D2 Patina?

[shpshooter]

Will D2 get a patina like many of the older carbon non-stainless steels? Will it have the same effect of making the blade more rust resistant? If it does can it be hastened along by cutting fruit like old carbon steel blades?
Thanks

 

[brownshoe]

D2 will get a patina, just not as intense as some other carbon steels. Many people say D2 is semi-stainless, however that has not been my experience. I have only a queen D2, but using it in the kitchen and for a variety of utility purposes since January has resulted in some pitting. Anything acidic, pickles, lemons, etc. and you need to wipe it quick or it will pit. In my limited experience D2 gets less of a patina, but pits significantly quicker than my A2 and L6 carbon steel blades. My L6 is used extensively in the kitchen and has never pitted, but under the same conditions my D2 queen has pitted quickly.

 

[JD Mandrell]

My Queen D2 stuff pitted until I figured out to wipe it down twice a week, oddly enough my D2 knives from Razorback Knives and Charles May are the opposite, I leave them in a leather sheath for days and it doesn't do anything.

 

[KeithAM]

I found that one of my Queen whittlers with D2 blades developed a patina after I used it to whittle on several hot, humid days this summer, holding it for hours at a time with a sweaty hand. No pitting though.

 

[Gossman Knives]

I only have the Queen Mountain Man folder in D2 and have not used it to a point to know whether or not it will get a patina. Like LC said of all the knives I've made in D2 I have not had a problem with staining. I've used a couple exclusively for hunting the last two years and had blood and animal fluids on them. Quick clean up helped.The only one that did discolor somewhat is the one in my sig that Ron Hood used very very heavily during the making of his latest video. He said it had gore on it for days.
Scott

 

[MarkPinTx]

I have the same experience with pitting: acid stuff will give you pepper spots and deep ones at that muy pronto (wipe it down quick!). I also find that cutting fruit dulls the Queen D2. Apparently, the granular nature of the steel causes it to lose carbides or other chunks at the edge and elsewhere when exposed to oxidizers (acids).

As far as patina goes, I don't see much. It develops a bit of an oxide that can be scraped off in places where my fingers routinely touch and sweat (ie the spine of the blade near the joint where my thumb often sits and the spines of the blades generally where my fingers close around the knife).

I have a pre-owned CSB knife that was once mirror polished. The main blade has developed a grayish patina (before I got it), while the small blades have nothing but pits mostly. The previously described oxide comes on satin-finished blades (winterbottom/forest edge and jigged black cherry).