge on a keyring.

Was pleasantly surprised how quick/easy it was on a compact fine diamond stone and an old norton bench stone. Don't know what edge angle it came with, but now it has my desired edge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top