[color:"blue"] Re: H1 steel and the Spyderco Salt series [/color]

You can find various reviews of the Salt 1 and a very detailed review of the Pacific Salt.

And here’s a couple of brief extracts from articles:

“On the Rockwell scale, H1 measures Rc 57-58…. Interestingly, this level of hardness is not produced as the result of the application of external heat. …the process of work-hardening alone is the responsible agent. This is borne out by some recent testing by the Crucible Specialty Metals metallurgical laboratory…conducted due to customer concerns that plain edge H1 blades don’t cut as long as serrated versions. ...during tests…the hardness progressively got harder the closer [the tester] got to the edge of the blades. While the core hardness of the blades that were tested measured in the high 50’s HRC, that hardness increased as the actual blade edge was approached. [The tester concluded]…the differences in the grinding operation…is causing the serrated blade to work-harden more, thus yielding a longer-lasting cutting edge.” [Durwood Hollis].

“H1 has a high corrosion resistance equivalent to 316 stainless (which has no carbon) [Butch Winter].”