Blade marking question.

[nephron]

If the knife is CTS XHP is it always marked as such? If not how can you tell.

 

[G. Scott H.]

I believe so. I have several XHPs from CS now and all are marked that way.

 

[AF]

There were some unmarked Recon 1s at the start of production. Boxes were marked I think. Only way to distinguish the knife would be the DLC coating compared to Tuff-ex. They look different.

 

[jonnyfgroove]

I have an early Recon 1 that is in XHP with no indication on the blade. The box itself is labeled XHP and is initialed by L.T. himself. This knife has the glossier DLC coating, as opposed to my Hold Out which has more of a matte finish. The edge retention and the fact that the coating does not rub off both indicate that it is indeed XHP with DLC.

 

[Mike Sastre]

There were some unmarked Recon 1s at the start of production. Boxes were marked I think. Only way to distinguish the knife would be the DLC coating compared to Tuff-ex. They look different.

Correct. Some of the very first production Recon 1s and AK-47s did not have the blades marked as XHP, some of the boxes were marked (but not printed on the label), so you have to go by the DLC coating.

 

[DocJD]

Thanks for the info , Guys ! I thought ALL the XHP were labeled as such . So you'd have to do a scratch test on the coating to tell ???

 

[nephron]

What about the Code 4, they are CTS XHP and unmarked/uncoated too right?

 

[Mike Sastre]

Code 4s are marked.

 

[nephron]

Some are and some aren't, maybe the first ones? Check out the pix. I just bought one and OP claimed it was CTS XHP but not marked as such and I told him it has to be marked. He said he new for a fact it was(no box) and lo and behold he was right. I did see some marked though online, weird!