I used to live in Vancouver as well and Pitmans photos make me homesick especially because springtime in Saskatchewan looks like this pic I took yesterday.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Lance.G.Davis/PAMuseumPhotosJune507/photo#5185489183174187570

I like the Grunt. Aus8 is an excellent steel that has some really good qualities like taking a great polish and wicked edge. There are some really nice Hattori knives that use Aus8 because they take such a beautiful polish. I am not sure about the new grunt steel but the Chinese steel the Byrds use is excellent and very close to ATS-34.

"if you want to be a hero you have to learn to drive stick"! Sara Conner