Another Thread re D2 Blade Sharpening

G

Greggy

Joined
Feb 4, 2022
Messages
550
Nothing earth shattering here. BUT, I recall some other newbies on the forum discussing their difficulties sharpening D2 steel. I shared their frustrations, but kept at it. I own 5 such knives, and have used my Civivi Brazen Tanto as my test subject. I previously sharpened it with a Sharp Pebble 1000 JIS stone, followed by the 6000 stone from the same manufacturer. No matter how many times I tried, using all kinds of alternative methods, I could not get anything beyond a rough toothy edge. It would cut paper, but not impressively.

So, I finally changed equipment and bought a Norton 220 grit whetstone and reprofiled the edge at 20 degrees per side. I then followed up with the 1000. The reprofile worked wonders. The steel reacted differently than before and I was able to successfully follow the 1000 stone with a leather strop loaded with 1 micron compound. Whereas before the strop would dull the edge, similar to the 6000 stone, it now worked as expected and gave me a clean edge that slices thru paper effortlessly.

Just thought I would provide this update and read any responses so generated. I learn a lot here and appreciate the discussions. Thanks.
 
Possibly you are getting better at sharpening/stropping as well. I don't have any issues getting great results with D2 from toothy to polished, although I have tended to opt for more toothy finishes for most of my edges these days. I pretty much only use diamond stones other than for my kitchen knives.
 
For grinding & setting bevels on D2, silicon carbide (SiC) stones work very well and make it easy. Coarse-grit diamond can also do that job as well.

For finishing to higher grit or polishing, diamond works best, BY FAR, on D2. It CAN be taken to a high polish with a keen edge this way. With other stones of SiC or aluminum oxide, it's a bit more fussy to keep the edge and its very LARGE carbides keen - the carbides can be up to 50 microns or larger. Those very big chromium carbides are what make this steel different, as compared to other steels with comparable carbon & chromium makeup. Diamond makes shaping and thinning the carbides at the edge much, much easier, when taking it to a higher finish. And it polishes well with diamond compound at 3-micron and smaller, used on hard strops of wood.
 
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chalby said:
Possibly you are getting better at sharpening/stropping as well. I don't have any issues getting great results with D2 from toothy to polished, although I have tended to opt for more toothy finishes for most of my edges these days. I pretty much only use diamond stones other than for my kitchen knives.
Click to expand...
I agree. Getting better with practice. I have no appetite for polished or mirror edges, so that does not interest me. I prefer toothier. I checked my edge under my loupe after the stropping and still noticed teeth. Just more refined and smoother. I like my D2 just like that.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
For grinding & setting bevels on D2, silicon carbide (SiC) stones work very well and make it easy. Coarse-grit diamond can also do that job as well.

For finishing to higher grit or polishing, diamond works best, BY FAR, on D2. It CAN be taken to a high polish with a keen edge this way. With other stones of SiC or aluminum oxide, it's a bit more fussy to keep the edge and it's very LARGE carbides keen - the carbides can be up to 50 microns or larger. Those very big chromium carbides are what make this steel different, as compared to other steels with comparable carbon & chromium makeup. Diamond makes shaping and thinning the carbides at the edge much, much easier, when taking it to a higher finish. And it polishes well with diamond compound at 3-micron and smaller, used on hard strops of wood.
Click to expand...
I have 1 micron diamond paste in the workroom. Don't use it yet, but may now.
 
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