Why stainless???

T

tique

Joined
Oct 28, 2000
Messages
970
I've been wondering this for a while, and thought I'd ask to save my poor, underused brain from thinking.

Why do y'all use ATS-34 as opposed to a carbon(non-stainless) steel? Most everything I have read, and in my own experience, most carbon steels will take an edge easier and are tougher than stainless, in addition to supposedly being easier to grind(will find this out in the near future). With the addition of a simple coating, they will be more rust resistant than the bead blasted ATS-34.

I'm interested in others experience and such as well...

Part of the reason I ask this is I have a Brend Model 2(D2) on order, and I'm trying to decide if I should carry it(my original intention), or shelf it and buy another Strider...
 
The reason we used to use high carbon instead of stainless, was because back in the day, stainless sucked.
It is really all about carbon content. Carbon is what makes your knife hard. A hard knife cuts well.
With the advent of "high tech" stainless steels. That is no longer an issue.
Look at the break down of the steels.
Check the carbon content.
ATS has more carbon than most. And is stain(resistant).
Coatings are worthless. Your not worried about your knife rusting. Rust cleans off.
Your worried about your cutting edge rusting. What happens then? Your blade is dull.
No matter what you coat the blade with, the edge will rust. It is raw steel.

That being said, not to worry, your Brend will be magnificent.

Don't forget to be thankful.

Mick
 
Mick, thanks for the reply. What about the edge strength though... There are many people who claim, as well as things such as the charpy test which theoretically prove one steel as tougher than another. If I remember correctly, according to the numbers from Crucible, there are non-stainless steels with roughly 2-4 times the impact strength of ATS-34. I do understand though that field results mean a whole hell of a lot more than something that comes out of a test lab. Have you ever had a problem with the edge of a knife chipping out with hard use, or am I trying to fix a problem that isn't really there by looking for impact toughness that is far beyond what is needed?
 
Look at it like this.
Since the beginning, we have had an unconditional guarantee.
If you damage your knife, return it and we will either restore it to knew condition, or replace it.
We have been using ATS since 1994. Since then we have had without a doubt, less than ten knives returned damaged.
Less than ten out of thousands of knives.
Hard use knives.

You may be beating a dead horse.
What is more important, a SUPER strong knife, or one that cuts?
Obviously there are trade-offs.

Mick
 
Hey,
We have an article coming out in an upcoming SWAT magazine where we were quoted during a "properties and materials lecture". I think much of what is in the article will apeal to you. If you have more specific questions after that, including either of the charpy tests or the bend fracture tests used by the ASM, feel free to ask.
Happy holidays!
Duane Dwyer
 
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