Aus-10

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ricklee4570

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Aug 12, 2010
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Anybody have any experience with AUS-10 steel. Cant seem to find much on it. It looks like it has the characterisitics to be a good edge holder.
 
It's similar to 440C, but probably a bit tougher and able to take a better edge. It shouldn't be as rust-resistant as 440C, though.
 
Realistically, probably about the same as 440C. It can probably get slightly harder, but not enough makers use it to get a good heat treat down.

And on the other hand, AUS-10 does have some Nickel added which would aid in corrosion resistance (originally, looking at the lower chromium content made it look less corrosion-resistant than 440C). Not sure how it balances out in the end.

In real-world use, it's probably safe to say that it will perform similarly to 440C. If knife makers go serious with it, it could probably outperform 440C, but most makers seem to stick with 440C anyway.
 
Ankerson said:
It's the Japanese vers of 440C.
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Yeah. Could have just said that to save time, but there are some slight difference that gives AUS-10 the potential to be marginally better. It's just that use of the steel is too rare for anyone to capitalize on that potential.
 
Some of the V&T Double Actions from a few years back used AUS10 as well. I used to own a blue anodized version with AUS10
 
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ricklee4570 said:
Anybody have any experience with AUS-10 steel. Cant seem to find much on it. It looks like it has the characterisitics to be a good edge holder.
Click to expand...

I have a blade in AUS10. (A Junglee Marshall.)
My blade has a measured hardness of 58HRC. At that hardness, the edge retention is similar to 440C, also at 58HRC. I did side-by-side manila rope cutting comparisons and could not tell them apart in edge retention.

A lot of Japanese knife-makers used to use it, but many have switched to VG10.

Very nice stuff.
 
A.G. Russell had two fixed blades in AUS-10: the 1862 Bowie and the Field Knife, both at 59-61 hardness, I believe. (I just discovered those.)

~Chris
 
orca8589 said:
A.G. Russell had two fixed blades in AUS-10: the 1862 Bowie and the Field Knife, both at 59-61 hardness, I believe. (I just discovered those.)

~Chris
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I find that this steel is nearer to ATS-34 than 440C. I began using 440C about 1970 and was never able to get the hardness higher than 59 Rc.
 
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