Spyderco Salt Series Knives Means All Sharp, No Rust...

It’s the nightmare of knife maintenance hanging around like an unwanted house guest. Today’s knife blade steels are primarily iron, containing anything from trace levels up to 3.% or more carbon added. The more carbon, the harder and longer a blade holds a sharp cutting edge. The Achilles Heel of high carbon steel is chloride. When chloride and carbon steel meet their interaction results in rust, pitting and corrosion.

The Spyderco solution to your rust problems is the Salt Series of knives featuring H-1 steel. H-1 is a precipitation-hardened alloy with .1% nitrogen instead of carbon. Nitrogen performs like carbon in the steel’s matrix. Nitrogen and chloride have no affiliation to each other and physically cannot induce rust production.

H-1 holds a keen edge much like existing premium carbon-based knife steels. Independent testing by Crucible Steel Inc. shows H-1 work-hardens at its’ cutting edge when processed and sharpened. Friction increases its Rc hardness, elevating tensile strength and durability. Simply put, H-1 stays 100% rust free in fresh/saltwater and in humid conditions and the steel is hard enough to hold and take a performance sharp edge.