With its chromium content of 12 - 14%, this knife steel is one of the stainless Japanese knife steels. To protect its innovative edge, the manufacturer Hitachi does not specify the exact material composition of ATS-34. With a carbon content of 1.1 - 1.25%, ATS 34 steel is in the range of Shirogami 1 and Aogami 1 knife steels and can therefore achieve extreme hardness levels.

This blade steel can be brought to hardness levels of 59 - 64 HRC depending on the forging process and hardening method. ATS 34 steel thus combines the specific advantages of low carbon steels with the advantages of high carbon steels: Extremely hard and sharp blades that can be described as stainless, making them very easy to maintain. Kisuke Manaka's knives are currently without competition in the market, he perfectly masters the forging of blades from ATS-34.

Traditional Japanese chef's knives are often made of steels containing carbon. Carbon makes knife steels hard, but this substance reacts with its environment - blades made of pure carbon steels can therefore oxidize. This effect can be minimized by adding chromium, which is the case with ATS 34 knife steel. The special feature of ATS-34 steel is therefore a high carbon content combined with a high chromium content.