Care and Feeding of D-2 Steel?

Z

Zero_Time

Joined
Dec 28, 2006
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First of all, thanks for the help. I, a natural cheapskate, have finally sprung for a knife that is more than $100, a benchmade 710 in D2. Yes, I know it's no sebenza, but hey. Anyway, it's due either tomorrow or monday, and I know that it is a carbon steel, hence it is prone to rust. What exactly do I need, need to do, how often, how long, etc. to keep my blade shiny, sharp, and non-rusty? Finally, I know there are probably already links on this, but sometimes I cannot seem to get my search tool to function. :grumpy: So any help is greatly appreciated.
 
I have a Ka-Bar in D2.....just give it a wipe when you get in and you will have no problems.
Edge holding with D2 is awesome !!!!
 
Thanks, but... I admit, I'm a complete idiot with knives in general, but especially w/blade steels... wipe it with what? A rag? A mineral solution? Knife oil? I have no problem admitting, I'm like a five year old-what do I do EXACTLY? Are there any recommended brands if I should use oil? Thanks for educating a newb like myself.
 
Wipe it just witha dry cloth,paper towel etc.With my 1095 carbon blade I do sometimes give it a squirt of WD40.....you will now get many posts saying not to use this,and I admit there may be better products on the market,but my knives are all rust free so something is working !
Like I said though with D2 just a dry will be all thats needed !!!!
 
What you need to do will depend on your enviroment, specifically the heat, humidity and salt content of the air. Start off just keeping it dry, if that doesn't work then try a light oil, if that doesn't work you can try something more dramatic like marine tuff cloth.

-Cliff
 
Cliff's right. I'm in New Mexico and my plain edge 710D2 is just wiped off with a clean, dry rag after it's washed and I've had no issues with rust since I got it around July. We've had a more humid year in the area so far with summer monsoons and winter storms and still there's been no issues.

Good luck and enjoy the knife.:)
 
CLP or any quality gun oil will work fine -- apply with fingers (be careful) since the D2 holds an edge and using a rag hides the edge. After applying, wipe dry and holster...

As for sharpening, profile the relief and stone...


Dead
 
hey, and welcome. Congrats on the purchase, thats pretty high on my list of knives to drool over. What no one has mentioned yet is that D2 is kind of a hybrid when it comes to being stainless. It meets the qualifications of a stainless steel, but only barely. As such, it is going to be harder to get it to rust than a normal run of the mill carbon blade, but it isn't going to be as stain resistant as some of the other stainless steels. This is a lot of words to say that you need to take decent care of the steel, but not be overly careful. If you cut something in a wet environment, simply wipe the blade off on your pantleg, and get the moisture off. When you get back to your house, campsite, whatever, put some light oil, (WD-40, etc) on your fingers or a rag, and polish the blade with it, then wipe the excess off. You aren't going to be able to over oil the blade, so go nuts. At first, examine the blade a lot, if you notice some light discoloration, buff it out with a mild abrasive, and then do more to care for the blade, if there is no discoloration, your doing it right.
ps. if you are going to use the knife for food prep, find an oil that is safe to ingest
 
I got a BM Morpho for Christmas in D2 - all I have done is wiped it down after use. The edge is amazing though, it is kind of hard to describe but it is more toothy than other popular steels, like the S30V on my Sebenza. I put a microbevel on it with my Sharpmaker, stropped it, and it is amazingly sharp. It just doesn't push cut newspaper. I think a good analogy would be: what my Sebenza does to newspaper, my Morpho does to cardboard :eek: I haven't noticed any decline in sharpness, either.
 
Nikokurausu said:
Cliff's right. I'm in New Mexico and my plain edge 710D2 is just wiped off with a clean, dry rag after it's washed and I've had no issues with rust since I got it around July. We've had a more humid year in the area so far with summer monsoons and winter storms and still there's been no issues.

Good luck and enjoy the knife.:)
Click to expand...

Does that make me right as well then !:D
 
Hey Zero Time,

I second what Kronos said.... that 710 is over $100 for a reason. It's a Benchmade and therefore is one fine knife.

If you get some crud on it (dirt, gunk, food [that would be me], etc) wash it under HOT tap water using a little dish soap. You can use a little abrasive pad after you get over the honeymoon with it, but it has to be fine and with very little pressure. Better to just use a washrag. Rinse with HOT tap water, keeping the blade angled down so you don;t get water into the pivot area. If you do, that's ok, I just try not to. The reason you use HOT water is it cleans better and drys quicker. Wipe it down 'til it's dry, then spread a little vegetable, olive, or whatever oil on it with your finger. (I am NOT going to say "be careful it's sharp" because I wouldn;t want to insult you like McDonald's does to me every time I buy a cup of coffee there ["Caution!!Coffee is Hot!!!"]). Then wipe all that off with a dry cloth or paper towel. WD40 works good too. You still wipe it dry after you oil it. Don;t leave any "visible" on there. It won;t kill you to eat your campfire potato 3 days later after using WD40.... I do it... I aint dead yet.

I have ATS-34, which is a little better rust-resistant stainless than D2 and I've never had a problem. In fact, I don;t even oil mine at all after washing. I carry mine inside the waistband where there is constant humidity don;t you know. Oh by the way, it's a Benchmade 975-S and, while I admit sebenzas are nice knives, I'd take my BM if I had to take one.
 
I don't know if d2's corrosion resistance differs between makers but living in Florida I have never used anything for corrosion resistance on Dozier or May knives and have had no problems. In fact I forgot about a Dozier on my belt and went wade fishing with it on in salt water. After 2.5-3 hours of total immersion and several hours untouched afterwards the blade had only 2 small ( about 2mm) each rust spots. Both came of easily with a pencil eraser.
 
Haven't got mine into saltwater (yet), but I live in SoFla and my wife uses my Swamp Rat Bog Dog in D2 in the kitchen.

It rarely gets washed right away and she 'soaks' the crusted crud off in a glass of water from a few hours to several days. It then gets washed and put in a drainer, then chunked in a drawer.

My fault, as I told her it cost less than $50 just to keep her from looking too closely at my Busse's. LOL

The upshot is, never a spec of rust. D2 is really amazing.

I get to play with it when it needs sharpening, she uses it to break down whole chickens along with the help of a rubber mallet.

Certainly a Cliff Stamp in the kitchen! LOL

A PITA to sharpen, even with waterstones, but holds an edge forever, even with abuse.

Rust? Fuggetaboutit!

Clean it and dry it, that's about it.

Rob
 
wetdog1911 said:
Haven't got mine into saltwater (yet), but I live in SoFla and my wife uses my Swamp Rat Bog Dog in D2 in the kitchen.

It rarely gets washed right away and she 'soaks' the crusted crud off in a glass of water from a few hours to several days. It then gets washed and put in a drainer, then chunked in a drawer.

My fault, as I told her it cost less than $50 just to keep her from looking too closely at my Busse's. LOL

The upshot is, never a spec of rust. D2 is really amazing.

I get to play with it when it needs sharpening, she uses it to break down whole chickens along with the help of a rubber mallet.

Certainly a Cliff Stamp in the kitchen! LOL

A PITA to sharpen, even with waterstones, but holds an edge forever, even with abuse.

Rust? Fuggetaboutit!

Clean it and dry it, that's about it.

Rob
Click to expand...


Crack me up!

Reminds me of the way my wife abuses her Fred Perrin bowie in the kitchen ...
 
I've been salivating over a Strider after hearing all the hype in this forum (and after handling one at the knife shop - with both hands - that thing is heavy!)

My wife says at that price, I can have one IF I give it to her! Then, she'll "loan" it to me when we go camping. Sly woman.....
 
Thanks for all the support! I must say, its a thicker knife than I'm used to, but I'm almost used to it, and love the d2, axis, and g-10. Here's the problem though: the tip is gone... I think it happened when I dropped it. Only about 1/2 a millimeter; but... what do I do? I guess I can send it back, though they say they'll pay only 1/2 shipping. Should I send it to benchmade then? Or, finally, should I send it to Ben Dale? Only problem is, the sticker shock will take a while to wear off, so buying a sharpmaker or an edgepro is out of the question, at least till the end of the month, and I'd be scared ben would put an amazing edge that I could only maintain w/ an edgepro. Advice? And thanks everyone! Sure is amazing... I take the knife out and hold it before my eyes, and I just admire it.
 
Little tip breaks like that are not uncommon with utility knives, especially those in fairly coarse and brittle steels. I would suggest you just reshape the point with a stone.

-Cliff
 
That's great to know about tips- now I don't feel like an abusive parent to my poor little 710 :rolleyes: . So: how much expertise/money does the reshaping and stone take/cost? Again, I will probably invest in a sharpening system in about 1-1.5 months (being organized about it makes me feel like less of a spendthrift ;) ) but until then, would I only need to get a $5 stone? Or would I need a $30 stone, at which point I should use that money towards a sharpmaker/edgepro? I have already had an endura 3 in vg10 that got impossible to try to resharpen without a sharpmaker/edgepro/professional, so I am leery of my own freehand sharpening skills. Not that I won't develop them, but I'm not ready to experiment with my baby. Thanks for all the help Cliff, and all you other guys,
zero
 
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