H1 = super soft?

[Frapiscide]

So far, I've been loving my H1 ladybug, but I noticed there are scratches on the blade from cutting saw grass. My friend borrowed my knife the other day because we were bored and I watched him the whole time. All he did was cut some saw grass. Last night, I noticed small scratches that weren't there before. That's the only thing my ladybug cut that day, as well.

Is H1 that scratch prone?

[JD Spydo]

What you are seeing may not even be actual scratches in the metal itself>> It may just be marks left by the material you are cutting.

Let me give you an example>> I've been using my FB-05 Spyderco Temperance fixed blade a lot here in the past 2 months. Just 2 days ago I noticed that the blade looked like it was getting scratched something fierce. I then took some Flitz polish ( which is for the most part a non-abrasive polish) and was able to rub out 99% of what I thought were abrasive scratches in the metal. What I was seeing was material build ups from the polymer sheath I had been using.

What you may be seeing might just be some type of residue from the yard work you are doing. I can't say for 100% sure because I'm not there to look at it. But try to use some Flitz or other top notch non abrasive polish and I bet 99% of your problems are probably solved.

Or it could be that this saw grass you are cutting might be impregnated with sand or other abrasive material. If that's the case then all bets are off. But try polishing it out and I bet you'll be all right.

[I_like_sharp_things]

I think it does scratch easier than other steels. Mine has some on it that my other knives don't when I did the same thing with them. Just my.02.

[WireEdge Roger]

H1 scratches very easily, but I'm more than happy with the edge retention. I appreciate how easily it resharpens too!

[unit]

I have noticed that it scratches easily (particularly the satin finish that it comes with). It also polishes easily...and surprisingly (perhaps from work hardening?) once polished it seems to be more resistant to scratching.

[Blerv]

It's more like differentially treated iron (an axe head) than your standard stainless knife blade. Due to work hardening the spine is soft, primary bevel harder, secondary bevel extremely hard. One of the reasons it's so dang tough while giving great edge retention. I hear the SE scallops RC for around 68.

[phillipsted]

I've heard from another knife buff that if you buy a plain-edge H1 knife, you should cut a new bevel on your knife and sharpen it frequently in order to more quickly work harden it.

Is this an effective strategy? It seems to make sense.

TedP

[rycen]

Seems unnecessary and wasteful to me.

[Blerv]

I hear it gets better over time but half of that is prob placebo. The hardening from the initial grinding is very accurate tho.

As mentioned it's kinda wasteful. You are grinding the blade and making it more obtuse to increase the toughness to a point. Cutting with a softer (relatively) steel and sharpening as needed is a better use of time and steel, IMHO. People who are hellbent on edge retention just need to get H1 teeth or exotic steel PE edges.

[DCDesigns]

I've heard from another knife buff that if you buy a plain-edge H1 knife, you should cut a new bevel on your knife and sharpen it frequently in order to more quickly work harden it.

Is this an effective strategy? It seems to make sense.

TedP

I can tell you that H1 does indeed get much much harder over time. I EDC'd a d'fly salt for 6-8 months, sharpening every few days. At the beginning of this, it would just take 5-6 swipes on each side on a fine HA stone to get a hair popping edge on it. At the end of the period I carried it, It would probably take 10 times as many passes, and felt more like a high carbide stainless. The edge would also stay for longer than originally. How much harder did it get? I cant really aswer that, as I do no have a way to test it, but I'd have to say it does make a noticeable difference. No placebo effect here. I will say that the H1 dfly is now a half a centimeter shorter than my g10 one, so I may well have ground away a fair bit.

And as far as scatches go, thats going to happen. H1 scratches really easily, but its a working steel, and for me, cosmetic scratches do not matter.

[Jazz]

It'll scratch real easy, but after a while all the scratches give it it's own unique finish. Used to bug me, but not any more. I like the looks of a well-used knife. Same goes for the black clips...



- best wishes, Jazz.

[RIOT]

i too think h-1 is super soft, my deep sea fishing tasman didnt hold an edge that long at all. after one day it needed to be resharpened it was so dull, it is serrated too.

[Blerv]

The edge of a SE tasman will likely hold an edge longer than a Para2 in S90v. It's possible to dull any knife but the edge itself should hold up quite well (compared to other knives).

[gbelleh]

I don't really know about the properties of H1, but the finish on my Warrior got scratched up just from carving a pumpkin. My Rock Salt also got scratched up from doing some yard work with it. I'm sure I could polish them, but it doesn't bother me much.

[jtoler_9]

I've heard from another knife buff that if you buy a plain-edge H1 knife, you should cut a new bevel on your knife and sharpen it frequently in order to more quickly work harden it.
TedP

Here is where my brain gets confused about a "work hardened" steel. I know that H1 gets harder the more you put it to work. So wouldn't that mean that when I get my pacific salt and start cutting stuff, H1 should instantly start getting harder? I don't understand how it goes dull fast. That would seem the opposite of a work hardening steel in my head. I think there is something I am not understanding here.

[DCDesigns]

Here is where my brain gets confused about a "work hardened" steel. I know that H1 gets harder the more you put it to work. So wouldn't that mean that when I get my pacific salt and start cutting stuff, H1 should instantly start getting harder? I don't understand how it goes dull fast. That would seem the opposite of a work hardening steel in my head. I think there is something I am not understanding here.

It does not happen immediately, but it occurs over time, with LOTS of use and sharpenings. You cant just expect it to get better over night. It took several months of hard use, and frequent sharpening for me to be able to tell a noticeable difference

[Joshua J.]

Work hardening happens when the atomic structure gets messed up. Iron atoms have a very specific pattern that they like to hold, if you bend the steel it disrupts that pattern and the whatever forces there are keeping atoms bunched together get stressed, making the metal harder. Just the act of your knife going dull will make it harder, sharpening will move things around a bit too, though it also removes some of that hardened metal. I try to remove as little material as possible when sharpening H1, though I have no idea how deep the work hardening goes so it may be unnecessary.

[hunterseeker5]

There are a couple things to account for here.

First off its already been determined that H1 scratches easily, for the aforementioned reasons.

Second, and perhaps surprisingly to some of you, grasses like sawgrass contain silica crystals. In plain english that means they contain glass. That'll scratch your blade nicely. Why do they? Because their predators, herbivores, have small holes torn in their digestive tracts by these little particles reducing their nutritive efficacy ergo they are referred to as digestibility reducers. Of course these particles can probably scratch your knife blade as well. (yes I'm a biologist/bioengineer I didn't just pull that out of my hat)

[Blerv]

Very interesting Hunter :)

So cutting sawgrass is like cutting a mild version of fiberglass? Sounds like great stuff. :eek:

[hunterseeker5]

Very interesting Hunter :)

So cutting sawgrass is like cutting a mild version of fiberglass? Sounds like great stuff. :eek:

In a way yes. I mean you know what the difference between straw and hay is? Hay is technically (and if I get the numbers wrong I apologize) the first two cuttings of a field in a given season, and all subsequent cuttings are straw. In response to the mechanical "grazing" of the harvesters the plant reduces its nutritive content and ups the digestibility reducers which is why you feed your animals hay and let them use straw as bedding. :D

Someone once called me the consummate know-it-all :rolleyes: ........ sorry.