I'm sure this isn't news to many of you, but a freshly sharpened edge on this steel really does age like wine.
I went through two previous D2 blades, and ended up selling them because I was dissapointed with them. Both were "reputable" knives, one Benchmade, one Kershaw. Neither came sharp to satisfaction out of the box, and I went through quite a bit of work getting them up to speed. Even after I had managed to get a decent edge on them, I was rather dissapointed with their performance. They would be shaving sharp, and then dull within a couple days.
I recently got the new Benchmade Adamas, even though I was hesitant because of the blade steel, I just liked the design too much to resist. In this case I got a really good start; the edge that Benchmade put on this knife was just plain superb. They have really made some strides in their factory sharpening over the past couple years.
As I had feared, it began to lose its shaving sharp edge rather quickly over the first few days. This time though, instead of obsessing over it, and going nuts trying to reprofile and tweak the edge, I decided to give it a good stropping on plain leather (the belt I wear to work every day) and see where it took me. It started to dull again after a few more days, but to less of an extent. After several good stroppings, the edge finally ceased losing its sharpness. In fact, the darned thing keeps cutting better and better every day. I had heard people mention D2 becoming sharper with use due to increased toothiness of the edge, but I hadn't experienced it until this third knife, and until I gave it a good solid chance to develop.
What sparked this thread was that I was watching some videos on youtube, and got bored, so whipped out the knife and started playing with push-cutting a thin thermal-print store receipt that was sitting on my desk. Much to my surprise, instead of tearing through it, I quickly had a pile of thin ribbons. This knife has put in some serious cutting work, and based on my prior experience, it should NOT be cutting like this with no touch up on the edge.
Anyways, the point of this thread was that if you've been dissapointed with D2 in the past, maybe you should give it another chance. The most important thing I learned from this (something I can apply to my other knives as well), is not to over-do it when it comes to edge maintenance. I've always stropped my knives, but I never realized just how effective it was for regular maintenance until now. I still feel that D2 is a little bit "special" compared to other steels, when it comes to maintenance, but I now know just how good it can get when properly sharpened and maintained, and I'm quite pleasantly surprised.
I'm going to post another thread with a few pics of the knife.
I went through two previous D2 blades, and ended up selling them because I was dissapointed with them. Both were "reputable" knives, one Benchmade, one Kershaw. Neither came sharp to satisfaction out of the box, and I went through quite a bit of work getting them up to speed. Even after I had managed to get a decent edge on them, I was rather dissapointed with their performance. They would be shaving sharp, and then dull within a couple days.
I recently got the new Benchmade Adamas, even though I was hesitant because of the blade steel, I just liked the design too much to resist. In this case I got a really good start; the edge that Benchmade put on this knife was just plain superb. They have really made some strides in their factory sharpening over the past couple years.
As I had feared, it began to lose its shaving sharp edge rather quickly over the first few days. This time though, instead of obsessing over it, and going nuts trying to reprofile and tweak the edge, I decided to give it a good stropping on plain leather (the belt I wear to work every day) and see where it took me. It started to dull again after a few more days, but to less of an extent. After several good stroppings, the edge finally ceased losing its sharpness. In fact, the darned thing keeps cutting better and better every day. I had heard people mention D2 becoming sharper with use due to increased toothiness of the edge, but I hadn't experienced it until this third knife, and until I gave it a good solid chance to develop.
What sparked this thread was that I was watching some videos on youtube, and got bored, so whipped out the knife and started playing with push-cutting a thin thermal-print store receipt that was sitting on my desk. Much to my surprise, instead of tearing through it, I quickly had a pile of thin ribbons. This knife has put in some serious cutting work, and based on my prior experience, it should NOT be cutting like this with no touch up on the edge.
Anyways, the point of this thread was that if you've been dissapointed with D2 in the past, maybe you should give it another chance. The most important thing I learned from this (something I can apply to my other knives as well), is not to over-do it when it comes to edge maintenance. I've always stropped my knives, but I never realized just how effective it was for regular maintenance until now. I still feel that D2 is a little bit "special" compared to other steels, when it comes to maintenance, but I now know just how good it can get when properly sharpened and maintained, and I'm quite pleasantly surprised.
I'm going to post another thread with a few pics of the knife.
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