D2 rust and food prep?

J

J_Roc

Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
604
Hi,

I am thinking of getting a BM 710D2 plain edge to be used mainly as a camp knife and was wondering how the uncoated D2 steel would hold up against rust if it is used for cutting fruits, veggies, and meat.

Thanks,

J
 
No problem ! Any knife of course should be cleaned after cutting food for bacteria reasons . D2 is in knife terms at least a 'semi-stainless steel ' but I have a paring knife I use all the time in my kitchen and it works fine !
 
It should do fine if you wipe it down properly, so far I have not seen normal red rust on D2 no matter what I used it for, after enough time cutting apples I have seen a slight grey tint start to appear, but not rust.
 
Many folks use D2 for such jobs. Many makers bead blast it with little worry also which is known to cause some pitting problems in even stainless from time to time. I believe that is why many manufacturers like Emerson stopped doing a bead blated finish and changed to something else actually.

D2 is the most stainless like of the carbon steels so its pretty close to stainless in a lot of ways. However, any steel can rust given the right set of circumstances.

Here are some links to a VG10 blade on a Spyderco Stretch that is used in the kitchen extensively showing the end result around the pivot. Clean it out, dry it best you can, blow it out with a blast of compressed air or a blow dryer and you can probably do away with 99.9% of this problem ever showing its ugly face.

For the record this was all surface rust and wiped right off leaving no tell tale signs it had ever happened but the fact remains it was there, and it did interfere with the action and the ease of opening and closing as well as the function of the back spring to keep the point down when the blade was closed. All that went back to normal with a good cleaning.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72027&d=1179145990

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72026&d=1179145977
 
Thanks for the replies and info. I am familiar with most others steels, just no experience with D2.

I just returned from the store with a 710D2 pe.

J
 
D2 will rust, I have seen it happen.

For a food preperation folder there are worse choices, but not many.

Get a TiAlN-coated blade or choose a stainless steel, the knife will cut just as well or better and rusting won't be an issue.

The Sandvik 13C26 Kershaw is using for some of the new folders seems to be a pretty good cutter in the example I have and it takes a much finer edge than D2.
 
It should be noted, of course, that carbon steel knives have been used for food prep for hundreds of years before the invention of stainless.
 
A little rust or patina on a high carbon knife blade isn't going to hurt anyone. Just think of it as the cure for potential iron deficiency!
 
mnblade said:
It should be noted, of course, that carbon steel knives have been used for food prep for hundreds of years before the invention of stainless.
Click to expand...

True, and they were a PITA, which is one reason stainless was invented... of course if rust doen't bother you, then D2 is the ticket.

Thing is, D2 has no advantage over a stainless blade in a folder intended for food prep; it only has the rather large disadvantage of requiring a lot more taking care of, particularly around the pivot area. But again, if that's not a problem, have a go with it.
 
My experience is that a folding knife is not optimal for food prep, but certainly will do. If it's a matter of weight why don't you toss an inexpensive Vic parer into your mess kit ? The edge on these can be thinned easily to razor sharpness and they weigh next to nothing. If I was serious about preparing meals camp-side, a folding knife would not personally be my choice...however to each their own. One can get just about any blade to cut up food in pinch.

I used to backpack with an inexpensive Opinel for food prep....light weight with a wonderfully thin, sharp blade....but I found over time food would lodge in the handle and ring and I decided a fixed blade would serve me better for kitchen camp duties. If it's car camping you'll be doing, a larger kitchen knife will be easy to bring along.

To address your question regarding exposing a D2 blade to food...I have found that you are very likely to get some discoloration particularly when you cut acidic foods. However, peformance will not be affected in the least......and after all, a good kitchen knife, first and foremost is a tool, and......"pretty is as pretty does." I have a very old carbon kitchen blade that is nearly black with patina, but it cuts like a straight razor.

- regards
 
Actually Gramps brings up a very good point about carbon steels and acidic foods. Acid veges and fruits will dull the edge of a carbon blade much faster than a stainless so for many stainless is preferred simply for this alone. Carbon blades will stain onions and some other foods and some also complain of the taste of metal when preparing these kinds of foods with carbon blades. D2 may not be as much an issue with this as something like 1095 would be but it can still affect the edge negatively and also stain the blade as testing has proven.

STR
 
D2 in my experience pits in the kitchen. Much worse than 1095, which is more of cutlery steel. Some metallurgist on one of the forums said that D2 has big carbides that's why it gets big pits and has a toothy edge, unlike 1095 which has smaller carbides, doesn't pit as badly and can get a better razor edge.

From my experience with D2 in the kitchen it is a poor choice for food prep, particularly in a folder due to the pivot problems STR showed with VG10. VG10 is a true stainless, unlike D2. I gave away my D2 folder I used for kitchen and replaced it with the same design in ats34, a true stainless, and have never looked back.
 
I think the best folding camp cook knife ever has to go to the Inox(read: Stainless) Opinel. That razor blade thin blade makes really short work of most food prep chores and has a dirt simple locking mechanism that is really easy to clean afterwards. I fail to see any advantage to using a more complicated lock blade that has way more cracks and crevices for food to get deeply into and rot. With the Opinel, it's WYSIWYG.


Unless, of course, your just looking for an excuse to buy another tacticool knife. The 710 definately works in that regard. (Have one myself. ;) )
 
i use my 710 for cutting fruit and such all the time. Its bk coated but that doesnt effect the pivot area much. I oil my knife regularily and keep it clean. Being that most of us on these forums love our knives, i really dont see it as a problem. if you dont like your knives much and dont like to take care of them, why not buy a kitchen knife for kitchen chores=P. The 710 is an all round awsome folder. Just take care of it is all:)
 
I know guys that use D2 for anything and have no problems and others that can't use the most stainless knife made without them. Its all in the end kind of hinged on the user to a large extent and how well or should I say, how not so well taken care of their knife is. (knives are)

Maintainance is something that is often times neglected until its too late and then its always the knife's fault or the makers fault or the blade steel and on and on. As brownshoe points out there are many folks out there that carry and use carbon blades in harsh environments everyday with no worries and much of that is simply because they maintaince their knives as a habit.

Maintaining a knife is anything from cleaning it up after each use, to keeping up with the edge condition about as often as its used and believe me other than the guys that hang on forums like these here the majority of the real world users of knives out there don't know the meaning of either. If their knife dulls cutting grit and hair while skinning their deer it is just a bad knife and nothing to do with technique and simply making some minor changes like not rolling the carcass around in the sand getting it in the hair and then not separating the hair first but going right through all of it. Yep thats a bad knife. :jerkit:

You've seen them, perhaps some reading this are just that way. Your knife edge chips scrapping a window sill for repainting and simply because you scraped over a nail hidden under old paint and its a faulty knife, a bad blade, and on and on. I hear it everyday. :confused: I just got off the phone with one such person with a 'faulty Kabar' can you tell?


STR
 
I can't comment on D2, but I've used 1095 blades as camp and kitchen knives since before the current president's father was in the White House. Never had a problem. Just remember to carefully hand wash. :P

You might get a bit of a patina to it if you are cutting high acid foods, like citrus. Doesn't hurt anything, it's a self-limited oxidation reaction so it will actually help protect the knife while giving it character.
 
STR said:
:confused: I just got off the phone with one such person with a 'faulty Kabar' can you tell?
STR
Click to expand...

Hey STR,
Sorry to hear about the grumbly customer.

You're more polite after working with a grumbly than some folks who don't have that excuse. Always worth listening to.
 
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