ats-34 vs 420hc

[tmickley]

wow...this thread is nearly 3 years old.
I prefer CPM154 for a couple reasons. It is basically ATS34 but smelted different (double vacuum= cleaner, less inclusions) and is particle mixed (more homogeneous mixing of all the alloys) and it has just a touch of Vanadium for a small grain. It takes an insanely clean, high polish. It takes a very sharp edge. (You can feather out the wire edge to nearly 1/8" when sharpening- which doesn't mean much - it's just interesting) It holds an edge fairly well and re-sharpens very quickly.

BG42 is a good steel and is similar to ATS34 in composition with a little more Vanadium (and I think a touch more chrome(?) but can't recall for sure. Lovelass made BG42 famous when he announced he was shifting to it from ATS34 some time ago. It will take a nice polish but not as nice as CPM154. BG42 is good knife steel. You won't go wrong using it.

The vast majority of ATS34 is fine. It has had enough cosmetic issues over the last several years (inclusions, weird cloudy swirls, blotches - I have seen them all) that has caused a lot of makers to leave it for something else. It's just not worth the pain to have a lot of hours in a knife and then have to dump it due to ugly cosmetic issues.