agressiveness of d2 and s30v compared???

[lonestar1979]

To me , s30v seems even little more aggressive when cutting , both sharpened at the same grit(sharpmaker brown rods)!I am interested to hear your opinions on the subject.Thanx.

 

[bpeezer]

For me it seems that S30V wants to be sharp, but I have to make D2 sharp. I can go through my process and know that S30V will be sharp without testing it. For a D2 blade, I normally have to test and retry a few times before I get a hair whittling edge.

 

[David Martin]

One has 3% V the other not quiet 1%. Then one is of powder metallurgy and the other standard mfg.. Just at that there is a difference. DM

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

S30V has a reputation for somewhat toothy edges; especially as the 2-4µ vanadium carbides near the apex won't abrade or reduce in size as easily, when sharpened with less-hard abrasives like the ceramic (alumina) rods of the Sharpmaker. At some point in honing S30V on ceramics, some of the vanadium carbides will tend to fracture out of the edge when the supporting matrix steel gets thin enough, instead of thinning with the rest of the apex. If wanting to shape/thin/reduce those carbides to more of a razor-thin & polished finish, diamond abrasive at 3µ or lower does that much more easily (beautifully, in fact). Also, as ceramics become more loaded/clogged with swarf, they'll tend more to burnish an edge, instead of abrading it. This can leave the edge on more wear-resistant steels in sort of a more polished condition, while at the same time limiting how thin it can be honed. Edges tend to be thicker and lose much of their 'bite' when this happens.

The chromium carbides in D2 dominate most of it's character. Chromium carbides aren't as hard as vanadium carbides, and are more easily abraded and honed by alumina ceramics. This should make it easier to hone to a more polished & less toothy edge on the brown SM rods, though those rods are pretty good at leaving a somewhat 'toothy' bite on most steels, regardless.


David

 

[lonestar1979]

Ill just reprofile my d2 blade and sharpen it on silicone carbide stone, one of these days.I hope the edge will be plenty aggressive!

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Ill just reprofile my d2 blade and sharpen it on silicone carbide stone, one of these days.I hope the edge will be plenty aggressive!

You should like that. D2 does well at any finish, from coarse to high polish; it responds nicely to SiC (silicon carbide) at most any grit. I've liked SiC wet/dry sandpaper for it, when refinining up to ~2000 grit or so. Diamond is handy for initial bevel-setting, especially if doing so with a small hone in the field; but a SiC bench stone would handle that as well.


David