← Steels
Stainless steel
H-2
Spyderco's nitrogen-alloyed successor to H-1, made for saltwater. Corrosion resistance is effectively total -- this is the one steel on the site you can leave wet -- and it is bought for that, not for edge retention, which is modest. It sharpens easily and takes a serrated edge particularly well.
- Typical hardness
- 57-59 HRC
- Edge retention
- 2/5
- Toughness
- 4/5
- Corrosion resistance
- 5/5
- Ease of sharpening
- 4/5
1-5 is a relative ranking drawn from published composition and hardness, not a lab measurement. Higher is better on every axis, and no steel is a 5 across the board — edge retention and toughness pull against each other.
The knife in H-2