H1 goodness

[bjz]

I know it’s common knowledge around here, but just wanted to restate what a joy it is to sharpen H1! My PE salt DF2 had been overdue for a touch up. It still has the factory bevel with a number micro bevels on the SM 40 deg position. For the heck of it I marked the edge with my trusty sharpie and put the brown rods in the 30 deg slots. To my surprise there was a near perfect apex within a minute or so and then another 10 passes on the flats had the tip in great shape. Scary sharp.

I know it won’t last too long, but hey! Might H1 be the perfect steel to learn sharpening technique with? The slightest corrections in angle/technique gave near immediate response.

[sal]

Hi Bjz,

I enjoy H1 both plain and serrated. Gets very sharp and like a small car with a small gas tank, I don't have a problem sharpening / filling the tank more often.

sal

[Manixguy@1994]

I know it’s common knowledge around here, but just wanted to restate what a joy it is to sharpen H1! My PE salt DF2 had been overdue for a touch up. It still has the factory bevel with a number micro bevels on the SM 40 deg position. For the heck of it I marked the edge with my trusty sharpie and put the brown rods in the 30 deg slots. To my surprise there was a near perfect apex within a minute or so and then another 10 passes on the flats had the tip in great shape. Scary sharp.

I know it won’t last too long, but hey! Might H1 be the perfect steel to learn sharpening technique with? The slightest corrections in angle/technique gave near immediate response.

There is a thread called Pacific Salt Talk , it’s on page 2 . I will probably give it a bump this week . Thread deals a lot with H1 steel that you might like to read . Vivi started started it some time ago and is quite familiar with the steel . I agree it is a wonderful steel and also carry the DF2 Salt PE going on three years . MG2

[Kevinim82]

This steel is overlooked for its well rounded properties.

Easy to sharpen and rust proof make it pretty amazing.

[vivi]

Some steels seem to want to get sharp when I sharpen them....others not so much. H1 is definitely in the first category. It's such a pleasure to work with.

[bjz]

Hi Bjz,

I enjoy H1 both plain and serrated. Gets very sharp and like a small car with a small gas tank, I don't have a problem sharpening / filling the tank more often.

sal

Somehow there is a motorcycle analogy in here as well! If it weren’t such a long day, I’d toss the df2 in my pocket and go burn some fuel on the honda

[bjz]

My problem with PE H1 (and this is certainly a personal first world problem), is that the dragonfly is the only handle I actually like that PE folders are offered in. I’ll likely end up with an SE saver at some point.

Now if they stuck and H1 PE sheepsfoot into a rockjumper handle, I’d probably be in heaven

[sal]

Hi Bjz,

I enjoy H1 both plain and serrated. Gets very sharp and like a small car with a small gas tank, I don't have a problem sharpening / filling the tank more often.

sal

Somehow there is a motorcycle analogy in here as well! If it weren’t such a long day, I’d toss the df2 in my pocket and go burn some fuel on the honda

Hi Bjz,

My last bike, (had to give up the canyon racing on my VTR-1000) was one of those that I had to burn some fuel to clear my head. I understand.

sal

[nerdlock]

Hi Sal,

I know you said somewhere here recently that you are starting to like both big and smaller knives more nowadays...is there any chance we can get a Lil Native / Lil Native LW in H1?

[ZrowsN1s]

Hi Sal,

I know you said somewhere here recently that you are starting to like both big and smaller knives more nowadays...is there any chance we can get a Lil Native / Lil Native LW in H1?

I've got an LC200N Lil Native blade, but it's firmly stuck in a glass.

[cabfrank]

Priorities.

[bjz]

Hi Bjz,

My last bike, (had to give up the canyon racing on my VTR-1000) was one of those that I had to burn some fuel to clear my head. I understand.

sal

Sal,

My cb500x is much less zippy but it sure does well on all the wildlife-covered mixed surface forest roads way up in the mtns around here.

[R100]

Hi Bjz,

I enjoy H1 both plain and serrated. Gets very sharp and like a small car with a small gas tank, I don't have a problem sharpening / filling the tank more often.

sal

Somehow there is a motorcycle analogy in here as well! If it weren’t such a long day, I’d toss the df2 in my pocket and go burn some fuel on the honda

Hi Bjz,

My last bike, (had to give up the canyon racing on my VTR-1000) was one of those that I had to burn some fuel to clear my head. I understand.

sal

Hey Sal,
The VTR is a fun bike and it is great to know you ride. I am about to go out and clear the head right now on a modded Triumph Tiger 955i. H1 Pac Salt SE in the jacket and S110V Native 5 LW in the pocket.

Dan

[bearrowland]

I love H1...it's close enough to perfect for me!!

[cabfrank]

Well put. If there was never anything else, I'd live happily ever after.

[vivi]

agreed! it's got everything I need in a blade steel. I still try out others, like Rex45 and K390 for fun, but H1 is sufficient to get me through the rest of my years.

[Doc Dan]

H1 is the perfect steel to keep by the door to open packages. Why? Alcohol and water will not rust it. It takes an extremely sharp edge and gets there very easily. There are many steels that in PE will hold an edge longer, but plastic, tape, cardboard, zip ties, will all dull a knife faster than people realize and then it is a real chore to resharpen many steels. H1, on the other hand, is simply a few quick passes on the Sharpmaker and it is back to atom slicing.

[dlum1]

I carried a serrated H1 salt 2 daily when I lived in southern Florida. However, it seemed the PE portion of that knife's tip was perpetually dull. If I cut anything more than tape, the razor sharpness (achieved with the sharpmaker brown medium stones) would disappear almost instantly along the PE portion. The serrated section always held up just fine. Having a perpetually dull PE tip forced me to switch to a para 3 lw s90v -- only carrying the salt when I'd be in and around saltwater.

I decided to take some advice given here and put a super coarse edge on the salt using CBN --> sharpmaker fine --> and then a .5 micron strop. The difference in edge holding is somewhat staggering. I'd estimate at least a factor of 3 or more improvement on the PE portion (which now slowly loses its razor edge bite) and the serrated section is still as sharp as ever. I wish I had done this sooner. I also applied the same edge to an s45vn mule in the kitchen and noticed superior edge holding with less rolling. I'm not entirely sure why that is though and would appreciate hearing everyone's thoughts. Is it only in my head? It could be that less force is used against a cutting board because the edge cuts more aggressively. My first guess was that the average thickness at the edge is actually thicker with a coarse edge than with a semi-polished edge making it more durable but with less edge retention. However, the coarse edge effectively adds serrations to add cutting aggression that would normally have been lost with the thicker edge. Yet, the edge angle between the semi-polished finish and coarse finish is the same so I'm not yet convinced.

[vivi]

I carried a serrated H1 salt 2 daily when I lived in southern Florida. However, it seemed the PE portion of that knife's tip was perpetually dull. If I cut anything more than tape, the razor sharpness (achieved with the sharpmaker brown medium stones) would disappear almost instantly along the PE portion. The serrated section always held up just fine. Having a perpetually dull PE tip forced me to switch to a para 3 lw s90v -- only carrying the salt when I'd be in and around saltwater.

I decided to take some advice given here and put a super coarse edge on the salt using CBN --> sharpmaker fine --> and then a .5 micron strop. The difference in edge holding is somewhat staggering. I'd estimate at least a factor of 3 or more improvement on the PE portion (which now slowly loses its razor edge bite) and the serrated section is still as sharp as ever. I wish I had done this sooner. I also applied the same edge to an s45vn mule in the kitchen and noticed superior edge holding with less rolling. I'm not entirely sure why that is though and would appreciate hearing everyone's thoughts. Is it only in my head? It could be that less force is used against a cutting board because the edge cuts more aggressively. My first guess was that the average thickness at the edge is actually thicker with a coarse edge than with a semi-polished edge making it more durable but with less edge retention. However, the coarse edge effectively adds serrations to add cutting aggression that would normally have been lost with the thicker edge. Yet, the edge angle between the semi-polished finish and coarse finish is the same so I'm not yet convinced.

It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Back when I ran a fine edge off the sharpmaker white stones I'd touch up my PE Pacific Salt 1 every few days when I carried it to work. Now I can go two months without touching up PE H1 folders by changing the way I sharpen them. So much saved time!

[dlum1]

I carried a serrated H1 salt 2 daily when I lived in southern Florida. However, it seemed the PE portion of that knife's tip was perpetually dull. If I cut anything more than tape, the razor sharpness (achieved with the sharpmaker brown medium stones) would disappear almost instantly along the PE portion. The serrated section always held up just fine. Having a perpetually dull PE tip forced me to switch to a para 3 lw s90v -- only carrying the salt when I'd be in and around saltwater.

I decided to take some advice given here and put a super coarse edge on the salt using CBN --> sharpmaker fine --> and then a .5 micron strop. The difference in edge holding is somewhat staggering. I'd estimate at least a factor of 3 or more improvement on the PE portion (which now slowly loses its razor edge bite) and the serrated section is still as sharp as ever. I wish I had done this sooner. I also applied the same edge to an s45vn mule in the kitchen and noticed superior edge holding with less rolling. I'm not entirely sure why that is though and would appreciate hearing everyone's thoughts. Is it only in my head? It could be that less force is used against a cutting board because the edge cuts more aggressively. My first guess was that the average thickness at the edge is actually thicker with a coarse edge than with a semi-polished edge making it more durable but with less edge retention. However, the coarse edge effectively adds serrations to add cutting aggression that would normally have been lost with the thicker edge. Yet, the edge angle between the semi-polished finish and coarse finish is the same so I'm not yet convinced.

It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Back when I ran a fine edge off the sharpmaker white stones I'd touch up my PE Pacific Salt 1 every few days when I carried it to work. Now I can go two months without touching up PE H1 folders by changing the way I sharpen them. So much saved time!

Hi Vivi,
I believe it was your thread that got me to try it out. Have you noticed a difference in edge rolling / edge durability between the edge finishes? My H1 used to roll very easily but appears to roll less so with this edge. H1 is tough but not particularly hard -- I managed to roll (bend) an entire tooth of the serrated edge. I ask because the results are better than I anticipated, but I'm not entirely sure why. If the edge is actually more durable, then I think it would imply that an edge with significantly less toughness (such as maxamet or s110v) would likely benefit more from the same treatment. Alternatively, this edge finish may be equivalent to the forever-holding working edge of s110v and maxamet.