It is ats34. It is much cheaper alternative to full make Striders and much less crying/anger if you loose one. My Strider GB is build little better and has a little more solid feel to it than the Buck version. But than again I've been using both knives for a while now and have no complaints. But anyway if I didnt have the strider I still would be happy with the Buck and I do believe that there is certain amount of hype around Strider blades which keeps the price at higher level.