D2 Hatred!

[Cynic2701]

I took a D2 710 from dull and never sharpened to a hair whittling mirror edge in about an hour. I found that diamonds are helpful in setting the initial bevel. In my experience D2 is actually easier to polish than S30V.

 

[james terrio]

Whenever someone has that much trouble sharpening a blade, the first thing I wonder about is edge geometry and technique. Many knives these days are ground way too thick to cut well or be easy to touch up. The good news is, once you get such a knife properly sharp for your uses, it will be easier next time. But there's no getting around the fact that all those chromium and vanadium carbides (among others) are wear-resistant... that's the whole idea Diamonds and true, flat "stones" are definitely your friends.

Like the OP, I do find Elmax and CPM-154 and other "powder" steels easier to sharpen and hone than "old fashioned" D2, simply because they have finer grain structure instead of larger clumps of carbides.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Just to be clear...

This is the "edge" I had to work with.

If I had sharpened it the bevel would have been obese. I mean obtuse.

 

[fsatsil]

Just to be clear...

This is the "edge" I had to work with.

If I had sharpened it the bevel would have been obese. I mean obtuse.

I don't even want to think about how long that would take on stones! Definitely a job for the belt grinder

 

[Sadden]

Not long with a 24 grit Nubatama

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Not long with a 24 grit Nubatama

Yeah, I thought about that as I ground it, and ground it, and ground it...

The final apex was done on the grinder. The re-ffg was all done by hand on various abrasives, diamonds, SiC, cut up belts etc... An ugly business that.