GIN 1 vs CTS-BD1

mwhich50

mwhich50

Joined
Jan 18, 2011
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I have been thinking about buying a drop point and leaf shape UK pen knife. I was wondering what the difference is between the two blade metals (CTS/GIN). Why are they the same price? I have heard very little about the new "carpenters" steel. I have been told that the GIN 1 is similar to the old G2 of my 90's Endura. I have not used my old serrated Endura to cut too much, but I can tell you G-2 is very rust resistant. It looks as good as it did when I purchased it 20 years ago :thumbup:. If these two blade steels are inferior to VG-10 and S30v maybe I should pay a little more and just avoid them altogether.:(
Notjustknives.com list their $35 UK Pens as having S30v?!.:confused:
 
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BD1 is a particle metallurgy steel (like the CPM stuff) vacuum melted steel with a very similar alloy to Gin-1 and G2. It's an american made steel that was designed to replace and improve upon the strengths of G2/Gin-1 . It's not as wear resistant as VG10 or S30v, but in my experience it's much tougher and isn't really picky about how it's sharpened. I've had ATS-34, CPM440V, S30V, ZDP-189, and 154CM folders that I had intented to "replace" my old endura with and they didn't last more than a year before that 15 year old G2 endura found its way back. G2 is boring, it's predictable, and I guess that might be why I like it so much.

Edit: it's come to my attention that BD-1 is NOT a Particle Metallurgy steel.
 
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G-2 and GIN-1 are two names for the same Japanese ingot steel, Gingami-1 "white paper" steel. CTS-BD1 is Carpenter Steel's version of the same alloy made here in the U.S. using powder metal processing.

Notjustknives.com is probably mistaken. The original UKPK (G-10 models) used S30V, but they usually went at least twice that.
 
I was VERY happy with the performance of my Translucent Manix 2, with its BD1 steel. Enough so that I ordered some BD1 for Sam to make some blades with (mostly have used W2, 5160, and 52100 previously). If we like them as much as I expect, I'll be ordering a lot more.

John
 
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