steel craze: D2 vs M2 (and M4)

I do not know of anyone that has not been happy with D2 for edge keeping but if M2 is significantly better or S90V I'd like to get a couple of knives in both to try them out to compare them to my S30V and D2 blades as well as some others I have in my EDC round up.
 
M2 would be better than S90V as far as comparisons to D2 would go. To really see the effects, get the M2 fully-hardened and then tempered down to RC65 and make the edge as thin as you can.
 
would it be possible to make a damascus with d2 and m2 (or possibly m4) or will it be too complicated?

oh yeah almost forgot how does m2/d2 compare to the very popular s30v regarding edgeholding
 
The differences in heat-requirements would require at least one of the steels to suffer to bring out the best or near the best in the other.
 
M Wadel said:
how does m2/d2 compare to the very popular s30v regarding edgeholding
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As commercially available from folks like Benchmade, M2 has better edge-holding than S30V merely because it's harder and deforms less during light cutting. Same with D2. Still room for improvement as they run their M2 near RC62 and D2 near RC61. Lots of things of customer-driven and, apparently, most customers want retained austenite or over-tempered martensite in their M2, D2, and S30V.
 
M Wadel said:
would it be possible to make a damascus with d2 and m2 (or possibly m4) or will it be too complicated?

oh yeah almost forgot how does m2/d2 compare to the very popular s30v regarding edgeholding
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That wouldn't be a good combination. My dad has been talking about using CPM-M4 with BG-42 lately, they would be a good combination for contrast and heat treating.
 
STR said:
I do not know of anyone that has not been happy with D2 for edge keeping ....
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I know lots, specifically if you sharpen D2 to low edge angles it won't hold an edge very long as it doesn't have the integrity, you have to get fairly low for this to be a factor though, specifically 15 degrees is considering very obtuse by those guys and they use it on the blades that are not meant for cutting, but scraping and such. M2 in comparison excells at low edge angles, and is much stronger and has much better wear resistance than D2. It also has a much higher red hardness which I have always wondered could be of benefit in very fast cutting as edges heat up when cutting cardboard past the point they can easily burn skin.

-Cliff
 
Red hardness is a factor when the working edge sees temperatures over 1000 degrees. Typically, this is only found in metal cutting situations on the very edge. Even in high speed cuting of paper such as paper mills, the temperatures are much below 1000 degrees. The slitter knives they use are the high vanadium (10%) varieties.
 
Satrang said:
Red hardness is a factor when the working edge sees temperatures over 1000 degrees.
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M2's red hardness may be of benefit when compared to 1095 at temperatures well under the actual limit of M2 in regards to heat resistance. If you exceed the draw temp of 1095, which can be as low as 325, then M2 would be of benefit because you would suffer heat softening on the 1095 and not on M2.

-Cliff
 
M2 is much more corrosion resistant than 1095, however different enviroments and different people can place greater demands on the steel. Take a piece of HSS hacksaw blade and grind the edges off and carry it around and see how it holds up.

-Cliff
 
STR said:
I do not know of anyone that has not been happy with D2 for edge keeping but if M2 is significantly better or S90V I'd like to get a couple of knives in both to try them out to compare them to my S30V and D2 blades as well as some others I have in my EDC round up.
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Hi STR,

I have loved D2 for edge holding, but have found, as Cliff noted, that as the edge gets very thin, it deforms (impacts and chips) very easily. This was on light cutting tasks such as taking a Walmart pitch pine stick and making a fuzz stick out of it. This I found with a couple of knives from different makers in D2, the heat treats (supposedly) were at 58 and 60-61. I think on one of these, the heat treat was bad. Having said that, putting a more obtuse microbevel on the thin edge pretty much solved the problem, and D2 **really** holds an edge.

Given what folks are saying about M2, I really want to try it, although I want it heat treated and hardened to my specs, not what some manufacturer decides.
 
sodak said:
...although I want it heat treated and hardened to my specs, not what some manufacturer decides.
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Not a lot of people run it where it should be for a cutting knife, if you want to try it out for a small paring knife you can just grind out out of a HSS hacksaw blade. You can get a puukko grind in about 10 minutes with a dremel, though it really wants a hollow to perform well. Krein would be one guy to do this to optimal levels.

-Cliff
 
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