Just bought a Harpy SS ATS-55

[rambo4hire]

I stopped by a local dealer in my area and saw that he had a spyderco Harpy SS SE in ATS-55 steel. It looked like it was a display model that he had for sale since it had no box. I decided after playing with it I would shell out the $50.00 he was asking for this model. (I was long after one of these but did not see any around for the price). My question is was it worth it being made of ATS-55 or should I have waited and picked up the VG-1 version. any input on this purchase would be appreciated.

[FIMS]

Is it plain edge or serrated?

I think the plain edge version is harder to come by.

Its a nice knife regardless.

[rljohns]

My SS Harpy SE was VG-10 from Seki City. It was $59 at the Army Navy store. I really like the VG-10 steel. All of the Spydies at the Army Navy store are VG-10. I don't know anything about ATS-55.

[RIOT]

i would say 50 bucks is a decent price for that

[aj1985]

You got a good deal. It's a great knife and I like Ats-55. If you know how to sharpen your knives and not let them get dull Imo all steels are pretty good.

aj

[rkh]

ATS55 ia good steel that Spyderco was developing in the late nineties before they went to VG10. ATS55 is a very good steel. I just recently got a Harpy and am quite impressed with it. I have in the last few weeks became interested in the Hawkbill style blade.

RKH

[Spyderknife]

I have both ATS-55 and VG-10. My ATS-55 was pre- Boye dent. The ATS-55 is the user and the VG-10 remains with the collection. Got no problems with the steel.

[JD Spydo]

I assume you got the Spyderedged version. If you did then there isn't .15 cents worth of difference in performance IMO. I've been carrying a G-10 handled Harpy for many months now and it has ATS-55 and I'm very happy with the overall performance I've gotten from that great Hawkbill blade.

Sal has said on a couple of occasions that with all the extensive testing that they did that VG-10 was truly the better of the 2 steels. Now in a plain edge I do think the performance and edge holding ability would be noticable. But in the Spyderedge ( serrated) variant I really don't notice any advantage. Also take into consideration that the ATS-55 that Spyderco moved on from about 10 years ago is still considerably better than most of the steels that most of your mainline production knife companies are using at this time.

I have several Spyderco USERs made with ATS-55 and I like them all. Personally I think ATS-55 is not a bad steel at all. You must consider that it was pretty much the main steel that Spyderco used in it's Seki City made blades during the late 90s.

You have an older Spyder to be sure but you have a good one and you certainly got your money's worth. The Harpy is a great companion blade.

[rambo4hire]

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the great information, I love the quality of the blade :)