Sharpening D2 Folding Knife

[cziv]

I just finished re-profiling an S30V blade today. It took several days and about 200 passes per step on a Sharpmaker with diamond rods included and much stropping. This brought it to a 30 degree "convex?" edge that I like.

Tomorrow, I plan to do a Benchmade 710 with D2 blade. What can I expect (other than a lot of work..lol)

Thanks!

 

[Alberta Ed]

I use DMT 'diafold' hones for my BM710 -- they're narrow enough to work on the mild recurve. I start with coarse, then medium (red) and finish with the ultra-fine (green). However, you'll get a serious biting edge with the red; there's no real need to go to the ultra-fine with D-2. Bench stones work fine for me.

 

[cziv]

I appreciate your responce Alberta Ed,

I don't want to buy another system though. I'm sure the Sharpmaker will hit the recurve quite nicely.

What I was looking for was more like the difference or lack of, in sharpening difficulty between S30V and D2.

I've read that D2 is easier than S30V and also read that D2 is tougher.

Go figure huh?

 

[Jason B.]

D2 will grind similar to S30V maybe even a little faster but depending on Rc I doubt you will see much difference. The part you will see the difference with is when you pass the brown ceramic stones and start to polish. D2 seems to like a coarser edge better than a polished one, the edge will polish and get very sharp but you do a lot of burr chasing and the performance is no better than if you stopped around 1000 grit.

My suggestion would be diamond, brown ceramic, and strop a few times at a higher angle like if you were trying to microbevel with the strop. After that your knife should be razor sharp but toothy.

 

[cziv]

Thanks knifenut1013,

I was hoping you'd answer my post. I appreciate your advice a lot!