GIN-1 bladesteel? what is this stuff

V

vze3srxb

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May 17, 2002
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Im not familiar GIN-1steel. can anyone offer some 411.Id like to know whatits compistion is,how it compares to other stels. I just gota benchmade mini tesk sa a late fathers day gift with this steel. Avary nice knife,no play in the blade locks up like a vault and the blade falls perfictly in the center of the liners. any coments are welcome.

thank
Bill Beebe
 
GIN-1 is the steel that Spyderco uses in some of their folders. Used to be called G2, but now it is GIN-1. It's good stuff; somewhere in between AUS6 and ATS34, I would guess. It takes a good edge easily, and holds it a decent amount of time. Doesnt seem to rust easily either.
 
So its better than the 440a that it said on the box. looks like someone at the benchmade factory may have made a mistake? I was thinking that GIN-1 was simular to 440-a and was used sa a subsitute for 440-a. Im not a big ean of 440 at all.however I have knives in ats34 and aus-6 and have been happy wite there preforance.

thanks

BillBeebe
 
GIN-1 is a pretty good steel. A search will turn up a bunch of posts about it, but to make things easier, here's the low down from Sal Glesser:
GIN-I (Gingami I, means sliver paper in Japanese) has been around longer than either ATS. Specifically a knife steel, it was the primary steel that Spyderco used since the first Clipits in 1981. Most of our knives were made with it. It is an excellent steel. It seems to be more reistant to chipping than either of the ATS versions, better in corrosion resistance, not a good in edgeholding as the ATS versions.

Gin-1 (Gingami I)
C = 0.90
Ch = 15.5
Mo = 0.30
Click to expand...
 
When scuba diving - I found G2 or Gin-1 to be the best steel for folders - it never gave me any rust problems and was easily cleaned and maintained later...as a matter of fact - I keep two old generation spydies for that purpose alone...

This is of course only the folder - got a FB on the leg too…but the folder gets used more often on the boat pre-diving...intimidates the sheepls less...
 
in 8 years of carrying an old Spydie Endura, daily...it never:

Rusted
Corroded
Chipped
Or failed to keep an edge.

I love the stuff, and look for it in all my new 'old stock' Spydie purchases.

Blilious, it was fun doing 'bidness' with you today, but you sir, are a bad player! You should never have told me about those guys at BladeArt...I fear that I will soon be financially insolvent!

(Of course, I'll be blaming you for my misfortune...lol)

Mel
 
Melvin, I am a lawyer, I am used to being accused of other people's Fuc*k ups....

And like Tommy Lee Jones said in “under siege”: I am tired of coming up with last minute solution to impossible problems caused by others..

and BTW - if you think Bladeart is bad...wait until you start going daily to TAD...

Oh mama!

http://www.tripleaughtdesign.com/
 
I carried a G2 Endura from circa 1991 until just recently (still have it but it's semi-retired). The steel is very easy to sharpen and keep clean. If you can pick up an older Spydie with this steel, it will serve you almost as well as some of the newer "wonder" steels.
 
i think gin1 is about the same as 440c not quite sure but i don't think spyderco or anyone else really use it anymore
 
This is what I found at http://www.agrussell.com/rec.knives/steel.html: GIN-1 aka G-2 A steel with slightly less carbon, slightly more chromium, and much less moly than ATS-34, it is used often by Spyderco. A very good stainless steel.
I own a Spyderco Jot Singh Khalsa (serrated) which has a GIN-1 blade. I never used it under real hard conditions (it´s just too nice). But after cutting several times into pretty hard wood, there was no loss of sharpness at all. Even now it´s shaving sharp and I think, that this steel is really ready for daily use!

Jochen
 
GIN-1 alloy specs compared with AUS-8 and 440C below. These two bracket GIN-1 pretty well... but GIN-1 is fairly close to 440C.

GIN-1 compared to AUS-8A:
===========================
1. has more chrome, should resist rust a bit better
2. doesn't have any tungsten or molybdenum, so abrasion resistance will be very slightly lower (although would be hard to notice)
3. has no Vanadium, so in theory, AUS-8A should achieve a slightly finer grain structure.

GIN-1 compared to 440C:
=======================
1. similar levels of chrome, slightly lower corrosion resistance but probably a bit tougher than 440C also at the margins.
2. a bit less carbon than some varieties of 440C, so in theory, the higher carbon level 440C versions should be capable of a somewhat higher level of as-quenched hardness.


GIN-1 / G2
===========
Carbon=0.9
Chrome=15.5
Mang=0.6
Moly=0.3
Silicon=0.37

AUS-8A:
===============
Carbon=0.9 - 1.0
Chrome=13.00-14.50
Manganese=0.5
Moly=0.10-0.30
Nickel=0.49
Silicon=1.0
Tungsten=0.4
Vanadium=0.10-0.26

440C
===============
Carbon=0.95-1.20
Chrome=16.00-18.00
Mang=1.0
Moly=0.75 _
Silicon=1.0

If you had three identical knives each heat treated to the same hardness with these three steels, you'd be extremely hard pressed to ever tell the difference. Maybe you'd notice a slightly different response to slicing citrus fruits and leaving blades wet overnight.

ATS-34 has much more moly (4%) and notably less chrome (13%), so you'd expect:
1. ATS-34 would be more abrasion resistant (molyb carbides), translation it will hold an edge better in general terms.
2. ATS-34 would be more prone to rusting than GIN-1.

The "tale of the alloy tape" pretty much lines up with Sal Glesser's comments.
 
RDangerer,
I think AUS 8 has about 0.70-0.75 carbon, not 0.9-1.0.
edit: just checked Spyderco's steel chart (http://www.spyderco.com/education/s...7+PM&mscssid=EFG7X9C2U46A9KVGVVB1095V317224V7), and they don't list any tungsten for Aus 8.
I would expect GIN1 to hold an edge longer than Aus 8 due to it's higher carbon content, but as you stated Aus 8 should have a finer grain because of it's Vanadium (this would alow it to take a keener edge). Aus 8's vanadium, along with it's nickel and lower carbon content should make it tougher. I would also think Aus 8 would be slightly more rust resistant.
 
Originally posted by frank k
RDangerer,
I think AUS 8 has about 0.70-0.75 carbon, not 0.9-1.0.
edit: just checked Spyderco's steel chart (http://www.spyderco.com/education/s...7+PM&mscssid=EFG7X9C2U46A9KVGVVB1095V317224V7), and they don't list any tungsten for Aus 8.
Click to expand...

I started with Spyderco's matrix years ago, dumped that into a spreadsheet, and have kept adding stuff to it as I came across various alloy makeup information.

I found references, a while back (but didn't note where it was), that indicate that AUS-8 and AUS-8A are slightly different steels. Wish I could find that chart. It wasn't AG Russell's either, somewhere else, but AG's chart shows 8a as having some tungsten also:

http://www.agrussell.com/steel/index.html

If somebody could speak more authoritatively on whether AUS-8 and AUS-8a are actually different, I would be most appreciative.

From my records (which could be in error), the two steels are the same, except that when you get the "a" steel, you also get:

0.9-1.0% carbon vs. 0.70-0.75%
0.1-0.3% molyb added
0.4% tungsten added

Similary, AUS-6 and AUS-6a are slightly different... the "a" version has:
14-16% chrome vs. 13-14.5%
1.2% molyb added

I'm sure Sal Glesser could clear this up if he happens to see this thread...
 
Thanks for a most informative series of posts...well done buddy, well done indeed!

That said, what I do know...if I didn't say it above, is that GIN-1 (G2) never failed me in 8 years of use. I never had to worry about it going south, rusting, losing it's edge, etc. (I love the stuff!)

Now, it was a real bitch to sharpen at first, but once I learned how, it only took a 3 minute once a month 'touch-up' to get it working sharp...and I deliberately abused the hell out of my Endura...

I finally gave up and sold it to a fellow forumite...it won, I couldn't kill it...and I tried...lol

G2 works for me. Sal, please bring it back!

Mel
 
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