Questions for H1 blade owners

[thebestnoobcake]

Since H-1 came out, this is (unless I forgot) the first time I have seen someone publicly doubt the work hardening during use and sharpening correlation.
I'm pretty sure there are a couple of engineers floating around the forums and I would have thought that they would have busted that myth already. Last year I had to do a materials engineering course for my Mech. Eng. degree and we covered work hardening.
I'm pretty sure that sharpening H-1 would yield the amazing increases in hardness that many have touted here and elsewhere.

[Naga]

I think I weighed in as one of the doubters here, and I love H1! I have six H1 models, and it's not enough. I'd love to be proven wrong, that would just strengthen my crush on H1. :)

I don't doubt H1's work hardening, or work hardening in general; I just wonder how long - and how much work - it would take to notice it. I EDC a Salt 1, I've carried it for about a year, and I've only had to sharpen it a few times, but I don't do lots of cutting of hard materials. For my purposes, the edge retention is just fine, but I work in an office, it's not like I'm cutting rope all day. I guess I just don't have any empirical evidence, I'd really like to see some. I also haven't paid such close attention that I can honestly (and anecdotally) say "Yes, I've noticed my blade work harden over time", but I also can't say it hasn't.

[Stephen]

I was eventually gonna start my own thread with these thoughts, but this seems like a great place to jump in. I'm surprised no one brought it up, so I guess I will or maybe someone did and I missed it, whatever :D .

To me, H1 seems to be highly malleable, almost chip-proof perhaps. I've abused my rock salt more than any other knife I own, but the edge only gets grossly deformed in places, never chips though. I'm sure most people here have seen the picture of the Pacific salt bent to a 90 degree angle too. This is an extremely desirable trait for me and others might feel the same way as well. Does anybody else feel this way? Has anyone been able to get this stuff to chip or break?

[araneae]

I was eventually gonna start my own thread with these thoughts, but this seems like a great place to jump in. I'm surprised no one brought it up, so I guess I will or maybe someone did and I missed it, whatever :D .

To me, H1 seems to be highly malleable, almost chip-proof perhaps. I've abused my rock salt more than any other knife I own, but the edge only gets grossly deformed in places, never chips though. I'm sure most people here have seen the picture of the Pacific salt bent to a 90 degree angle too. This is an extremely desirable trait for me and others might feel the same way as well. Does anybody else feel this way? Has anyone been able to get this stuff to chip or break?

H1 is a pretty tough steel. Takes a nice polish too. Although my first post in the thread may seem skeptical, I really like H1; I am just unsure about the work hardening at this time. I am surprised Sal has not weighed in at all.

[dsmegst]

Saying that H-1 doesn't hold an edge as well as VG-10 or S30V is like saying a Porche 911 is slower than a Lamborghini Diablo or a Michael Schumaker Ferrari. It's true, but so what? The 911 will still outrun 2/3s of everything else out there.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I remember when AUS-8 was considered pretty high end steel. Looking at the offerings from other companies, many of them still seem to think that. Sal has us spoiled. :D

We certainly are. :)

Until a year ago, Aus-6 was the best stainless steel I had in a folder. I think the less a person knows, the more likely they are to latch onto others' opinions and perpetuate them across forums. I'm guilty of that too. (Not about H-1, just in a general sense) :o

[ChapmanPreferred]

I have been very pleased with H1 as a user steel! I would love to see H1 used FB27 Woodcraft Mule which I would turn into a field dressing knife!

[Slick]

I have no H1 knives. I only post here as an interested knife nut but I need to try out this steel. It seems to me the most "work" stress an H1 blade would see would be a smooth steel. True sharpening removes material. Cutting cardboard abraids the ege and requires resharpening which will remove the newly hardened material. A smooth steel could exert tremendous force on very small section of the blade. The rest of the blade would not be affected and retain its initial toughness.

I can imagine using a jewelers flat buff to get the same result in short order if you did not over heat the blade. If you used a nice fine abrasive you should be able to polish up the edge to hair splitting sharpness along with toughening the edge.

I still think Spyderco chose the initial hardness of H1 by design.

YMMV

[Seanski]

I hope they never stop making the Pacific. Even after a bit of a rough start with mine because of an uneven grind I've got it all sorted out and it's a wonderful knife. I take it to work everyday and I'm sure everyone of the 30 or so staff have asked to use it at some point during their days work.
I touch it up when I get off shift or before I return the next day and it never lets me down. I cut cardboard with it, use it for food preparation, and even to trim an errant hair now and again. It ends up getting pretty gunky on some days and the scales a bit discolored but I take it over to the spray sink and blast it, soak it a bit in some sanitizer solution then give it a bit of a shake, snap it shut and it's good for the next time round. You could offer me a new one but I'd never trade this one in. I am on a mission to one... to see if it will eventually work harden and to post a picture of what it looks like when I retire. It'll be hard for Spyderco to beat this one. :)