steel question for my first blades

whistlepig

whistlepig

Joined
Oct 27, 2011
Messages
37
First I would like to say thank you to everyone here for so freely sharing your knowledge! There is an overwhelming wealth of information here.

I have been interested in making my own knives for as long as I can remember. Now at long last I am close to actually being able to make it happen, due in large part to this forum.

I have a friend who owns a machine shop and will happily cut blanks for me on his waterjet. He also has the ability to do the heat treating. Unfortunately I don't have a grinder so it looks like some serious file time is in my future!

I have access to some D2, & M2 "scrap" from his shop. My research has left me with mixed feelings about whether or not either of these would be the best steel to start with.
I would prefer to use D2 as it seems like the best fit for my designs. One will be a "heavy duty" EDC, drop point, saber grind, approx. 3" blade, +/- 6.5" oal., and the other will be a modified wharncliffe with a slightly smaller blade length.

And finally the question! Will D2 be difficult for me to profile due to work hardening? Would I be better off to order a few pieces of another steel to start with? If so what would be my best bet?

Thanks again for this awesome resource! I look forward to the day that I can contribute and help a newbie along the way!

Chris
 
D2 makes a fine knife, but I haven't worked with it. A bar of 1084 from Aldo is pretty cheap, and is available in many sizes minimizing the amount of time you will need to file it. I recently did some knives out of 1095, O1, 15n20, and W2. All were a pleasure to work with.
 
D2 isn't too hard to work, annealed. It's a bit tough to hand sand after heat treat. I say go for it. You'll likely have to send it out for heat treat, or maybe your machine shop friend can do it. It's not a steel you can heat treat easily yourself, but it makes a fine knife.
 
Neither of those steels will work for hand filing. Get a $20 bar of 1084 from Aldo or another supplier and you will have enough steel for half a dozen blades.
 
Hankins: sorry I thought it was filled out..? What else would you like to know?

Thanks for all the responses! I will try to get my hands on some of Aldo's steel. I will let you know how it turns out.
 
If I may ask, why won't D2 work for hand filing? To what degree does not work apply, harder but doable or Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the hill, hard?
 
D-2 is a pretty tough steel to file well by hand. It can be done by hand, but is far better done with a grinder. It will require good, new, files and lots and lots of sanding before HT. After HT sanding by hand will be really slow.
 
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