D2 Steel?

I too like the Linder Old Western, again the same price. Love the stag handle, that i the big seller for me anyway.
 
IME, it's a good steel that will give yeoman like performance.
It's not super steel, but my D-2 knives from Queen Cutlery, Bob Dozier and Benchmade have been more than satisfactory, and light years better then 420HC.
 
D2 is as mentioned dependent on its heat treat and of course its geometry. While not known as a great chopper, I had a large bowie style knife made by a Canadian knife maker in D2 and I chopped a LOT with it with no problems experienced. John
 
My only D2 blade is my Benchmade Adamas. It's a brute, and nothing I've thrown at it has phased it at all. I live in humid Seattle, where it rains an average of 150 days/year, and I've had zero problems with rust/staining.

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D2 is a great cutlery steel if the heat treat and geometry are right. I prize my Dozier K2 General Purpose FB; I think Benchmade does a great job with its D2, judging from my Cabela's Grippie and 710 in that steel.
 
Both my knives in D2 are made in the USA, hold an edge great and are buggers to sharpen. Plan on buying some better stones, if you don't already have 'em.
 
As others have said, D2 varies depending on how a manufacturer treats it. I've only used "foreign" D2 on inexpensive knives. To be fair, most of my experience so far is with a Ganzo FH11, which is priced low enough to compete with knives using 8Cr13Mov or AUS-8. In general, my experience lines up with what I'd expect based on reading and charts. The edge lasts longer. The knife takes more work to sharpen.

I usually keep my knives clean and oiled. So I tend not to have a problem with corrosion. However, I do value corrosion resistance because EDC gear can get wet, dirty, exposed to salts, etc. At least on paper, D2 doesn't have good corrosion resistance but neither does 8Cr13Mov.
 
D2 is OK, but I think its reputation is being overblown these days. Edge retention is good, but not amazing. It's not particularly tough, and it is not the most stainless. I think people love it these days because it has become sort of the go-to steel for cheaper knives these days, replacing 8cr13mov. I don't love 8cr13mov either. But D2 is not that much better that 8cr in my opinion. It has an advantage in edge retention, but it is not that great. Just check out some of the many testing and comparisons that have been done, which are available on YouTube. Also, once D2 gets dull, it takes a long time to sharpen. 8cr13mov is pretty poor, but you can sharpen it back up in a pinch, most of the time with just a strop.

So D2 is good, but I think there has been some exaggeration of its quality due to the plethora of quality budget knives that now use it. There is nothing wrong with that, and overall I think it's a good thing that budget knives are moving away from 8cr13mov and towards D2. But to hear some of the talk on discussion boards, you would think D2 is some amazing steel, and better than S30V. That's just not true.
 
I don't know about anyone else, but admittedly my main use for my knives is cutting up lots of Amazon boxes... and well-done thin D2 excels at that. Just keeps cutting...
 
@rogatsby
[But to hear some of the talk on discussion boards, you would think D2 is some amazing steel, and better than S30V]
But well... how about no ! S30V is the next step and one of the few steels designed especially for cutlery. D2 is not, it's a tool steel and while it does great (IMO) at being a cutlery steel, S30V and S35V, are clearly the next and higher step. Just my experience. I have knives in everyone of those steels and I think they all perform great for my uses. However, there is a difference in performance and I would tip my hat to the more modern formulas.
 
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