Your take on D2

Gave away my last d2 blade just the other day. Conventional heats treats for that steel is not suitable for my uses.
 
Mo2 said:
if I'm getting a budget knife it had better be d2 at minimum tho. as its far better than most budget steel like 8cr, aus8, vg10 etc.
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Did you just lump VG10 into the same category as 8cr???
 
19-3ben said:
Did you just lump VG10 into the same category as 8cr???
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well, vg10 is a level above 8cr for sure. it's at least double that of 8cr in edge retention. vg10 is most def a better steel than 8cr. but d2 is still in a higher class of steel than both. how much better is anyone's guess, but I get more chipping with vg10 than d2 and the edge lasts a good time longer with d2.

here's a good idea of where d2 ranges with my particular uses from Jim's tests
http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/...ed-on-edge-retention-cutting-5-8-rope.793481/

Pete over at Cedric Ada also do a different test that tells a similar story across the different steel (at the ends of his cut tests he lists them, here's a link to the most recent one as of today starting at 4min 40sec mark)



in any case I generally use maxamet if I have it available, otherwise m390 and s90v are my goto. don't forget that geometry plays a larger roll in these tests.
 
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I love D2. I have been happy with the edge holding in my Benchmade Adamas and OKC RAT 1. I do live in a saltwater/ humid environment which limits their pocket time. Those carbides do keep cutting though.
 
Not corrosion resistant enough for me, especially from food use. It really doesn't like salty food like sausage. Got fed up having to clean and dry carefully after using with food and am now selling my Queen. It's a shame, otherwise superlative cutter when the geometry has been set to optimum, regrind in the case of a Queen.
 
Pomsbz said:
Not corrosion resistant enough for me, especially from food use. It really doesn't like salty food like sausage. Got fed up having to clean and dry carefully after using with food and am now selling my Queen. It's a shame, otherwise superlative cutter when the geometry has been set to optimum, regrind in the case of a Queen.
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I find this somewhat interesting because of the amount of traditional knives using 1095 which is much less corrosion resistant, I would think D2 would patina up well if used for food.

If you're cutting summer sausage, the product is pretty acidic on account of the of fermentation process. The low pH (higher acidity) is what preserves the meat (I'm a QA professional in the meat industry currently).

From the info I've found on queen's D2, they do not harden theirs nearly as much as others as I believe I read it was in the 58-59 where it's often around 62 on other knives. I'm not sure if the different heat treat would affect corrosion resistance but it could. IMO, folding knives in general have the inherent weakness of cleanability when it comes to food use, but I have a strong bias because of my QA background.
 
bikerector said:
I find this somewhat interesting because of the amount of traditional knives using 1095 which is much less corrosion resistant, I would think D2 would patina up well if used for food.

If you're cutting summer sausage, the product is pretty acidic on account of the of fermentation process. The low pH (higher acidity) is what preserves the meat (I'm a QA professional in the meat industry currently).

From the info I've found on queen's D2, they do not harden theirs nearly as much as others as I believe I read it was in the 58-59 where it's often around 62 on other knives. I'm not sure if the different heat treat would affect corrosion resistance but it could. IMO, folding knives in general have the inherent weakness of cleanability when it comes to food use, but I have a strong bias because of my QA background.
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I did in fact patina it using coke and then it was fine. Just couldn't handle having to have a 'dirty' knife. I don't do patina...
 
i think D2 varies on corrosion resistance depending on which variation of d2 steel, how refined the grains are (heat treatment) and the coating or finish on the blade stock you have.

for example a black acid stone wash or a dlc like coating will delay corrosion longer (how long and in what environment will differ). but i dont think there is a real test out there showing much else other than that. so take with a grain of salt revolving around heat treat.
 
Mo2 said:
D2 is fairly hard for most to sharpen it, unless they have the right tools (SiC or Diamond). some stones won't do a damn thing to d2 no matter how long you sit there trying.

in any case I don't like d2. I don't think its bad, but there are so many better options. I'd go with, Sleipner,
154cm, xhp, niolox etc over d2.

if I'm getting a budget knife it had better be d2 at minimum tho. as its far better than most budget steel like 8cr, aus8, vg10 etc.

154cm seems to be better in many ways and has a similar edge retention to d2.

has anyone done tests between d2 (ingot), psf27 (spray form) and CPM d2 (powdered)?
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I tested a Mel Sorg custom in D2 vs a Spyderco Military in CPM D2, both at 62 RC. Both were almost identical in several runs on 5/8" Manila rope. I did prefer how the Military sharpened up a little better, as I found it easier to get sharper at the same grit. I found neither to be particularly difficult to sharpen.
 
Pomsbz said:
I did in fact patina it using coke and then it was fine. Just couldn't handle having to have a 'dirty' knife. I don't do patina...
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Ah, that makes sense then. Out of curiosity, because I haven't had patina on my D2 blades, do you have pictures of that? I'm curious what that would look like. Some of the patina's I've seen on the carbon steel knives look pretty good, IMO, especially some using mustard.

It should also be noted that there are numerous steel makers producing D2 with slight differences in each but I think CPM D2 is the biggest difference because of their proprietary process. This coming from someone who simply reads up on the materials, I don't have real world experience with the varying steels from different manufacturers. I was just surprised by how many had a version of D2.
 
bikerector said:
Ah, that makes sense then. Out of curiosity, because I haven't had patina on my D2 blades, do you have pictures of that? I'm curious what that would look like. Some of the patina's I've seen on the carbon steel knives look pretty good, IMO, especially some using mustard.

It should also be noted that there are numerous steel makers producing D2 with slight differences in each but I think CPM D2 is the biggest difference because of their proprietary process. This coming from someone who simply reads up on the materials, I don't have real world experience with the varying steels from different manufacturers. I was just surprised by how many had a version of D2.
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Just went darker, browny. Sorry I haven't got any real pics which show it, I don't like patina so didn't want to show it off. :) RC coke is the best, did a strong patina in 10 minutes. I tried it with Coke Zero and it took an hour. :) Oh and I'll never drink RC again. :D
 
gunmike1 said:
I tested a Mel Sorg custom in D2 vs a Spyderco Military in CPM D2, both at 62 RC. Both were almost identical in several runs on 5/8" Manila rope. I did prefer how the Military sharpened up a little better, as I found it easier to get sharper at the same grit. I found neither to be particularly difficult to sharpen.
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and what did you use to sharpen them with? i used a work sharp belts, ceramic stones, and india stones and didnt go anywhere until i tried Diamonds and it was easy then without problems what so ever. im not 100% certain on the d2 spec i have because its Chinese manufactured, but they did say it was cryro treated and +-60hrc.

i would assume cpm-d2 would be easier to sharpen due to the finer grains, but again, im unsure as i dont have many knives in d2 anymore. i have a brous blade in D2 and it seems much easier to sharpen, but ive only done it once as i dont use it often at all... but it is certainly much softer.
 
bikerector said:
Ah, that makes sense then. Out of curiosity, because I haven't had patina on my D2 blades, do you have pictures of that? I'm curious what that would look like. Some of the patina's I've seen on the carbon steel knives look pretty good, IMO, especially some using mustard.

It should also be noted that there are numerous steel makers producing D2 with slight differences in each but I think CPM D2 is the biggest difference because of their proprietary process. This coming from someone who simply reads up on the materials, I don't have real world experience with the varying steels from different manufacturers. I was just surprised by how many had a version of D2.
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yea, there are ALOT of them. just look at the bottom of this page for D2
http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=D2&ni=196&hrn=1&gm=0
everyone makes a d2. and they vary in composition from each other too if you look at there data sheets from each company.

cpm-d2 is most likely going to be the best as its a powdered steel version of d2, which increases its properties just like CPM does for other steels (like cpm-154 does for 154cm).
 
Mo2 said:
and what did you use to sharpen them with? i used a work sharp belts, ceramic stones, and india stones and didnt go anywhere until i tried Diamonds and it was easy then without problems what so ever. im not 100% certain on the d2 spec i have because its Chinese manufactured, but they did say it was cryro treated and +-60hrc.

i would assume cpm-d2 would be easier to sharpen due to the finer grains, but again, im unsure as i dont have many knives in d2 anymore. i have a brous blade in D2 and it seems much easier to sharpen, but ive only done it once as i dont use it often at all... but it is certainly much softer.
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I used DMT stones for my testing. I also used the Spyderco ceramics on both with no issues as well.
 
I've liked D2 a whole lot going back about 15 years or so.
Bought some knives from A.G. Russell, Ka-Bar, Camillus (USA), and Benchmade.

All very sharp and retained sharpness well.
I have a couple of 710D2's and not had to sharpen either one
in over a year.

Also had some Queen slipjoints - not very sharp out of the box, but
nice wood and cheap enough so it didn't really matter.

Sharpened a few on DMT diamond benchstones, which included some
re-beveling, and got a "working edge" pretty quickly. I could tell it would
have taken a good while longer to get them really sharp.

So, I like D2 a lot. Just haven't seen much in use recently.
Seems like the Chinese makers shy away from it, and the
US makers are moving toward so called "super steels",
S35V, S110V, M390 - or continuing to use the classics
like 5160 and 1095 especially for the big choppas.

BTW, the sharpest edge I ever got out of the box on a D2 blade -
really screaming sharp - was on one of these: http://brisa.fi/enzo/enzo-fulltang-blades/enzo-trapper-95-n690-f-4785.html
 
My take on D2?

If it's done by Dozier it's fantastic. If it's done by Benchmade, it's awesome.

Side note, if you lump VG-10 with 8CR, you must turn in your "steel opiner" card.
 
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