Favorite Civivi Steel?

[KVT]

I have been pretty impressed with CIVIVI’s Damascus. The stuff always comes razor sharp out of the box and has had great performance for me. I’m honestly surprised/shocked. I guess I expected pretty poor performance given the supposed ingredients. Favorite no, but surprised, yes.

 

[Chronovore]

I have been pretty impressed with CIVIVI’s Damascus. The stuff always comes razor sharp out of the box and has had great performance for me. I’m honestly surprised/shocked. I guess I expected pretty poor performance given the supposed ingredients. Favorite no, but surprised, yes.

I think the performance is more surprising because it is something made for looks and bought for looks. It's like discovering that a beautiful woman is also a talented cook.

It makes sense though. Civivi gives the components as 9Cr18Mov and 10Cr15CoMov. Those are both decent budget steels on their own.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

I agree with some of this. While it does vary, Chinese D2 just doesn't seem to give me all that much over 9Cr18Mov, N690, 14C28N, Nitro-V, 154CM, etc. on edge retention. Of course, all of those steels are more stainless (especially the first three).

So the way I look at it, D2 comes with a tradeoff. The corrosion resistance is low enough to make it a three-season steel for me. (Stretches of 90F with 90% humidity means sweat and my sweat will spot D2.) So when D2 is up against any of those other choices for carry, I have to ask what I'd be getting for the trade. In theory, the answer should be "much better edge retention" and that's been the rub with Chinese D2.

BTW, a particularly good example of D2 with that convex edge might be making up the difference. How far out do you take it on grit?

I'm mainly speaking to the value of the budget tier chinese D2 in terms of use/abuse and mighty respectable edge retention per dollar. There is nothing you wouldnt do with a beater, there are a lot of things you wouldnt do with a show pony.

I dont have much to compare it to out of the steels you listed retention wise, outside of american AEB-L.. and while D2 does micro chip when using it in a way it shouldnt be used, its nothing a 5 minute apexed bur doesnt work out.

Once you start getting over the $60-70 range I'm sure there are better choices in terms of retention alone.. and many a better choice for "pride of ownership", but for me it's the utility/toolness. That said by the sheer number of D2 blades china has pumped out I do believe their HT to be good enough, even for the cheapest of cheap out of the known brands.

I finish with spyderco fine, and sometimes a lapped* spyderco fine (if I'm feeling fancy) which I would assume is close to ultra fine. Followed by a leather strop infused with white gold compound, which is fairly aggressive.