A not-so-tough H1 experience..
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:05 pm
Well, I guess I'll offset a little of the recent H1 and DLC praise with a slight reality check. No steel is immune to edge damage, and H1 is no exception. Despite recent reports of 180 degree bent tips and such, it will still chip and roll under the right circumstances.
And, it seems those circumstances would be cutting through two strands of coax cable at once. I didn't realize how much metal core there actually was in this stuff until it was too late. It also took a few good rips/sawing motions to get completely through it but by then the damage was done.
The cable I cut...and this is the ONLY cut I made..
The aftermath...
I've started back on the brown rods to try to smooth out those teeth, but you can see several of them are actually chipped off. This was the biggest surprise of all of this, I expected them to roll before actually chipping but there's actually only one tooth that's rolled and it's towards the tip of the blade. This isn't the end of the world for me, since I prefer the teeth to be more rounded than pointy, but the chipping was definitely a surprise. This also was far from being a factory edge and has been sharpened a whole lot of times, as is evident by the visible not-so-micro bevel. I can also assure you there was no burr or anything like that to cause the chips.
As for DLC, it's a pretty amazing coating but it too is not impervious to scratches. What you will see a lot of times are rub marks from other materials and even other metals, and these marks can often be polished off with some Flitz. I was able to get most of what looked like horrible scratches removed, but what you see left are actual scratches down to the metal. There is one scratch on the front side that has a gold hue to it that seems more like a metal transfer but for the life of me I can't get it to polish off.
I believe some of these ^^^ at the top flat part of the blade were actually there before this ordeal and I think they're from pocket change, but that's the best I could get them to polish away. That said, it's amazing how much of what looked like horrible scratches were in fact just transfer marks and they polished off. DLC is no joke. I'm fairly sure DLC is actually harder than the H1 underneath it. I would still expect it to scratch from other abuses like cutting up steel cans or any brushes with rocks or stuff that you really shouldn't be using a knife on anyway.
For anyone interested, here's a breakdown of what's inside a coax cable. That center core is solid copper.
I suppose another way to look at this is that H1 is in fact quite tough, since one has to wonder how other steels would have performed in the same situation. I'm still more surprised to see chips than rolled teeth though.
And, it seems those circumstances would be cutting through two strands of coax cable at once. I didn't realize how much metal core there actually was in this stuff until it was too late. It also took a few good rips/sawing motions to get completely through it but by then the damage was done.
The cable I cut...and this is the ONLY cut I made..
The aftermath...
I've started back on the brown rods to try to smooth out those teeth, but you can see several of them are actually chipped off. This was the biggest surprise of all of this, I expected them to roll before actually chipping but there's actually only one tooth that's rolled and it's towards the tip of the blade. This isn't the end of the world for me, since I prefer the teeth to be more rounded than pointy, but the chipping was definitely a surprise. This also was far from being a factory edge and has been sharpened a whole lot of times, as is evident by the visible not-so-micro bevel. I can also assure you there was no burr or anything like that to cause the chips.
As for DLC, it's a pretty amazing coating but it too is not impervious to scratches. What you will see a lot of times are rub marks from other materials and even other metals, and these marks can often be polished off with some Flitz. I was able to get most of what looked like horrible scratches removed, but what you see left are actual scratches down to the metal. There is one scratch on the front side that has a gold hue to it that seems more like a metal transfer but for the life of me I can't get it to polish off.
I believe some of these ^^^ at the top flat part of the blade were actually there before this ordeal and I think they're from pocket change, but that's the best I could get them to polish away. That said, it's amazing how much of what looked like horrible scratches were in fact just transfer marks and they polished off. DLC is no joke. I'm fairly sure DLC is actually harder than the H1 underneath it. I would still expect it to scratch from other abuses like cutting up steel cans or any brushes with rocks or stuff that you really shouldn't be using a knife on anyway.
For anyone interested, here's a breakdown of what's inside a coax cable. That center core is solid copper.
I suppose another way to look at this is that H1 is in fact quite tough, since one has to wonder how other steels would have performed in the same situation. I'm still more surprised to see chips than rolled teeth though.