I have a few S30V knives (all Spyderco) and only one knife with XHP, which is Southard Tolk. With my limited experience, I think I prefer XHP to S30V. The reason is two-fold. First, wire-edge removal seems a lot easier on XHP than on S30V (and S35VN and S110V). This makes sharpening much easier on XHP. Second, I feel that XHP takes a better polished edge than S30V with my sharpening skills. Miso
+1 This has been my experience as well, S30V has 10x the Vanadium, and 3x the molybdenum as XHP. Besides other knives I have a PM2 in S30V, XHP, and S35VN.
Just thought I'd ad... here it is 2021. Just got my SOG Kiku XR LTE blackout a few weeks ago. It has a Cryo CTS XHP. I believe it's coated in titanium nitride black, if I have that right? I own Spideys in exotic steels, like M4 and other fancy schmancys, but this SOG is not only the sexiest multi-grind blade I own, it holds an edge like nothing I've owned before. I know SOG was poop forever, but I must say... they're back, at least in my eyes. I've got a Work Sharp in my Amazon cart waiting just in case all the sht I'm putting this blade through at work dulls it. So far, it's still slicing like day 1.
No one has brought up Dr. Thomas's article on XHP (https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/07/29/xhp-steel-history-and-properties/) It concludes: "XHP started out as a combination of 440C and D2, an effort to combine the high hardness of D2 with the high corrosion resistance of 440C. The steel had relatively poor toughness, however, due to having very large carbides. A powder metallurgy version, however, had better toughness than PM 440C (40CP). The edge retention of XHP is good, matching S30V and S35VN." So similar edge retention to S30V. Maybe a slightly better or worse HT will have one perform better than the other.
I was wondering. CTS XHP was always considered a stainless D2. Now D2 gets little respect. But it is a great steel even with today s options.
D2 is getting a bad rap because low budget knives with a D2 stamp are becoming widely available anymore. I remember when D2 was considered a high end steel, but now it is slipping into the low end category.
I've found CTS-XHP to have a slightly finer grain than most of my knives in S30V (for some reason my BM Mini-Rukus in S30V takes a very fine edge), close to S35Vn. It probably has better edge retention.
I have two Spyderco's in S30V and two in XHP. I prefer the XHP, seems to have a little better edge retention, and is a little easier to sharpen. However, my PM2 is from the time when Spyderco and Benchmade were have major issues with S30V chipping and rolling. Both my PM2 and Manix 2 (XHP sprint) were purchased in spring of 2014, so they've seen some use and been sharpened. Once I'd sharpened the PM2 a bit, the micro chipping issue went away. Still, I prefer XHP.
I remember that happening to 440. Never really recovered. Funny how it's happening to d2, same reason, same country of origin. To the point of the thread, I'd have a preference for s30v mostly because it's a common steel for spydercos. It gets screaming sharp, holds an edge pretty well, and isn't expensive. It's kinda chippy in my experience......but on a folder it's kinda immaterial if you are using a folder within its use envelope. S45vn would be my preference above s30v. XHP might be similar, but I cannot speak from experience.
