How to know or proof it made from D2 tool steel?

[marcinek]

Everybody realizes that the OP opened this thread 2 and a half years ago right?!?

And that he hasn't been here since 11/2013?

 

[TexasWade]

I was about to mention that... Also notice kevin_b joined over two years ago and made his first post today! Some necro action for sure...

 

[Thomas Linton]

EBay custom knife.

Almost (almost) every knife listed is from a questionable source - and is not "custom."

Price is no guarantee of quality.

 

[Adam Brewster]

EBay custom knife.

Almost (almost) every knife listed is from a questionable source - and is not "custom."

Price is no guarantee of quality.

I'll chime in on this thread. I was brought here while researching the history of masters of defence knives. The early ones were very high quality prior to the sale to Blackhawk who farmed production off to China. While researching, I found a guy on these forums who's father in law worked at the factory making these knives. He mentioned a few times that while most of the knives were marketed and sold as 154cm, several were actually d2. So there are apparently some cases out there where you aren't authenticating if a knife is a quality or not but rather curious on what steel was actually used.

 

[Londinium Armoury]

The foxed pages of the ancient grimoire opened, dust billowed fourth into the room, catching a ray of light entering through the window, as the shadowy figure known only as "the necromancer" begun chanting in an eldritch tongue.

 

[afishhunter]

Stamped tang stamp? I read on here somewhere (in one of the 2018 Forum Knife threads?) that D2 is too hard for stamping, and the tang stamp has to be etched, either by laser or acid. (CPM154 was the most "modern" or "hardest" that could be stamped, out of all 8 or 9 choices. 440C had to be etched. CPM154 won the election for blade steel.)

Difficult or "impossible" to sharpen with an Arkansas or water stone?

Reputation of the company?

Question: Is there really a "premium" being charged for D2 these days? Both Marbles and Rough Ryder have multi-blade D2 knives for under $20~$25.
(Yes, the parent company of both (same parent company) I trust to have D2 or whatever they say they do, as much as I trust Case and Buck to have the claimed blade steel.)

My Marbles MR431 D2 with Black Canvas Micarta covers Sowbelly Stockman (three D2 blades) set me back $16.99. Some of the 440A Marbles Sowbelly stockman's were/are a buck or two less, to a buck or three more, depending on the handle covers.

 

[Alberta Ed]

Don't buy anything from the PRC, a.k.a. Communist China. Do buy knives made in Taiwan.

 

[D-weaver]

Find a metal supplier or hardening service with a portable xray fluorescence tester. They probably won't charge much to flash your knife. The data that comes from it will tell you everything that's in the knife other than carbon content.

D2 steel is inexpensive. It's probably d2. It's not hard to make relatively cheap knives with expensive stock if you're willing to make the making process really plain and skip some reasonable level of quality control.

 

[r8shell]

Stamped tang stamp? I read on here somewhere (in one of the 2018 Forum Knife threads?) that D2 is too hard for stamping, and the tang stamp has to be etched, either by laser or acid. (CPM154 was the most "modern" or "hardest" that could be stamped, out of all 8 or 9 choices. 440C had to be etched. CPM154 won the election for blade steel.)

D2 can be stamped. I have a few Queen Cutlery knives stamped D2.

 

[GatorFlash1]

How to tell? It is easy! You just send it to a metallurgical laboratory to be tested, along with a big check, or you buy it from a known reputable knife dealer who sells from a known reputable knife maker. Easy.

 

[Danke42]

I'll chime in on this thread. I was brought here while researching the history of masters of defence knives. The early ones were very high quality prior to the sale to Blackhawk who farmed production off to China. While researching, I found a guy on these forums who's father in law worked at the factory making these knives. He mentioned a few times that while most of the knives were marketed and sold as 154cm, several were actually d2. So there are apparently some cases out there where you aren't authenticating if a knife is a quality or not but rather curious on what steel was actually used.

If you're going to restart a five year old thread why not that one with the detail on D2 instead of inserting a vague description here?

 

[MUAlum2013]

I don't want to be a troll... but if I were a fraud company I would rather choose to stamp CPM-S90V or M390 on my fraud product instead of the plain D2...

Well D2 is more realistic on these cheaper Chinese knives.