XHP Finishing

H

HallHandmade

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Jun 5, 2012
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I'm finishing up my first batch of XHP right now. I've got it at 62rc.

This stuff is no joke... it is shrugging off both blaze and vxm ceramic belts. Luckily I got very close to final on these before HT.

Can anyone that works with this stuff share what works well for them? I was thinking about trying the structured belts at least for tuning the final geometry.
 
i love it and work with it all the time. i use 50 and 120 grit then gator belts and depending on finish needed scotch brite belts

must be your first time working SS since i find XHP to be easy to finish comparred to make other SS or higher alloy carbon steels
 
CTS-XHP is absolutely wonderful steel!

The bad news is, you're in for a long day and don't have a lot of options unless you just want to spend forever hand-sanding on it. XHP is pretty abrasion-resistant. 3M structured belts do work very well.

The good news is, it's very stable when professionally heat-treated in an oxygen-free furnace. (if not at least well-wrapped with tool foil, you're going to have decarb issues that prevent doing much finishing beforehand) You can take it right down to final dimensions (ready to sharpen) without worry of warpage, and finish it as you like pre-HT. When it comes back it will only need a brief polishing with whatever belt or paper you left it at, to remove the tempering oxides. I have taken XHP right up to 2000 grit by hand before HT and cleaned it up in this manner; looks awesome.

All the above also holds true for Elmax, CPM-3V, CPM-154, etc. :thumbup:
 
I've used XHP quite a bit in the last few months and you're right, its a bastard. :) A friend of mine gave me some zirconia belts he picked up locally from econ-abrasives and they worked very well for me. I'd say as well as the higher end 3M belts. I've had no issues grinding prior to HT with any belts and I have been taking it very very close to finished before hand. BTW, I love this stuff. For the past three months I've beat the crap out of an xhp edc along side a CPM D2 and both are quite impressive but the xhp seems to hold an edge quite a bit longer.
 
Thank you for the replies. :)

I had done a couple bars of S35VN before this and really loved how it worked but I had it treated a point lower as well. The XHP isn't so bad. I started to get the feel for it a bit more after I posted.

They were foil bagged and came back pretty nice. I have a feeling these little guys are gonna be beasts.

I just stuck with it, finished out pretty nice. Doing a little batch of mini EDCs, try to snag a few stocking stuffer sales before Xmas.

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Lookin' good! I think you'll be pleased with their toughness and edge-holding, too. :thumbup:
 
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