Sharpening a D2 Queen

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Bungwrench

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I just recently acquired a Queen stockman with D2 blades. I have never sharpened D2. Is it hard to do? I'm used to just using a standard old Lansky to sharpen my knives. Can I get by with doing that? Do I need to get a diamond stone to sharpen them? As you know Queens come almost dull right out of the box.
 
Depends upon whether you want to reprofile the edge to a shallower angle, or merely sharpen it on the existing bevel. If you just plan on sharpening and NOT reprofiling to a shallower bevel, the Lansky will do it OK, along with many other normal stone type sharpeners. If you have a really thick edge and want to rebevel it, I would definitely buy a diamond hone. A coarse diamond hone will take off in 15 minutes what it will take three or four days to remove with conventional stones. I bought one Queen fixed blade before getting the diamond sharpeners that about drove me crazy. I ground metal off that thing for an hour a night for two weeks, and never did get to the edge to leave a burr. I was so angry that I pounded the blade on my back porch railing, and drove the tip into the wood trying to snap off the point and smash the thing so I could throw it away. I was unable to damage the thing at all, and decided that anything that tough might be worth salvaging, so I got the Lansky coarse diamond hone, and in fifteen minutes had a burr on the edge. Swapped to the conventional Lansky stones, polished it up, then hit the edge itself on a 22 degree fine ceramic crock stick, and that did it, hair popping sharp. That was the thickest Queen I have bought, most of them weren't that blunt.

I believe that if you're going to try to remove much metal on anything hardened over about 59 RC hardness, you'll be much better off to get a coarse diamond sharpener to do it with. D2, ATS 34, VG10, etc, they're all usually pretty hard and very abrasion resistant, but the diamonds will zip it right off of there in no time flat. If the factory edge angles are satisfactory though, conventional hones will work OK to resharpen. I like to use 17 to 20 degrees for the primary bevel, and then 22 to 25 degrees for a microbevel to polish up the very edge itself. My knives sharpened in this fashion cut very very well and hold up fine also. I have not tried any ultra shallow angles way down below 17 degrees, as on most knives it makes an edge bevel that is extremely wide and ugly. Good luck getting it sharpened up. :thumbup:
 
I recently bought a Queen fixed blade hunting knife, my first D2. The blade has a full flat grind, which I like, but the edge is really thick. I've been trying for several days to put about a 15° primary bevel on each side, using carborundum stones. The edge is looking better and better under a loupe, but it's still too dull to cut anything except butter. I know it'll be okay sooner or later, so I'm not giving up. (It's too soon after the knife purchase to buy a diamond sharpener without arousing the displeasure of my better half.)

Richard
 
I just bought a Queen Mountain Man in D2. It was pretty dull, and the angle was so large that I could hardly see and edge on it. I reprofiled it to 15 degrees using the 120 grit stone on my Edge Pro, then followed up with the 220 and 320 stones. It is much nicer now. I'm not the best sharpener yet (this is about the fourth knife I've done with my Edge Pro) but it will now slice newsprint with ease. I have found that the Edge Pro water stones really do a quick job on D2. I also reprofiled and sharpened my Ontario Knives TAK in D2 recently and it also went pretty quickly with the 120 grit stone.
 
I reprofile the thick factory edges on Queen knives with diamond stones, it is an exercise in futility to try it with traditional stones.

Follow that up with a succession of sandpaper grits up to 2000, then stropping on green compound (making sure that you have completely redone the edge with each grit before moving on) and you can make a very nice convex edge.
 
Legend has it that the "PH" you see on Queens D2 blades stands for "Phreaking Hard" or something like that. ;)
 
the way they are ground, even my 1095 mini-trapper gave me a fit. I was able to rebevel a D2 queen with a lansky diamond X coarse last time, but now I have a new weapon - DMT Diasharp D8C 8"x3" coarse diamond bench hone.
 
I have some Queen folders in D2. Most of them have a dull blade with a terrible angle out of the box. Once sharpened, they are great. You'll probably need to reprofile (I use a belt sander) and then sharpen.
 
I reprofiled my Queen Stockman with my Lansky sharpener, I used first the fine diamond stone and finished with the natural stones, grids 280, 600 and 1000 with a 40° edge (both sides) for all the blades.
Now I've got a question, are all the blades made of D2 steel or only the main blade? Thanks
 
Also, I've found you shouldn't try to put too fine (polished) an edge on it. After a while it defeats the purpose and you just end up dulling it. Leave it a little toothy and it's happier.

-- Sam
 
Garonne said:
I reprofiled my Queen Stockman with my Lansky sharpener, I used first the fine diamond stone and finished with the natural stones, grids 280, 600 and 1000 with a 40° edge (both sides) for all the blades.
Now I've got a question, are all the blades made of D2 steel or only the main blade? Thanks
Click to expand...

So far on the ones I've bought (two blades max), both were D2 for sure. I do believe that it's D2 across the board on all the slipjoints, EXCEPT the doctors knife.
 
Phil in Alabama said:
So far on the ones I've bought (two blades max), both were D2 for sure. I do believe that it's D2 across the board on all the slipjoints, EXCEPT the doctors knife.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the answer
 
I've really like my Queen D-2 knife. I have a Sharpmaker with the two regular rods. Do you guys recommend the Diamond rods for the Sharpmaker. thanks
 
The stockmans are thin enough that you shouldn't have too much trouble sharpening, I've reprofiled Queen stockmans on both my Edgepro and freehand on DMT's and Nortons, never had a problem. I think they sharpen up quickly and hold a great edge. I've tried both coarse and polished edges, and they both work well for me.

Just don't go too thin (less than 10 or 12 deg per side), otherwise they can chip pretty badly.
 
It takes some work to get the edge how I like it. I've used a Lansky coarse hone, a DMT diamond hone, and Sharpmaker diamond hones for reprofiling. The Sharpmaker diamond hones take longer but I think I get a neater edge with them, probably because I'm going slower. Once it is reprofiled I only need the Sharpmaker white stones to maintain it.

I have a Whittler, Country Cousin, and Large Toothpick all in D2. The Toothpick needed very little work to get sharp while the main blade on the Whittler took a lot of work. Country Cousin was not as difficult as the Whittler.

Overall I really like Queen D2 and have accepted tha fact that I'll have to work on the edge fresh out of the box.
 
I think the Queen D2 knives are terrific. They do need sharpening when you get them though.

I have found that about 20 minutes with my EdgePro gets the whole job done. I reprofile and sharpen using 120, 180, and 320 stones at about 20 degrees per side; and then finish with a few very light strokes on the flats of the grey triangle Sharpmaker rods. I like the way the grey Sharpmaker rods leave the D2 screamin' sharp but a little toothy.

If you use an EdgePro, I strongly recommend using blue painters tape to protect your new blades from being scratched by stone slurry while you are sharpening.
 
I had 3 BEAUTIFUL D2 Queens.

I sharpened them all to a lower edge with a Gatco with diamond stones and then Arkansas stones and then stropped them with a loaded strop until the edges were LITERALLY mirror finished and so sharp they scared even me.

They were BEAUTIFUL, bone handles, crazy mirror scary beautiful sharp.

I traded them to a guy in Texas.

I shipped them in a big envelope using a bunch of stamps to get to the proper postage cost. They never arrived at their destination.

And were NEVER SEEN AGAIN. :( :( :(

.
 
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