Has anyone tested just how stainless vg-10 really is? Also how soft is h-1 really?

[sal]

Hi Dan,

We tested single bevel plain edge pieces and plunge ground plain edges with the same thought, but there wasn't muich of a diffeence. We're always trying to find ways to improve the performance of our products, but H1 seems to be a different species and often doesn't react as predicted. Se'll keep trying though.

I will admit that the serrated H1 blades did perform better than expected when we began testing.

Gail, Kristi and I spent 911 in Fort Jackson with our beloved troops. One of our "special" guys that just returned from Afganistan gave feedback on our Jumpmaster and indicated that it was the knife of choice for difficult to cut chores. (like cutting heads off of goats). He said that it just cut and cut and wouldn't quit.

sal

[chuck_roxas45]

What I'm really curious about is how much the work hardening "hardens" the H1. Does it harden it say 5 points on the RC? Or more? Less?

[Ski]

What I'm really curious about is how much the work hardening "hardens" the H1. Does it harden it say 5 points on the RC? Or more? Less?

Which stage?

Rolling, grinding, or sharpening? I think sharpening is probably negligible. Grinding obviously does a lot, just because SE is 5 points higher.

[dbcad]

I know the H1 SE is harder than the PE. Just curious if the Rockwell scale is linear or eponential or logarithmic? Silly question I know :)

Charlie

[chuck_roxas45]

Which stage?

Rolling, grinding, or sharpening? I think sharpening is probably negligible. Grinding obviously does a lot, just because SE is 5 points higher.

The work that goes into it to make it a knife.

[dirtpig67]

I know the H1 SE is harder than the PE. Just curious if the Rockwell scale is linear or eponential or logarithmic? Silly question I know :)

Charlie

Borderline silly :D

Nothing new though. I am sure thousands of years ago, a couple of cavemen were having a discussion along these lines about which type of flint better cut through tough woolly mammoth hide.

[Ski]

The work that goes into it to make it a knife.

There's probably no data for pre-rolled H1, but the spine numbers listed above are representative of post-roll.

The PE numbers show the hardness at the hollowgrind, and the edge numbers for SE are self explanatory.

[dbcad]

From this thread I geuss I have a toothy little monster on my keychain (Ladybug H1 SE).

Charlie

[SaturnNyne]

CATRA testing on abrasion resistance puts the plain edge in the AUS-8 range. The serrated H1, such as the Jumpmaster, in CATRA tests, have shown to be exceptional with better performance than plain or serrated steels of any that we've tested. Field tests have shown this to be true as well.

Thank you very much for clarifying this! I'd been wondering for a while if I'd interpreted what you said correctly; glad to see I did.

As far as serration shape, this is always challenging. each time a blade is serrated, the formed wheel changes shape a little bit. The wheel is usually dressed every 50 blades or so depending on the blade material. The tendency of most makers is to make them longer and "toothier" to make the wheel last longer between dressing. This is always a challenge as we prefer to dress more often and keep the shape in what we consider to be "ideal". A moving target to be sure.

If you find your serrations to be too toothy, (any serrations from any company), sharpening on a sharpmaker for a while (several hundred strokes) will usually remedy the situation. We've been making serrated knives since 1982 and we still battle consistent shape.

That's about what I thought, that mine just got made at the wrong time. Mine was made a few years ago, I think in 07, so hopefully practices have changed to make the edges more consistent. I've already given mine at least 400 strokes on the sharpmaker—with some improvement—but with this encouragement I'll try giving it a few hundred more when I have a chance. Somewhere inside my Pacific there's an effective knife waiting to be set free! :)

Hmmmmm thats odd, I don't think I have ever seen a Spyderco with a serrated edge that could not chew through line and rope. Very strange.

I am seriously going to have to see if I can get one now cheaply so I can test this and report my findings. Won't be soon though, being out of work, a man has to eat! :D

I was really surprised too; I've had serrations that don't cut as well as others, but never any that just don't work on most materials. The only cutting use I've ever gotten out of it has been garden work, mostly involving slashing through a variety of plants. With a bit of speed, it'll swish right through thistles and thick milkweed stalks since the scallops and needle-like points actually are reasonably sharp, but attempting any kind of slicing-type cutting is usually an exercise in futility. But lately my main use for it has been while geocaching, so all I really ask of it is that it reaches into potentially dangerous crevices to fish caches out, rather than sending my hand in.

I hope you find a good deal on one soon, it's a good knife. I'm actually quite fond of mine despite all the "teething issues."

By the way, my proper H1 serrations arrived yesterday in the form of a shiny new Aqua Salt! Huge difference in the way the teeth are cut; these ones are much smaller and much more effective.

I have heard of differences in serrations between Seki and Golden Spydies but I don't know. Doesn't seem too crazy.

There's definitely a difference, and Sal has commented on it in the past. Those who have compared tend to agree that Golden serrations are often a little better than others. I haven't compared too many, but the serrations on my Manix2 and FRN UK are easily the best I've used. That said, these are the only Seki serrations I've ever actually had a problem with. One of the things that completely sold me on Spyderco was how ferociously my first, a FRN SE Cricket, could cut through anything I set in its way.

[sal]

Hey Saturn,

If it's really a problem, you could send it to us for a looksee.

sal

[SaturnNyne]

Hey Saturn,

If it's really a problem, you could send it to us for a looksee.

sal

I may break down and do that one day, but for now I'm not quite ready to give up on fixing it myself; I'll try the sharpmaker a bit more. It's not really a problem at the moment, I'm still getting use out of it despite the limitations. Thanks for the offer though. :)

[Nifty_Nives]

I wouldn't call H1 soft in any situation. Heck, if you work hardened it to the point where it was strong, but not brittle, i would see if i could cut Diamond with it :p

I've cut a nerf gun IN HALF just to test how well it cuts. With serrations, the job took about five minutes, and many blue plastic shavings later, my nerf gun is in two pieces. That nerf gun is about as thick as a tree, i'lll have you know. But i really want to test it on a shoe for fun. Anyone care to post the picture of that shoe in half again? i always get a kick out of that.

Anyways, enough of the Digressing, i think that H1 is a beautiful steel, and i would consider it high end for being very strong, and extremely applicable when boating, fishing, or doing anything where water is a concern. My meadowlark rusted its torsion bar just from daily use and the humid air here in Maryland. so my H1 steels get a 5/5

-Drew