D2 steel

B

BULLCANS

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Dec 6, 2014
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Looking to buy my first d2 steel knife. Have a few questions for you guys.
I will be using the knife for edc. Ya I know it's a big knife so on and so forth. It will be used around water. If I wipe it off will that be ok and not start to rust? Or do I need to apply a coat of.....? If surface rust starts how do I get rid of it? If the coating rubs off what is the best way to keep from rusting? How often do I need to add a coat of..... To keep the knife from rusting? I just worried that I'm going to spend the money and the blade will end up looking like junk after awhile. Any help would be great.


Any long term use Benchmade adamas guys please chime in.
 
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If rust starts, I rub it off with steel wool. The main factor is to keep it dry. D2 doesn't rust as quickly/easily as o1 or 1095. I use a vinegar patina, which I think has helped.

I don't understand why you are not going stainless.
 
Wipe it off when it gets wet, keep it dry, and apply coat of mineral oil rinse and repeat.
If rust does form just scotch brite it off
 
Here's my experience with D2-

I carry a D2 fixed-blade every day (Wilson Tactical model 25), both at work and away from work. Although much of the blade has a black coating, there are large areas that are not coated. I've had this knife, and have been handling it and carrying it for around seven years now, and it has never rusted, and I have never oiled it or treated it in any manner. My sweat and hand-oils tend to cause rust on non-stainless steels if I am not careful, but that hasn't happened with this knife.

At one point I cut the lanyard loop off the end of the knife. This left a sizeable area of steel uncoated and continually exposed to my bare hand. I had expected that I would be regularly sanding rust off that area, but I haven't had to do so in all the years I've had the knife.

If the knife gets wet I just wipe it off with a dry cloth.

I'm planning on eventually removing the coating altogether, with no concerns regarding rust.

And any knife that gets used regularly will eventually look used. It's not going to be easy (or possible) to keep any regularly used knife looking pristine. A "user" that looks pristine probably isn't getting used for much ;) .
 
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I've used D2 around fresh water (though not sailing or in the water) and it's usually fine as long as it's not beadblasted and I dry it before putting it away. If you're around salt water, however, I would stay away. If you do start to get some rust, just get some Bar Keepers Friend and scrub it down, that'll take off anything superficial pretty easily.
 
I have a couple of semi-stainless/tool steel knives that I'm very fond of. One is the Spyderco Gayle Bradley, the Caterpillar tractor of EDC's with M4 steel and CF scales is a heck of a heavy duty knife.

The other is a composite Kershaw Leek with D2 layered between Sanvik, a more gentile EDC flipper.

I rub a little Break Free CLP on them (and all my guns and tools) and have had no corrosion issues. You can get Break Free at most sporting goods and guns stores, not expensive either. I started using the stuff in Vietnam when it was a synthetic mil spec product and not found anything better.

http://www.thegunzone.com/rust.html
 
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I would recommend ballistol and tuf cloth marine strength. If u are religious with maintaining, meaning use the hydrophobic items before going into water environments and when finished, you should b ok. It's easier an less time consuming preventing rust than removing once has set in
 
D-2 is one of my favorite steels. I've never had rust issues with it. I do not reside in a high rust area. If you wipe it down occasionally, 2-3 times a year, you should be fine. The knife will not suddenly turn to rust on you--if you want it buy it.

A rust eraser is a handy thing to have.
 
I'm looking at a Benchmade adamas. I seen all the videos online. I'm just worried that I will not keep up with it. I keep the knives dry after each use. I keep them in my pocket and use as needed. I keep an eye on my current knife griptilian. Yes it's stainless I know. I just cautious about rust spots. I also worried that the back of the blade where the lock is will rust. Any Benchmade adamas long time users please chime in.
 
If you use it daily & keep it dry, you won't have a problem.
I only had D2 rust when stored for months.
 
I've found D2 to be more rust resistant than I thought. I've got a few uncoated D2 knives that I've used outdoors a lot, and so far I've only seen some slight discolouration and just a little bit of superficial corrosion on one of them. I live in a hot, damp part of South America, everything rusts down here (all it takes is one day in my pocket for an S30V blade to get some rust spots).

My Adamas has held up well so far, the coating protects most of the blade and the exposed areas of the tang are easy to keep dry. Every couple of days I rinse it, dry it up and apply a little bit of oil. The edge got a bit of rust but some polishing compound on a bit of cardboard was enough to clean it up.
 
Rub it with a bit of oil on a regular basis (Likely every few days. Frequency will depend on how often you get the blade actually wet.) Make sure you put it away dry at the end of the day.

If you get a rust spot, do not clean it with steel wool.
D2 is darn near stainless. That means there is a pretty good layer of adherent oxide on it. Steel wool will contaminate that layer, creating openings for further rust.

Use a fine Scotch-Brite pad and a bit of oil or WD-40 to scrub it.
 
Nevr-Dull brand wadding polish will wipe the rust off without scuffing the hell out of your blade with steel wool. I use it on D2 and other blade steels all the time...been using it since the 90's, works like a charm, and it only takes a few seconds.
 
It is possible that each of our experiences are different.
Steel wool doesn't scuff my blade. I put this down to the hardness differential: My knife is Rc 60-61, the wool is unhardened low carbon steel. It removed rust quickly & easily, not much rubbing was required.

As for patina, I have now put a vinegar patina, which is dark gray. The wool actually polishes it, leaving it with a very smooth sheen.
 
I've never had a D2 blade rust but steel wool and WD-40 works well at removing it on other blades. If you are going to be around water a lot with the knife I would recommend N690, or better yet Spyderco's H1.

I personally wouldn't worry to much about it with a coated blade from Benchmade unless the knife will spend most of it's time wet.
 
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