Got home to see my D2 118's today...

I love the Buck 118 myself, great hunting knife and my personal favorite (pun intended!) Those are some very nice ones you have there. Is D-2 one of the modern variety stainless steels or is it the unusual one that is half carbon/half stainless? OH
 
Old Hunter said:
I love the Buck 118 myself, great hunting knife and my personal favorite (pun intended!) Those are some very nice ones you have there. Is D-2 one of the modern variety stainless steels or is it the unusual one that is half carbon/half stainless? OH
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If I understand your question correctly, I can answer it this way. D2 is a tool steel that has been around for a long time. It is not stainless by any means, as a result. It does have enough chromium to make it close to stainless, but not quite. (a good upgrade to D2 for stainless is CTS-XHP, though XHP is better). D2 holds an edge for a long time, but can be a bit challenging to sharpen without the proper setup. It has better edge retention (if heat treated correctly) than 440C, 154CM, 420HC, and etc. It used to be the darling of custom makers, but not as much any longer as other steels perform better, such as 3V, or even 52100. But, it is still a great choice and I have a custom skinner in D2 that I really like. Queen and Knives of Alaska make a lot of use of D2. With Buck's heat treat it is a great choice for a hunting knife.
 
Thanks Doc - clear enough that I understand! I need to add one in D2 to my accumulation of Buck 118 knives. OH
 
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