CS Christmas Sale & Broken Skull Knives

[johnnywizzo]

Well, you snooze, you lose! My CS Christmas Sale catalogue arrived in the mail, and I didn't act quickly enough. I have been toying with buying a Broken Skull, but have been put off with the name and the price. Then along comes a pink one for $40 in CTS XHP steel... and the Tactical Rondel marked down over $100. Do I jump on the deal? Of course not! Now they are sold out.

So I'm thinking about the blue Broken Skull for $50, but wait a minute, it's listed as XHP steel also, but their web site says S35VN steel. Which is it? Next stop, Walmart web site. I ended up paying a few dollars more (even with the free shipping), but their web site says XHP steel. Plus, I can return it to the store for a full refund if that's not the correct steel.

I was too slow on the draw. Can anyone comment on the differences between the two steels?
By the way, I could have lived with the pink handles as they match the color of the Shell Pink Stratocaster that just showed up at my house...

 

[AF]

There are a couple Youtube testers who got better edge retention with XHP compared to S35VN. XHP seems more popular on these boards. Of course the scarcity adds to the value.
Practically speaking I don't think you'll notice a difference.
Hope you like the knife. It's amazingly light weight and yet plenty robust.

 

[insta9ves]

FWIW in the latest article about steel corrosion resistance that Larrin wrote on his site(knifesteelnerds.com), he didn’t consider XHP a true stainless steel based on his test results and that S35VN is more corrosion resistance. I personally prefer S35VN and i own both S35VN and XHP version of multiple cold steel knives, and I honestly can’t tell much of a difference between the 2 steel in cutting performance.

 

[ScottieG59]

I have both S35Vn and CTS XHP versions of the Broken Skull. In normal use, I don't see any performance differences and either is easy to maintain. I actually use my S35VN blades more and I never feel lacking.