Knife Steel: "A-U-S-8" or "Aus 8"?

[jpruitt]

I've only seen it in writing. How do folks pronounce AUS-8? Do you say each letter or pronounce it as "Aus" (like the first syllable of Austria"?

 

[jmr40]

I've heard knife reviewers on youtube refer to it as AUS, one word, not each individual letter. To be honest I always ASSUMED that since each letter was in capitals it was an acronym for 3 different words and that viewers were simplifying the name.

But when I googled it found this

AUS-8 can be awesome when it's given a heat treatment with high hardness and low levels of retained austenite, so-so with a medium-high hardness and low levels of retained austenite, and gross at any hardness with high levels of retained austenite. The problem is that the heat-treatment can vary from knife...

Still a guess, but a more educated guess, but it could be short for AUSTENITE in the steel.

 

[bikerdoc]

I have always said A U S, who knows? I was wrong once before.

 

[Fiv3r]

I like to chant it. Sounds more patriotic.

 

[JohnKSa]

I've always seen it in all caps and so I assumed it was an acronym as most steel designations are.

Made by Aichi Steel, so maybe the maker's name is the 'A'? I don't know--can't find anything online.

 

[danez71]

Ive had to buy some of that for my job a while ago.

I spelled it out to them when inquiring about it but my suppliers referred to it in conversation as AUS-8 with AUS being one word.

Even though I work for a division of one of the largest steel producers in the world, I buy through wholesalers and distributors and they could be using slang.

 

[kBob]

So it is sort of the way I learned AWOL or ASAP in the ARMY which would be "a wall" and "a sap" so I am driven crazy by movie and TV folks pronouncing each letter.....only with no hyphen.

Oddly they get FUBAR and SNAFU correct but have never heard RASBMA "Razz-Bee-Ma!" on entertainment shows.

-kBob