Camp knife in D2, how is it working out for those using knives with this steel?

monster

monster

Joined
Jun 13, 2001
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I’ve been eyeballing the Smith and Sons line of knives. I’ve never owned a blade in D2 and would be using it from food prep to wood carving and all around camp duty, no log splitting or the like though. So my question to those using D2 knives is how does it hold up to corrosion? From what I gather it does not take much more than basic maintenances to keep this steel in good working order. So let’s hear the stories and see the pictures, help me spend more money!
 
Keep it clean and dry it off, it is harder for many folks to get sharp. A tough toothy edge. My favorite steel.
 
Using diamond stones for sharpening will make your experience with D2 much more pleasant. My go-to blade when out in the sticks is a Dozier fixed blade. I feel like most wont truly appreciate D2 until you use some that has been heat treated properly, and Bob Dozier's is among, if not "the" best. As far as corrosion is concerned, I live in the deep south east part of Texas along the coast. Humidity is always very high. I wipe my blade down after use and only occasionally put a thin coat of oil on it. I have yet to have any issues.
 
D2 with a really good heat treat is absolutely fantastic in my opinion. I've not used it for battening but I imagine it would stand up fairly well to it. I've had it on two edc knives for about five years now and I adore it. It comes up to a very high polish if you know what you're doing and it holds it for a very long time. It's corrosion resistance is pretty decent in my opinion. it's certainly not going to rust up like 1095 will if not cared for.
One of mine is a stockman that gets used very frequently for whittling and the d2 has done very well in that arena.
it has a higher carbide content than some other metals so it will be a little toothier which is generally perceived to be beneficial for food prep. Bottom line, you won't regret it.
 
D2 is my favorite steel as well. With diamonds it's a dream to sharpen and actually find S30V more difficult to get a nice edge on than D2. For being one of the "older" steels I rank it up there with the best. I have quite a few knives in this steel but have used a Benchmade D2, a Cabelas version Griptilian (in D2), and a Dozier in fantastic D2 to great success for years. I have NEVER had a chip or underperformance from D2 in the years of using it and have never had any real rust beyond mild staining. I have been in the rain for over a week on some trips and still no rust. I have actually had significantly more rust on S30V in storage than D2 in use. I think just using a D2 knife once a day in the elements is enough to keep it from rusting if you're not in salt water.
 
Another D2 fan here too. I have D2 10" camp knife made by Jeremy Horton that sees regular use splitting hickory and apple. as well as limbing and chopping. I also EDC a PM in D2. No real rust issues, but like other have mentioned, keep it wiped down and dry and it will outlast you. All the sharpening my PM usually needs is a few strokes on the strop, with compound and without. My camp knife has a convex edge that hasn't been sharpened since I got it from Horton 8 years ago but could use a touch up on the diamond
 
I'll be the minority here lol. I hate it. It holds a great edge but I can not sharpen it to save my life. 3v, a2, s35vn, s30v, 01, m390 etc all no problems but damn D2 just doesn't get sharp for me. Granted it' been a couple years and I have gotten better so maybe I should revisit it.

But as we sit now it is my arch enemy steel lol
 
I have had very good luck with D-2. I have an number of Dozier fixed blades in the steel and one of them is my go to woods knife these days. The only knife in D-2 that I had trouble sharpening to my comfort level was a Kabar BK-24... I could get it sharp but not razor sharp and I should have achieved that considering the amount of effort I put into sharpening that knife. As a result, I seldom use it.
 
grunt soldier said:
I'll be the minority here lol. I hate it. It holds a great edge but I can not sharpen it to save my life. 3v, a2, s35vn, s30v, 01, m390 etc all no problems but damn D2 just doesn't get sharp for me. Granted it' been a couple years and I have gotten better so maybe I should revisit it.

But as we sit now it is my arch enemy steel lol
Click to expand...

HaHa - Better not let Horton hear you say that

Good to see you my friend!
 
Not to jump on the bandwagon here, but. I have a few D2 hortons. That's why I really like D2. A particular thin user I love, it seems to keep its edge very well. With a little stropping now and then. Haven't noticed any corrosion, just a little patina. ;)

Of course a D2 Horton chopper would be the shizzle,,,:)
 
I have Queen's cutlery skinner and a Rat1 in D2. Both keepers for sure. Favourite fixed and folder. Both are great camping all around knives
 
D2 has been with us for many years, some 60 years in my experience !! Can't get the finest edge but holds it for a long time. Difficult to machine compared to some others.
We should have been able to figure out all this ! :rolleyes:
 
Of the 25 or so fixed blade knives I own only 2 are D2, so my experience is limited to those. What I've found is the steel holds an edge for quite a while, but it's not for the ultra-light folks as it is a bit on the heavy/dense side relative to some of the other carbon or stainless options. You do need some skills and experience to get a really sharp edge on it though, but once you do it lasts quite a while.
 
I have many D2 knives, many of the Queen Cutlery
I sharpen them with DMT, then strop
Hold very good working edges for a long time
Keep stopping them
 
The longer I am on this this site, the more I realize my topic ignorance. But I do have real world experiences. I know little about D-2 steel used in knives other than what I have read, primarily on this site. And more than once I have felt like a dog chasing it's own tail with various opinions re: certain knives or steel. It finally boils down to seeing who really knows their stuff on this board and placing their opinion weight onto the scale. So with that said, my opinion has little substance. All I can put forward in the discussion is that I bought a D-2 Cold Steel Leatherneck two years ago. When received, I took it out on a semi blizzardy and well below zero day. I battoned dead wood along the frozen creek that I was walking on. Then I made a fire on the creek and boiled some tea to warm up. The knife didn't chip, edge roll, shatter, or explode like a grenade. It just did its job. When home I wiped it down after it got room temp. then I gave it 20-30 swipes across my Sharpmaker with the fine rods. Whether that made much difference I don't know, the knife was likely still very sharp after use anyway. I have pictures somewhere that I posted up.
 
Well I pulled the trigger on a Smith and Sons Cherokee with Bocote handles. As soon as I get a break from work I’ll be testing it out, for now it’s sitting in my truck dormant.
 
I would not recommend D-2 for large knives. It does hold its edge well outside of chopping, but even with a thicker 0.030" edge ground to a semi-convex "rounded" finish, D-2 eventually chipped quite unpredictably while chopping with a light 17 ounces knife: I mean by that that it survived some hard work and then chipped easily on soft rotten logs...

This could be due to the core of rotten logs being harder, but the ease with which it chipped led (for me) to a loss of confidence, despite the good edge holding outside of chopping: I hate to say it, but when you get far greater ease of sharpening, and even better edge holding, while chopping (at thinner angles) with cheap Chinese -or Taiwanese- 420J, all this with no chipping at all in thousands of hits, you tend to be less awed with D-2...

The lower knife in 5160 looks like it did even worse than the D-2 Lile, but in reality it was a 0.020" edge at barely 12 dps, so much thinner than the Lile above with a 0.030" edge at 15 dps. (at 11.25" and 22 ounces, it also hits much harder and deeper)

76HlZfF.jpg


The 5160 later got a micro-bevel of around 17 dps (about where the Lile started from), and all the chipping/warping issues instantly went away: This is how it later did against a slightly thicker -overall- convexed Battlesaw (15 dps final) in INFI:

jrQcBdJ.jpg


I would recommend, in order of preference: 420J, then 440A (or Aus-6), and, if you must have Carbon: 5160. 440C is not bad, but very hard to sharpen "neatly", plus there is a lot of bad 440 out there... For sharpening in the field, even with good coarse diamond hones, 440C will result in less even edges with hard to remove wire edges. If you don't plan to sharpen in the field, good 440C will hold an edge only slightly longer than 420J, but is otherwise just too hard to sharpen to be practical, especially for the small difference in edge holding.

One exception to that would be using 420J left outside for hours in -30 Celsius weather: For some reason its edge-holding ability (due to the wood being frozen harder?) goes out the window in extreme cold, while INFI or CPM-3V stayed roughly the same(?). It was a one off experiment, but noteworthy.

Gaston
 
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