I read a lot about different steels on this forum, so I thought I'd share my experience with a couple of knives I recently acquired.
Some background... I think I can sharpen anything... and I prefer to use a regular india stone - aluminum oxide or whatever it is - and sharpen freehand. I have a lansky diamond kit and have used it a lot, but on a blade that is fairly easy to sharpen, I will use the stone & sharpen by hand. Sometimes finish on a little piece of fine ceramic I got somewhere - or a strop.
I got a Case amber bone canoe in CV, a steel which I have sharpened many times, and feel I can do well with on the stone. The same day I got a Queen carved stag bone canoe in D2. Having read everything I could here about D2, I was prepared to have to work on it a lot.
Out of the box, the Case was much sharper - I made a few passes on an extra fine DMT hone, and it was done. The Queen needed work - it was pretty dull.
So I got the lansky and went to work on the queen - I used an extra coarse diamond hone in the 25 hole and ground on it for what we in the south call "A WHILE" before I got down to the actual edge. Finished up with a lansky medium hone, and then the extra fine dmt freehand. Seemed pretty sharp, but not razor sharp like a Case CV will get.
SO I carried it a day or two, cut some sausages up with it... (incidentally, ANY trapper would be better to poke a frying sausage with - longer blades...) Used the case a little bit too... and ended up down at a coffeeshop with some time to kill so I got one of those wooden swizzle sticks and started whittling on it with the queen, and then with the Case... no contest - Case still much sharper.
That ticked me off, so I came home and got the lansky out again and ground on it in the 20 hole for A WHILE. Finished up the same way, and now the Queen is pretty doggone sharp. Now if it will hold that edge for A WHILE I will say I like it a lot better than the Case. But I sure hope it don't need that much to maintain it - a Case CV is pretty quick & easy to sharpen up.
By the way, fit & finish is a little better on the Queen. Case has twin backsprings, and the Queen has one. The case springs feel stronger, but the main blade rides over too far, and gets in the way of closing the little blade if you are holding it wrong. Truthfully, though, I like both of them. I'll probably carry both regularly.
I have a spyderco delica in VG10 and the D2 seems a lot like it - but harder. The edge will polish down nicely on both, but quicker on the VG10. I think the D2 seems a little better if you don't polish it down all the way on a ceramic or strop.
Some background... I think I can sharpen anything... and I prefer to use a regular india stone - aluminum oxide or whatever it is - and sharpen freehand. I have a lansky diamond kit and have used it a lot, but on a blade that is fairly easy to sharpen, I will use the stone & sharpen by hand. Sometimes finish on a little piece of fine ceramic I got somewhere - or a strop.
I got a Case amber bone canoe in CV, a steel which I have sharpened many times, and feel I can do well with on the stone. The same day I got a Queen carved stag bone canoe in D2. Having read everything I could here about D2, I was prepared to have to work on it a lot.
Out of the box, the Case was much sharper - I made a few passes on an extra fine DMT hone, and it was done. The Queen needed work - it was pretty dull.
So I got the lansky and went to work on the queen - I used an extra coarse diamond hone in the 25 hole and ground on it for what we in the south call "A WHILE" before I got down to the actual edge. Finished up with a lansky medium hone, and then the extra fine dmt freehand. Seemed pretty sharp, but not razor sharp like a Case CV will get.
SO I carried it a day or two, cut some sausages up with it... (incidentally, ANY trapper would be better to poke a frying sausage with - longer blades...) Used the case a little bit too... and ended up down at a coffeeshop with some time to kill so I got one of those wooden swizzle sticks and started whittling on it with the queen, and then with the Case... no contest - Case still much sharper.
That ticked me off, so I came home and got the lansky out again and ground on it in the 20 hole for A WHILE. Finished up the same way, and now the Queen is pretty doggone sharp. Now if it will hold that edge for A WHILE I will say I like it a lot better than the Case. But I sure hope it don't need that much to maintain it - a Case CV is pretty quick & easy to sharpen up.
By the way, fit & finish is a little better on the Queen. Case has twin backsprings, and the Queen has one. The case springs feel stronger, but the main blade rides over too far, and gets in the way of closing the little blade if you are holding it wrong. Truthfully, though, I like both of them. I'll probably carry both regularly.
I have a spyderco delica in VG10 and the D2 seems a lot like it - but harder. The edge will polish down nicely on both, but quicker on the VG10. I think the D2 seems a little better if you don't polish it down all the way on a ceramic or strop.