ATS-55? Exclusive blade steel?

J

JD Spydo

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Nov 20, 2004
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One BF Forum Brother on the Spyderco slot just raised an interesting question regarding Spyderco's older ATS-55 blade steel. I had never even thought about it before but one of the guys on the thread had wondered who else beside Spyderco here in the states ever used it on production knives?

I personally can't think of anyone who has. Was this great blade steel an exclusive between the makers of the steel and Spyderco only? Plus it seemed to have a fairly short tenure. I can only recall it being offered in Spyderco's knives for only about 2 to 3 years.

If any of you guys/gals has the straight scoop on this unique blade steel I would appreciate you sharing it with us. My main EDC which is a Spyderco C-44 big Dyad is made of ATS-55 and I have super performance out of it and find it relatively easy to maintain. Also does anyone know whether or not this blade steel was ever available to custom knife makers here in the USA?
 
My fully serrated Military is made of ATS-55. It sure seems to hold up without touching up to keep it "Ripping Sharp".

I also have a Wayne Goddard design "round hole" with half serrations and it also is still razor sharp after having it for several years now.

Ciao
Ron
:eek:
 
I think that I have read somewhere that ATS-55 was proprietary (sp?) to Spyderco. I can't seem to find where I read that though, maybe it's in the Spyderco Story.

Ron,

Could you post a picture of your Military? I have never seen one in ATS-55.

Bruceter
 
Found it!

Page 227 of the Spyderco Story.

"Spyderco is the exclusive user of ATS-55 in the United States"


Bruceter
 
Bruceter said:
I think that I have read somewhere that ATS-55 was proprietary (sp?) to Spyderco. I can't seem to find where I read that though, maybe it's in the Spyderco Story.

Ron,

Could you post a picture of your Military? I have never seen one in ATS-55.

Bruceter
Click to expand...

Bruceter,
OOPS!, This is the second time I have made this mistake, my Military is not ATS-55, the blade is marked CPM 440V. I don't know how much difference CPM440V is to ATS-55.
However, the Wayne Goddard is indeed ATS-55.

Sorry for the mistake.
Ciao
Ron
:jerkit:
 
muzzleup said:
Bruceter,
OOPS!, This is the second time I have made this mistake, my Military is not ATS-55, the blade is marked CPM 440V. I don't know how much difference CPM440V is to ATS-55.
However, the Wayne Goddard is indeed ATS-55.

Sorry for the mistake.
Ciao
Ron
:jerkit:
Click to expand...

440V blade steel is great>> that is until you have to sharpen it :eek: Of all the blade steels and chisel steels I've ever sharpened 440V is without a doubt the meanest, most abrasion resistant steel I have ever encountered. I knew your Military was not ATS-55. Because the Military has always been a Golden Colorado Spyder and they mainly use Crucible or some other american blade steels in that model.

Now don't get me wrong because I have 3 user Spydercos that have 440V in them and they are great knives. But don't even ever try to sharpen one if you happen to be in a bad mood :o Because that steel will make the tamest gentlemen or lady start cussing like they haven't done in while :D

But I don't think I've ever seen ATS-55 listed anywhere except for Seki City Japan made Spydercos :cool:
 
Its very similar to ATS34.I believe the only difference is a little Cobalt added
 
I can see where 440V would be a pain in the butt to resharpen, especially with most of the blade being serrated. The secret ,as you well know. is to not let it get dull in the first place but when it does I have a whole lot of different diamond sharpening tools in my shop.

The one knife that has given me fits to try and sharpen is a Tops Pasayten made from 154CM and hardened to Rc 59-60. I have a lot of knives from 154CM but none of them drive me nuts like the Pasayten. Not only that, but I have still to find a nich into where this blade will fit for me. I know that Steven Dick designed this blade so he must have somewhere he uses it. Maybe I will just turn it into a throwing knife. :confused: :eek:
 
M Wadel said:
how is ats55 compared to 154cm/ats34? or which would you choose, 154cm or ats-55?
Click to expand...

The one brother who made a comparison of ATS-55 to ATS-34 is pretty accurate. ATS-55 has additional alloying metals>> namely cobalt & copper. I have always been told that ATS-55 is for all intent and purposes a beefed up version of ATS-55. But that ain't bad because my experiences with ATS-34 had always been good experiences.

Also keep in mind that Spyderco used ATS-34 in some of their premier, Golden Colorado made knives i.e. the Military, the 2 Centofante II models, the 2 Bob Terzuola models C-15 & C-19, the highly coveted C-27 jigged bone Jess Horn and I think a couple of others I can't remember off the top of my head. In other words it was the S-30V of it's day. It truly was the standard that other blade steels had to match up to.
 
If ATS-55 was so good, where is it today? I've read that it was the wonder steel produced for spyderco and replaced by VG-10. I've also read that it was a single low cost batch of ATS-34-like steel that was made to reduce materials costs and also provide a marketing advantage (i.e. a proprietary high carbon steel like CarbonV). I've heard tell around the campfire that the additional elements were not added, just a sign of lower purity, thus no ATS-34 designation and lower production cost. When the batch was used up, and there was little cache attached to ATS-55, the marketing incentive was not realized and thus the steel went away. But that's just knifelore AKA rumor, either way the steel's gone away. I believe ATS-55 was not used in US or European production but was used in the Japanese made spydercos. Never seen ATS55 outside of a spyderco. My ATS55 Harpy was prone to chipping and my ATS55 matriarch likes to rust in my pocket.
 
I have the Lum tanto folder in ATS-55 and it's been a good steel all in all.

brownshoe - you sure have had some bad luck with Spyderco products. Sorry to once again hear of their dissapointing performance for you.
 
ATS-55 is essentially ATS-34 with the moly removed. Note some of the diferences in composition are actually not actually different as a lot of the elements are in every steel but just not listed because they are known to be there.

Moly is used in ATS-34 because it is needs a high heat resistance. Many makers decided eventually that a low temper was better for knives though this was of some debate with very well respected makers on both sides.

However if you don't want such a strong secondary hardening then you don't need as much moly.

-Cliff
 
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