ATS-55

[Rhodies]

Anybody have an inkling on what hardness the ATS-55 is rated at? I have an older Spyderco Endura with ATS-55 Steel, thanks.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The steel is more or less comparable with 440C, in it's composition. As for hardness, that's entirely dependant on it's heat treat, which is dependant on whomever did the heat treat and can't be determined by the steel type alone. But in general, I'd assume it to be at least capable of similar hardness as 440C typically might be, of which most knives will likely be somewhere in the high-50s HRC, up to maybe ~60 HRC. But that's a very, very generalized and speculative assumption for what any one knife may be.

Edited to add:
You might ask the same question on Spyderco's forum, OR on the Spyderco sub-forum here on BF. It's possible someone there, maybe even Sal Glesser himself, might have specific info on what they were doing with heat treat on the ATS-55 knives, back in the day.


David

 

[Rhodies]

Thanks for your reply. I was guessing that it was a bit harder than traditional kitchen cutlery e.g. high carbon steel.