KaBar D2?

[nozh2002]

Friend of mine like to buy big D2 knife (most likely KaBar USMC). Only question he has - how brittle is it (or how tough)?

With such amount of Carbon there he expects some kind of brittleness. From other hand I do not belive KaBar will do brittle USMC.
Does anybody has know something about it?

Not related question on D2 I have myself. If O1 - oil quenching, W1 - water, A2 - air, what does D2 mean?

Thanks, Vassili.

 

[calyth]

D-2
D-2 is sometimes called a "semi-stainless". It has a fairly high chrome content (12%), but not high enough to classify it as stainless. It is more stain resistant than the carbon steels mentioned above, however. It has excellent edge holding, but may be a little less tough than some of the steels mentioned above. And it does not take a beautiful finish. Bob Dozier uses D-2.

It's from the FAQs under knowledge base at the first page you hit when you go to bladeforums.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

nozh2002 :

[D2]

Only question he has - how brittle is it (or how tough)?

It is among the most brittle of the tool steels and tends to shatter into multiple pieces upon fracture, a poor choice for that knife.

-Cliff

 

[mete]

D-die steel ,cold work , H -hot work ,S - shock resisting, L - low alloy, M -molybdenum high speed

 

[thombrogan]

Originally posted by calyth
It's from the FAQs under knowledge base at the first page you hit when you go to bladeforums.

May be so, but things do change. Benchmade's been making mirror-polished D2 blades for a while now (starting with their 941D2CF a year or two ago). Either knowledge is contextual and subject to change (which could invalidate or make parts of things obsolete in the context of today's techniques) or mirror-finishes just aren't good enough for Joe.

Some things threaten to be timeless, but not everything. Also, it was probably a safe move on Nozh2002's part to ask here instead of doing an hour's worth of reading for a minute's worth of answering. Even though heeding your advice and reading the FAQ will help him out in the medium and long runs.

 

[Jeff Clark]

So how hard did Kabar make the blade? If it is only 57 or so how tough might it be? Has anybody really knocked one around?

 

[Cliff Stamp]

It is of course possible to make it soft enough that it won't break that readily, then you have an edge which will indent more readily and roll quickly, so less durability and edge retention. Plus now you have an edge which is prone to burr formation and has the disadvantage of low machinability of D2. It is simply not a good choice for a heavy utility blade, it is pretty much the exact opposite of what you want in such a knife.

-Cliff

 

[thombrogan]

A lot of similar Ka-Bar brand blades have 1095 steel. Often it's expoxy coated and 1095 can be nice steel for tough work.

 

[nozh2002]

2 Cliff.
So D2 is not suitable for big knives?
Can you rate it in comparison with other stee?
Thanks, Vassili.