D2: Toothy vs Polished edges

B

bigdky

Joined
Apr 27, 2014
Messages
25
I have an HK14175 on the way and it is my first d2 blade. I usually sharpen to 2k grit and then strop on leather with green compound. i have tried doing some research and come up with conflicting opinions on toothy vs polished for d2. i would appreciate anyone with real world experience with d2 giving me some advice on this. My uses will be cutting some cardboard, rope and 550 cord, food prep, and some bushcrafty type things. I mostly have experience with 440c, aus-8, 154cm and chinese alphabet steels, also 1095. Any advise will be appreciated.
 
In my experience you would do best with a fairly acute edge angle and a medium grit finish. When you describe a 2k finish I'm assuming ANSI numbers so a pretty bright finish. D2 will take a finish like that, but tend to lose it rapidly and default to a "medium" finish 600-800 ANSI anyway.

I also personally do not use a pasted strop very often on this steel, though it will work OK I tend to get much stronger results right off the fixed abrasive. I might give it a strop on plain paper to shine it up a bit and reveal any burrs but otherwise right off the stone, medium finish, 26-30° inclusive. The more acute edge makes up for the lack of refinement along the apex when doing pressure cuts, and lets those carbides do what they do best for a long time - draw cut.

If the D2 has been run to the high end for RC, anything over 60, it will be better capable of holding onto the brighter finish. Most are not run that high.
 
The beauty of sharpening your own knives is that you can experiment and find what works best for you and how you use it... but HeavyHanded hit on one thing... lowering the angle will go a long way in improving how well the blade cuts.

Looks like a nice knife! :thumbup:
 
thank you heavyhanded. that was what i was looking for. also i was under the impression that i needed to keep it over 40 degrees inclusive. nice to know i can thin it down some. thanks again! also from what i have read Benchmade runs their d2 at 60-62 rc. so it should be nice and hard. :)
 
Last edited:
I prefer a toothy edge on my Kabar Becker BK24 in D2 for "bushcrafty type things".
 
I would say personal preference, I've used both and like both for different reasons and different types of cutting. If you lower the edge angle (highly recommended), and start experiencing chipping, a small (almost invisible) micro bevel can solve that problem without having to thicken the edge back out. D2 is a great steel, I'm sure you will enjoy it!
 
I like D2 sharpened two way, a fine edge 4000-8000 grit waterstone or a Coarse edge, with a Fine Crystolon stone (about 280 grit). When using the SiC stone I usually reclaim the slurry and spread it on a leather strop, this works very well to finish the edge and remove any burrs.

The SiC stone on D2 for whatever reason always seems to work better for me than anything else, yields a very nice cutting edge too.
 
Jason B. said:
I like D2 sharpened two way, a fine edge 4000-8000 grit waterstone or a Coarse edge, with a Fine Crystolon stone (about 280 grit). When using the SiC stone I usually reclaim the slurry and spread it on a leather strop, this works very well to finish the edge and remove any burrs.

The SiC stone on D2 for whatever reason always seems to work better for me than anything else, yields a very nice cutting edge too.
Click to expand...
Do you have a specific SiC stone that you like? I got some of the stones that Ankerson recommended (the name escapes me right now), and they cut well, and are DIRT cheap. I was surprised at how far the $$ went with these stones. I've always used diamonds and then a microbevel on a ceramic, but am willing to try something new.
 
I use a Norton, it's not something I use often though, pretty much just for D2. Every other steel I can hardly get it to shave with this stone but on D2 I'm a star...
 
Norton economy stone medium side for me. I edc a queen slippie in D2 often and this grit seems to work the best for me. Edge lasts a really long time!
 
Thanks, I think I might have a Norton somewhere in my garage. I'm going to find it this weekend and give it a try...
 
The toothy edge bothers me on some knives, but not with D2 as it has tended to hold that edge well longer.

But you have to really appreciate it for what it is. A steel with giant carbides like 440c. Which is why I don't bother going beyond the medium stone. Works great at that coarseness! This link has a photo of the comparative surfaces of d2 vs powder steel under an electron microscope. Peep how big and randomly dispersed the d2 carbides are!

http://smt.sandvik.com/en/products/...l-knowledge/important-factors/microstructure/

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top