Sharpening D-2

D

Dreamer

Joined
Jan 30, 2005
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I've read a lot of posts about D-2 being difficult to sharpen. I have a Mini-grip that has an appointment with the Sharpmaker soon. What can I expect as far as getting an edge on my favorite EDC?

What makes D-2 hard to work with?:)
 
Dreamer said:
I've read a lot of posts about D-2 being difficult to sharpen. I have a Mini-grip that has an appointment with the Sharpmaker soon. What can I expect as far as getting an edge on my favorite EDC?

What makes D-2 hard to work with?:)
Click to expand...

well....it's....really hard. :D

i find myself using diamond stones when working on D2. It's much faster for me.
 
You're best bet with D2 is to thin the edge below 40 degrees inclusive, or better yet, 30 degrees inclusive using an extra course bench stone. After you do that, use the sharpmaker to create and maintain a micro-bevel. With a micro-bevel, you're honing only a very small bevel and removing only a little metal, so it takes far less time.

I use this method on my Queen D2 slipjoints, my Ontario RAT-3 in D2, and more or less everything else. Once you've thinned the edge, it takes only a few strokes on the Sharpmaker to keep your blade sharp.

The best accessory for your Sharpmaker is an extra course bench stone.
 
KeithAM said:
You're best bet with D2 is to thin the edge below 40 degrees inclusive, or better yet, 30 degrees inclusive using an extra course bench stone. After you do that, use the sharpmaker to create and maintain a micro-bevel. With a micro-bevel, you're honing only a very small bevel and removing only a little metal, so it takes far less time.

I use this method on my Queen D2 slipjoints, my Ontario RAT-3 in D2, and more or less everything else. Once you've thinned the edge, it takes only a few strokes on the Sharpmaker to keep your blade sharp.

The best accessory for your Sharpmaker is an extra course bench stone.
Click to expand...

nifty....I would like the try this just for the fact you are removing less metal.
what angle are you using for the microbevel?
 
Dreamer said:
I've read a lot of posts about D-2 being difficult to sharpen. I have a Mini-grip that has an appointment with the Sharpmaker soon. What can I expect as far as getting an edge on my favorite EDC?

What makes D-2 hard to work with?:)
Click to expand...

What makes it hard to work with is pretty much what makes it worth working with ;)
It is a tool steel, made for use in tools that cut steel, so it is pretty tough, is usually heat treated to a relatively high hardness, and it has a pretty high abrasion resistence, which means it doesn't like to give up metal. Since you sharpen by abrading away steel, that is mostly what makes it hard to sharpen D2.
 
morrowj_98 said:
nifty....I would like the try this just for the fact you are removing less metal.
what angle are you using for the microbevel?
Click to expand...

Actually, you remove quite a bit of steel when you thin the blade. After that, you remove very little metal.

Since I'm using the Sharpmaker to establish the micro-bevel, it's going to be 30 or 40 degrees inclusive. Just tonight I re-reprofiled my RAT-3 at about 12-13 degrees per side, and then used the Sharpmaker on the 30 degree setting for the micro-bevel. It's very sharp.

Which one you pick and how thin you go depends on how you intend to use the knife.
 
Keith,
What method do you use to rebevil such that you can distinguish 12-13 degrees versus 10-15 degrees?
 
I've been sharpening my favorite kitchen knives to 12 degrees per side, then using the 15 degree slot on the sharpmaker. I've only been doing it for about a year that way though. I've only owned one knife with D2, and I sharpened it on a belt sander the first time, then touched it up on the sharpmaker. I didnt keep it very long though, so my experience is limited. I rebevel using a wooden stand for my stone that holds the stone at 12 degrees, and another for 17 degrees for the 20 slot on the sharpmaker. Steel type is only half the story, less than half IMO. The amount of metal that has to be removed is at least 50% of sharpening. Again, IMO, it is the major consideration, since many knives have quite thick edges. I whole heartedly endorse using microbevels on thicker edged knives. It cuts sharpening time greatly. I have gone for about 3 months only having to touch up the microbevel on my TSEK with the sharpmaker rods after thinning and honing the edge on a belt sander. Todays episode of cutting wall board (gypsum) will probably require a full sharpening, but I'll try the sharpmaker first just to be sure. In short, thin the D2 about 5 degrees thinner than you want the final edge, then apply the final edge by removing a strip of metal less than 1 mm wide. The thinning should be done with the coarsest abrasive available. I use a 120 grit belt on the belt sander, then clean it up on the above mentioned stone holder, but if not, the coarsest stone you can find would work, somewhere in the 90-220 grit range. 100-220 grit wet dry paper works as well. You can clamp it and stretch it out, creating a convex edge, or glue or staple it to a board for a flat bevel.
 
KeithAM said:
The best accessory for your Sharpmaker is an extra course bench stone.
Click to expand...

This is true for any knife whose edge angle does not match that of the Sharpmaker, whether the steel is D2 or not.

The Sharpmaker is wunderbar once the edge angle of the blade matches up. But, it is not made for changing edge angles. It will do so, but only with a LOT of work.

When using a coarse stone to adjust the angle, don't forget to use a sharpie to blacken the edge when you check the angle you've achieved against that of the Sharpmaker.
 
The trick is diamond or ceramic. It sharpens nicely, and holds and edge well.
 
For most EDC tasks (slice or push-cut material densities up to hardwoods, no lateral force or chopping), I find a final edge angle of 30 degrees included to be optimal for D2.

A D2 edge more acute is prone to chipping and an edge less acute just wastes the cutting potential of the blade.

Use a coarse or x-coarse diamond stone to re-bevel the edge 20 to 25 degrees included, then use the Sharpmaker or stone to create a 30 degrees-included micro-bevel final edge.

The narrow micro-bevels are easy to install and require very little metal-removal for edge maintainance, so future touch-ups are easy.

My Benchmade 806D2 blade performs very well for slicing materials up to hardwoods with 10 degree main bevels and 15 degree micro-bevels. For normal edge maintainance, I use the little Spyderco Double-stuff stone - it's that easy.

Hope this helps!
 
Two words come to mind regarding the sharpening of D2:
"diamond hones".

Diamond hones may not be necessary to sharpen D2, but they make it a heckuva lot quicker and easier than regular stones, or ceramic.
 
I've had no problems with D2 and CPM D2 using DMT's for coarser grits and Shapton Glasstones for the finer grits (1K/2K/8K). Even 3M lapping films on float glass work fine for it, and those are Aluminum Oxide I believe. As the others said if you are using microbevels it should sharpen up quickly and easily.

Mike
 
I have a kershaw outcast that came with a awful factory edge, very uneven with about a 40 deg. grind. I had to use a 1x30 belt sander for 20 min to get the desired edge when i tryed to clean up the edge with my spyderco pro filed it felt like i was rubbing rocks together but it worked. the true edge came out on the leather with 1/2 micron compound.
 
Dreamer said:
I've read a lot of posts about D-2 being difficult to sharpen. I have a Mini-grip that has an appointment with the Sharpmaker soon. What can I expect as far as getting an edge on my favorite EDC?
Click to expand...

If you're not changing the bevel, the Sharpmaker will work fine. If the bevel isn't going to match what the Sharpmaker is designed for, you'll need the diamond rods for the Sharpmaker or a coarse diamond stone to fairly easily reprofile the edge.

I used my Sharpmaker with diamond rods to reprofile my 710D2 to a single 30 degree (15 a side) bevel - no microbevels, then polished the bevel on a loaded strop. This is working for me so far.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
The Sharpmaker took my edge to 15 deg. per side rather quickly. The factory angle was very close to 30 deg. I'll forgo the micro-bevel for a while and see how it cuts.

I would like to set the primary angle at 12 deg. and micro-bevel at 15 deg., but my free-hand is not as good as it should be.
 
I had someone with a miter saw cut a 4x4 piece of cedar at 12 degrees, then screwed it to a 1x6 base. It stands vertically and I just lean the stone against it and sharpen away. Its the same motion as the sharpmaker. After researching for a while, you may find a 5 degree angle difference provides better results. I'm sticking with 3, but if I did it over, I would go 10-15 or 15-20 degrees, instead of the current 12-15 and 17-20. That allows a little room for error in the stroke without turning what you thought would be a microbevel into a normal bevel near the tip. Thats where I have the most trouble.
 
I also reprofiled my 710 to 15 degrees per side, straight, with no microbevel.

I can still shave with it!:D

But I did it with the grey rods on the Sharpmaker, and it was one helluva lot of work!!!:grumpy:

Now that I have my belt sander, I am strongly considering thinning it to a 10 degree per side backbevel, and using a 15 degree microbevel. ;)

Cliff, whadda ya think? Is it worth the work??:confused:
 
Ben that is gonna be hell. I worry at 10 degrees on the primary you will chip, depends on your purpose but it's risky.
 
Ben Dover said:
Now that I have my belt sander, I am strongly considering thinning it to a 10 degree per side backbevel, and using a 15 degree microbevel. ;)
Click to expand...

That might be pusing things a bit... I don't think I'd do it, but what do I know? :-)

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
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