Old Endura Questions

S

stu

Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
46
Hi all

I was recently given a very old endura, and since my knowledge of spyderco knives is limited at best, I thought you could help me answer a few questions regarding the age of the knife.

I tried taking pictures, but my camera and abilities are such that I simply couldn't get anything that wasn't too blurry to be of any value, so I will do my best to describe the knife.

The blade is marked "SPYDERCO G2 STAINLESS" on the front, and "SEKI-CITY JAPAN" on the back. There is a small chip taken out of the blade up by the opening hole, and it has a spyderedge. The front side of the handle is checkered and marked "Clip It Endura," the back of the handle isn't checkered at all, and any semblance of a clip has been taken off with a hacksaw. Finally, the edges of the opening hole are bevelled, much unlike my Wal-Mart Native, where they are almost kind of sharp.

It is pretty obviously a very old knife, but I have no idea how old. I thought that Spyderco used AUS-8 and then switched to VG-10, but I'm clearly mistaken. G2 is a steel that I've never really heard of, how does it compare to, say, AUS-8 or 440C? Thank you all for your help.
 
G2 steel is a good all around steel.Also it sounds as you have a factory due to the clip and the "chiptaken out of the blade up by the opening hole".
 
If the "chip" is a notch in the spine of the blade, behind the opening hole, it indicates a factory second.

G-2, also known as GIN1, predates the AUS8. It is (I believe) the original steel used in the Endura and Delica. It seems to hold an edge quite well, and is very corrosion resistant. Overall, it is good stuff.

It sounds like the molded clip broke and was finished off by a previous owner. The first clips were narrow and a bit fragile, later clips were wider and seem to stand up better.
 
As has been noted, G-2 and GIN-1 are synonymous. The "G-2 Stainless" marking started to be used around 1992, the marking was changed to "GIN-1 Stainless" around '94-'95 so your knife dates back to that period. Prior to 1992 the blades just say SPYDERCO with no steel marking. As yablanowitz said, the notch indicates that the knife is a "factory second". Since the clip is missing it may have been returned under warranty, replaced, the remnants of the clip ground off, then sold as a second.
 
Sal Glesser's opinion of it in 2004:

"In terms of steel. Gingami 1 (silver paper in Japanese) was a premier steel only 10 years ago. And is still better than (in edge retention):

Surgical steel (the worst - actually a "throw-a-way" steel [304])
420
420J2
425 modified
AUS-6
AUS-8
440A
440B

It yields to;

ATS-34
ATS-55
154CM
AUS-10
VG-10
BG-42
CPM steels"

ref:[http://spyderco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=781]

________________________________________________

Also,

"Spyderco made it's reputation with thousands of GIN-1 knives."

ref:[same]
 
Thank you. I remember seeing something about the notch denoting a factory second, mine definitely resembles the picture I saw. So the knife is between 12-15 years old? Wow. When I got it, it had not really been sharpened that much - there was a really obvious factory edge, but there was also a really big burr edge on the serrations. Of course, ten minutes and a sharpmaker later, it's ready to go, I'm really anxious to see how it compares to my Buck 110 and Ka-bar Mule. Thanks for all of your help.
 
Deacon-have you ever seen an FRN Endura marked "Gin 1 stainless"? I yield to your knowldege but I thought I had all of the stages of FRN Endura even back to the unmarked ones and I had not seen one marked Gin 1. If you have I need to find a mint one.
 
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