I'm going to EDC PE H1 until August

[me2]

I carried a plain edge H1 knife for a couple months until someone stole it. I even sharpened it up and shaved with it in the shower. There was not a noticeable lack of edge holding and I preferred it to the serrated H1 I had in the same model.

Thinning an edge and lowering the grit have been tricks for increasing edge holding for a while. It’s good to see people rediscovering the insights of Wayne Goddard, Cliff Stamp, and a few others who found this combination beneficial in normal knife use. The edge from a coarse DMT stone at 12 dps (degrees per side) is the first time I remember being a little afraid of an edge I had sharpened myself.

[R100]

This thread is the kind that makes me love this forum and I have followed it with great interest. It shows how much performance is there if we look for it and Vivi has done such a great job in laying it all out. I have a PE Pac Salt 1 that I held the sabre grind flat to a DMT extra coarse bench stone and kept going until I apexed it. After removing the worst of the scratch marks I applied a small bevel with the Spyderco brown rods and the edge holding was so much improved that it was as though I had a whole new steel. Inspired by this thread I now finish it on my CBN rods and the edge holding has jumped again.

I have been very interested in the P4 lightweight but conflicted about whether I wanted K390 or VG10. I love K390 but have had rust issues with my Endura and the P4 will see frequent use for food prep in the bush. I actually really like VG10 and have found it superior to LC200N in every respect apart from extreme rust resistance. In the spirit of this thread I decided to go with the VG10 and will try it with different edge angles and finishes.


This is the Pac Salt and the new Police 4 lw.

So far it is around 15dps, finished with the brown rods and is performing well, much better than with my old way of more polished edges with VG10. I know you have the same P4 Vivi and I was wondering what sort of edge angle and what grit finish you are using with it? I love the extra edge length of the Police compared with the Pac Salt and this is so much better balanced than my G10 Police 3.

Dan

[Wartstein]

I read just (large) parts of the thread (but will read all of it when I have more time).
Really interesting!

I never had H1 PE myself (just SE), but I wonder how many of the "H1inSEgood,inPEcrap"- folks just repeat this very common statement without really having tried themselves or tried to figure out what KIND of edge works best on PE H1

Probably it is a lot "just repeating" like with so many other things (lock types, steels...)....

[vivi]

I carried a plain edge H1 knife for a couple months until someone stole it. I even sharpened it up and shaved with it in the shower. There was not a noticeable lack of edge holding and I preferred it to the serrated H1 I had in the same model.

Thinning an edge and lowering the grit have been tricks for increasing edge holding for a while. It’s good to see people rediscovering the insights of Wayne Goddard, Cliff Stamp, and a few others who found this combination beneficial in normal knife use. The edge from a coarse DMT stone at 12 dps (degrees per side) is the first time I remember being a little afraid of an edge I had sharpened myself.

Thanx Vivi. For doing it and for sharing. When we get to stand on the shoulders of others, we all get to see farther.

sal

Yep, Cliff has talked about this for decades. I only wish I listened to his wisdom sooner than I did - I would have saved myself so much time!

Like others in this forum, part of the reason I appreciated easy to sharpen steels like H1, BD1 and VG10 is I was obsessive about keeping my edges shaving sharp.

I recall touching up my Police 3 in VG10 four or five times a week when it was my main EDC. I'd give it a few licks on the fine or ultrafine rods any day I used it for something like breaking down a large cardboard box.

The beauty of these low grit edges is they just don't stop cutting.

Today I carried my dyed Pacific Salt to work, and I noticed it hanging up on plastic bags if I tried to push cut. If it were a fine edge I would have wanted to sharpen it. With the 200 grit edge it has, that's dulled to the point it has zero shaving ability, it glided right through the plastic effortlessly once I used a slicing motion.

It is no exaggeration when I say H1 will hold an edge longer than any other steel in my collection - IF I am comparing a 200 grit H1 edge to a fine sharpmaker rod K390/Rex45/M4 edge.

That's how much of a difference I've noted by changing up my sharpening.

The other day at work I was slicing up baguettes for crostinis with a standard Victorinox 10" chef knife. A co-worker asked me why I didn't use the house bread knife instead? I let him try both out on the baguettes and he immediately understood. The plain edge knife with a sharp 200 grit edge was outslicing the serrated bread knife on a material the SE knife is supposed to excel at cutting!

I read just (large) parts of the thread (but will read all of it when I have more time).
Really interesting!

I never had H1 PE myself (just SE), but I wonder how many of the "H1inSEgood,inPEcrap"- folks just repeat this very common statement without really having tried themselves or tried to figure out what KIND of edge works best on PE H1

Probably it is a lot "just repeating" like with so many other things (lock types, steels...)....

There is definitely a lot of this in the knife world.

There are a lot of people that think coarse edges can't push cut, and polished edges can't slice. A properly formed apex polished to 8,000 grit should easily cut rope, and Cliff Stamp has a video where he got shaving sharpness from a brick of all things:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mSt2mCWGFII&feature=emb_title

Just like you and I both know lockbacks aren't difficult to operate one handed

Finally found an H1 PE blade at a reasonable price so I hope to be able to duplicate some of vivi's success with PE H1.

I look forward to seeing your results, just like I've enjoyed seeing u.w. and others experiment with this approach!

Enjoyable read Vivi.
In 2005 or 06, whenever the H1 Salt series came out, I used a PE Atlantic for several years commercial lobstering. I found as well that a coarser grit with a lower angle increased the edge holding ability even when cutting media like sand impregnated poly rope. Most PE knives i used at that time I kept with a coarse “toothy” edge.
My tests of an H-1 Pacific in 2006 or so led me to believe that it was on par with AUS-8 (one of my favorite user steels btw) but as Vivi confirmed, a thinner coarser edge increased its edge holding ability. The Atlantic was easy to reprofile, easy to put a coarse edge on and fast to touch up to get back to hair scraping sharp. It surpassed the Pacific which I left with its factory edge.
I think I thinned my Atlantic out on 220 then 400 grit sandpaper and then finished the edge on the diamond and medium sharpmaker rods. Ultimately a few passes on the diamond rod gave me a serviceable edge and I was impressed with H-1 since then.

This sounds a lot like my experiences.

I wasn't impressed with H1's edge holding the first few years I tried it in PE, but the combination of attributes it offered made the edge holding sacrifice worth it.

Since discovering how well it works with a coarse edge, I've fallen back in love with the steel. I never dreamed I'd be able to use a PE H1 knife multiple times a day for amonth without even thinking about sharpening it!

Your sharpening progression on the Atlantic Salt is one I use often. I'll set an edge with my 200 grit diamond stone and refine the apex as well as I can with it. Then setup my sharpmaker with my medium rods and do 1-3 strokes per side. Enough to significantly tighten up the apex, but not so much that the edge feels smooth when I run my nail down it. Extremely good cutting performance in both push cuts and slices.

[vivi]

This thread is the kind that makes me love this forum and I have followed it with great interest. It shows how much performance is there if we look for it and Vivi has done such a great job in laying it all out. I have a PE Pac Salt 1 that I held the sabre grind flat to a DMT extra coarse bench stone and kept going until I apexed it. After removing the worst of the scratch marks I applied a small bevel with the Spyderco brown rods and the edge holding was so much improved that it was as though I had a whole new steel. Inspired by this thread I now finish it on my CBN rods and the edge holding has jumped again.

That's similar to how I feel about it. It feels like a different steel, comparing the more polished factory edge to my thinner, coarser edges.

I have been very interested in the P4 lightweight but conflicted about whether I wanted K390 or VG10. I love K390 but have had rust issues with my Endura and the P4 will see frequent use for food prep in the bush. I actually really like VG10 and have found it superior to LC200N in every respect apart from extreme rust resistance. In the spirit of this thread I decided to go with the VG10 and will try it with different edge angles and finishes.


This is the Pac Salt and the new Police 4 lw.

So far it is around 15dps, finished with the brown rods and is performing well, much better than with my old way of more polished edges with VG10. I know you have the same P4 Vivi and I was wondering what sort of edge angle and what grit finish you are using with it? I love the extra edge length of the Police compared with the Pac Salt and this is so much better balanced than my G10 Police 3.

Dan

I've got three P4's at the moment.

My first was the standard G10 model, which I later swapped to pakkawood scales. It has the thinnest edge of the three, as I wanted to push K390, and I recall Sal saying he had good results with that model at 10dps. So I aimed for that (Every edge I apply is freehand, and only measured after the grinding). It has been perfectly stable, no rolling or chipping. Extremely high performance.

I have a VG10 LW I eventually swapped into a G10 frame. It hasn't seen any use since the swap, but I ground it pretty thin too. The bevel isn't quite as wide as the K390. The edge has been perfectly stable, which is what I expected from VG10. I've used a Krein regrind Centofante 4, 2mm stock hollow grind ground to FFG, so if that held up for me I knew this would.

Lastly I have a K390 blade I swapped into a LW frame. I still haven't put the edge I want on it, since the Chief, Pacific Salt and Military have hogged pocket time since I out it together. It's th most obtuse of the three.

All of them currently have 200-300 grit apexes.

If anyone reading this thinks H1 has impressive edge holding at these grits, try it on K390! My thin pakkawood Police held shaving sharpness for over a month @ 200-300 grit. Insane. I have never seen a steel behave like that when it comes to edge retention.



Ironically, the last Police I carried was my P3 sharpened up to ultrafine:



I really like using the diamond > medium rod progression on VG10. It responds very well to the Spyderco ceramics. Again, I like to set the bevel on coarse diamond stones, then use a minimal amount of strokes on the medium rods. Enough to refine the apex, but not so many strokes I grind off the micro serrations.

If the apex doesn't feel rough and grab your nail when you test it, you used too many strokes on the mediums. This is the same method I used when I recently took my Street Beat even thinner:



VG10 seems to love getting sharp regardless of what grit I use. Fun steel to sharpen.

[me2]

Most people seem to like diamond stones when it comes to hogging off metal. I have not found them to work well in that application. However they work extremely well for applying a final coarse edge. I’ve constructed an Edge Pro Like Device (ELD) that really shows this off. I have not used it on my Spydercos yet as I need more practice before taking it to my “good” knives. However my reground Delica is a good candidate for a coarser edge. It’s sporting a 1000 grit edge at 12 dps and a Sharpmaker medium rod microbevel now.

[JRinFL]

Finally found an H1 PE blade at a reasonable price so I hope to be able to duplicate some of vivi's success with PE H1.

I look forward to seeing your results, just like I've enjoyed seeing u.w. and others experiment with this approach!

I was able to thin the edge to roughly 12° per side with tiny 15° micro bevel. I started with an 80 grit stone as the edge was wrecked with chips, bends, and ripples. This was known when I bought it, so no surprises. Moved to a 100, then 120, finally to a 240 grit diamond stone. It took a long time due to the damage. The very edge was finished on a well used diamond rods on the Sharpmaker. There are still a couple of spots that are damaged, but do not hang on paper.

I’m sure it could get even sharper if someone more skilled and more patient were at the stones. However, it slices paper smoothly from heel to tip. So much better than the metal wedge knife-like object it was before I began! Soon it will get a work out on cardboard and yard tasks. At this early stage my hopes are high.

[Holland]

Great thread! Fun and interesting read

[Christian Noble]

I'd like to add to the public thank yous that are deserving to vivi for sharing this knowledge. I've been a fan of H1 PE for a longtime, nonetheless, I am guilty of sharpening H1 like I do my bushcraft knives, but no longer -- this was a bit of a game changer for me in terms of performance. Thanks again!

[vivi]

I'd like to add to the public thank yous that are deserving to vivi for sharing this knowledge. I've been a fan of H1 PE for a longtime, nonetheless, I am guilty of sharpening H1 like I do my bushcraft knives, but no longer -- this was a bit of a game changer for me in terms of performance. Thanks again!

Glad to hear it!

It's nice being able to feel like my PE H1 knives are just as capable as anything else in my EDC drawer. I've been carrying Pacific Salts about 50% of August so far, despite being free to carry whatever I want now.