pacific salt questions

matt1987

matt1987

Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Messages
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hello all, im interested in picking up a pacific salt sometime soon. but due to not having a quality knife store near by i need to resort buying from the net. so i have a few questions about this knife...

1-do linerless frn handles flex easy when you use the knife?
2-how does the frn handles compare to g-10 in terms of strength, grippyness when wet, etc?
3-i had heard in a review that the H-1 steel gets harder as you use and sharpen the blade. is this true?
4-what steel is H-1 most close to in terms of edge retention?
5-and finally, when will the screw down handles become regularly available?

thanks alot!!
 
Hi Matt-
1-FRN is tough material, but not indestructible. It should handle daily use just fine, proof is the many, many people here that carry and use them without breakage.
2-Personal preference, both are good and grippy.
3-H1 steel is work hardened yes, but I think it would take a little more work than your standard use and sharpening. Corrosion resistance is the ticket here.
4-I'd say 8CrMoV13 or Sandvik 13C stype steels.
5-Rolling change on the screws, hard to say but when the pinned knives are all sold out the screw construction will be available.
 
I have a salt 1, so i'll answer based on my experience with that...
1 - No...they are really pretty tough. I haven't tried to cut through concrete or anything like that, but in term of general daily use cutting up boxes, food prep (i made dinner using only my salt 1)...I think it works just fine.
2 - FRN volcano grip scales get more grippy when they are wet. My friend goes fishing all the time with his Pacific Salt, and he said the grip just gets more secure.
3 - Yes. Beat the crap out of it, and then resharpen...rinse and repeat.
4 - Probably a bit less than vg10. More along the lines of the basic steel that kershaw uses. This knife isn't really meant to be a super edge retainer though. The key, like RevDevil said is the fact that this bad boy is waterproof!
5 - Mine, which I got about a month ago has the new torx bit construction. I guess just try to find a place that sells the new ones. I know my friend's is the old style, but he got his last summer.


Hope that helps!
 
I can tell you the black Pacific Salt my wife got me for Christmas from Cutlery Shoppe is screw construction and not pinned.
 
i just recently purchased one and it has the screws. another question: are all the metal pieces on salts made of H-1 or just the blade?
 
They are 100% rust free - the only thing that rusts are the residual particles from the etching of the number 1 on the blade. I swam for hours at a time in Maui with mine and it came out like the way it started. Perfetc and rust free.

The Number 1 etching on the blade turned red though but that is one of this knife's idosyncrasies. It doesn't perpetuate past the residual etching particles from the laser bit though.

The Spyderco Pacific Salt is one of the most care free folders on the planet if not the most. Mine is one of my BOB folders for that very reason.

Samillus said:
i just recently purchased one and it has the screws. another question: are all the metal pieces on salts made of H-1 or just the blade?
Click to expand...
 
Samillus said:
i just recently purchased one and it has the screws. another question: are all the metal pieces on salts made of H-1 or just the blade?
Click to expand...

Just the blade. The clip is titanium, the other hardware is other high corrosion resistence steels. Those other steels don't hold an edge, so they don't work for blades, but they cost a lot less than H-1.
 
thanks for the answers. im still kinda torn between a pacific salt or a blue endura 4 ffg lol. but anyway, i read the reason for the salt series to be made linerless is because they couldn't use h-1 steel and keep the cost down but why didn't spyderco make liners with the same metal used to make the other hardware?
 
They wanted to create a care-free, easy-to-use knife for dirty, wet conditions for a price most people cann afford without breakting the bank - the knife was meant to be (ab)used on a daily basis after all, not being a safe queen after costing an arm and a leg.

Of course, it should have been possible to redesign an gen4 Endura/Delica handle with all stainless hardware, but

a) that would have involved lots of work, cost and time to develop (--> c) )
b) the resulting knife would have all those little crevices just like the regular Endura/Delica 4, which would have made the rinsing/cleaning/drying process much more complicated and

c) it would have driven up the cost of the final knife (materials, labor) too much to be affordable and used as intended any more.

Plus, the D/E 3 handle is a proven design and still used for other knives, mostly sprint runs (brwon Matriarch) because it is just a great, simple and working construction.

Dennis
 
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Not to mention those expensive molds were already paid for. ;)

Seriously, the Salt series started as an experiment. There wasn't enough real world data to be certain how the steel was going to work in knives or how it would be received by the public, so they were designed using extisting tooling where possible to minimize the risk. Now that they are established, they have converted to screw construction, but they've retained the one-piece handles because, quite frankly they work. More parts just means more things to go wrong and more weight to lug around.
 
yablanowitz said:
Not to mention those expensive molds were already paid for. ;)

Seriously, the Salt series started as an experiment. There wasn't enough real world data to be certain how the steel was going to work in knives or how it would be received by the public, so they were designed using extisting tooling where possible to minimize the risk. Now that they are established, they have converted to screw construction, but they've retained the one-piece handles because, quite frankly they work. More parts just means more things to go wrong and more weight to lug around.
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbup:
I personally like the FRN handles the way they come on the H-1 series. The only thing I wished they would improve on, were the studs. And look at it now, they make the H-1 series with screwed construction. AWESOME!:thumbup::thumbup::D
 
I've had a yellow, PE Pacific Salt for about 19 months now, and carry/use it a lot. Mine is the older style, with the pinned construction. I wouldn't try to chop down a tree with it, but for the duties of a good-sized folding knife, it will hold up for whatever cutting task you ask of it. I heard that H-1 is comparable in edge-holding to AUS-8, but I've found it holds an edge somewhat better than Aus-8. I also own a SE version, but prefer the PE for EDC. If you try to cut something a bit hard, like wire with the SE, the edge can roll, but with a Sharpmaker, you can realign the serrated edge fairly easily.

I want to buy another PE Pacific with the screw construction, too. I already own a yellow SE Spyderhawk Salt with the torx construction, which I also EDC. The torx construction does make it feel noticeably more 'solid' around the pivot area.

I absolutely love the Pacific Salt. It may be plain-looking, but it's so useful and easy to maintain. Plus, I prefer to carry mine in-pocket, clip and all, instead of clipping it, and it's so flat and light that I hardly notice it until I need it.
Jim
 
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