Quality of Kubey and Petrified Fish D2 Steel

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Jan 7, 2022
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So I have been looking to require a budget knife that has a bit more blade length and a very nice action. At the moment, it's between the Kubey Ku322 in D2, and a Petrified Fish Knife in D2, So I was wondering what you guys knew of the quality of Kubeys and PF's D2. I had seen somewhere that PF's was up to a 62rc, but none of the big Edge Retention testers like Cedric and Ada, as well as Outpost 76, had a test for PF's D2, and I have only found Hrc for some Kubey Knives in D2. (Side Note: Was also wondering how Civivi's 14c28n performs.)
 
So I have been looking to require a budget knife that has a bit more blade length and a very nice action. At the moment, it's between the Kubey Ku322 in D2, and a Petrified Fish Knife in D2, So I was wondering what you guys knew of the quality of Kubeys and PF's D2. I had seen somewhere that PF's was up to a 62rc, but none of the big Edge Retention testers like Cedric and Ada, as well as Outpost 76, had a test for PF's D2, and I have only found Hrc for some Kubey Knives in D2. (Side Note: Was also wondering how Civivi's 14c28n performs.)
 
Any company can have flukes, but Civivi/WE is one of a few manufacturers that just don't need to be questioned anymore. Their 9cr18 is an excellent rendition of an underrated and all around decent steel, their 14C28N should be similarly excellent (for the price, like always).

I can't speak to how Kubey and Petrified Fish do at their heat treat, and I don't even know if they're actually manufacturers or just lines of knives made by another OEM. I think Kubey is a manufacturer, but I don't know for sure. If they're not, I don't know who is making their product.

But i wouldn't worry about the heat treat of D2 from either of them, since they're going the route of trying to establish themselves as legit companies. D2 is a known quantity and only a total scam operation is going to turn out garbage D2. It's too cheap and there's too much data on how to work with it for any half-serious business to try ripping us off on it.

That said, if I were you I'd probably just pick one of the many gorgeous Civivi or Kizer budget knives of the last couple of years and call it a day. I love knives but I hate getting disappointed and I like what I know. Kizer and WE are my two standby manufacturers, they release designs I would buy more often than I earn enough to buy them.
 
In my personal experience, both are reasonably good with Petrified Fish being a little better. Either is at least as good as anything you'd get from Artisan/CJRB. Outpost 76 actually tested my Petrified Fish 818 in the video below. It did very well versus a lot of the Chinese D2 out there.

Civivi's 14C28N is good. I have no complaints. I don't know if anyone has tested it though.

BTW, the PF818 is a great little knife. The blade shape is fantastic. The action is very nice. My only complaint was that the inner scale edges were a little crisp, but I feel that way about a lot of budget knives with nested liners. I fixed it in about five minutes between the coarse and fine sides of an emery board.

 
The D2 PF knife I got from G2 is outstanding, as design and execution. Very good size and geometry, I’m very happy with it. I only cut few boxes so far but wasn’t expecting any issues with the D2 anyway, I like this steel.
 
I have several Kubey folders and one fixed blade.

The edge-holding of the folders is good and never had any problems with any of them.

They are also going through their product line and doing new improvements too.
 
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