Heat Treating ATS 34 and similar steels

T

Travis Fry

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Jun 11, 2010
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I've been using 1080 for all of my knives so far (65), but I just ground my first from ATS 34. I have a kiln with good temp control so I know I can do it properly, but I've been searching for how to heat treat this steel and have found several different recipes. They are pretty consistent up until the temper cycle. I know that after an oil quench cryo is recommended to make sure that there is as much martensite as possible, but people vary widely on their recommendations for the temper cycle. Anyone have any knowledge that can help?
 
You have a choice between 400 F and 900 F. Try one of each and pick the one you like ! As in the recent discussion about CPM 3V there are some differences in toughness and corrosion resistance between the two.
 
ATS34 (and its 'equivalents') are pretty easy. If you soak at 1950 for about 45 minutes - plate quench and then cryo, its darn near impossible to screw up the temper. Anything from about 450F to 1000F will give you a fine blade. Why waste the energy? 450 - 500 works fine and yields a nice clean blade.

Rob!
 
for a lot of steels 600-900 is nomans land you get the first curve and then the steel goes not so good tu the 2ndary curve woarks well
 
I use the 400. i was old that at 1000 degrees you can loose some of the rust resistance.
 
I heat ATS 34 frequently, My recipe for 3/16" material is to soak at 1900 degrees for 15 min then plate quench and then temper at 400 degrees for two hours twice. This results in 58 RC. If you want higher RC temper at a lower temp.
 
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