Tops/Buck CSAR-T folder

T

triggahappy28

Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Messages
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Hi guys, I picked up a tops/buck csar-t folder at a local shop today and I have a few questions. For one, the blade is marked 154cm not ats-34??? It is also marked 095 with a odd shape that looks like a dot inside a parentheses to the left of where its marked USA??? Can anyone help me out with some information here? and as a side note, I love the knife. I got it shaving sharp, super solid lock up and the g10 pattern is awesome.
 
The first year that they were introduced (2010), they had ATS-34 blades, but sometime that year they seem to have changed to 154CM because that's what they list in the 2011 and 12 catalogs.

The mark you are referring to is the date stamp and depending on which direction the C is facing it would be made in either 2011 or 2012. Below is a Buck date chart.

DateCodemousepad.jpg
 
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Could it be a counterfit? The website still lists them as having ATS-34 blades. However, the absolute final production run of the 880-SP and 880-T Strider/Buck collaboration knives were in 154 CPM and the website also listed those as ATS-34 at the time. Any chance Buck is trying to get the price point down on these or are they being discontinued soon? 154 CPM is still decent but not as pricey as ATS-34 so maybe Buck is trying to widen their profit margin a bit by using a less expensive premium steel. The last one I picked up I bought at the factory sale in Dec 2010 and it is ATS-34.
 
Colt6731 said:
Could it be a counterfit? The website still lists them as having ATS-34 blades. However, the absolute final production run of the 880-SP and 880-T Strider/Buck collaboration knives were in 154 CPM and the website also listed those as ATS-34 at the time. Any chance Buck is trying to get the price point down on these or are they being discontinued soon? 154 CPM is still decent but not as pricey as ATS-34 so maybe Buck is trying to widen their profit margin a bit by using a less expensive premium steel. The last one I picked up I bought at the factory sale in Dec 2010 and it is ATS-34.
Click to expand...

I doubt that it's counterfeit and if the website still says ATS-34 it must not have been updated. Both the 2011 and 12 catalog says 154CM.

If you read up on the two steels, you'll see that they are pretty much the same stuff. The ATS-34 is the Japanese version and the 154CM is made in the USA. If I remember correctly, they quit using the 154CM some years ago and went to the ATS-34 because they were having problems getting good clean 154CM here. When that changed, they switched back to the USA made steel.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ATS-34 - 154-CM
ATS-34 was the hottest high-end stainless in the 1990s. 154-CM
is the original American version, but for a long time was not
manufactured to the high quality standards knifemakers expect, so
knifemakers switched over to ATS-34. CPM is again making high-quality
154-CM, and some companies seeking to stick with American-made
products (like Microtech) are using it. ATS-34 is a Hitachi product
that is very, very similar to 154-CM. Normally hardened to around 60
Rc, it holds an edge very well and is tough enough even at that high
hardness. Not as rust resistant as the 400 series above. Many custom
makers use ATS-34, and Spyderco (in their high-end knives) and
Benchmade are among the production companies that use it.
Contrary to popular belief, both steels are manufactured through
the Argon/Oxygen/Decarburization process (AOD), not vacuum
remelted.
 
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