What's ATS 34's pros and cons?

L

LeatherSnake

Joined
Aug 4, 2016
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As far as I know about ATS 34 that it's a stainless steel and it's rust resistant, but how is it on wear and corrosion?
 
Back in the day it was one of my favorite steels and it still is. It was hard to sharpen back then based on other steels of that time. By todays standards it is easy to sharpen. Corrosion resistance was not as good as 440C but better than D2. I never had a problem with serious chipping. I would say the the only real con today would be that other modern pm steels hold an edge longer, but I prefer it as it has more toughness. Yes, even though S30V was touted as having higher toughness in my real world experience ats34 was tougher. Is tougher.
 
I've heard its very similar to vg10. I personally really enjoy ats34. my designated fishing knife is made from it. Holds an edge well, gets very sharp. I've had no issues with rust.
 
Never had any corrosion problems with ATS34, but I'm not in high corrosive environments either. ATS34 when it was first introduced was a significant improvement over what was popular at the time, it's still not a bad steel to this day, similar to 154cm. I actually think it performs better than most people these days think it does. Like most industries I'd imagine every ~ decade we'll see a "changing of the guard" to the most popular production steel in the $100-$250 knife range. Partly because we need a new "supersteel" to get people to buy and partly because steels do evolve and availability/price etc. changes.

The most popular knife steels are not popular only because of their cutting/toughness performance they are popular because of the cost benefit to the manufacturer. The reason S30/S35 is so popular now has little to do with it's cutting performance/toughness (not that either are bad!) and more to do with it's availability, cost, and how easy it is to grind/heat treat which keeps production costs low and maximizes profits while maintaining performance. It is however something to keep in mind when you see $400+ "mid-tech" and custom knives with S30/S35 steel. There are better steel choices available so if I'm paying that much more for a knife I want better performing blade steel than comes in a sub $100 production knife.
 
Became enamored of ATS-34 back in the day when I picked up a Benchmade 970.

I worked on the docks at the time... salt water, creosote, etc. Never had a corrosion problem once.

The screws were a different matter, but the ATS-34 performed flawlessly.

Loved the stuff ever since.
 
Hitachi ATS-34 has the same composition as Crucible 154CM. Hitachi developed 154CM after Crucible had quality issues when they first started making 154CM after buying the formula from Climax Molybenum. Climax Molybdenum ("CM") had developed the alloy in the late 60's or early 70's for use at high temperatures for use in things such as turbines. The first couple of batches that Crucible made had problems. Crucible has of course long since fixed those issues and 154CM works just fine.

As far as performance, ATS-34 has approximately the same edge retention as 154CM, AUS10, VG10, and N690. It has improved edge retention compared to 440C. It has a lower edge retention than D2 or PM alloys such as S30V.
 
RWL-34 is quite a bit different from ATS-34. For one thing, RWL-34 is a powder steel, ATS-34 is a melt alloy.
 
LeatherSnake said:
Thanks for the help everyone, but is it as corrosion resistant as 154CM?
Click to expand...

My BM Grip in 154cm fell out of my pocket one day in December while visiting at my mother's house. buried itself in a pile of snow, and I didn't realize i'd lost it till I got home. By that time I also had no idea where I had lost it, and I gave up on the knife.

The following March I got a call from her to let me know she found a knife on the muddy ground where the snow had melted, and wanted to know if it was mine. Yup, she'd found my Grip.

When i grabbed it off her a few days later, I checked it over and it had one itty bitty spot of rust (about the head of a pin) that quickly rubbed off with some Remoil on a paper towel. That Grip is still going strong.

Since ATS34 and 154cm are essentially the same thing, I'd imagine they would have similar corrosion resistance.
 
I have a couple of old AFCKs, with just a tiny bit of discoloration on the blades. I also have an old EDI Genesis with bead blasted ATS34 blade (a horrible idea BTW). Stuff gets into the rough bead blasted finish and has lots of opportunity to stain the blade. I worked on cleaning it and managed to clean it up somewhat.

DSC_6655b.jpg


DSC_6670b.jpg
 
Hi! I just have one folder in ATS-34 and I like this steel quite much :thumbup:. Corrosion has never been an issue with minimum care and I use it quite much in food preps of sorts. Edge holding is fine for my light utility use as EDC and hiking/camping companion. It takes a very good edge. I sharpen it with a Lansky system.

Long info about my knife and steel here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1321112-G-Sakai-New-Folding-Hunter

I also can’t think at anything negative about this steel, exactly the opposite to be fair :) !

Take care!
 
When I first started getting into knives, my first two modern folders were in ATS-34. I bought a SOG Pentagon Elite circa 1996 (pre-arc lock), and then in 99 I got a mini Xray vision, with the then new arc lock. I beat the heck out of those knives. My dad sharpened them for me occasionally. I ended up losing both around 2004. Ended finding the xray though about 8 years later. No rust, had been in a box in the shed. It had been sharpened so many times, the edge was gone, and I had no idea how to create an edge on it. That's when I joined Bladeforums, for advice to replace it.

Despite all the new PM steels, I still think it's great. I actually like it better than 154cm, but it must have been a bad heat treat on my one 154 blade.

Sent via pony express
 
knarfeng said:
Hitachi ATS-34 has the same composition as Crucible 154CM. Hitachi developed 154CM after Crucible had quality issues when they first started making 154CM after buying the formula from Climax Molybenum. Climax Molybdenum ("CM") had developed the alloy in the late 60's or early 70's for use at high temperatures for use in things such as turbines. The first couple of batches that Crucible made had problems. Crucible has of course long since fixed those issues and 154CM works just fine.

As far as performance, ATS-34 has approximately the same edge retention as 154CM, AUS10, VG10, and N690. It has improved edge retention compared to 440C. It has a lower edge retention than D2 or PM alloys such as S30V.
Click to expand...

What he said.
 
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