Need to drill into D2

B

bigloudvtwin

Joined
Dec 9, 2012
Messages
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Hi all. Just about finished with a hunting knife for myself out of D2. (No I didn't anneal it) Need to drill 3 holes for my handle pins. All my drills just bounce off. Can't seem to find any tungsten carbide bits in 1/8". What can I do here? I could epoxy the handle material on (Walnut) but I'm fond of brass pins for looks and strength. Help?
 
Yep, gotta get a bit that will bite. Tungsten would be the way to go. Has that part of the knife been heat treated at all? If not, I would think a regular bit should go through it? But, since you say they won't cut, you need something different. Have you checked Home Depot, lowes, ace, etc? You should be able to get a TC bit locally.
 
Not totally relevant to your situation, but here is a video on how Jason Brous drills 1in holes into his D2 blades. Maybe you'll pick up a tip or two.

[video=youtube;1isg8lNe1ug]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1isg8lNe1ug[/video]
 
I doubt carbide tips will work on hardened D2.
If you have a great drill press, a fully carbide bit, like an end mill may work.

I think you should just glue some scales on.

Next time, drill holes before hardening.
 
If you know someone with a plasma cutter have then pierce it and follow up with a carbide burr. Next time do the machining before you heat treat.
 
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/n...om/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=13731599
Just so everyone is clear, My friend is a sawyer. He gave me a pile of planer blades from a lumber mill. All D2 in hardened state. I have a home made heat treating oven that runs on self aspirated propane "pipe burners" To soften D2 I need to hold at 1550-1600, decrease temp at 40f per hour to 1000f. that's like 11 hrs and probably quite a bit of propane. I'm going to go ahead and epoxy the scales on this time. Next time I might try the plasma cutter idea. It's a total pain to work with but I love this steel. I think I'll be able to skin and butcher several game animals before I need to strop/sharpen. I will try to post a pic of finished blade on here. Thanks for all the replies. I really love this hobby.
 
Annealing D-2 is a long process. I would go with the plasma and carbide die grinder burr for clean up as previously suggested. Could always cord wrap I suppose.... If doing this in a forge my freon can forge would take around $30 bucks worth of propane and you'd have to baby sit the thing forever. For that money you could buy the D-2. Programming my evenheat would be easier, but then it sucks power and you still have to baby sit, though not as much.
 
Get one of these, clamp your blade down. Crank the drill press up as fast as it will go, and push this bit through. Make sure you wear glasses, and a mask would be a good idea. It throws a lot of sparks, but it will go through. DO NOT stop drilling until you are through. Steady pressure is a must.
 
Hmmm....
I got hold of a slitter disk from a paper products factory made of D2 a while back.
Cut it into manageable chunks with a disk, put it in my forge while it was hot from another project, made sure it got up to around 1600 for a few minutes, then turned off the forge and blocked up all the openings and forgot about it.
I was able to drill for handle pins when that was done....not sure that qualifies as a real "anneal" but in this case all it had to do was work.
Not much trouble at all.
 
I have nt worked d2 before, but I would think that you could do a spherodizing anneal by holding at 1250 for an hour or two, or the poor mans way, heat it to dull red 3 times with a torch and let it air cool to black inbetween. It works for a2. You should be able to do this on the handle only, leaving the blade in water, and get your drill to bite.
 
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