Vasco Metal Vasco Die Knife Steel
Composition Analysis Graph, Equivalents And Overview

Vasco Die(Vasco Metal) - No longer in production. Vasco Die was invented in 1964, at least that's when the patent was filed. The goal was to create a steel with good hot working hardness, high working hardness, wear resistance and toughness and good corrosion resistance. Vasco Die also had good grindability, which was one of the design goals as well. Overall, Vasco Die ended up being significantly tougher than AISI D2 Tool steel and more wear resistant than AISI A2 tool steel. Not that I want to diminish the achievement, but AISI D2 Tool steel isn't a very high bar for toughness, and neither is AISI A2 tool steel for wear resistance. It'd be way more impressive if it was reversed, but in the end Vasco Die was a step forward and served as a direct predecessor for Crucible CPM 3V steel, which is just a PM version of the Vasco Die with the addition of the trace amount of Tungsten. Also, Vasco Die was a precursor for more steels like Vasco Tuf, Vasco Wear, Daido DC53, Hitachi SLD10, Bohler-Uddeholm Sleipner, and probably more. Overall, very decent steel for different blade types.
Larrin @ knifesteelnerds.com wrote a very interesting article - "The History of 3V, Cru-Wear, and Z-Tuff Steel" which also covers the history of the Vasco Die steel, you should definitely check that out.

Manufacturing Technology - Ingot

Country - United States(US)