D2 Sharpening Issues

C

Coonskinner

Joined
Mar 28, 2001
Messages
2,491
I can put hair popping edges on my knives, which are mostly A2 or 1095 or 52100.

But I got a Queen muskrat in D2 and it is giving me fits.

I have diamond homes and ceramics too.

But I'm not getting the same kind of shaving sharp edge on it.

Any suggestions?
 
Those Queens can be tough to sharpen but diamond plates and some diamond paste will get the job done no problem. I don't think I would use the ceramic, I've never had much luck with D2 and ceramics.

What diamond stones do you have? (grits too)

The best tip is to always use light pressure to get the most out of a diamond plate.
 
I have worked and worked and worked. I'm not a novice at sharpening knives.

But this steel has me feeling like Ned in the first reader.

I am reprofiling it and thinning the edge just a little, so I know that takes longer, and I know about making sure the edge is making contact with the stone, or plate, if you expect it to get sharper.

I know and have used the marker to test where exactly I am honing. And I can't tell that it is getting a bit sharper, after a long time of working it.

I am about to start hating this thing. :)
 
The DMT coarse is not the fastest stone and I'm not sure about the ezlap, adding a Coarse Silicon Carbide stone might be your best option. It will cut the D2 much faster than the diamond plate and show real progress. If you go with something like the Norton combo stone the fine side usually puts a respectable edge on D2. You could probably find one locally for $10-$20.

I know the frustration you are having, I get several Queens a year and it's never much fun. Sometimes switching abrasives really helps though.
 
Yep, SiC can be much faster than diamond plates. Ceramics work on D2 like anything other steel.
 
Jason B. said:
The DMT coarse is not the fastest stone and I'm not sure about the ezlap, adding a Coarse Silicon Carbide stone might be your best option. It will cut the D2 much faster than the diamond plate and show real progress. If you go with something like the Norton combo stone the fine side usually puts a respectable edge on D2. You could probably find one locally for $10-$20.

I know the frustration you are having, I get several Queens a year and it's never much fun. Sometimes switching abrasives really helps though.
Click to expand...

I have a Norton Fine India on one side and a coarse Norton SC on the other side.

I will try that.
 
I found that the sample of D2 I have will not hold very low angle. 30° inclusive is most what it can take & hold well.

Try getting 15° per side by raising the spine about .25 of the blade width at the heel as starting point. It gives slightly lower than 15°, and with hand wobble it's likely around there. Also, I don't go higher than DMT EEF and no ceramic. Still testing, so take this with a huge grain of salt.
 
I have put a lot of elbow grease into this sapsucker.

I don't need a hair whittling edge on it, because I bought it for skinning coons this fall and winter. I like a toothy, aggressive edge for skinning, but one that will shave a little.

I have a number of slipjoints that I use for skinning out hides, and when you get to the head, you can't avoid some contact with the bone, and simple carbon steels dull up pretty quick. It's generally at night and I'm in a hurry, so I'm probably not as careful as I could be.

I bought this Muskrat in D2 thinking it might hold its edge significantly longer.

But I could have resharpened half a dozen of my 1095 blades while I have been trying to get an acceptable edge on this bull headed sapsucker.

I'm beginning to think maybe I have passed a point of diminishing returns.
 
first of all i have very much experience with near all steels around, but D-2 is one of my favorite user steels.
my best experience is sharpening D-2 edges free hand on any 1000 grit japanese water stone.
the hair popping sharpness is nice and everyone knows that lasts only for a short while with any steel, but much nicer is the working edge of D-2 which works really for a long time!
If you wanna have a feel of the hardness which should be between 60-62HRC, you should use 1000grit jap.waterstone freehand on 15 degree per side.
With this configuration you should have mini chipping or visible chipping and that is sooo good for a really good working D-2 edge.
goog luck!

best regard
Ragnar
 
I don't have any Japanese water stones.

I have been looking at a Work Sharp for a while.

How would that work?
 
it should work any stone with 1000grit, but japanese water stones are very fine grained. you have to put the stone in water for 15 minutes, and then you sharpen your blade free hand. there are very much videos on youtube...
good luck.
 
Since you said "Queen" and it's going to be a user, I'll chime in here too.

IMO, they all come from the factory way too thick behind the edge. I use my EdgePro to knock it down, but a DMT or (better yet) your coarse silicone carbide stone can be used to thin out the relief. It will make for an ugly knife, but sharpenings will be fast and easy. You're just trying to thin the primary grind down is all, not going for looks. Once you've done that, as others have said, don't go with too thin of an edge angle. If you do, you can always microbevel it, and that can also protect your edge.

I've found that about 10 min per blade will do the job, and sharpenings are fast and easy (on a DMT) after this. Here is my 2 bladed Congress and what it looks like. You'll notice I thinned out the pen blade a lot more since it does more delicate work than the sheepsfoot. It's time well spent, and you'll find the Muskrat sharpens up fast after this.

It does really make it ugly. But if you're like me, I couldn't care less, I want a knife to cut.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/congress2_zpsftvhmht8.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/congress1_zps6jp4nbb0.jpg
 
sodak said:
Since you said "Queen" and it's going to be a user, I'll chime in here too.

IMO, they all come from the factory way too thick behind the edge. I use my EdgePro to knock it down, but a DMT or (better yet) your coarse silicone carbide stone can be used to thin out the relief. It will make for an ugly knife, but sharpenings will be fast and easy. You're just trying to thin the primary grind down is all, not going for looks. Once you've done that, as others have said, don't go with too thin of an edge angle. If you do, you can always microbevel it, and that can also protect your edge.

I've found that about 10 min per blade will do the job, and sharpenings are fast and easy (on a DMT) after this. Here is my 2 bladed Congress and what it looks like. You'll notice I thinned out the pen blade a lot more since it does more delicate work than the sheepsfoot. It's time well spent, and you'll find the Muskrat sharpens up fast after this.

It does really make it ugly. But if you're like me, I couldn't care less, I want a knife to cut.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/congress2_zpsftvhmht8.jpg
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q203/sodak_photos/testing/congress1_zps6jp4nbb0.jpg
Click to expand...

I am reprofiling it, and I have a coarse SC stone.

I'm finally getting it close to where I want it, working on it a little here and there.
 
Good luck with yours, I'd like to know if your opinion changes once you get it at the "right" geometry. The edge holding on these is really good, great steel for pocket knives!
 
sodak said:
Good luck with yours, I'd like to know if your opinion changes once you get it at the "right" geometry. The edge holding on these is really good, great steel for pocket knives!
Click to expand...

I'm hoping it performs up to my expectations based on research.
 
Update on the D2 Muskrat...

I finally got an edge on it that I call acceptable.

I got some good advice from you boys here.

I had to accept the fact that it will not work at as thin an edge as I am used to.

I have the knife, and I am going to try it out this fur season I guess, but I have learned that I really don't care much for D2 because I did not enjoy the process of putting an edge on the stuff. It just isn't for me. The window at which it will work is just too narrow.

I doubt it I buy another D2 blade.
 
Coonskinner said:
I have a DMT coarse and fine.

I also have EZ Lap coarse, medium, and fine and extra fine.
Click to expand...

Any or all of those will be plenty for the job. With Queen's D2, and in small blades such as on these traditional pocketknives, the main thing to focus on is maintaining a consistent angle and allowing yourself the patience and time to fully thin & apex the edge. Queen's blades are often thickly-ground at/behind the edge, so it takes a long time to thin it out to get it cutting well. This is also why it's important to maintain a consistent angle, because over the span of many, many, many sharpening passes needed to grind D2, an inconsistent angle on a thickly-ground edge will make for a very rounded-off and BLUNT edge. That's the main obstacle with such blades, in making them sharp. A small(ish) folding knife can be difficult to keep a solid grip on while sharpening over a long span of time, therefore difficult to maintain a steady angle.

The DMT Coarse (325) or the EZE-Lap 'Medium' (I believe that's 400) can work well on such smallish blades in D2. EZE-Lap's diamond is polycrystalline, so it's effectively more aggressive (faster) for it's rated grit size. I don't like using anything coarser on small blades like these, because they'll really tear up & scratch up the blades & edges if technique isn't perfectly stable; makes it harder to refine & finish the edges on them. I often prefer to use a DMT 'Fine' (600) for such tasks, for this reason.


David
 
While they are more expensive, Dozier grinds D2 perfectly, IMO, and they come super sharp right out of the box. But most of his are fixed blades.
 
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