Bamboo vs. H1 serrations

[ConspicuousConsumption]

Today I found myself needing to chop down a bamboo trunk, which was probably about 2-3 inches in diameter. Normally I'd use my Esee machete, but I didn't have it on me and I had 10 minutes before my next meeting ("working" from home, you know?).

Here is the bamboo post-mortem. (sorry for the image links. Google Photos doesn't seem to open here for some reason, using a public sharing link).


https://photos.app.goo.gl/Cec34WixjfmNs0XZ2

But here's the problem... my Autonomy serrations got beat to heck. They basically rolled over. None of them seemed to break, but most all of them rolled over.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Dw3M4kjTIak9IlQG2


https://photos.app.goo.gl/ToGxRVD16GNFjRIu1

What do you all recommend for rolling the serrations back over? I don't keep safe queens, so I'm not beat up over this, but I want the serrations to be back in shape at least!

[curlyhairedboy]

Bamboo is very hard.

My suggestion is to do edge trailing strokes on a stiff piece of wood. That may push them back into place...

[ConspicuousConsumption]

Bamboo is very hard.

My suggestion is to do edge trailing strokes on a stiff piece of wood. That may push them back into place...

As good a recommendation as any other received thus far! :)

[Mad Mac]

A solution for the serrations eludes me, but I did figure out how to post the pictures.

[curlyhairedboy]

Bamboo has a much higher silica content than wood, and most of it is concentrated in the outermost layers. I'm not surprised it did this to H1.

[zhyla]

I've cut bamboo with my 154CM CE Manix 2. It's in no way an appropriate tool for that job but it suffered no damage to the serrations.

I don't have any experience with H1 but I'm surprised by the damage to the serrations. Any chance there was some lateral prying that might have rolled them over?

Might have been worth waiting until you could grab the machete.

[ConspicuousConsumption]

I've cut bamboo with my 154CM CE Manix 2. It's in no way an appropriate tool for that job but it suffered no damage to the serrations.

I don't have any experience with H1 but I'm surprised by the damage to the serrations. Any chance there was some lateral prying that might have rolled them over?

Might have been worth waiting until you could grab the machete.

I was definitely surprised to be honest since H1 seems to be so tough. I pretty much only use my knives for anything heavy duty while camping, and my Aqua Salt (PE) and Pacific Salt (SE) have taken **** of beatings before with almost no negative impact! But I have had some roll-overs on the ARK (SE) before, which I easily handled with a bit of a file, to be honest.

Given the cost of this blade I wouldn't have minded waiting if I knew this would've happened, but again, if I can't trust a blade I don't want it. I'm an old dog infantry dude, and so I'm a gun nut, and if a gun can't hack it under any circumstance, I'll throw it to the curb.

I'll post some follow-up photos.

[ConspicuousConsumption]

A solution for the serrations eludes me, but I did figure out how to post the pictures.

Thank you! What was the trick? I shared the public link in an [-img]image[-/img] tag (minus the hyphen of course).

[Evil D]

Bamboo is not just hard it also has silica in it. It's **** on steel regardless of the edge type. Gotta say I let out an audible "ooooohhhhh" when I opened that pic. You'll have to send that one back to the mother ship if you ever expect the edge to be like factory again.

[Eee]

If you’ve got a sharpmaker, may be lay a white rod on a flat surface and try edge trailing stroke flat to the top corner.

I’ve used the end of a diamond rod (which is just steel with no diamonds) to roll serrations back on a cheap kitchen knife.

[Mad Mac]

The way I did it was to open your link, click on the picture to make the big picture, then, uh... right mouse click on the picture (on a touchpad it's a two finger tap) then select copy image address and paste that into the img tags.

[ConspicuousConsumption]

Bamboo is not just hard it also has silica in it. It's **** on steel regardless of the edge type. Gotta say I let out an audible "ooooohhhhh" when I opened that pic. You'll have to send that one back to the mother ship if you ever expect the edge to be like factory again.

I'll avoid bamboo from now on! Thanks for the explanation for sure!

I will roll the serrations back with some wood, as another person recommended, and then I'll make the serrations even better than factory with my KME!

[ConspicuousConsumption]

The way I did it was to open your link, click on the picture to make the big picture, then, uh... right mouse click on the picture (on a touchpad it's a two finger tap) then select copy image address and paste that into the img tags.

Thanks man, very helpful.

[zhyla]

I was definitely surprised to be honest since H1 seems to be so tough.

I think there may be some urban legend at play here. H-1 is soft. 58 Rc seems to be what the internet thinks Spyderco is getting with this steel. Work hardening can help with edge retention because it makes that edge so much harder (65+ Rc, according to internet rumors) but unless I'm mistaken, work hardening is a very shallow effect. So your knife bends like a piece of 58 Rc steel bends even though it has an outer shell that is much harder.

I guess I need to pick up an H-1 Spyderco one of these days to see what all the hubub is about, but I think the claims about SE H-1 being tough should be... taken... with... a... grain... of... :)

[Evil D]

I was definitely surprised to be honest since H1 seems to be so tough.

I think there may be some urban legend at play here. H-1 is soft. 58 Rc seems to be what the internet thinks Spyderco is getting with this steel. Work hardening can help with edge retention because it makes that edge so much harder (65+ Rc, according to internet rumors) but unless I'm mistaken, work hardening is a very shallow effect. So your knife bends like a piece of 58 Rc steel bends even though it has an outer shell that is much harder.

I guess I need to pick up an H-1 Spyderco one of these days to see what all the hubub is about, but I think the claims about SE H-1 being tough should be... taken... with... a... grain... of... :)

Well, this IS what toughness is right? If this were ZDP those teeth would likely have broke off.

[ConspicuousConsumption]

The serrated teeth 100% bent, and did not break. So who knows.

But as I was typing that H1 is tough I knew someone would tell me I was probably wrong! I love the info on the forum for sure!!!

In any case, I LOVE H1 and my Aqua Salt and PacSalt are my 2 end of days knives. I’m going backpacking next month, and out of all my blades, the AS will be coming along.

Keep the info coming.

[Evil D]

I really wonder if any steel in SE would have survived this. There are certainly harder steels with a reputation for being tough, but I feel like they'd have chipped before they rolled.

[ConspicuousConsumption]

I really wonder if any steel in SE would have survived this. There are certainly harder steels with a reputation for being tough, but I feel like they'd have chipped before they rolled.

I’d say it’s a darn tough steel. I just went out there (25°), and pounded on a massive 6” diameter bamboo tree. Trying to bend the serrated teeth back. Not making much progress even working it hard as I can. This steel is a monster and I must’ve really given it **** before.

[Jazz]

Use a sharpening steel first, if you have one. Do it backwards, as in stropping direction, all along the blade both sides following the edge angles. Once it's straight, then hit the Sharpmaker.

[atv223]

The thing is, when the teeth bent, the plastic deformation that occurred introduced dislocations in the steel crystal structure causing work hardening. Probably far more work hardening then during the grinding process everyone talks about for the teeth. So now when you try to bend the teeth back, the bent region will be harder and therefore take more force then it did to initially bend them in the first place.