Recommendation? What Lansky hones for Dozier D2 steel?

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lerner

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Sep 1, 2008
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The yellow & blue ceramics might be aluminum oxide FWIW (the stones are pure white).
 
Arkansas stones of any grit won't be effective on D2, especially at lower grit grinding stages. D2 is much too wear-resistant, with a lot of chromium carbide (almost 2X as hard as novaculite) and a little bit of vanadium carbide as well (more than 3X as hard as novaculite) . With the Lansky system, the diamond hones would best be used for that. Even the standard aluminum oxide hones in Lansky's sets will be slow on D2, because the hones are so small.

The ceramic hones at the refining & polishing stages can still work with D2. But something more aggressive is needed for shaping or thinning the edge prior to that.
 
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Good answer.

What do you think of skipping the finer hones, and leaving the edge at a coarse diamond toothy grit? Light coarse strokes to remove the burr, then proceed straight to polish the teeth with a strop. Would that be appropriate for D2?
 
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lerner said:
Good answer.

What do you think of skipping the finer hones, and leaving the edge at a coarse diamond toothy grit? Light coarse strokes to remove the burr, then proceed straight to polish the teeth with a strop. Would that be appropriate for D2?
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That combination, of the diamond followed by a light refinement with ceramic, should do pretty well with D2. Strop if you want to, after that. Might even try out the diamond alone, refining as much as you can with it. A 600-grit diamond finish makes a good all-around working edge on most any steel.
 
I was thinking of going from the 70-grit extra-coarse diamond (silver holder) straight to the Lansky strop. A micro-serrated effect. I read somewhere that D2 "likes to be toothy". Something about carbides or grains falling out. But I'm unfamilliar with D2, and don't like the idea of it chipping.
 
The X coarse diamond plate is 220 grit and 60 micron. It could work. I think I would take it at least to the coarse. DM
 
lerner said:
I was thinking of going from the 70-grit extra-coarse diamond (silver holder) straight to the Lansky strop. A micro-serrated effect. I read somewhere that D2 "likes to be toothy". Something about carbides or grains falling out. But I'm unfamilliar with D2, and don't like the idea of it chipping.
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D2 is sort of needy, in terms of refining it to a higher level like a polished finish. It can do well at high-polish, but it helps if a diamond progression alone is used to do that, up through EF (1200) or so. Follow that with stropping on something like firm wood, using diamond compound to 3-micron and finer. 3-micron diamond will begin to bring up a bright polish on steels like this. I finished one of my D2 folders this way, and it hasn't had any issues with chipping, etc.

I still think some of the reported issues with D2 chipping out, or it's large carbides tearing out, are due more to using stones that don't handle the carbides very well, and/or possible heat-treat issues with some knives in D2. That was an issue some years ago, with some makers having difficulty treating it properly. If it's done well, it should respond well to either coarse or very fine finish, so long as it's done with abrasives appropriate to the job.
 
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