What to do with thick D2?

T

tmix

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Jun 28, 2006
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I recently bought some D2 stock off of ebay. It's 18" long, 2" wide, and 5/8" thick. When I purchased it, I thought it said 3/8" thick. Oh well.
So, my question is. What should I make out of this stuff?
I was thinking about a heavy machete, or maybe a small hatchet. I was also thinking about selling/trading it for something. Let me know if you're interested.

What would you do with D2 bar that is 5/8" thick?
 
Integral, I got some 16mm thick D2 I had machined to make into integrals.
 
D2 makes for one of the keenest edges that can be put on a knife.

Its not a steel that lends itself to choppers though.

Fred
 
I have ~0.3" thick stock, some times I have to reduce the thickness or widen the stock by forging, but the size you mention is too thick IMO. Even to draw 0.3 to 0.2" thickness is PITA, this steel is hard even high forging temps. Also to forge D2 is not so safe, you'll be surprised by the cracks after you carefully forge.... Also you need to have a good annealing setup (at least 12 - 18 hours
of controlled cooling from 1850 F). It is not enough to cool it under vermiculite etc...
In other words I dont recommend to forge it to shape, especially not that thick... But Shing says you can stock remove to make integrals, but it is just too much precious steel waste... If you have a power hammer or a press, go for it. Otherwise I say search more reasonable sizes...

Emre
 
Maybe you can find a steel supplier warehouse or a machine shop with a saw to cut it or mill to machine it the size you need. Dan
 
I don't plan of forging anything, as I don't have the equipment.

However, I do have a nice machine shop, if needed.
I've got a bunch of projects going right now, so I don't need any more steel. Anyone have some knives they want to swap?
 
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