H1 plain edge retention question.

The Achilles heel of pe H1 is a lack of strength that results in edge deformation or rolling when cutting hard media. That is why sometimes H1 seems to perform just fine and sometimes (if cutting hard material or applying lateral force) it will dull almost immediately. The good news is that if it rolls you can repair the edge and bring it back to shaving sharp in 30 seconds. The other good news is it's very difficult to chip or fracture the edge. I love the steel because I need the higher corrosion resistance and toughness but it does require more sharpening than any other steel that Spyderco uses.

It is worth noting that then new corrosion proof steel being used by Spyderco (lc200n) outperforms pe H1 by a fairly wide margin in my use and testing. It's still not Maxamet or anything but it is a far step above H1. It too suffers from a lack of strength and occasional rolling but not nearly to the same degree as H1. I have found it to be FAR more functional for edc use and fish and game processing.
 
The Achilles heel of pe H1 is a lack of strength that results in edge deformation or rolling when cutting hard media. That is why sometimes H1 seems to perform just fine and sometimes (if cutting hard material or applying lateral force) it will dull almost immediately. The good news is that if it rolls you can repair the edge and bring it back to shaving sharp in 30 seconds. The other good news is it's very difficult to chip or fracture the edge. I love the steel because I need the higher corrosion resistance and toughness but it does require more sharpening than any other steel that Spyderco uses.

It is worth noting that then new corrosion proof steel being used by Spyderco (lc200n) outperforms pe H1 by a fairly wide margin in my use and testing. It's still not Maxamet or anything but it is a far step above H1. It too suffers from a lack of strength and occasional rolling but not nearly to the same degree as H1. I have found it to be FAR more functional for edc use and fish and game processing.

LC200N blade with delica or endura handle available in choice of bright blue or bright yellow handle color... Please and thank you :)


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The Achilles heel of pe H1 is a lack of strength that results in edge deformation or rolling when cutting hard media. That is why sometimes H1 seems to perform just fine and sometimes (if cutting hard material or applying lateral force) it will dull almost immediately. The good news is that if it rolls you can repair the edge and bring it back to shaving sharp in 30 seconds. The other good news is it's very difficult to chip or fracture the edge. I love the steel because I need the higher corrosion resistance and toughness but it does require more sharpening than any other steel that Spyderco uses.

It is worth noting that then new corrosion proof steel being used by Spyderco (lc200n) outperforms pe H1 by a fairly wide margin in my use and testing. It's still not Maxamet or anything but it is a far step above H1. It too suffers from a lack of strength and occasional rolling but not nearly to the same degree as H1. I have found it to be FAR more functional for edc use and fish and game processing.

Hi, can you comment on what you consider "hard media"?
 
I'm not Lance, but wood is "hard media" where H-1 is concerned. It just rolls very easily when used to shave or push cut wood. I found this out on the tip of my SE Pacific Salt, had to re-form that tip. It's the wrong metal for wood cutting, IMO.
 
Well, after all the great info/experience you guys gave me here on H1 .... I opted for a serrated variant of the dragonfly salt.

I'm sure I would have been perfectly happy with the plain edge. And I'll probably be perfectly happy with the serrated variant also.

For what it's worth, my decision factors included: I don't prefer the chisel grind of the serrated variant - the deviation from straight line during push cuts can be annoying to me at times. The increased work hardening of the serrated variant was a positive, but obviously I've been very happy with "ordinary" knife steels anyway, so the plain edge would likely been fine. Thirdly, I don't prefer hollow grinds in general, but the rust proof steel Was the selling point.

Nevertheless, I anticipate the dragonfly not to be an edc (I'll probably edc it for a little while anyway, to get used to it), but more of a specific use knife, so, I expect it'll do what I need perfectly. Why did I want H1? Rust resistance. Here's a link to another serrated knife I own after being "carried" just 6 times:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1473759-Mcnett-blakely-dive-knife-review

Any excuse to buy another knife, right guys?
 
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The Achilles heel of pe H1 is a lack of strength that results in edge deformation or rolling when cutting hard media.

It is worth noting that then new corrosion proof steel being used by Spyderco (lc200n) outperforms pe H1 by a fairly wide margin in my use and testing. It's still not Maxamet or anything but it is a far step above H1. It too suffers from a lack of strength and occasional rolling but not nearly to the same degree as H1. I have found it to be FAR more functional for edc use and fish and game processing.

SURF I pretty much agree with everything you said ;) But I'm still anxious to know how LC200N will perform in Spyderedge? But getting back to H-1 in plain edge I haven't had as good of results with it as a lot of the brethren here have. Even some of the older steels that Spyderco used in the past on their hard use models like the C-17 Catcherman I believe do better performance-wise than H-1 does in PE.

Even AUS-8 gives me much more confidence in PE. I'm still baffled by the fact that even before Spyderco ever introduced the H-1 Salt Series ( which I love by the way in SE)>> it is interesting to note that Benchmade used H-1 in a dive knife of theirs and I used to own one of them>> I'm speaking of the 100S-H20 model in PE and it was about 2002 or thereabout when I got that blade. But Benchmade didn't use H-1 in their dive knives very long ( less than year actually) before going to X15-TN in that dive knife model which is a steel that Boker used in a couple of models I used to own ( The Gemini Series). I can't help but wonder why Benchmade abandoned H-1 steel for their dive knives but yet Spyderco made a smashing success of it in PE & SE both in their Salt Series :confused:? And that 100S-H20 model was only available in plain edge and maybe we can already deduct why they made that decision.
 
I ground a pacific salt flat, and gave it near zero grind with a 20° sharpmaker brown rod microbevel. It cleanly cut cardboard for a surprisingly long time, and continued to shave arm hair. After it stopped shaving arm hair, I stropped it ten times per side, and it shaved arm hair again. I finished my cardboard processing, and cut some plastic and wood (just a small amount of oak whittling) and it seemed fine with this as well, and still cleanly sliced paper afterwards. I did a moderate amount of grip tape cutting, and this did the edge in. A few minutes on the brown rods brought it back. For a user who can sharpen, and doesn't mind touching up when needed, H1 should be more than enough in plain edge for edc, especially if ground thin like I did to mine.

Salts.jpg
 
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