How hard is H1?

Initially the serrated edge blades are said to be 65 Rc and the plain edge 58-60 as I recall. Since H1 work hardens though it is believed the all that have been out there a while being used, and sharpened are hovering higher than when bought.

Some tests on it indicated that just routine sharpening could raise the hardness. I read reports early about it that indicated some of the serrated blades were 68 Rc shortly after being used a while and resharpened.

H1 appears to work harden very similar to brass. Just buffing brass can work harden it besides make it shiny and this appears to be the case to some extent anyway with H1.
The jury is still out on whether there is a limit to this hardness or if some of the blades out there that are really being used and resharpened a lot will eventually reach a point where they become brittle. Time will tell.
STR
 
I originally posted this on our site forums, but it should help here too...

TazKristi said:
H1 is a precipitation-hardened alloy. And yes, it is also work-hardened. Meaning that anything that you do that causes heat through friction will harden the steel further; it’s also important to note that tests have shown that it does not become brittle. The work-hardened properties of H1 have been proven by analysis independently performed by Crucible Specialty Metals. It is this that explains why an H1 blade with a SpyderEdge has better edge retention than it's PlainEdge counterpart. In the end, the analysis from Crucible found the Rc at the spine was 58, however at the edge it had increased in both the PlainEdge (to 65 Rc) and the SpyderEdge (to 68 Rc).

The Salt Series knives are being made and promoted to a market where corrosion resistance is important.

So, is H1 possibly just another flavor-of-the-month? Possibly, but hype can only go so far.

Kristi
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Wow. This is the first time I have heard of such phenomenon. My (limited) understanding of steels was that if you heat them, you screw up their temper and make them softer.

Any steels other than H1 that do this?

I am assuming there is some sort of limit as to how hard they can get (hopefully still softer than ceramic sharpening sticks)?

Thanks.
 
Initially the serrated edge blades are said to be 65 Rc and the plain edge 58-60 as I recall.
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure, but that does'nt sound right.

I think that it's a bit softer than 58.
I know that my Atlantic Salt is a breeze to sharpen and it has gotten lots of scratches on the sides of the blade from just light use.
I also filed the traction ridges on the hump and it was'nt difficult at all.
The blade-steel seems rather soft to me.

Allen.
 
Crucible Metal posted that the analysis they did on H1 found the blade to be 58 Rc along the spine and even greater at the edge.

Scratches show up on even the hardest blades. My ZDP 189 blade has scratches all over it too on both the ZDP part and the 420J2 from just daily use and cutting cardboard boxes with it and it is supposed to be Rc65.

The ease of sharpening has to do more with less wear resistance I think. I believe H1 is a pretty tough steel but has a low wear rate but I'm just going by my own experiences with my own blades to guess that.

STR
 
Does this mean that an H1 blade after several uses and sharpening will hold it's edge better than the ZDP ? Can you just heat the blade every now and then to get it to RC68 ? Wow, if this was true I will but an Atlantic salt as I always wanted. This would make this blade better than an expensive talonite.
 
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