D2 sucks!

Anyone else not see the appeal in steels that stain? I don't get it.
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I like the look of an even patina anyway. I don't really care for a blotchy one, but I can look past it considering that non-stain resistant steels consistently outperform their stainless sisters.

I find it hard to believe your knives show no signs of wear that would exceed a patina?

You must not use them to often?
 
Whether or not a steel stains doesn't even cross my mind. I think about performance.
 
D2 steel is the best. This steel is the toughest on the planet. I personally think that production knives in D2 steel and custom knives in D2 are not the same. Production knives tend to heat treat in bunches as custom knife makers heat treat just a few at a time. D2 steel must be maintained. Do not let it get dull as it can be hard to resharpen. I have D2 customs knives from Bob Dozier, Trace Rinaldi, and Tom Krien and they are the sharpest damn knives you could ever own. D2 steel from what I know takes a toothy edge and is meant for work
 
I sharpen my knives with a DMT Aligner. The finest diamond hone left a 'toothy' edge on my Dozier D2. I then went to a paper wheel with polishing compound and polished it to a high gloss. THIS TOOK A VERY LONG TIME! I can polish up my S30V in 5 or 10 minutes but the D2 took over half and hour. (I use the wheel at slow speed, say 500 rpm as any faster and the very edge gets hot, and that will ruin an edge easy.
The D2 easily push cuts a phone book page.
Greg
 
hi,, with the d2 steel ive never encountered any problem sharpening this steel .. the steel we use here (x12mf) ,, about the same as d2.. seems to shave like a razor with out any problems. maybe its just a problem with the specific knife,, or maybe its a knife myth ???
the only thing that ive had a shitty time sharpening is titanium,, but even then if you get it right it will shave hair and paper without any problem ..
 
AmadeusM said:
Anyone else not see the appeal in steels that stain? I don't get it.
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All steels stain w/ the exception of H1. Didn't you know that:rolleyes:

Also, I know there are more than a few people here that feel carbon blades out perform SS.

Have you ever used a carbon blade:confused: Try one if you haven't, you might change you mind!
 
collecter said:
If thats what it takes to have Bob D. sharpen my knife, I'm in, D2 sucks!

I have only one D2 blade and it's a Queen Mountain Man. It needed a little touch up when I first got it but I haven't had to sharpen it since and that was almost a year ago. Actually, Bob, can you sharpen my knife?

I'm very pleased with it.

Collecter
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Amen! I love D2, have a Queen 11 that cuts like a laser, but can't quite get that perfect edge on my Q44.
 
I have been able to get a nice, non-toothy, polished edge on a number of D2 blades. I like to convex them, starting with X-Coarse DMT, working my way to XF DMT, or starting with 220 grit sandpaper and working my way up to 600 grit. Either way, I finish with a succession of 1000 and 2000 grit paper, followed by stropping on green compound. With each change to finer grit, you need to make sure that you take care of all of the larger scratches before moving on (you're right on that point, Cliff). Yes, D2 takes longer than some steels to do this with, but I think it's worth it. If done properly it can have a great edge, and holds it well.
 
I agree with PartialSerrations:
D2 steel is the best. I've owned many Dozier knives and used several VERY hard. The D2 in his custom knives is awesome yet does take a bit longer to sharpen. (I've owned other custom and production knives in D2, yet none have seemed to approach Bob Dozier's blades' sharpness.)

D2 does need a proper heat-treat to get the most out of it.
Possibly some of the production companies are not completely heat-treating them as they should, but I can say with 100% confidence that if you get a knife from Bob Dozier in D2, you can absolutely rely on that knife.
(Yes, I'm cheerleading here a bit, but I've yet to find a value-priced, custom, working knife that performs as well as a Dozier blade...
Do not let it get dull as it can be hard to resharpen. I have D2 customs knives from Bob Dozier, Trace Rinaldi, and Tom Krien and they are the sharpest damn knives you could ever own. D2 steel from what I know takes a toothy edge and is meant for work
 
I have a Queen Cutlery D2 fixed blade Premium hunter (drop point). I had a tough time gettting a good edge on it. I had the best results with using a Gatco diamond stone jig outfit, and took the angle down from 25-20 to I think 12-15 degrees (per side) using coarse then medium diamond stones on the guide rod. I then tried various attempts to put a micro edge on it with the next higher angle fitting, and it worked very well.

It didn't really start getting "scary sharp" until I got a medium grit Spyderco ceramic stone (the brown one, not white). I few passes on that ceramic stone took it too a whole new level of sharp (freehand). All I can say is "WOW! It's sharp!"

I was getting discouraged. I put a lot of time into getting that blade sharp with little advancement. I have a 440C bladed Benchmade 190 and a Bill Moran Spyderco drop point hunter (FBO2?) with VG10 steel. They get very sharp with minimal effort. The ceramic stone really makes those knives take an edge too.

Highly recommend the Spyderco brown (medium) grit ceramic stone. I think it was ~ $40 online (frooogal it ). The call it "medium" but I would call it "fine grit" to me. The edge is very shiny. MUCH MUCH MUCHfiner grit than a fine diamond hone (by DMT), almost no comparison-probably at LEAST 50% finer grit than the fine DMT diamond stone. The ceramic fine grit (white stone) must just polish the edge, and not remove much metal.
 
I have a KA-BAR in D2, and it is one of my favortie knives. I very rarely have to re-sharpen it, and it works very well for utility purposes. It isnt the sharpest I have, but it is tough, and gets the job done. I guess it all really depends on what you want to use it for. If you want a scalpel-sharp slicer id go for a thinner blade in VG-10, but for a workhorse D2 would be one of my choices.
 
D2 is and will remain a fine, great knife steel. Curses to the fool that is quoted so often on "taking a bad edge and holding it forever..." It is a fine steel used by many makers with great success. I always fear any company, looking for the cheapest way to produce, using D2 as their steel.
 
The only D2 blade I have is a BRKT Highland Special. I bought it second hand, but it doesn't look as if it's been sharpened. Very smooth feeling convex edge (by thumbnail) and the only knife I have that easily push cuts paper. It's not all that thin a blade, either.
 
MVF said:
The only D2 blade I have is a BRKT Highland Special. I bought it second hand, but it doesn't look as if it's been sharpened. Very smooth feeling convex edge (by thumbnail) and the only knife I have that easily push cuts paper. It's not all that thin a blade, either.
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Unless Mike made a one-off in D2, that Highland is A2. Also a good steel, and Bark River puts a good convex edge on them.
 
Yep- just checked- not only is it A2, but it's a Northstar! I liked it enough that I was looking at getting a Highland Special for the drop point version!:foot:
 
I just bought a Ka-Bar D2 extreme to try as a change to my usual 1095 Ka-Bar.So far I'm very pleased with it's performance.It hasn't been abused like my 1095 Ka-Bar has but I'm looking to change that.I have a 2 day camping/bush stomping trip comming up an the D2 is going to be my primary knife.I'll let you know how it performs.
 
It's all in the heat-treat. I purchased several "factory" D2 knives and have noticed that the performance varies by quite a large margin. In comparison, I flat ground a blade from 1/8" D2 had it heat-treated by Paul Bos to HRC 61 and it cuts like O1 and has better stain and wear resistance. It's all in the heat-treat!!
 
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