Queens D2 steel?

R

robertj298

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Mar 7, 2014
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I've read that a lot of the D2 knives coming from the factory are not that sharp. I've also read that they can be a pain to sharpen that first time. I'm curious just how much work does it take to sharpen them when they are not that sharp to begin with? After you get them sharp are they hard to keep sharp?
 
Queen's D2 is one of the best steels available in factory production knives. Being harder than most (60-61 HRc) they do sharpen more easily with diamond hones. Most of them do come sharp in my experience, but have pretty thick edge angles. To reprofile them does take a little time, but the end result is worth it in cutting ease and edge retention.
 
I like using a diamond hone in Coarse or Fine to set new bevels on Queen's D2 blades. Following that, maintenance is very easy using silicon carbide (I really like wet/dry sandpaper for this) or aluminum oxide abrasives. I'm sure something like Norton's Crystolon (SiC) and India (AlOx) hones would do pretty well with it also. Black & white compounds work well for stropping it.

Aside from my own preferences mentioned above, diamond would do well by itself, from beginning to end, including stropping. The major hurdle with D2 is the initial heavy grinding to set the new bevel; beyond that, maintenance is much easier. If using small hones in particular, I'd highly recommend the diamond (I used a DMT 'Fine' credit card hone to re-bevel a Queen Country Cousin, and was surprised at how well it worked for this). Otherwise, a bench-sized hone in diamond, SiC or AlOx will be OK; the bigger grinding surface area always speeds up the process.


David
 
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I agree with David. Diamond stones, Silicon Carbide stones, and Aluminum Oxide stones work well on any alloy containing carbides (such as D2). Natural stones, such as Washita stones, are not recommended.

For the the first sharpening, I recommend a coarse grit to make the work go faster. Once sharp, I find maintaining the edge to be no more bothersome than other alloys.

Should you have a question on specific sharpening techniques, we have an entire forum devoted to maintenance, modification, sharpening, and the like.
Forum > Knife Specific Discussion > Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/794-Maintenance-Tinkering-amp-Embellishment

Because your question was specific to Queen knives, I'll leave the thread here for the moment. If it later drifts into extended discussion of sharpening techniques, it may get moved.
 
Love Queen's D2... heck, I really like D2!

I completely agree with all above, but want to hit it again where it was said to start with coarse grits to rebevel. It's a must as the steel is hard enough to make it downright painful to reset Queen's screwdriver-like edges.

Start coarse, work you way through the grits to the edge you want and it is a breeze to maintain. Certainly my favorite steel at this point for a traditional knife.

Robert
 
One of the nicest pocket-knife steels can be found in Queen's D2 range.

At first I had some problems with blunt ones (although many do arrive sharp contrary to some received wisdom) Using diamond stones made all the diff. It is true if they arrive sharp they're quite easy to keep that way, stropping will do it.

You may very well miss out on a wonderful knife by not trying out Queen d2 range, they have become some of my most revered knives!

thanks, Will
 
Jeff (black mamba) pretty much nailed what I would say.
Queen's D2 is my all-time favorite knife steel. Takes a VERY file edge (you can leave it toothy, or bring it to a high polish), holds it for-freakin'-ever, and I've never understood people's sharpening gripes.
 
The Queen country cousin came fairly sharp, but it has an odd bevel at the tip which i believe is to keep you from snapping the tip.
 
My Queen D2 stockman was dull in the box. It took me a relatively long time to get it sharp (patience is a virtue:(). But it has been at least a year or two and it has not lost its edge. It is about average for touch-ups. The blade slices very well.
 
My two queens have came with thick edges and needing immediate sharpening.

It took time. I used a belt sander to fix mine. Even with a belt sander, it was very noticeable how much longer it took to sharpen! You can do this by hand with sandpaper or diamond stones, etc.

Once reprofiled and sharp, it is a joy. It maintains easily with a loaded strop. Mine has proven stain resistant.

It is a real favorite in a pocket knife for sure. I wish more manufacturers would pick a hard D2 for an option. It maintains a sharp edge long after my 1095 knives do.

For traditionals, I think it is a fantastic steel.
 
NativeCraft said:
Can Queen knives be reasonably sharpened on a Spyderco Sharpmaker?
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With the standard ceramic set, it can handle maintenance (touch-up) sharpening. If the edge needs reprofiling (and many Queen D2 blades do), it'll be extremely slow or essentially impossible with just the ceramic rods. The optional diamond or CBN rods for the SM would be much more effective for that task. Or, as previously covered in the thread, any larger bench stone in diamond, SiC (Norton 'Crystolon') or aluminum oxide (i.e., Norton 'India', etc) could handle it, with diamond or SiC being the predominant preference for that task.


David
 
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NC-those are ceramic? If so diamond, or a bench stone (benchstones people just get'em! ;) ) will work much better. D2 responds much better to these 2 or 3 media. Longer strokes really help when reprofiling your brand new Queen knife, honestly no matter the overall length of the blade. $.02. :D
Thanks,Neal
 
NativeCraft said:
Can Queen knives be reasonably sharpened on a Spyderco Sharpmaker?
Click to expand...

I'll go ahead and say no, not with the standard set. The Queen knives I've bought required a reprofile. The brown stones don't remove metal quickly enough to do that, even for steels like 1095. You need something more abrasive. Once you properly shape the edge and apex it, then the Sharpmaker will really shine. It's not the ideal tool for reprofiling, but it's fantastic for sharpening once you have done the necessary shaping.
 
But is it really D2 though? For those experienced with various knife steels, does it truly behave that way
 
NativeCraft said:
Can Queen knives be reasonably sharpened on a Spyderco Sharpmaker?
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They can be maintained on the Sharpmaker's standard ceramic rods once you have the edge bevel set to one of the two Sharpmaker pre-set angles, and have the edge apexed.

I have to go with a Silicon Carbide (Norton Crystolon or similar) or diamonds if I want to do any serious work on a Queen D2 blade.
 
mrknife said:
But is it really D2 though? For those experienced with various knife steels, does it truly behave that way
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Very simple: yes and yes.

Queen's D2 is well-known and leaves little doubt as to it's character. Not sure why(?) that's even in question. It's not the CPM version of D2, so sharpening it can be more challenging, due to the huge carbides. In that regard, it likely is different in how it behaves during sharpening, if one has only been familiar with CPM-D2.


David
 
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neal70 said:
NC-those are ceramic? If so diamond, or a bench stone (benchstones people just get'em! ;) ) will work much better. D2 responds much better to these 2 or 3 media. Longer strokes really help when reprofiling your brand new Queen knife, honestly no matter the overall length of the blade. $.02. :D
Thanks,Neal
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Yes, the stones that I have with my Sharpmaker are ceramic. I'm pretty sure they make diamond sticks for it too, so I'll look into getting some of those. I don't have any sort of diamond hone at the moment, so if I'm going to have to purchase one, I may as well get the Sharpmaker ones I guess.
 
Steel is excellent, but in my experience, the factory grind was very thick, needed a complete reprofile for me to be satisfied. Afterwards, they kept a fantastic edge.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Very simple: yes and yes.

Queen's D2 is well-known and leaves little doubt as to it's character. Not sure why(?) that's even in question. It's not the CPM version of D2, so sharpening it can be more challenging, due to the huge carbides.


David
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Yeah Im more of a collector than a user, I have users and the users are generally 1095/420HC. Ive given away a D2 queen slim trapper because I cant sharpen it
 
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