What’s the hype about D2?

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y53p

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May 11, 2022
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Bought my first knife in d2 (Ontario rat 1), only used it once, to cut some sausage and bread, got completely dull, the next day it also had some stains starting to form on it and at the end of the day it wasn’t the easiest knife I’ve ever sharpened either.

What’s the deal with it? I’ve had way better experiences with lower end steels.
 
Idk, I have a Rat in D2, and so far the edge has held up great. I haven’t used it enough to dull it, but if mine were made out of 8CR or something it would be dull already.
Maybe yours had a bad HT ?
Not so much “hype” about it as you would think based on the recent posts, but it’s a time-tested steel w/ pretty good edge retention (or at least it’s supposed to) and I doubt it costs much to make.
 
Maybe too much stone in your stone ground bread.

D2 has been around in various forms since WW1

All About D2 Steel – Development, Use in Knives, and Properties

so it is not new. As to hyping, what I see and read is lots of hype over the boutique steels, which come and go as often as the tide. Boutique steels make the most profit for the steel and knife makers and are of course, hyped. Something as old and as generic as D2, the ones hyping it are its happy customers. D2 is a good knife steel, and it comes on affordable knives. Yes it rusts, wipe the blade off after use. It surely does not rust as fast a plain carbon steels.
 
What did you cut the sausage an bread on?
Ceramic/Glass cutting board or plate? Bamboo cutting board? Granite, Marble, or steel counter?
Try a regular wood cutting board (oak, walnut, etc). Wood cutting boards are naturally anti-microbal. Granite, marble, glass, and plastic are not. Granite and marble are also quite porous, giving germs and bacteria lots of hiding places. Bamboo is a horrible cutting board. Lots of silica in it. You may as well be using cardboard. Both Bamboo and cardboard will rapidly dull a blade. Paper as well, but paper takes a little bit longer.
I've never understood slicing paper to test sharpness. The paper dulls the edge with each slice.

My Marbles D2 holds a working edge better than my 440A/425HC, and 1095 blades.
A sharpened piece of untempered mild steel blade made from a car/pickup fender wouldn't get dull cutting sausage, bread, or even a firm cheese like cheddar.

The issue isn't the D2 blade on your Ontario RAT. The issue is what you are cutting on.

Did you use Oil or water stones to resharpen? D2 run at "typical" hardness needs SiC or diamonds. Arkansas Oil Stones and water stones will only burnish it. The steel is harder than the stones are.
Think something soft can cut something hard? Use your fingernail to cut a tin or aluminum can, or a piece of cured fiberglass, or even a pine 2x4, and tell us how that worked out for you.
Same difference.
 
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Yes, depending on what you were cutting it on can make a difference like afishhunter afishhunter said.

D2 can get stained depending on what you cut. It has 12% Cr which is considered semi-stainless but some of the Cr is tied up in the large carbides so it is a little misleading per Larrin the Metallurgist.
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/11/05/all-about-d2-steel-knives/

Yes, D2 can be difficult to sharpen depending on your experience and what you use to sharpen them with. I use diamond stones.

Did you purchase the Ontario recently? It seems the "newer" Rat 1/2s of the last year or two aren't as good as the ones from 3-4 years ago based on what I've read. I don't know if they changed the source of their D2 and it's a different heat treat or what but it seems to be worse than before.

Sorry you are unhappy.
 
I must have lucked out. This BK24 is one of my favorites.
0C1AC78F-90F5-421F-9211-9E6BEC15EA96.jpegEF81DF92-A53F-4DDB-9300-9A3E74E3033C.jpeg8CC550FF-7824-48FB-880C-98766C9F134C.jpg
Once a year about I take the scales off put a little mineral oil under em. Never had any rust issue. DMT works great on D2 :thumbsup::thumbsup:
852189FD-68F3-4D50-BA85-C59AEAE1B76D.jpg
78CEDD95-B3FE-462F-83CD-B684AF0913D4.jpgI believe D2 is just fine if the makers do their part:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
D2 hasn't been hyped for a long time. It was still considered relatively premium in the early 2000s. My experience with it has always been very solid edge retention, slightly prone to spotting if you don't keep it clean or leave it in your sweaty pocket all day in the summer, and kind of annoying to reprofile an edge on.

At this point, it's at the top of the budget brand steels for $50 and under folders. Definitely not considered premium or hyped anymore. It's still very good edge retention for the price, assuming the steel is done right.
 
Could of had a wire edge that got pushed over.

Try sharpening it a few times before making a final judgement.

I don't know what kind of finish those come with but that can make a big difference on how easy it stains. I like a stonewashed finish as they don't like to stain as easy as other finishes and can help hide scratches.
 
It holds an edge way longer than 1095 or 440A. It just does. If it doesn't in your experience you did something wrong and didn't actually get an idea of how the steels compare. Bread and sausage won't suss 440A from D2, or 440A from Maxamet, or 440A from Rex-45.

If you wipe the blade off even 1095 won't rust. D2 isn't really stainless steel and it stained when you left it dirty, not sure what you expected.
 
We've had a few threads about D2 lately but here are three quick points.

1.) Factory edges are almost never representative of a steel or its heat treatment. It has to do with factory grinding and heat along the edge. Once you sharpen past it, edge retention should improve.

2.) D2 initially got its reputation from more premium American knives, possibly with more consistency or quality control in the steel itself, and good heat treatments. Chinese D2 usually does not deliver this level of performance. It arguably became a thing because they could produce an approximation of the recipe cheaply and cash in on the reputation.

3.) While Chinese D2 fails to live up to the reputation or its ostensible ratings on various charts, it tends to offer much better edge retention than 8Cr13Mov. So while I don't like it in more expensive knives, it can be a good choice in the price range where you'd usually see 8Cr13Mov. A great example of this is the Petrified Fish knives in D2, which cost around $30-40 and get one of the better budget heat treatments for this steel.
 
y53p said:
Bought my first knife in d2 (Ontario rat 1), only used it once, to cut some sausage and bread, got completely dull, the next day it also had some stains starting to form on it and at the end of the day it wasn’t the easiest knife I’ve ever sharpened either.

What’s the deal with it? I’ve had way better experiences with lower end steels.
Click to expand...
d2 was patented in like 1918ish. Definitely not just hype lol
 
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