ATS-55 we hardly knew ye!

elkins45

elkins45

Joined
Jun 17, 2006
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Whatever happened to ATS-55? I have a G-10 Rookie and an orange Rescue from the mid-90's that were both made of ATS-55. It seems like Spyderco was making a lot of knives fro this steel, then one day it just disappeared from the market.

I remember that ATS-34 was all the rage for several years, and you can still find knives made from it today, but the -55 variant seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. What happened to ATS-55?
 
Spyderco shifted from ATS-55 to VG-10 but at essentially at the same price point. So, when they made this choice, ATS-55 disappeared from the scene.

Most will agree that the added vanadium provides performance benefits.
 
Spyderco was using both ATS-55 and VG-10 at the same time. VG-10 showed better performance in the field, so it was adopted as the "standard" steel, and ATS-55 was dropped. I seem to recall Sal once posting that ATS-55 was formulated to his specifications rather than being a regular production steel.
 
It's a little funny...I have many more "advanced" steel Spydercos and BMs...but my SD EDC for more than 10 years has been a Delica 3 in ATS-55. Not a complaint in the world about the knife or the steel...I keep buying "better" knives but none have replaced it.
 
There's been a lot of general purpose stainless steels used over the years. I doubt the casual user would notice much difference cutting open packages.
 
shunsui said:
There's been a lot of general purpose stainless steels used over the years. I doubt the casual user would notice much difference cutting open packages.
Click to expand...

....but try a "super" steel like ZDP189 and you will have a different view :)
 
Andre said:
....but try a "super" steel like ZDP189 and you will have a different view :)
Click to expand...

I should add that I always have at least two knives on my body, and the ATS-55 blade is never used for chores like opening boxes. If it did, I might not still be so positive about it.
 
I have DELICA 3's ( serrated & combo edge ) in ATS-55. They are extremely sharp. I am impressed with this steel.
 
I only had a Rescue in ATS-55, but after a recent trade, I now have an Endura 3 and a Rescue Jr. in ATS-55 also.
 
I've always liked ATS-55. I like the fact that it was made to Sal's specs and I've never seen a knife from another company that had an ATS-55 blade. I've never had any complaints about performance, either.

If nothing else, it added another variant of a lot of knives for collectors.
 
IIRC, ATS-55 didn't do particularly well in Q-Fog testing, which was a major reason why it was phased out in favor of VG-10. I always thought it was a pretty good steel and never had any problems with it, but I like VG-10 better.
 
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