G-2 vs. ATS-55

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Joel R.
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G-2 vs. ATS-55

#1

Post by Joel R. »

I recently lost my endura that I have had since 92 or 93. I bought a new endura last month and then found my old knife today. As I was looking at them side by side I noticed the blades were diffrent steels. Can anybody tell me the difference?
SpyderNut
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#2

Post by SpyderNut »

Welcome to the Forum Joel!

The new Endura's for '02 have VG-10 steel in them. This steel, as most knife buffs can attest to, is the 'king of pocket knife steels'. I think the year 1999/2000 Endura's had ATS-55 blades. Since your old Endura was a '92/'93 model, I would have to guess it was in AUS-8. BTW, the Stainless Steel handled Endura's have Aus-6 blades in them for 2002.

Enjoy the forum, its a great place to learn more about the famous brand of Spyderco knives.

Spydernut
Damillster
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#3

Post by Damillster »

I also lost a G-2 Spydie (FRN Delica), and did not want to replace it with an AUS-8 or ATS-55 blade because I was under the impression they weren't as good as the G-2. Can anyone confirm this?

BTW, I ordered a VG-10 Delica a few days ago...hope to get it soon. I've been carrying a Benchmade CQC7 for too long now as my EDC...and it's way too big and heavy for that.
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Carlos
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#4

Post by Carlos »

Hi Joel,

Welcome to the Spyderco Forum.
Ashram
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#5

Post by Ashram »

Hey, a CQC7 had served me long and hard,...till recently i got a new Calypso Jr. with this new VG-10(i love it!). G-2 is right next to it for me...although the VG-10 has a much smoother grain, and has a RAZOR edge from the factory...the ATS-55 just seemed to grainy. I would rather go with 34 than 55. But the G-2's and VG's seem to just kick-***. Gotta love old school and da new.
Later.
Ashram
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#6

Post by Ashram »

Hey, a CQC7 had served me long and hard,...till recently i got a new Calypso Jr. with this new VG-10(i love it!). G-2 is right next to it for me...although the VG-10 has a much smoother grain, and has a RAZOR edge from the factory...the ATS-55 just seemed to grainy. I would rather go with 34 than 55. But the G-2's and VG's seem to just kick-***. Gotta love old school and da new.
Later.
Ashram
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#7

Post by Ashram »

oops, hehe, sorry...bad computer.
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haji
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#8

Post by haji »

having had both, I'll have to side with ATS55 for edge holding ability. Since it has less molybdenum than ATS34, it should have a marginally smaller grain size than -34. One of the things moly does is it increases grain size. G2 (GIN1) in my experience didn't hold an edge well enough, and lead to some customers complaining about other knives holding an edge better. As for the King of Steels label goes, I give that to S60V. Holds an edge far better than any other steel I own.

Its all fun and games til somebody loses an eye, then its fun and games you can't see.
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sal
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#9

Post by sal »

Hi Joel. welcome. Spyderco has used a varfiety f stels in our knives ovr the years. At one time, G2 (GIN I) was the best availabole, so we used it. We tried a few runs in AUS-8 as a comparison. GIN I has more carbon than AUS-8 (.9 as opposed to .8) so edge retention will be "better" in the GIN I. AUS-8 has a very homogenous grain structure, so it will be "better" than GIN I in sharpness, but will not hold an edge as long. Corrosion rsistance is "better" in AUS-8 than GIN I.

As you can see, "better" is a difficult word when discussing steels.

Spyderco introduced ATS-55 to the market in '98. It proved to be a good steel.

The current "rage" is ingot steels is VG-10. Spyderco introduced VG-10 to the knife industry about the same time as ATS-55, with the Moran being VG-10. It is also a good steel. Good enough that many of our knives will be converting over to VG-10, for now.

We're also working with and testing BG-42, S30V, X15tn and CV-20. All show promise. So you will probably see some of our knives moving over to some of the newer steels. It's a never ending, forever changing world of refinement and improvement.

sal
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