A2 vs D2

[tueller]

How does A2 and D2 compare? Pretty similar right? Closer to each other than 1095?

 

[genewiseman]

I am not sure about A2 but D2 is damn near stainless. I think that A2 will rust fairly easy but I could be wrong. I used to make knives with 1095 exclusively. Now that I have a oven I use D2 for all of my folders because I believe that I can make a better blade with D2. It is tough, has a toothy edge, stays sharp, and requires very little care. I can't tell you anything about A2 though.

 

[kornphlake]

A2 is a good general purpose tool steel, D2 has higher wear resistance for use in dies and other metal forming tools, but is more difficult to machine. Neither was developed specifically as a blade steel, although they do a fair job at the task with the right heat treat. Google has a ton of information on both these steels. I find the datasheets from crucible to be fairly easy to read: http://www.crucible.com/PDFs\DataSheets2010\dsA2v12010.pdf http://www.crucible.com/PDFs\DataSheets2010\dsD2v12010.pdf

 

[DCutty]

Both A2 and D2 are popular tool steels and make excellent combat knives; dating back to WWII, almost every steel manufacturer makes D2 and A2 today. A2 is harder than D2 but, with less corrosion and wear resistance. D2 is almost a stainless steel and has much better corrosion resistance compared to A2. A2, D2, and even M2 are closer in relation to each other than 1095.

 

[The Mastiff]

I like both in knife blades. A2 is usually tougher, D2 is typically more wear resistant and more corrosion resistant. To get tougher go up to 3V/Cruwear class. More wear resistant? Try Cruwear, 3V, M2, CPM M4, on up. More corrosion resistance? Try stainless steels.

They are fairly well balanced and not as expensive as powder steels. Both are air hardening steels, though D2 is a die steel, A2 a tool steel.