If my ATS-34 doesn't hold an edge, does it mean it suffers from poor heat treatment?

B

Bob Litt

Joined
Feb 7, 1999
Messages
94
Hi all,
I have 2 ATS-34 knives (different make). They both take on an awesome edge; however, one of them gets dull with minor use while the other takes a beating and still shave scary sharp. I'm just wondering what could be the cause of this.
Thanks in advance for any comments
 
There are 2 things that are most likely going on here. Either the heat treat is bad, or your sharpening job is. Often people get a wire edge on their blades: the burr gets turned down and it feels very sharp but after doing a bit of cutting the wire breaks off and you have no edge to speak of at all.

I dunno how you sharpen, but from what I have seen these are the two most common reasons why ATS wouldn't hold an edge liek that, and I have seen the sharpening problem much more often than hearing of a bad heat treat. I am very curious what the solution is!! I love knife puzzles!

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"Come What May..."
 
Get someone else to sharpen that knife for you and then test the results. You didn't mention which knives they were but not all knives should be sharpened equally. Perhaps you are trying to put too acute an edge on the wrong balde profile.
 
You dont mention the brands or makers... I will assume they are factory knives.... which leads to the next question... big factory......small factory... the largest knifemakers try to have a good quality control on heat treat....but the bigger the oven and the bigger the batch the more variation in heat within the over... NO BS. The late great Harv McBurnette told me that in the largest knife factories the h/t ovens are too large and the ones on the outside are not quite hot enough, the ones in the middle are too hot, and there is a magic circle that is just right..... He knew a lot. I send all of my knives to Paul Bos, he takes very good care of them and Rc tests every single one. Modern complex steels need precise heat treat.

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My Gerber EZ OUT folders suffer from the same problem, yes I know what a wire edge is, no they are sharpened properly. The edge holding is ok, but a lot worse than the edge holding of my ATS-34 BM 750 and my MOD CQD in 154CM. Go figure, probably the Gerber is around 58-59 while the others nearer 61-62. That is probably the problem for me.

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Are both knives ground at similar angles? Do they have similar blade shapes? Is there a large difference in the overall cutting ability when freshly sharpened? Is there a large difference in handle security/comfort? Differences in these factors could easily lead to large difference in edge holding ability.

As a side note, ATS-34 at 58-59 RC is still a very strong, hard and wear resistant steel and should hold an edge a long time unless you are chipping it out, and if you are then ATS-34 at 61-62 RC would fare even worse.

-Cliff
 
Yes the angles are very similar, I am thinning the edge of my MOD knife at some point.

It has only been Gerber blades that have given me trouble. They perform very much like the 440C/10a knives I own, not bad but not as good as the others I have.

The 750 has a recurve edge...
All are at 20% appart from the MOD.

I am talking about the way you find a dull spot when you use a small part of the edge as well, not just the overall performance of the blade shape. My Gerbers just don't seem to hold as good an edge, but strangely my Gerber Gator 1st Prod run model DOES <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="confused.gif" border="0">
 
Hello all,

The two knives I was referring to are both custom knives. I didn't list the maker's name because I didm't want to disparage anyone's reputation.

Cliff, the knives have fairly similar blade angless, but slightly different blade shapes. I use strictly Spyderco's sharpmaker for all my sharpening.

not2sharp: I'll try getting someone to apply an edge so as to rule out my sharpening skills.


[This message has been edited by Bob Litt (edited 03-27-2001).]
 
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