Fallkniven F1 V's H1

[rapidboy]

I have owned my F1 for about a year and i have been very pleased with the knife.
It doesn't see as much use as my WS Woodlore (my preferred knife for most outdoor activity) but i have found it a pleasure to use and certainly lives up to it's reputation as a good all round bushcraft knife.
The VG10 blade is rust and stain resistant and holds an edge well.
The spine is square and casts an amazing shower of sparks from a firesteel.
I don't have particularly large hands but one niggle with the F1 is that i find the handle a little slim in profile, especially for extended carving sessions.
The VG10 stainless and Thermorun handle make this an easy knife to clean after game / fish preparation and the handle remains grippy even when wet.
The H1 on paper would seem to be quite similar to the F1 and this is why i found it hard to justify buying one.
When i did eventaully get one quite recently ,i discovered the H1 has a character all of it's own.
Both are the same overall length, feature a protruding tang and use the same triple laminated VG10 steel.
The H1 has a much fuller handle and the softer Kraton is easier on the hand and slightly grippier than the F1.
The F1 blade is fairly thick but the H1 is even thicker but it still slices surprisingly well, even coping with finely slicing tomatoes.
Neither knife is particularly suited to chopping but both work well with a batton.

Both of these came with the "dangler" sheaths.
I wasn't very impressed with either, the H1 has a liner and i find it makes it quite difficult to insert the knife.
I do quite like the idea of the dangler sheath when wearing a back pack.
I have made replacement sheath for both with firsteel holders as both work very well with firesteels.

Spec's:

F1
Total length: 210 mm (8.3")
Blade length: 97 mm (3.8")
Blade thickness: 4.5 mm (0.18"), tapered
Tang: Broad, protruding tang
Weight (knife): 150 g (6oz)
Steel: Lam. VG10
Blade hardness: 59 HRC
Handle: Thermorun

H1
Total length: 8.3" (210 mm)
Blade length: 4" (100 mm)
Blade thickness: 0.2" (5 mm)
Tang: Broad, protruding tang
Weight (knife): 180 g (6.3 oz)
Steel: Lam. VG10
Blade hardness: 59 HRC
Handle: Kraton®

I can honestly say the H1 was a huge surprise.
I never imagined it would be better than the F1 but it is and i can see this one being used a lot.
For me, my new H1 makes my F1 redundant.

If your in the market for a new knife and thinking about an F1 do yourself a favour and check out the H1 as well.

rb

 

[Phil562]

Thanks for that mate and theirs me trying my hardest not to spend this month

 

[Tutchi]

Hi RB
thought it was difficult to get sparks from SS? Been toying with the idea of the F1 but the doubt about the sparks was putting me off. Now you have put me off the F1 in favour of the H1

Rgds
Tutchi

 

[rapidboy]

SS makes sparks just as well as carbon steel, it's the square spine does the job.
Firesteels will work with a wide range of materials inc's glass and flint as long as you have a good square edge.
The F1 and H1 have really square spines and the shower of sparks from either is amazing.
You could almost weld with them

rb

 

[bushtuckerman]

Tutchi, do you mean with flint or with ferrous rods? I think you need carbon steel when used with flint.

 

[OldJimbo]

That would be with ferro and I'll agree that they do an amazing job.

Having both (and A1, WM1) I agree that the H1 quickly became the favorite despite my not liking thick knives and despite all the blades getting lots of reprofiling. Where I live the continuous curve blade of the H1 gets lots of thin fuzzies whittled despite the blade being thicker. The only thing that remains is to do a decent rehandling with wood because while I find the factory handle OK, if Jean-Marc says rehandling has a positive effect then I certainly believe him!

 

[weekend_warrior]

Excellent review - thanks! :You_Rock_

 

[Tutchi]

Tutchi, do you mean with flint or with ferrous rods? I think you need carbon steel when used with flint.

What do I know? From reading posts etc I got that impression? Thats why I asked.

Jimbo
I see the F1 is offered with a different handle but I don't think the H1 is.

RB do you know?

Cheers
Tutchi

 

[bushtuckerman]

well i'll put it this way, i have gotten sparks with an old opinel (high carbon) but not with stainless when using flint.

If you want a shower of ferro rod sparks then use something with a square edge, it'll do the job (in this case it's the magnesium that produces the violence, as opposed to the relatively pathetic sparks from the edge of your carbon steel).

The Fallknivens are made with stainless so you'd have your work cut out to get a spark off them with a piece of flint.

I didn't want to come across as patronising but i should have been clearer.

hope that helps

 

[Tutchi]

I didn't want to come across as patronising but i should have been clearer.

hope that helps [/QUOTE]

No probs M8
was taught at an early age that only a fool asks no questions when he is in doubt

Cheers
Tutchi

 

[bushtuckerman]

very good point, then i'm glad the forum is doing what it's supposed to.

 

[leon-1]

What do I know? From reading posts etc I got that impression? Thats why I asked.

Jimbo
I see the F1 is offered with a different handle but I don't think the H1 is.

RB do you know?

Cheers
Tutchi

Hi mate, the H1 is not offered with a different handle material as far as I know, however JM has rehandled other factory models.

Both the F1 and H1 are available as blade only options, the H1 blade does cost a little bit more than the F1 blade (IIRC about £10 difference) and there are members both here and on BB who have placed handles on both the F1 and H1.

I think that the H1 is now about £100 to buy and the F1 a bit cheaper as a factory model unless it has a micarta handle in which case the F1 costs about £120, I hope this helps,

Leon.

 

[OldJimbo]

This was the original H1 in fancy grade, but I seem to remember Peter saying that it was a pretty limited run and long sold out. I've never seen one up for sale.

 

[Lurch]

Shame, it's a beauty.
Just got my micarta F1, a joy to use and look at.

 

[Tutchi]

This was the original H1 in fancy grade, but I seem to remember Peter saying that it was a pretty limited run and long sold out. I've never seen one up for sale.

Now we are cooking with gas That looks really good.

The rest of you guys, thanks for your input. Cheers.

Tutchi

 

[OldJimbo]

You'll notice the slightly extended handle that covers the normal extended tang. I get by with the normal rubber handle and think it's an excellent shape and size - but when Jean-Marc rehandled one he insisted on making a larger wooden handle that would look about like the original wooden handled H1.
Nomad's H1

Bogdan did his with scales rather than mortised tang, because it doesn't get that cold where he is.
Bogdan's H1

I bought a whole bunch of handle scales in exotic woods, but they're all 3/8" and so not thick enough for a mortised tang which is what I would want... Otherwise the router would be out! The rubber handle does work for me, so the real story is that I'm not in that much in a hurry...

Some people might want to leave the extended tang so that they can baton the knife point first through branches into a handy log, to open a split by then prying on the branch. I can recount a very embarrassing story of how I made a very effective knife throwing atlatl when I wrenched on a 6' branch, and the knife came free of the log....

The one thing I would encourage people to get on with, in regards to the H1 or other Falknivens is to reprofile. Blades are purpose driven and these are made for abuse with steep edges. Even with that, some people had trouble with micro-chipping on bone. I'd figure that to be due to parts of the edge still hard from laser cutting or the coarse stones used for factory grinding leaving scratches that joined and left weak spots. We're talking micro, not chunks falling out. With serious honing and polishing even of the original edge, that will never be seen.
But even a thick knife should be able to do this:

If a knife will free cut a really thin cigarette paper, then it'll certainly work for fuzzies. Notice that you can't get a straight cut due to the thickness of the blade. Gradually, bit by bit, the blade has come quite a ways since then.

 

[OldJimbo]

Oh - I forgot to include link to a bunch of handle pics, if anyone is interested:
Handle pics