Sharpening Knives of Alaska D2

[Bighaze51]

This knife has me stumped. It's my buddies Knives Of Alaska Bush Camp Knife in D2. This joker will not take a razor edge. I've used all my stones and still it won't get the edge I want. I've reprofiled it down to about 30 degrees inclusive using my dmt bench stones, then king 1k, 6k and Chinese 12k. Nothing. So I whipped out the sharpmaker and put a 40 degree microbevel just to try something else. Still nothing. I've never met a knife I couldn't sharpen unless there was something wrong with the steel. I've sharpened S30v, old buck 440c, and spyderco zdp-189 all to screaming scary stupid sharp. I have 7 straight razors that I've restored and honed and shave with.
I'm not trying to say I'm an expert or anything but I believe I'm fairly proficient at sharpening. I guess that why I'm a little confused with this knife. I should be able to shave my face with it by now but it's not even remotely close. Any ideas?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The chromium carbides in D2 (non-CPM version) can sometimes be very big, up to ~20-50µ sometimes, and likely the most significant obstacle to refining the edge. Not that it can't be done, but it will go much slower than with other carbide-heavy steels like CPM-S30V (carbides are much smaller at 2-4µ) or 440C (fewer chromium carbides and less significant in sharpening, than in D2).

I'd go back to your DMT stones first (which grits do you have?). If you have at least a Coarse DMT, I wouldn't proceed any further without verifying you can get a very sharp edge coming off of that hone, or at least from a DMT Fine (if you have it). If the edge isn't apexed and fully sharp at that stage, there's no use in trying anything finer until the problem is figured out. Usually when I see mention of problems like these, using a long succession of grits in multiple stone types, it's often a matter of making sure the edge is first made functionally sharp in the earliest stages; sometimes that gets skipped or rushed, and results suffer in subsequent stages.


David

 

[Bighaze51]

I have the little box set with coarse, fine and extra fine. I guess you are right. Maybe I've just rushed this one. At least my buddy isn't in a rush to get it done. Sometimes I just need to take a break from sharpening and I'll come back later and get it right.