sharpening D2 by hand?

[sogflash]

I have a benchmade bone collector with D2 steel.

I believe it's quite hard, so how is it to sharpen by hand?

I don't have any real sharpening equipment yet, and I'm not sure if I should buy a set of stones and rods for hand sharpening, or one of those round stones on an electrical engine.

any tips?

 

[RevDevil]

Aggressive stones (diamonds) will remove material faster than standard stones. Red through and seaerch for some of the threads in the sharpening (maintenance, tinkering, and embellishment) subforum. Te trick is to not let your knife get soo dull that you need to sharpen it for hours to get the edge back.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/794-Maintenance-Tinkering-amp-Embellishment

 

[nightman]

EZE-LAP model 62F is what I have used the past 20+ years. Works great on all steels.

 

[Robs92XJ]

D2 is tougher to sharpen than most carbon steels and lower end stainless steels, but it doesn't require any special equipment. It does not have lots of vanadium carbides (the hardest type of carbide) like S30V or S90V. You will want a fairly course stone if you ever need to change the edge geometry or remove chipsp- but that is true for all steels. It is hard to beat the coarse extra coarse or DMT diamond stones for this. But 120 or 220 grit silicon carbide (wet-dry) sandpaper will work as well. After that, anything from sandpaper to a sharpmaker to japanese waterstones will work.

I don't see the need for powered sharpeners unless you are sharpening professionally (or you always have to a do a lot of sharpening for whatever reason). Aside from putting on the initial edge or restoring a neglected knife, sharpening does not take long.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

For re-bevelling, diamond is my first preference on D2. For any maintenance thereafter (aside from stropping), either diamond or silicon carbide (wet/dry sandpaper, for me) works fine. D2 also responds very well to diamond compound on a strop. I use 1 micron diamond paste.

 

[Blues]

Diamond hones followed by ceramic works for me. I'll strop from time to time between sharpenings.

If you want a fairly simple "jig" setup for consistent angles, the DMT Magna-Guide setup can be helpful and will save you some time. It can also be helpful with learning the rudiments of sharpening by hand.

 

[17pes]

I recently got a bone collector, and on its first go-round, managed to put a small nick in the blade by accidentally slamming it full force into concrete. It took about 10 minutes with 6" DMT stones (quick work on coarse, a little on fine, and just a touch on the EF) to get it out and back to shaving. I've put it through the paces since then, and it won't shave, but anything other than arm hair it goes through like butter.

A nod to O.W.E. and a couple others for tossing out sharpening knowledge that has vastly improved my skills.