What do you use to sharpen your D2 blades?

I

Inverness11

Joined
Jul 21, 2007
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I've been touching up my benchmade on the strop from its factory edge for awhile but it just isn't cutting it (no pun intended.) I can get my other knives fairly sharp on my aluminum oxide and arkansas stones followed by the strop. I'm mostly interested in getting a sequence of benchstones.

What specific equipment do you use to get your D2 knife hair-popping sharp?

(feel free to link me to older threads, the search function isn't working for me today)
 
I recently bought a Lansky Diamond kit to sharpen my BM 710D2. I find the clamp system to be awful, I really just bought it for the narrow diamond hones to work on the recurve. The coarse hone worked well to reprofile the edge and then I worked through the medium and fine diamond hones, then went to a 1000 grit waterstone and finished on a ceramic rod. It now whittles free hanging hair with ease.
 
Sorry... it's Spyderco's Sharpmaker. I use that or their 701 Profile rods for touchups. The Edge Pro is just when I have to rebevel a knife, or if I ever have to remove chips from the edge (haven't needed to do this, so far).

The D2 that I have is on a couple of Cabelas Grips. I use them as heavy work knives, so they end up having to cut all kinds of things from cardboard and paper to nylon and plastic to stems and small branches. I don't polish those edges. I sharpen them on the gray rods and then give a few light passes on the fine white rods, but I don't bother with the U/F rods and I don't strop them. I've found that they perform very well if left a bit toothier than my VG10 or 154CM EDC blades.
 
I rely on DMT bench stones for D2 and other alloyed blades (an ancient Black Arkansas stones seems to put the best finishing edge on my high carbon steel blades). I prefer to sharpen freehand.
 
If I don't use a belt grinder :D I use diamond plates. I've had the best performance and endurance with diamond stuff from DMT. D2, M2, 440V - DMT cuts them all.

Not as fast as the 1hp Burr King, but that's why I bought it.

My Silicon Carbide stone cuts D2 fine; I don't have an AO stone to compare.
 
I primarily use diamond hones for D2. If I use softer hones I tend to slightly round the edge which does not slice as aggressively.
 
Wow, there's a bunch of different DMT stones...and they're all expensive. :eek:

Which are the "must have" models and grits of DMT stones for me to start popping hairs?
 
Spyderco Fine Ceramic Whet stone, removes material fast and leaves a perfect edge, imho the best bet.
 
If you like the guided sharpeners take a look at the DMT Aligner, especially the Magna Aligner which uses their Dia-Fold sharpeners (dual grits coarse 325 and fine 600, plus pocket handy). Really puts the Lansky and others to shame.

NJ
 
I initially sharpen all of my knives on a relatively dull 120 grit belt until I get a wire edge and then I buff the edge LIGHTLY with a 600 grit compound on a hard wheel. I find this creates a "toothy" polished edge that cuts very aggresively!!

I don't like to sharpen my personal knives on the grinder after this as I feel it takes more steel off than is necessary. It will decrease the life of the knife.

If you don't let them get dull, but touch them up often one of the spyderco sharpeners actually works pretty well.

If it has lost its edge and needs more than a touch up the only way to go is diamond hones! They are also the way to go if you want that "toothy" edge. You really only need two, an extra coarse diamond hone for reprofiling and an extra fine diamond hone for the final edge. This will give you a very "toothy" aggressive edge. You can "tone" it down slightly with a few swipes on a fine ceramic stone and you are good to go.

For in the field I have found one of the 4" X 1" fold up diamond hones to be perfect! I usually carry an extra fine one. I think DMT even has a two sided fold up hone that has coarse on one side and fine on the other. One of these and a double sided Spyderco ceramic 5" X 1" stone would be perfect for pretty much ANY needs in the field.

Traditional/natural stones can work on high wear resistant steels like D-2, but they simply don't cut these materials very quickly at all. Diamonds are your friends when it comes to these steels!

Let me know if you have any questions...

Tom
 
Jeff Clark said:
For under $30 you can get into the DMT diamond arena with a 6" hone. I would go for the 'fine' grit to allow decent profiling with a reasonably smooth finish. After that I might go to an extra-fine diamond or a ceramic hone as a secondary step. http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/6-Dia-Sharp-Diamond-Stone-P63C24.aspx
Click to expand...



These are the EXACT bench stones that I have in the shop and recommend! They are a VERY good value.

You can use a diamond hone dry or with a little water, but I have found diluted dish soap to be the best. Always clean the soap/steel off the stone when you are done and leave it nice and dry.

Tom
 
I think that the interrupted hones are just a crock. They are a way that the manufacturers get away giving you less diamonds. If you were honing completely flat they would only be a little bad--they give you a rougher finish since they are not smooth. If you are honing the curved belly of a blade it is even more conspicuous. The curve will ride in and out of the holes which will not be good for the edge. Every other hone in the world is flat and continuous, why aren't they going perforated if it was a good idea?
 
DMT's and Shapton Glasstones work like a charm on D2, as well as 3M lapping film. A DMT X coarse or Coarse will leave a very toothy shaving edge that will slice for days, but it won't whittle hair like those .3 micron finished edges (or Tom Krein's 120 grit belt sander edges).

Mike
 
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