which salt?

G

gitarmac

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Jan 20, 2001
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I was skeptical about a good stainless steel but I keep reading about the wonders of H1 and think my next knife purchase should be a pacific salt. I am undecided as to which one I should get though (except for the handle, which should be yellow!). I would be using it for edc and food, I can't decided weather I should get the serrated or non-serrated. I have a cricket and a couple of dodo's in serrated because for what I use them for at work the serrations and blade curve really come in handy. I have an edura in serrated but don't carry it much, I don't know why, I think subconsiously I don't want to mess it up. I mostly carry my delica in plain edge.

I am concerned that the softer steel of the H1 might make the plain edge less usefull sooner. On the other hand I don't mind sharpening my knives and it looks like an easy shaped blade to sharpen.

What to do, what to do . . . . .
 
From what I've heard, H-1 gets better with each sharpening you perform on it. So a plain edge may get dull faster than a serrated, but once it's been sharpened, it should have even better edge holding. So really, it won't hurt to get a plain edge. Which one do you prefer?

Someone with more technical info, please feel free to correct me.
 
I prefer blade shapes like cricket and dodo serrated. I prefer long blades plain. Maybe I should get the large one in plain and later on I could get the smaller one in serrated maybe. I like to have my knives shaving sharp but don't use that test on a serrated blade, instead I test them on paper.

I had just read something on a different forum about benchmade dropping the H1 steel for something else. I can't remember what the steel they use in theirs is called but according to this one poster it's supposed to be better. This wasn't information from a knife forum, I wondered if anyone here knew otherwise.
 
For food prep I use my SaltI/PE. I have sharpened it a few times now and the edge is holding great by cutting soft foods. I find food prep the ONLY thing that's cut best with a plain edge. For all other chores I would opt for serrated.

Just a little story about edge holding of H1.

A few months back the 11 year daughter of my girlfriend went on a camp with her school. She had to bring a pocket knife with her, so I gave her my Salt I/PE. Before, I sharpened it shaving sharp(a dull knife is very dangerous)
She used the knife mainly for whittling. When she came back, the knife was still able to clean cut paper.

One of my favourite EDC's is the Pacific Salt/SE
 
My PE Pacific Salt gets plenty of use and keeps a good edge. I keep it sharpened at 40 on the sharpmaker with a fairly rough edge for microserrations. It won't shave but it cuts like crazy. It is the perfect knife for me for carying while mountain biking, doing yard work, or anything near salt water.

I am trying to decide right now whether to get a Salt I or a Pacific for having an H1 SE to go along with the PE Pacific.

Is it true that the clip on these is titanium?
 
cmd said:
My PE Pacific Salt gets plenty of use and keeps a good edge. I keep it sharpened at 40 on the sharpmaker with a fairly rough edge for microserrations. It won't shave but it cuts like crazy. It is the perfect knife for me for carying while mountain biking, doing yard work, or anything near salt water.

I am trying to decide right now whether to get a Salt I or a Pacific for having an H1 SE to go along with the PE Pacific.

Is it true that the clip on these is titanium?
Click to expand...

IIRC the new ones are..
 
I think I posted this somewhere before, but I forget where so I'll go at it again.

I have the plain edge Salt 1. The steel takes a very smooth fine edge easily. If you like sharpening, you will probably appreciate how easy it is to get it extremely sharp. When I first got it the edge was a little weird, but that went away with a few sharpening rounds.

As the edge wears down, it does not burr or get all ragged, and it maintains a very smooth edge. It gets dull, but still makes smooth cuts. As spydutch noted, it still cuts paper cleanly without skips or tears even after being used. It's a great knife for opening mail :). It's interesting that whittling didn't do much damage either. Maybe the hardness really is increasing with good sharpening, as I would have been worried that an intense application like that would have caused a burr as it would with any knife of medium hardness, but a clean cut through paper is a pretty good way to rule out a deformed edge.

It does wear down faster than the "good" steels. If you use a knife a lot and only ever use that one knife, an H1 blade would wear down and need to be replaced before any of the other standard "good" steels (this would still probably be a really long time). But it wears down "better," while a lot of steels quickly get a badly deformed edge that doesn't cut well. If you have a blade and you can feel a burr from both sides, it could cut better, depending on the job, if the over-hanging bits of steel had just worn off rather than mushrooming out.

Anyway, I say try it out with the plain edge if you prefer that version. It's far better described as a good steel in general than one of those table impliment steels that sacrifice virtually all edge holding to be stainless. H1 is a decent steel even without the rust-free feature.
 
I love the plain-edge Atlantic Salt (with yellow handle of course).
It's like a large utility knife or a very strong straight razor.
And the choil offers quite a few different grip options when cutting.

BTW, I have found very few cutting tasks that a serrated-edge could do better than a sharp plain-edge.

Good luck,
Allen.
 
We did test X-15TN. It didn't meet our standards, so we didn't pursue it. The current clips are made out of Titanium (although, we've not been made aware of any issues with the original clips).

Hope this information helps.

Kristi
 
I really love the Salt line of knives, thats one reason I have three of them, the Atlantic se, Pacific pe and a se Salt 1. They are all with yellow handles. You really can't go wrong with these knives. My choice if I were to have just one would be a se Pacific Salt. I use these knives outdoors alot. The Atlantic se when kayaking, the Salt 1 se when working in the yard and I take the Pacific pe and Salt 1 se combo when backpacking or out in the woods.
 
I had a PE Salt I until I lost it. It apparently jumped out of my waistband when I was mtn biking on a cold day - too many slick nylon layers, never felt a thing:(
Anyway, this was my EDC both at work and when running/cycling/sweating. I liked the bladeshape better than my (VG10) delica for at work, and although I like VG10 better in general, the H1 edge held up pretty well, was easy to sharpen with my sharpmaker, and never ever ever showed any signs of rust (naturally) despite the nasty corrosive environment it often lived in (my waist band) (although maybe that's why it left me, snif).
---------- <- bottom line
I'm gonna buy another one, I liked it that much. (I also have a Pacific salt that I use as a field knife when working around brackish/salty water).
 
cmd said:
My PE Pacific Salt gets plenty of use and keeps a good edge. I keep it sharpened at 40 on the sharpmaker with a fairly rough edge for microserrations. It won't shave but it cuts like crazy. It is the perfect knife for me for carying while mountain biking, doing yard work, or anything near salt water.

I am trying to decide right now whether to get a Salt I or a Pacific for having an H1 SE to go along with the PE Pacific.

Is it true that the clip on these is titanium?
Click to expand...


I think I may go with that strategy as well, start out with the larger plain edge salt, and later prehaps get the serrated salt 1. This has all been very good info. I've also been doing some searches as well. I can't believe I dismissed the salts before! I'm looking forward to having a low maintainence knife.
 
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