uhoh, is it 440 or ATS?????

[mudmarshal]

Is there any way to tell the difference between 440 and ATS34. I bought some of both a while back and ground several blades, And they kinda got mixed up together. I "think" I know which are which, but it sure would be a little nicer to be more sure about which was which before I send them to Texas for heat treating.
I just got happy and went to grinding not thinking to mark them as they were ground. Oh well.
My appreciation goes to anyone who can help.
Thank you and take care,
Robert:

 

[L6steel]

Grind the bar slick, like thru 400 grit and put some water on it. If it rusts fast it's ats-34. Am I right here guys???

 

[george tichbourne]

Probably best to use a referance piece of either 440C or ATS that you are sure of when doing the rust thing it will give you a base line to compare to.

 

[R Dockrell]

I learnt this the hard way to. Now I engrave the metal type somewhere usally the handle area on every blade as soon as it is profiled.

 

[mudmarshal]

Thank you for the info.
Why is hind sight always 20-20? I figure
I have a 50-50 chance. I started marking
as I grind now.
Take care fellows,
Robert

 

[tom mayo]

cut off a small piece...grind the bark off...send it to Paul Bos, and he will tell you what it is!!
1900 weld blvd
el cajon calif 92020

 

[Arthur Washburn]

I have been contemplating your dilema and how I would figure it out if it had happened to me. A simple thing that came to mind was this:

Rockwell test several spots on the known ATS 34, do the same to the 440C. Now test your knife blanks. Now compare #s if your lucky there may be a pattern in the testing to tell you what is what. I haven't tried this and if it works it will only work if the blades haven't been heat treated. You may also be able to tell by thier spark patterns.