H1 steel? "100% corrosion resistant"?

How is this steel in comparisom with 420? It has less carbon in it even then 420.

420 steel:
C=0.15 | Cr=12-14 | Mn=1 | P=0.04 | Si=1 | S=0.03

420 HC:
C=0.4-0.5 | Cr=12-14 | Mn=0.8 | Mo=0.6 | P=0.05 | Si=1 | S=0.02 | V=0.18

H-1 is:
C=0.12 | Cr=14.2 | Mn=1 | Mo=1 | Ni=6.8 | P=0.015 | Si=3.5 | S=0.03

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Thank you Sal Glesser (/Sal/Mr Glesser?). I didn't want cause anyone more work, but I did want to know more from that new exciting steel. I would hope it will turn out to be as tough as plain carbon steels, but it do have so wery much cromium.
 
I myself have a spyderco pacific salt knife and recently took it to the beach. I live in south texas so I thought it would be a good time to test it out. I clipped the knife to my swim trunks and waded to about waist deep for about 8 hours while I fished and played in the salt water. The knife was submerged for the entire duration except for a few times when I needed to change lures. When I arrived home all I had to do was rinse the knife off and put a drop or two of 3-in-1 oil on the pivot and the knife was good as new. The knife showed no signs of spotting or any form of rust for that matter. I would recommend this knife for all salt water tasks.
 
H-1 is probably the best for salt water....When you look at such things as offshore drilling rigs you see that the worst corrosion is not above the water or below the water but at the interface where through wave action sees alternating water and air .The surface water is also oxygen rich. One of the solutions on those rigs was to coat the water line area with an epoxy putty. Also on Padre Island you get condensation at night of salt fog which as it dries off during the day concentrates the salt to very high percentages !!....In any case a Salt Spray test is commonly used to test corrosion resistance .
 
I think this is like my 2nd post and I am sorry to do so on such an old thread and to only really complain. I am sure there are those that already are aware of this but the steel in the Blenchmade 100SH20 has been changed to X15T.N and is no longer H1. I guess I should have purchased the knife when I saw it 2 years ago as X15T.N not as rust resistant as H1. As least that is what I gather from another thread.

Part of me is annoyed as I really like the design of the 100SH20 and there are not that many fixed blades out there using H1. But then I suppose Benchmade prolly got customers complaining that they couldn't sharpen their knife well, I guess anyway.
 
I'm surprised nobody quoted the Spyderco site's information on the H1 Steel.

A big myth in the knife world is that out there somewhere is a knife that seriously cuts but cannot rust. Knives claiming these super powers are usually made with steels that are unable to hold a cutting edge for any measurable amount of time. Finally a steel foundry in Japan called Myodo Foundry makes this myth a reality with the introduction of a new steel called H1. H1 steel is a PH steel, meaning it is a precipitation-hardened steel. "Huh" you ask? Utilizing .1% nitrogen instead of carbon to harden the steel, it reaches a Rockwell hardness of 57-58rc. Spyderco uses H1 on its new C91 Pacific Salt model.

It's PlainEdge or SpyderEdge and is similar in shape and size to Spyderco's best-selling Endura model but with a slightly more rounded tip. All internal steel parts are treated as well making them impervious to rust and pitting and of course, salt. Those challenged by cleaning and maintaining their knives will find the Pacific Salt stays rust-free even if put away wet. The blade's hole is enlarged to 14mm for easier opening/closing with gloved, wet or cold hands. Textured in a checkerboard pattern, the black FRN handle has a grippy texture and is fitted with a reversible titanium pocket clip which positions for right-handers and lefties. The addition of a lanyard hole offers a backup method of attachment (thong or lanyard cord) for use around water where once dropped, a knife is often lost or elusively hard to retrieve.
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I'd say that H1 is going to be vastly superior to a VG-10 as far as corrosion resistance goes. VG-10 ranks quite a bit lower on the scale of Corrosion resistance I find because it's got higher levels of Carbon. This gives it great edge retention, but carbon is prone to rusting. For example the Shun knives by Kai USA -- They're a VG-10 core, but laminated with layers of another type of Stainless steel, which adds mainly corrosion protection.
 
I have a Spyderco Salt 1 that has H1 steel, and I swim with it in the ocean and it does not rust. It is also a work hardened steel.
 
T.K.C. said:
I have a Spyderco Salt 1 that has H1 steel, and I swim with it in the ocean and it does not rust. It is also a work hardened steel.
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Thanks for the reply. I thought about the several Syderco knives in H1 but I had my heart set on a fixed blade, so I will probably wait for the Aqua Salt that is supposed to come out this year. In reflection I was just venting as this is just one in a chain of events in the knife industry that have seemed to put it a few steps backward.
 
IBCool said:
In reflection I was just venting as this is just one in a chain of events in the knife industry that have seemed to put it a few steps backward.
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I don't see the knife industry doing anything but advancing by leaps and bounds. There are only a few large companies that are opting for lower quality. Most of them do not make knives, they just market them. The actual knife manufactures are constantly advancing and changing to meet the higher quality standards that buyers demand.
 
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