AST34 questions

S

SR_matt

Joined
Jan 4, 2007
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(ya noticed i mistyped the name after i posted) ATS34 not ast

Hello,

Im looking at using some ast34 (looking to get some blanks made from great lakes waterjet and that is the usual steel they use for blanks). never have used it before, i am planing to sent it out for HT though but when it comes to working it i have a few questions. i see people say that it is "more stainless", so i need to use different belts than what i have been grinding my o1 on?

i know it is not as strong as S30V so im assuming i should keep a slightly thicker edge than what can be put on steels like S30V

how many people like to use this steel, any application it is better for?

and are there any special tips or tricks with this steel compared to plain old o1

i will probably have more questions but i cannot think of any more as of not

thanks
-matt
 
I have done some ATS34 and had the HT by Paul Bos. The edge depends more on what the final knife will be used for, I go down to about 0.020 for most but may keep up to 0.030 for a chopper. I would not worry about the strength difference since ATS 34 will hold a good edge and makes for a good stainless blade. If you send to Paul Bos you may want get really close to final edge and finish and use new belts to complete after HT. Its best where you need a stainless and may be worried about rusting. I use alot of O1 and A2.
 
ATS-34 is basically 154-cm.its good stuff! i've been using quite a bit of it recently. It grinds like any other steel i've used..,154,440c ect. i only grind a 45 degree edge bevel prior to heatreat,i leave it about .030 or a bit more,then after heatreat i take to .020 and grind my bevels. As long as you use good belts you'll be fine.
 
Love the stuff. Most of my combat knives have been ATS34. I have received nothing but praise for its edge holding and strength. Peters Heat treat does my HT work great people and all their priceing includes cryo treating
 
ATS34 is essentially the same as 154CM. They heat treat and perform identically IMHO. A small percentage of ATS34 has been known to harbour inclusions - which have a bad habit of showing up at around 800 grit - and just get bigger as you try to sand them out. I had 4 bad ones in about 250 blades. I have had no inclusion problems at all with 154CM.

Either one makes a great blade and they form the backbone of many maker's steel selections. I've only made a couple of tool steel blades - but I didn't find any difference grinding O1 or ATS34.

See article in Blade magazine Oct, 2006, pp 46.
 
Howdy There....!
I use ATS-34, & 440C both for my blades and have found them both to be very good steels. The HT process I beleive is very close, and my blade turn out very close as to hardness. I have a couple of things about both steels that are different, ATS to me seem to grind a little easier, as far as profiling and intial grind. 440C to me is a little hard material to profile and intial grind. One other thing that I have noticed is that ATS seems to mirror finish better thatn the 440C does, seem I have to work a little longer on the 440C to get the same finish. Hope this helps out, I really like both material very well.

Later "Possum":thumbup:
 
Howdy There....!
I use ATS-34, & 440C both for my blades and have found them both to be very good steels. The HT process I beleive is very close, and my blade turn out very close as to hardness. I have a couple of things about both steels that are different, ATS to me seem to grind a little easier, as far as profiling and intial grind. 440C to me is a little hard material to profile and intial grind. One other thing that I have noticed is that ATS seems to mirror finish better than the 440C does, seem I have to work a little longer on the 440C to get the same finish. Hope this helps out, I really like both material very well.

Later "Possum":thumbup:
 
You'll be surprised at how good ol' ATS-34 is. HT'd by Paul Bos to HRC 61, it performs pretty darn close to S30V. It's like a stainless version of D2.

For a hunter, shoot for an edge thickness of .010", for a heavy duty knife 0.020" works well.

Have fun with it. :)
 
thanks everyone. i was expecting to hear pretty good things but just wanted to check. i kinda figured out the comparisons are all relative between the steels being "harder" or "stronger" but 73*F is "hotter" than 72*

and thats such a huge difference </sarcasm>

should i swap put my belts that i was grinding O1 on though and keep separate ones for either steel?
-matt
 
I use Norton Blaze belts (ceramic) from Trugrit.com in 80 grit to rough grind a hunter, then clean up with 120, 220, 320 and then 400.

Belts you use for O1 will work (not sure what you're using), but ceramic belts work very well for both O1 and ATS-34. Just use the "good" belts for all your work, and you'll be happy. They last much longer and cut cleaner for better grind lines.
 
sorry i wasnt clear with my question, i am asking more so because i know you dont want to go from carbon steel to a stainless steel on the same belts because it can make the stainless rust. do i need to worry about this on ats34 or no?

i got a bunch of belts i think from trugrit and have a nice range including some cork belts but i have only really used the 80 grit that i picked up from them from just running out of time
-matt
 
Belts are belts. Using one belt to grind carbon steel and then stainless won't make it rust. ie. It won't change the composition of the steel ;)
 
well i had saw around here where people had said if they did it for some reason it left some bits of the carbon steel in that rusted then let the other steel rust

-matt
 
SR_matt said:
sorry i wasnt clear with my question, i am asking more so because i know you dont want to go from carbon steel to a stainless steel on the same belts because it can make the stainless rust. do i need to worry about this on ats34 or no?

-matt
Click to expand...

Ats-34 is stainless, it has 3% less chromium then 440c, but still enough chromum to be considered stainless. As for as I know, using same belts that you ground high carbon steels on, on stainless steels won't make it rust, cause rust is oxidation which is formed from water vapor and oxygen (usually) and belts won't cause that. Also, Ats-34 is a high carbon steel as well.
 
I know that when I worked on the spent fuel project at Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant you were not allowed to use the same grinding wheels/ belts on stainless after they had been used on carbon steel. You can embed small particles of the carbon steel into the stainless and cause it to rust.
 
The reason shops don't allow you to mix carbon and stainless grinding is because loose iron from the carbon steel can settle on the stainless and make it more prone to rust. The same thing can happen just from grinding stainless steel, just grinding it can leave loose iron on the surface, which rusts much faster than the alloy form. This is why we passivate stainless parts in acid.
 
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