A Rockwell hardness question for you all....

Z

zerowildfire

Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
12
(I hope this is in the right Forum section)

I am currently making a knife for a customer (im a novice) and he has specifically asked for
D2 steel. The major requirements of the knife is that it must be good for chopping.
I have therefor made the chopping edge a slightly thicker than a normal convex edge.
My questions is.....what is a good Rc hardness for it?
The guy I bought the steel from says that anything above 55Rc is very hard and brittle (mind you...
he works in the steels for industrial uses and not for knives)
When I do a Google search there is alot of talk of various carbon steels up around the 60+Rc point
saying that its a good hardness...etc etc etc....
So as you can see...Im confused as I cant find any info relating directly to D2 steel.

"Help me Obi-wan....your my only hope"
 
I have a few folders in D2, and they all run about 60-62.

D2 + chopping is a strange request.. but 55 sounds pretty low
 
As I already stated Mike. It was the customer who specifically requested the D2 steel...it was not my choice.
 
D2 wouldn't be my choice either but, the customer is always right, right? Your right to say 55 is too low but 60 to 62 is way to brittle. You should shoot for 57rc. Good chopper hardness. Good luck!
 
zerowildfire said:
As I already stated Mike. It was the customer who specifically requested the D2 steel...it was not my choice.
Click to expand...




I think that's a mistake.

Work with the steels you know how to work.

When trying new steels - build a few test blades -make the steel work for you.

I would never make a knife for a customer in a steel I thought was a poor choice.




Big Mike
 
Bad choice and probably a bad relationship with the customer when he isn't happy later on.

The customer isn't right if he is wrong. He is only right if he wants something different than normal, but his request is reasonable . I am sure he will make a better decision with good guidance from you.

D-2 isn't a chopper steel. Print out this page and show him that the general consensus of much more experienced makers than yourself do not recommend it.Other good non-stainless choices would be 3V or CPM-3V, A-2, or 5160.

My standard answer when a customer says, "The customer is always right." is to reply, "Yes, and you were right to come to an expert, who will help you make a good decision."
 
The customer is always right, but can occasionally be misinformed. Of course, you could always say "Dang!!!! I thought that you said A2.":D
 
Big Mike and Stacy are both spot-on.

D2 is a terrible choice for a chopper. I can think of a dozen alloys better-suited; my very first choice would be CPM-3V. Contact your client and simply explain that there are better options available. If you lose the one order because you won't use D2 for this knife, at least you won't lose who-knows-how-many more because there's a broken knife out there with your name on it.
 
james terrio said:
Big Mike and Stacy are both spot-on.

D2 is a terrible choice for a chopper. I can think of a dozen alloys better-suited; my very first choice would be CPM-3V. Contact your client and simply explain that there are better options available. If you lose the one order because you won't use D2 for this knife, at least you won't lose who-knows-how-many more because there's a broken knife out there with your name on it.
Click to expand...

QFT:thumbup:
Stan
 
bladsmth said:
My standard answer when a customer says, "The customer is always right." is to reply, "Yes, and you were right to come to an expert, who will help you make a good decision."
Click to expand...

Very well-said. Here's another way of saying the same thing... I just discussed this thread with my beloved (who has a great deal of experience and success in industrial sales) and she said: "Tell 'em, I can make you what you asked for, or I can make you something that actually does what you want it to do."
 
The Kershaw Outcast is a D2 chopper
Perhaps that's what prompted the request.

http://www.kershawknives.com/productdetails.php?id=167


1079_large.png

Any info on the hardness or HT they use ?

Since D2 is used in industrial knives and steel stamping dies; I would think that it should take some serious abuse in those applications.

I'm surprised at the unilateral agreement that it's completely unsuitable.
 
12345678910 said:
Since D2 is used in industrial knives and steel stamping dies; I would think that it should take some serious abuse in those applications.
Click to expand...

Industrial slitters and dies (NOT "knives" in the way we think of them here) are a completely different animal, with totally different requirements. I speak from many years of experience with such highly-specialized tools. They are employed under precisely-controlled parameters and pressures, not whacked into trees; to put it as simply as possible, wear-resistance is the defining characteristic, and toughness barely enters into it.

The argument that a great die steel (which D2 is, although its performance has long been surpassed by other alloys) automatically makes a good chopper, has even less value than the vague concept that a leaf-spring makes a good sword.
 
Remember also that in those tooling applications, I have heard say that what we knife makers would consider to be a ridiculously high percentage of retained austenite is considered "okay" in some circles.;)
james terrio said:
Industrial slitters and dies (NOT "knives" in the way we think of them here) are a completely different animal, with totally different requirements. I speak from many years of experience with such highly-specialized tools. They are employed under precisely-controlled parameters and pressures, not whacked into trees; to put it as simply as possible, wear-resistance is the defining characteristic, and toughness barely enters into it.

The argument that a great die steel (which D2 is, although it's performance has long been surpassed by other alloys) automatically makes a good chopper, has even less value than the vague concept that a leaf-spring makes a good sword.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top