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What is D2 steel?
- Thread starter Joss
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 19, 1999
- Messages
- 3,560
D2 is called a semi stainless, it does not have the required 13% chromium to be classified a stainless. It comes in about 12%Cr.
It was designed as a high impact punch press tooling steel but is used quite sucessfully as a knife steel.
All knife steels, stainless or otherwise have carbon in them or they could not be hardened.
It was designed as a high impact punch press tooling steel but is used quite sucessfully as a knife steel.
All knife steels, stainless or otherwise have carbon in them or they could not be hardened.
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2001
- Messages
- 7,353
Yeah, I know about the C being present in all steels, it was just meant as a difference with stainless.
How does properly heat treated D2 compare to other steels in terms of hardness vs. toughness? I.e., is it better kept for smaller steels, or can it be used for large blades?
Thanks,
JD
How does properly heat treated D2 compare to other steels in terms of hardness vs. toughness? I.e., is it better kept for smaller steels, or can it be used for large blades?
Thanks,
JD
- Joined
- Apr 19, 1999
- Messages
- 3,560
It makes a quality blade but suffers a little from it's difficulty to polish. Grinding is a little more difficult but it is worth the effort.
- Joined
- May 31, 2000
- Messages
- 173
I'm going to 'copy and paste' this directly from Bob Engnath's site:
D-2 offers another air hardening tool steel, but with 12% chrome and excellent, if not superb, wear resistance. The resistance also holds true in both sawing and grinding, even while the steel is fully annealed. While using belts up at a faster rate than average, D-2 is not particularly hard to grind with fresh belts. Using old belts causes enough heat to work harden the steel. D-2 anneals at somewhat higher temperature than A-2 and will not take a true, mirror polish. Definitely a steel for the advanced craftsman. It's major drawback is the orange peel appearance of the surface when finished to a high gloss. One knife maker is often quoted as saying that D-2 takes a lousy edge and holds it forever. Often found as surplus wood plainer blades. D-4 and D-7 are also good cutlery alloys, but darn hard to find in the right sizes. Air hardening steels can work harden while you're grinding them if you get the stock too hot. This doesn't mean much on the grinder, but when you try to file a guard notch, the file will just slide.
The link to the page this came from is as follows:
http://www.knives.com/engnath2.html
Most steels are described here.
Hope this helps.
D-2 offers another air hardening tool steel, but with 12% chrome and excellent, if not superb, wear resistance. The resistance also holds true in both sawing and grinding, even while the steel is fully annealed. While using belts up at a faster rate than average, D-2 is not particularly hard to grind with fresh belts. Using old belts causes enough heat to work harden the steel. D-2 anneals at somewhat higher temperature than A-2 and will not take a true, mirror polish. Definitely a steel for the advanced craftsman. It's major drawback is the orange peel appearance of the surface when finished to a high gloss. One knife maker is often quoted as saying that D-2 takes a lousy edge and holds it forever. Often found as surplus wood plainer blades. D-4 and D-7 are also good cutlery alloys, but darn hard to find in the right sizes. Air hardening steels can work harden while you're grinding them if you get the stock too hot. This doesn't mean much on the grinder, but when you try to file a guard notch, the file will just slide.
The link to the page this came from is as follows:
http://www.knives.com/engnath2.html
Most steels are described here.
Hope this helps.
You may want to talk to Bob Dozier, he is well known for making some of the best knives in D2 that you can get a hold of. His website is http://www.dozierknives.com Im sure he can answer any questions you have about the steel.