Police moving to AT-34?

D

dbruns

Joined
Jan 9, 1999
Messages
71
While at a local knife-junkie store, I grabbed a Spyderco catalog--a small booklet full of useful stuff, including general info on steel types, composition, and pics of the Spyderco beauties (and their specs).

I was looking at the Police model and was surprised to see the blade was AT-34... ?
Spyderco's web page lists the blade as GIN-1 (as my blade is stamped). Is the catalog misprinted, or is Spyderco moving toward using AT-34 instead of Gin-1?
 
dbruns - Spyderco changed the blade steel on the Police models to ATS-55, this happening recently. If the web page still lists GIN-1 as blade steel for this model, Spyderco has yet to update the specs on there for this model. The company is phasing its core models (e.g. Delica, Endura, Rescue, and Police) as well as others to ATS-55. Hope this info helps

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Dexter Ewing
Knife Reviews Moderator

"The keystroke is mightier than the sword"




 
Aha...AT-55.
smile.gif
I should have brought the mini-catalog with me.

Sweet. Thanks for the info.
 
Is ATS-55 a cheaper steel then ATS-34 ? What are the differences?

Thanks,


wll
 
ATS-55 and ATS-34 are very similar in composition and performance. Both steels are products of Hitachi Steels in Japan. ATS-55 is the only steel developed specifically for use in knives, instead of being adapted for use in knives like all the other steels. As for cost, I don't know. I assume that they are about the same, but could be wrong.

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Dexter Ewing
Knife Reviews Moderator

"The keystroke is mightier than the sword"




 
But it´s only the G-10 version that´s got the ats-55 blade, right? The SS version is still GIN-1. Correct me if im wrong. I know the Endura & Delica are ats-55 in the zytel versions, but aus6A in the SS versions. I have allways wondered why they have done them that way.
 
Pelle - The current Spyderco catalog says that the G-10 and SS versions of the Police have ATS-55 steel. At one point in time, yes, the SS handled one was shod with GIN-1 while the other was ATS-55.

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Dexter Ewing
Knife Reviews Moderator

"The keystroke is mightier than the sword"




 
The difference between ATS-34 and -55 is slight, really. ATS-34 was developed originally to be used to make fan blades for high speed, high temerature jet engines. The ingredient that makes the two different is the amount of vanadium, I believe. I'm going from memory, so I could be mistaken. Anyway the EIQ (element in question) was added to ATS-34 to make it able to retain it's temper at high temperatures, which is basically unnessesary for knives. There are some very minor elemental differences between them, but that's basically it. The newest Police models my store received were ATS-55. I've sharpened one for a customer-one of those damn 50/50 blades-and was pleased with how quick it sharpened. This stuff is gonna be great. My ATS-34 Police has been great, but I'm getting concerned that I might lose it. Maybe the G-10 version will be a suitable replacement. In case somebody might wanna say I'm full of it, Spyderco never made an ATS-34 Police, they did. It was a limited run for Cutlery Shoppe with a titanium handle. And it only cost me $130.00. Sometimes ya score!
 
I remember those ATS-34 Police Spyderco's. I thought about getting one myself, but never did.
Blades
 
I could be wrong, but I believe that the element absent in ATS-55 is molybendum.
 
Archie is correct on the Moly. Essentially the Moly prevents "creep" or enlargement of the steel at high temperatures. It also creates a larger grain size, which is less desirable. The high moly requires high heat treat temperatures. A disadvantage in cost and only an advantage in some of the coatings (which require high temperatures to adhere and may change the heat great on steels with normal tempering ranges.

Spyderco made ATS-34 Police Models twice. Once for the Cutlery Shoppe as an exclusive item, (600 pcs made - fully serrated). 2nd time was a run of 600 pcs with a combination edge. Both had titanium handles. Retail price was $250 when introduced. Actually Cutlery Shoppe's low introductory price made it impossible for anyone else to ever sell the item so it was discontinued. One of the reasons for MAAP pricing.
sal
 
Ya made me paranoid now, Sal! That's about half as many as I thought there were. It always seemed to me that Cutlery Shoppe was only making about 20 bucks a knife on them. Thanks for the correction on moly. When a shop carries as much as ours-basically all of everybody-relying on memory gets me into trouble. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go make sure I know where my ti-Po is...

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I thought the main differences between ATS 55 and ATS 34 was that ATS 55 had copper and some other elements added while ATS 34 had no copper and .05% more carbon. -AR
I could be wrong though.
 
dbruns,

I would go buy it. They made the police in ats 34 with a titanium handle a few years ago. I have a friend that purchased one about 3 years ago or so. He paid quite a bit for it at the time. I am not sure how many they made. I have been told there were not a whole lot of them though.

Regards,

Tom Carey
 
Woops heh. I did not scroll down all the way heh. I see Sal answered the question.

Regards,

Tom Carey
 
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