Just received my DiamondBlade, FFD2 !!!

Native Justice said:
Christ gents, let the man gloat over his new toy without the theatrics of subjecting his every comment to critical review and commentary. Most of us want to know what his comments are, subjective though they may be, but lets not crucify him for his first impressions. If we want more detail, qualitative or quantitative, we can ask him. Let the poor guy respond at least. It's crap like the preceding that prevents people from doing what Troop did, freely talking about a new purchase with enthusiasm!

Thanks Troop, we appreciate your review and patience with those that wish to make this about something more than you expected or desired.

NJ
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You are most welcome, NJ.
- Thanks
 
Marcinek and Jos: Thanks guys. Appreciate it. :thumbup: Broos: Thank you, also.
 
Troop, no offense meant. I like D2 steel, and it is about as close to Stainless as I would ever want to get in a big blade and in a small blade it kicks butt. I am also sure that it will perform extremely well as even though a new process a lot of thought went into it's manufacturing.

But as a cutting steel, D-2 has been kicking butt for years. Just ask Brend and so many other custom makers why they love it. One of the sharpest knives I have ever held was a Brend out of D2 and it was scary sharp. Enjoy that nice knife as I am sure it is worth every penny.:thumbup:
 
Cobalt said:
Hmmm, aren't there plenty of high end D2 knives on the market?
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How about FFD2 vs CPM-D2 vs a custom D2 blade known for outstanding edge retention all vs a pure custom D2 with a 63/65 HRC multiple cryo/quench designed specifically to maximize edge retention? The comparison is carried out by several dozen individuals and consists of work ranging from just utility cutting, kitchen, hunting/fishing and as well as quantititative comparisons (cardboard/rope) and finally specific materials tests, yes even a proper CATRA :) .

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
How about FFD2 vs CPM-D2 vs a custom D2 blade known for outstanding edge retention all vs a pure custom D2 with a 63/65 HRC multiple cryo/quench designed specifically to maximize edge retention? The comparison is carried out by several dozen individuals and consists of work ranging from just utility cutting, kitchen, hunting/fishing and as well as quantititative comparisons (cardboard/rope) and finally specific materials tests, yes even a proper CATRA :) .

-Cliff
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yup, I would also like a high production factory D2 blade as well as a standard. But not sure that is possible these days as the industry has moved to S30V unfortunately.
 
There are still some D2, isn't Benchmade still using it? They announced D2 over M2 awhile back.

-Cliff
 
Cobalt said:
yup, I would also like a high production factory D2 blade as well as a standard. But not sure that is possible these days as the industry has moved to S30V unfortunately.
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http://www.moteng.com/Products/ItemDetail.asp?sid=&ItemID=70074

http://www.moteng.com/Products/ItemDetail.asp?sid=&ItemID=48204

http://www.moteng.com/Products/ItemDetail.asp?sid=&ItemID=75865

I also consider Dozier knives to be high quality production knives, in the same vein as Chris Reeve.

These are all current production, BTW.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
http://www.moteng.com/Products/ItemDetail.asp?sid=&ItemID=70074

http://www.moteng.com/Products/ItemDetail.asp?sid=&ItemID=48204

http://www.moteng.com/Products/ItemDetail.asp?sid=&ItemID=75865

I also consider Dozier knives to be high quality production knives, in the same vein as Chris Reeve.

These are all current production, BTW.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Agreed on the Doziers and I should have added that since I knew that;)

So the D2 Rat 7 or that queen cutlery D2 would be a good std to compare to, then moving up to dozier, then Brend and some other customs, along with FFD2. And see how they stack up. I think this would go a long way to showing how much of an improvement FFD2 is over the stock D2 and how it compares whether it be favorably or not to high end D2 productions and customs.
 
Cobalt said:
... how much of an improvement FFD2 is over the stock D2 and how it compares whether it be favorably or not to high end D2 productions and customs.
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The big problem is going to be hardness and not the FF process at all. Most D2 knives are 58/60, D2 can get 63/65 HRC. So right away you are looking at as much as a 10 HRC point difference with most knives.

-Cliff
 
Krein & May also make excellent D2 customs.

It seems to me that edge retention of FFD2 is being discussed here like there is no existing comparisons. There is good testing available to us now. And after repeated posts by cliff stating CATRA machine testing is no good for edge retention testing, I'm surprised to hear him suggesting it now.

CPM D2 versus FFD2 rope cutting edge retention test has been provided by Phil Wilson previously. Post #94:

Post #94:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480424&page=5

And CATRA testing comparing FFD2 and standard hardness D2 was also provided in the friction forged thread.

http://www.et.byu.edu/~sorensen/TMS 2007 Comparison Data.xls

So if you want some of the best edge retention, then FFD2 seems to be a good choice. And if you want a knife capable of a very high slicing capability, FFD2 is a good choice (though it is still uncertain why the initial slicing ability of some steels is higher than others, it appears all steels are not equal in this measurement of slicing ability at equal sharpness). Unless you can find someone willing to make you a regular D2 knife that will be very hard and very brittle, than it appears there is enough information now to make a pretty reasonable assumption that D2 or CPM D2 will fall short of FFD2 in edge retention tested with poly rope. All that said, a regular HRc 60 D2 knife is still a heck of a cutter.
 
Broos said:
Krein & May also make excellent D2 customs.

It seems to me that edge retention of FFD2 is being discussed here like there is no existing comparisons. There is good testing available to us now. And after repeated posts by cliff stating CATRA machine testing is no good for edge retention testing, I'm surprised to hear him suggesting it now.

CPM D2 versus FFD2 rope cutting edge retention test has been provided by Phil Wilson previously. Post #94:

Post #94:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480424&page=5

And CATRA testing comparing FFD2 and standard hardness D2 was also provided in the friction forged thread.

http://www.et.byu.edu/~sorensen/TMS 2007 Comparison Data.xls

So if you want some of the best edge retention, then FFD2 seems to be a good choice. And if you want a knife capable of a very high slicing capability, FFD2 is a good choice (though it is still uncertain why the initial slicing ability of some steels is higher than others, it appears all steels are not equal in this measurement of slicing ability at equal sharpness). Unless you can find someone willing to make you a regular D2 knife that will be very hard and very brittle, than it appears there is enough information now to make a pretty reasonable assumption that D2 or CPM D2 will fall short of FFD2 in edge retention tested with poly rope. All that said, a regular HRc 60 D2 knife is still a heck of a cutter.
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I would like to see what a custom well tempered, differentially heat treated D2 blade at an Rc of 64-65 would do against FFD2. That would be about as close a comparison as there could be.
 
Cobalt said:
I would like to see what a custom well tempered, differentially heat treated D2 blade at an Rc of 64-65 would do against FFD2. That would be about as close a comparison as there could be.
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Are there any makers that will make one at that hardness? I too would be interested in that if it could be done without being really brittle.
 
This thread is about Troop experience with his new knife.

It is time for the rest of the agendas to go into another thread or that another thread be started on the subject you are interested in.

I suggest that the detractors who are unable to stay on the thread subject title do that from this point on.
 
Wayne G. said:
Which one are you using as a standard to judge sharpness against?
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The standard replacement blades for the heavy duty cutter ( heavy duty just means more than cutting sheets of paper and such). The new UltraMax ones I have checked as well and they are indeed about 25% sharper as they claim. I was very skeptical about that number but it was in agreement with what i measured.

The blades are quite cheap (buy in packs of 10 or 50) and quite frankly are sharper than the majority of production and custom knives seen. Thus when someone says how sharp something is, if it was compared to such a universal reference then it would be a much more meaningful statement.

Of course there is no mandate for comparisons, as noted in the above, I do not even make such a restriction on the people I send knives out to, let alone random posters. It was an information request, nothing more. Now if the official policy is to be, you can not ask someone for additional information or discuss an element of performance or steel relevant to comments made, that is fine with me.

-Cliff
 
Troop before you leave try the only true test of a good hunting knife. Slice up a whole summer sausage and let us know how it does and feels. Don't use one of those wimmpy little 6 inch sausages either. :)
 
Troop said:
Thanks, Carl, for all the info on my sweet blade. Did the blade really cut through the breastbone of a hog with no ill effects? Wow!..that is something for such a thin blade. I'm just afraid that doing that would hurt her.
-Thanks again.
P.S., Sorry it took so long to respond to your posts; I just returned home from Alaska.
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Yeah, it really did. I cringed a little as I saw the writer take the knife and work it through the breastbone. I'm thinking "that's work for a saw or an axe, not a knife!" And I should mention that I don't know exactly where the cut went -- through the center of the breastbone, or through the rib attachment point. But when he was done, the hog was completely opened up. And the knife blade still shaved. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I guess I should mention that I haven't treated my personal blades that way, either. Somehow, it just seems like the wrong thing to do to such a nice piece of hardware ...

Carl
 
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