# H-1 steel knife blade, which ones have it?



## Ctechlite (Apr 16, 2007)

Hello folks, looking for some advice on knives with H-1 steel blades. I'm looking for a folder, maybe with a titanium handle if it's not too expensive. I've got not much experience with knife manufacturers and have only found Spyderco Salt series thru my google/web searches and a fixed blade dive knife that will not suit my needs.

Thanks in advance for your time.


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## revolvergeek (Apr 16, 2007)

I think that Benchmade uses it on a couple of their fixed blade river / rescue knives.


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## CLHC (Apr 16, 2007)

So far, the only ones that I know of for folders with said steel are the ones from Spyderco. Other than that, there's the fixed hunter from Fallkniven.


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## NoFair (Apr 17, 2007)

Spyderco makes H1 folders. All have FRN handles. 

A guy with the username STR on Bladeforums makes titanium/wood/micarta handles for these. I don't know his prices, but his work looks great.

Sverre


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## Steve Andrews (Apr 17, 2007)

revolvergeek said:


> I think that Benchmade uses it on a couple of their fixed blade river / rescue knives.



They used to use it on the 100SH2O knife and 6H2O Rescue Hook, but changed over to X15TN steel.



CHC said:


> . Other than that, there's the fixed hunter from Fallkniven.


H1 is the model, not the blade steel (which is laminated VG10)


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## revolvergeek (Apr 17, 2007)

Opps, sorry for the dup. Apparently we were typing at pretty much the same time. 

Apparently Benchmade used to make the # 6 Rescue Hook and # 100sH20 in H1, but changed to 'X15' steel last year.


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## CLHC (Apr 17, 2007)

Steve Andrews said:


> H1 is the model, not the blade steel (which is laminated VG10)


Ahh, so I stand corrected on that one.



revolvergeek said:


> . . .Benchmade used to make the. . .100sH20 in H1, but changed to 'X15' steel. . .


That's what I read too.


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## Jaybee64 (Apr 17, 2007)

Chris - pm sent.

JB


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## MacTech (Apr 17, 2007)

I have each type of Salt in my collection (with the exception of the unreleased 2007 models like the Saver Salt), and they're all great knives, i have;
Pacific Salt PE
Atlantic Salt SE
Salt 1 SE
Tasman Salt (one PE, one SE)

of those four, the Tasmans and the Pacific see the most use

When Spyderco says H-1 is rustproof, it *IS* rustproof, i've torture tested a Salt 1 in a hypersaline rock-salt based fog chamber (2.5 gallon aquarium with an ultrasonic fogger), the Salt 1 withstood TWO WEEKS in the chamber with nary a speck of rust, conversely, a mundane Sheffield Hawkbill "Stainless Steel" knife (available in Home Despot and wally-world) showed rust spotting in a *half hour* and actual rust in an *hour*....

H-1 also is incredibly easy to sharpen, and takes a killer edge, properly sharpened H1 is terrifyingly sharp, it's almost a monomolecular level of sharpness, edge holding is decent, it's no S30V or VG-10, but it's good, i'd say it's up there with AUS-8

H-1 steel also "Work Hardens", the more you cut with it and the more you sharpen it, the harder the edge gets, sometimes into the low 60 Rockwell hardness, the more you use it, the better it gets

H-1 can be treated roughly, and thanks to it's high ductability, it's easy to rework, for example, i mashed the tip of my SE Tasman against a metal hand cart when cutting open some boxes, completely rounded over and mushroomed the very tip, 5 minutes with a coarse sharpening stone and i was able to recreate/regrind the tip, and since H-1 work-hardens, the tip i created is much stronger than the factory tip

the downsides to H-1?

well, as stated before, it doesn't have as much edgeholding ability as S30V or VG-10, but makes up for it by being so darned easy to resharpen, it also responds very well to stropping
Also, due to the softness of the steel, H-1 scratches very easily, it's a working steel, and it shows it, it'll never be a pretty steel, as even cutting a simple cardboard box will cause cosmetic scratches

H-1 is a true miracle *working* steel, takes a killer edge, holds it for an acceptable amount of time, is forgiving of abuse, and easily reworked, it won;t stay pretty, but if you want a true ignorable *working* knife, it's an excellent steel

as far as the FRN handles go, they're lightweight, yes, but also exceptionally durable, FRN (Fiberglass Reinforced Nylon) is *not* cheap plastic, it's durable, resilient stuff, and can stand up to heavy use and abuse

the Salt series is the ultimate working knife, a knife that doesn't need to be babied, can take a pounding, and come back asking for more


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## Echo63 (Apr 18, 2007)

the spyderco Salt series are H1
they are completley rustproof 
they also have a painted titanium clip that can be polished and then Anodized or flame coloured for a really nice Custom look

i own both the Pacific and Atlantic salts, both in PE
one of them is in my pocket 24/7 
if i dont have pockets they are either IWB or nearby

sharpening is easy, they respond well to a strop and it is easy to rework if you ding the edge

just be aware that H1 blades get scratched so quickly its not funny
but that just encourages you to use the hell out of it


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