Medford Praetorian Ti D2 tempered steel glass breaker - before/after pics of the hole

[bladeshaman]

I got one of the old Medford Praetorian Ti knives before Greg was putting a hole in the D2 tempered glass breaking pommel for lanyards and paracord. I put paracord lanyards on almost everything topped with a glow in the dark paracord end. Determined to get a hole in this quarter inch thick D2 steel was a bit more difficult than I thought. I tried carbide tipped concrete drills and a number of other bits I had but nothing seemed to even begin to get into it. I called a machine shop but they said if it was tempered they wouldn't likely be able to drill it unless they ordered a special drill bit (at that point I'm thinking big bucks to get it done).
So I looked far and wide for an affordable carbide drill bit just big enough for 550 paracord. I got two of them for about $12 shipped in case I broke one. I didn't even using any cutting oil and it went quite nicely. I just kept the process slow stopping a number of times and using a slow drill press speed. Based on some searches on here about drilling tempered D2 I thought it might be more difficult but with the right drill bits I think anyone could do this with a drill press.

Before drilling:

https://imgur.com/pwQuSwc

After drilling:

https://imgur.com/fXIsMfj

 

[HexY3co]

I've used those carbide bits on tangs before most steel will drill but I had no luck with 3v it just burned the bits up.

 

[bladeshaman]

I think 3V steel potentially has a lower Rockwell hardness than most D2 and treated D2 is likely harder although a google search on that has a fairly wide range for D2 hardness. Over the past few years it seems most D2 knife blades I've seen that give an HRC value run around 60-62 whereas the maximum hardness of 3V steel seems to be 58-60 HRC from online sources. Maybe the particular carbide bit wasn't especially good quality? I got mine from the seller "Tooleye Official Store" on Aliexpress dot com. They seem good quality. But I'm not really familiar with 3V other than looking up the HRC number so maybe something else about it makes it more difficult to drill.

 

[HexY3co]

I think 3V steel potentially has a lower Rockwell hardness than most D2 and treated D2 is likely harder although a google search on that has a fairly wide range for D2 hardness. Over the past few years it seems most D2 knife blades I've seen that give an HRC value run around 60-62 whereas the maximum hardness of 3V steel seems to be 58-60 HRC from online sources. Maybe the particular carbide bit wasn't especially good quality? I got mine from the seller "Tooleye Official Store" on Aliexpress dot com. They seem good quality. But I'm not really familiar with 3V other than looking up the HRC number so maybe something else about it makes it more difficult to drill.

I've drilled both and I assure you the 3v is considerably harder to push through. The 3v keeps re hardening itself when it barely gets hot. I also have it on my steel app that 3v gets to 62-63 while retaining very high wear resistance no reason to doubt that. I believe it with just the little testing I have done the surface barely looks touched chopping through wood and cardboard, the edge is insanely sharp still. D2 is good but I think 3v is better and I'm not a super steel chaser just what I am seeing personally.

 

[bladeshaman]

Thanks for that info on 3V. Always good to hear personal experience over online Google searches. Sounds like a steel I'd like to try for my next knife. I've seen it around and I think Medford uses it in some of the newer knives. I'll be on the lookout...

 

[Natlek]

I've drilled both and I assure you the 3v is considerably harder to push through. The 3v keeps re hardening itself when it barely gets hot. I also have it on my steel app that 3v gets to 62-63 while retaining very high wear resistance no reason to doubt that. I believe it with just the little testing I have done the surface barely looks touched chopping through wood and cardboard, the edge is insanely sharp still. D2 is good but I think 3v is better and I'm not a super steel chaser just what I am seeing personally.

Tungsten carbide drill bits don t give **** IF 3v or ANY other steel out there keeps re hardening itself , they will drill like in butter If they are sharp

 

[Natlek]

I got one of the old Medford Praetorian Ti knives before Greg was putting a hole in the D2 tempered glass breaking pommel for lanyards and paracord. I put paracord lanyards on almost everything topped with a glow in the dark paracord end. Determined to get a hole in this quarter inch thick D2 steel was a bit more difficult than I thought. I tried carbide tipped concrete drills and a number of other bits I had but nothing seemed to even begin to get into it. I called a machine shop but they said if it was tempered they wouldn't likely be able to drill it unless they ordered a special drill bit (at that point I'm thinking big bucks to get it done).
So I looked far and wide for an affordable carbide drill bit just big enough for 550 paracord. I got two of them for about $12 shipped in case I broke one. I didn't even using any cutting oil and it went quite nicely. I just kept the process slow stopping a number of times and using a slow drill press speed. Based on some searches on here about drilling tempered D2 I thought it might be more difficult but with the right drill bits I think anyone could do this with a drill press.

Carbide tipped concrete drills WILL drill any steel at any hardness if you sharpen them properly .