Question about D2

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pz2008

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May 24, 2008
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I have a Ka-Bar D2 Extreme knife. I'm thinking about removing the blade coating to make it look better. How to remove it? Does the D2 steel will rust quickly without coating?
 
It won't rust if you take care of it. Keep it clean and oil it occassionally.
 
D-2 , if not 'stainless steel ' is at least 'semi-stainless' Just keep it clean, no need to oil it.My D-2 is a paring knife which sees lots of acids from fruit etc and has never has stained at all...Your coating can be removed with abrasive paper.
 
And your knife will cut better without the coating.

Years ago, I discovered that if I removed the coating from a blade, regardless of the steel, and polished it with fine wet/dry sandpaper, then 0000 steel wool to a high gloss, they slice a lot better. :thumbup::p
 
pz2008 said:
I have a Ka-Bar D2 Extreme knife. I'm thinking about removing the blade coating to make it look better. How to remove it? Does the D2 steel will rust quickly without coating?
Click to expand...

I agree with the other answers you got about corrosion. So I'll work at your coating removal question.

That blade is supposed to be coated with epoxy powder paint. There are many grades of epoxy powder coat. They vary in robustness. I would try paint stripper first. Many epoxy paints can be removed by paint stripper. There are others that are unaffected by paint stripper and have to be removed by sanding.

Try paint stripper first. It's easier. It will not hurt the blade but keep the handle clear of it.
 
I like to dive a lot with my knife. Is the "semi-stainless" steel good for such using? It won't be too long underwater.
 
for diving I'd go with titanium, but a quick story, some years ago on a camping trip I lost a full tang D2, 3 years later I found it in the creek near the camp, the wood handles were shot, as were the carbon screws that held it, but the blade, besides some surface discolor and patina,which cleaned up very easy, was perfect, I'm a BIG fan of D2... G.
 
I think diving with a D2 blade is not going to work. Dive knives are mostly either low carbon steel or Ti because of the corrosion resistance reqiured. Save the D2 for land trips and buy a separate knife for diving.
 
Just be aware that on a fixed blade with a metal guard, seawater and salt will seep into the seams. You might just 1 day find out when using the blade the rust had eaten thru the blade in the guard area, when the blade snaps off!!!

And sea water is more corrosive than blood.
 
For a diving knife,you might want to check out Spyderco's salt series.They use H-1 with them.It doesn't rust & will hold an edge longer than titanium.
 
Some knife manufacturers are saying that D2 is "the toughest steel used in knifemaking". Is it true? Is D2 really so good?
 
pz2008 said:
I have a Ka-Bar D2 Extreme knife. I'm thinking about removing the blade coating to make it look better. How to remove it? Does the D2 steel will rust quickly without coating?
Click to expand...
It is not as bad as high-carbon blades, with minimum care it shouldn't rust at all (unless you live in a tropical rainforest).
 
pz2008 said:
Some knife manufacturers are saying that D2 is "the toughest steel used in knifemaking". Is it true? Is D2 really so good?
Click to expand...
It's VERY wear resistant, holds a great edge, it gets hard as hell and it should be tough enough unless it had a bad HT. Can't really go wrong with D2, just get some ceramic or diamond rods to deal with this animal, because D2 ain't exactly the easiest steel to sharpen.
 
I dropped a D2 knife as I was removing it from the safe. It fell on the bottom door rim of the safe with the sharp edge down. It had a nasty chip which is too big to sharpen away.

I also (no, not the same day!) dropped a 420 blade on its tip on a carpeted concrete floor. The tip just bent. I managed to sharpen that up OK.

Moral of the story: Don't drop your knives.
 
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