Any Experience with H-1 Steel?

Steely_Gunz

Steely_Gunz

Got the Khukuri fevah
Moderator
Joined
May 9, 2002
Messages
12,684
I was just wondering if any of you fine gentlepeople has had any experience with the "rust proof" steel called H-1 that Spyderco uses for their blades in their Salt line. I've always been a huge fan of Spyderco. Sal seems to be a really stand up guy with great products:)
Anyway, a few weeks back my wife informed me that we were going on a trip to Panama City Florida with her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and SIL's friend this coming Saturday. I don't really WANT to go, but it's going to be a very cheap vacation that I am very much in need of. Actually, the timing is perfect. Sales this time of year are kind of flat since everyone has everything that they need for the most part and most families are concerning themselves with back to school needs. Plus, my father in law is starting to have another little flair up with a nagging cancer. He responds well to treatment, but it's always best to enjoy the wonderful souls while they're here, ya know.
Anyway, to the point;) I have been informed that we are going to be doing the beach thing, the snorkle thing, the deep sea fishing thing (her dad's favorite), etc. I hate being "naked" without a knife or tool on me, and I need something that can be IN the salty water all the time. Plus, I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret, I hate the damn water...especially the ocean. Pretty to look at, scary as hell to go in. Insert irony jokes here about the guy born a Pisces, was on the rowing team in college, and makes his money selling swimming pools and accessories;) That said, a good pocket knife is like a pointy little security blankie for me. It's soothing:) So, unbeknownst to my better half, I ordered a Spyderco Tasman Salt with the SE which should be here thursday or friday. It comes in H-1 steel with a sheeple-friendly handle of bright yellow and hawkbill style blade. I figured this could be tucked to a swimming trunk pocket or waste band, clipped to my belt fishing, or ride comfortably in my jean pocket walking about town.

So, do any of you guys have any experience with H-1? I know it's gotten great reviews on the Spydie boards, but I wanted some first hand practical info from some no-nonsense fellows:)

Thanks!
Jake
 
no personal experience...but I'm very tempted to try it out - gets great reviews...though I did see one get some rust. But otherwise, it does exactly what it's supposed to do.

If I was still on the east coast (and fishing the surf) I would have one, no question about it.

If you just want something for a quick poke, digging in the sand, or self-defense, consider a carbon-fiber (or G-10) knife - no steel at all. Something else I'd like to have in my BOB.
 
Thanks, Dan:) It's always nice when those that really know what they're talking about weigh in. I have heard of H-1 getting rust spots as well, but I have heard that said rust rust spots may have very well been left over steel bits from the machining process. Dunno if that's true or not.
I have a cold steel delta dart made from zytel that I am in the process of sanding down to a much smaller pokey-nub for any prodding in the sand I might need to do. It'll still have about an inch and a half of point, but it will seriously cut down on the mall-ninjaishness of the stabby thing;)

Jake
 
Ah, Jake, you'll be visiting nearby. :thumbup:

Hope you do enjoy lovely sugar-white sand beaches and catch some grouper or snapper. Try Scamp (not scampi), it's a great-eating Gulf fish. Or blackened Amberjack. Do not miss our wonderful shrimp.

Wise to take a good knife boating- very. Serrated is a good idea as well as a stainless of some sort, in case you find yourself in the water and have to cut a rope in a hurry. I use a Spyderco Harpy when boating since, ahem, an incident left me having to use a blunt POS SAK while, uh, treading water.

You might cut bait but please use a specialized fillet knife on your catch.... I keep a sharp GRS for fishing purposes (read "hacking dangerous fish in half"), but that draws no odd looks as I am skipper and anyone invited aboard knows me.

Good luck and enjoy! I will beseech the wrathful God of the Gulf, Hurrakan, not to visit while you are here.


Mike
 
I've been thinking about getting one of those too, but probably the pacific.

From what I understand it is a work hardened steel. The more you use it and sharpen it the more it gets hardened, so technically it will be harder wear longer and hold a better edge with use.

At least that is how I understand the H-1 "no carbon" steel works.
 
Thanks, Mike:) I hope the weather holds out for some outdoorsy activity. I also appreciate the information. Being a micro-manager, I'll need all the help I can get formulating a battle plan for the day with my willy-nilly retired in-laws;) I have no clue as to what to bring, what is allowed, or what is expected on any of this trip. I figure a good sharp SE knife would come in handy for a lot of stuff. As a matter of fact, your mentioning of your harpy led me to look into the tasman salt. I love vg-10, but i've had it spot on me running it through a dishwasher:foot: ....thank my beautiful wife for that one;) Anyway, i figured a guy that spent as much time around the ocean would know what to carry.
I've heard the same things, Dave. I think that's a pretty cool that it actually gets a bit harder with use. I'm really not keen on a SE actually getting HARDER and thus HARDED (for me anyway) to sharpen. However, i think a good maintenance stropping now and again should keep it from needing serious work for no more than what i plan on using it. It'll be an experiment. Heck, if i don't like it, then i'll give it to my dad-in-law. He'll love it:)

Jake
 
H-1 is everything Spyderco says it is, i've tested it myself....

is it rustproof? *ABSOLUTELY*, I've run a salt spray test on my Pacific Salt, with three other knives in the test chamber, a cheapo Sheffield hawkbill from Home Despot, a cheap, crappy butterfly knife, and a Buck Metro keyring knife

the Sheffield began spotting in just over an *hour*, the butterfly took 24 hours or so to show signs of rust, the Buck and Spydie were unaffected

Does it Work Harden? Yes, when i first got my Pacific, i would sharpen it every other day it seemed, but now i can get away with once a month, the more you work this steel, the better it gets, it *improves* with use and age, however it *does* show scratches and dings like crazy, if you want your knife to look pretty, you won't be happy with H-1, if you want a truly maintenance free *workhorse* knife, you'll love it

No, it doesn't hold an edge as long as VG-10 or S30V, but it's not all that bad, serrated H-1 is a tad harder at the edge than PE, due to the extra work involved in grinding the serrations, plus, it's dead easy to resharpen, and it gets back to a truly frightening sharpness with no effort at all, another advantage of H-1 is it responds extremely well to stropping, be it on a dedicated strop, your jeans leg, or even a scrap of cardboard, if your H-1 blade starts to dull, try stropping it first, that may be all you need, if it doesn't respond to stropping, then resharpen

all the additional hardware in the Salt series is also rustproof, the lockbar is H-1, the pins are some form of proprietary steel Spyderco seems very close-lipped about, heck, even the pocket clip is *titanium*.....

do searches here on BF and on the Spyderco website forums, many Spyderfans have *tried* very hard to rust H-1, it *does not* rust.....

look for Pete1977's posts about the Salt, he's a New England Lobsterman, and some of his bait is packed in a salt brine, if you get it on your hands it dries your skin almost *instantly*, the brine doesn't even affect H-1

Spyderco's H-1 is a rare thing indeed, *honesty* in advertising, a knife advertised as totally rustproof *IS* totally rustproof....

I live about a 10 minute drive from York Beach in Maine, and we have a salt marsh on our property, i've had my Ka-Bar in 1095 and my Spyderco Dodos in S30V come down with a faint patina of surface corrosion (easily scrubbed off with Flitz and/or 000 steel wool) just from sitting in my knife storage boxes, I've even gone so far as to put a packet of Silica Gel in the compartments of the knife boxes that hold my Dodos and my VG-10 blades.....

that said, i've *never* had any of my VG-10 blades show any signs of corrosion either.....

give H-1 a try, i think you'll like it :)
 
Thanks, MacTech:)

I'd be a liar if I said I hadn't read (and enjoyed) your salt water experiment when I was wavering back and forth about buying yet ANOTHER pocket knife. Weird. I have 30+ khukuries, yet it takes real justification to add another folder to my rotation;) Also, as I was waiting for the Tasman to be delivered, I stumbled across your mini-review. I couldn't agree more. Mine showed up yesterday. Fit, finish, and lock up are all A+. Scratches are no big deal to me and being a khuk knut, I know how to strop. Even made a lil' one loaded up with compound for my back pocket. Being a pool guy, I'm really going to enjoy something that the chemical infused air won't destroy.
Now, all I have to do is weather the maddening 14 hour drive in the back seat of my in-laws' car to get to Florida. That, and they don't know where the house we are staying at is, nor do they have a key to the place yet. Also, they don't know what day they want to come back home.....<sigh>. I Know they are retired and have earned this come-what-may way to take a trip, but it REALLY makes my wife and me's life difficult to set up people to cover the office and a dog sitter. Plus, I'm really, really high-strung and a real micro-manager;) Anybody have any suggestions on a "dietary suppliment" that might dope me up for half a day. Guys, I'm serious. 14 hours of new age celtic music and/or NPR....that's it. Thank God for the iPod...except it won't get more 4 hours of play time before it dies....and my life has peppered the song list with some of the most God-awful 80's top 40 tracks (think the entire Top Gun soundtrack with a good dose of "Mickey" being so fine thrown in for good measure). Nothin' like a week's vacation with the family, wife, dad-in-law, mom-in-law, slightly crazy (but I love him) brother-n-law and his wife, and my buddy Jack....who lives in the bottom of my hip-flask;):p

Jake
 
Thanks, 45-70. Don't you just gotta love those dog-gone Louivillians:D;)?

Jake
 
Jake, while you're relaxing on that Panama City beach, imagine- just for a second- a storm surge of 25 feet of water over your head with 175 mph winds howling.

which can happen any summer, anywhere along the Gulf Coast.

Makes life here especially sweet.


Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top