Aus 10a?

[MicroAlign]

Anybody know how this stainless steel rates compared to other common stainless steels?

 

[anthony cheeseboro]

It is supposed to be a very good steel. I remember Sal Glesser saying that it is not quite as corrosion resistant as some other steels. I think it is at least as good as ATS-55. I currently have a Solo folder in AUS-10. It sharpened easily and its sharp as it can be.

 

[Josh M]

Very good information in the steel FAQ:

http://www.bladeforums.com/features/faqsteel.shtml

 

[Sal Glesser]

Hi MicroAlign. AUS-10, sometimes call 10A (for short) is a steel made by Aichi foundry in Japan. It is a very refined stainless steel with about 1% carbon content.

AUS-6, AUS-8, and AUS-10 all have the same alloys and differ only in the carbon content. The greater the carbon, the greater the edge retention.

Abrasion resistance (edge retention) is about on a par with ATS-34.
Corrosion resistance is also on a par with the ATS steels.

Aichi's heat treating requirements are very specific and include cryo in the process.

It is an expensive steel to purchase and process, but performance of the Aichi made product is very good.

I have not yet seen "knock offs" of the steel.

sal

 

[Mark J]

It is an expensive steel to purchase and process...

Maybe that's why I see very few knives using AUS10. Perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong places, but I'd like to have production knives with this choice of steel more often. Oh well.

- Mark

 

[thombrogan]

Blackjack uses AUS-10 for some of their stainless fixed blades

 

[Sal Glesser]

Spyderco still makes a stainless Native with AUS-10. There is also a Buttonlock Solo model that SFO (Spyderco Factory Outlet) has at a close-out price that is much value for the $. (AUS-10 - G-10 scales - nested Walker-linerlock with button release. I think it's about $30.

Thom mentioned Blackjack. Cold Steel has used it. I'm not aware of any other mfrs using the steel.

sal

 

[anthony cheeseboro]

I can vouch for the Solo. It is one of the best deal on a knife that I know of. If they last I will definitely buy a few more.

 

[u812]

I love AUS 10.I wish more Spydercos were offered with it.

 

[ivan_yulaev]

I believe AUS-10 is a copy of 154CM or 440C, which are both very high end steels. So yeah, AUS-10 == win :-D