why ats-34

[misterjuiceman]

I know ats-34 was used for the early sebenzas, does anyone know why this steel was chosen over the american 154cm?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Same basic formula but I believe for a while ATS-34 was simply more available.

 

[marthinus]

I believe there were problems with 154 CM quality control. There were some air bubble gaps in the steel (read an article four years ago on the steel). But that was long ago and 154 CM does not have any problems now that I know of.

 

[greater]

ATS 34 is melted in a vacuum which made a cleaner more defect free steel. 154 CM I believe at one time was vacuum melted as well but they stopped producing it that way.

I have read that the quality of 154 CM has improved these days although I can't seem to find any explanations as to how. Did they go back to the vacuum melt or did they compensate some other way ? I don't know but I see more of it around these days than ATS 34.

 

[Lycosa]

ATS-34 is one of the best performing stainless steels ever designed.

 

[THE PUNISHER]

in the mid 90's it was the steel.

 

[DaveH]

It was brought back recently by CPM, but didn't seem to catch on.

 

[Tait]

ATS 34 is melted in a vacuum which made a cleaner more defect free steel.

Interesting - some people say that and some claim it isn't:

From http://zknives.com/knives/articles/knifesteelfaq.shtml,

ATS-34 - 154-CM ... Contrary to popular belief, both steels are manufactured through the Argon/Oxygen/Decarburization process (AOD), not vacuum remelted.

Does it matter? If so, how can one find out for sure?

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Ask in Shop Talk and I'm sure one of our knowledgeable metallurgists can tell you.
Otherwise it's all hearsay.

 

[misterjuiceman]

Ask in Shop Talk and I'm sure one of our knowledgeable metallurgists can tell you.
Otherwise it's all hearsay.

I'll have to make a post in there. I figured something must have been wrong with 154CM at the time, since the composition is the same, and it seems like a company like CRK (and Strider Knives) would want to use American steel all else being equal.

 

[greater]

I would like to add back then I never read that 154CM was bad steel it just was not considered as good as ATS34.