The heat treat is a lot more important than the steel these days. ATS34 properly heat treated will handle virtually any normal task you can use it for, and will certainly produce an excellent end result. In testing S30V has been shown to hold an edge longer. It is a little harder to sharpen and is known to be a bit more likely to chip. They are both excellent steels and will produce an excellent blade, so it's really more about Heat Treat and grind. Who's doing the heat treat?
I had thought that S30V was considered a "tougher" and less likely to chip steel than ATS34, D2, etc?.... Basically that the next closest steel to it in toughness was A2. Maybe I'm confused....I've not been able to chip S30V yet in a lot of hard use.
