Added: 2 years ago
From: QuietBearr
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  • Hey I was think about getting a D2 steel blade but I hear it's really hard to sharpen and that's really intimidating me into not buying the knife I want! Dose anyone know if that's statement about D2 steel being hard to sharpen is true and if it is anyone know of a way I can sharpen it?

  • Does Crucible (CPM D2) cryogeniclly treat their D2? What is your opinion on their D2 in general?

  • bravo!

  • Cardboards gonna break my d2? Haha... wtf? I've gotten comments on my video of d2 cuttin a water bottle about rusting. My benchmade 51 gets wet.. and I bat it thru moulding and small trees pretty often. Just wipe it off, I haven't had any rust problems and I've been edcin it for many months.

  • you don't test on a rock ,,, it means nothing to us knife people ,,,,,, ,we would never ever use a rock as a platform ,,,, my grandfather would slap me if i did ,,,

  • Should pull the trigger on a kabar in d2? And another thing, You smoke weed? lol

  • Good video, as long as the heat treatment is good, D2 kicks ass.... And another poster is correct,....33 seconds in your vid-- nutnfancy made that comment

  • LOL, stop insulting your viewers:-) You are absolutly right, the angle of the edge is the key. A lot of people just don´t have the sharpening skills to get the wider angle really sharp, so they do a shallower on.

  • Thoughts on the kabar d2 steel?

  • :33 im pretty sure it was nutnfancy

  • Does Benchmade use this cryo treatment on thier Mini-Grip D2 blades? I can get this thing surgical sharp with my Gatco kit but it does not seem to hold its edge much longer than cheaper blades.

  • @WisconsinEric sorry but the cryo treatment is a selling tool. I anneal my d2, work it, then differentially harden it using clay I find at a creek near my house and room temp water. D2 can be fragile if you harden it to a very high degree throughout the whole blade (like a file would be). Crystal size and speed of crystal formation affect edge retention. If fine crystals form too fast and are too spaced the blade can be hard and have great crystals but wont hold a good edge.

  • @azreal289 the point of the cryogenic process is to remove stress caused by crystal formation/reogranization. The cryogenic process speeds up the controlled cooling process involved in tempering and martinsite formation. I take my blades through several rounds of annealing, resting, and quenching to even things out nicely. This is important when you hammer steel out (and lesser so stamp it out). Mine rockwell wonderfully, sharpen wonderfully and hold an edge great.

  • @azreal289 The martiniste formation and reorganization of carbides toward the edge is a classic finishing step in old timey metal working. When you hit it with a hammer you can feel and hear the changes in the ring and changes in rebound. You can feel when its not right. To be frank i have felt knives by benchmade and a couple of other brands. Some of their blades sing alright but I have convinced a few folks to let me do a sing test with my brass hammer and I wasnt impressed.

  • did this knife come sharp

  • Thanks for this great video!

  • Is ats-34 better than d2

  • @CypressHillAllDay I personally dont think so, but it is better in some categories, worse in others.

  • @CypressHillAllDay Two completely different categories of steel; ATS-34 is a stainless cutlery steel, and d2 is a tool steel. D2 exceeds ATS-34 in most aspects of blade performance, save stain resistance. Even so, d2 has enough free chromium (chromium not contained in carbides) to prevent any type of pitting if not maintained. I'd say ATS-34 is identical to 154CM in performance, as it has similar metallurgical composition, but with D2 you are going to get vastly better edge retention + strength

  • I have the Benchmade 912-D2 Tanto and sharpening it is no problem. Mine is sub-zero treated.

  • Thanx for the vid. I have been looking at buying a Rat-5 D2 and don't want to kick out the dough if it will fail. What do you know ?

  • @bashfulbrother Get it. I have a RAT 7 in D2 and I've chopped the snot out of it and it's perfectly fine. No need to be paranoid.

  • its the hardest metal i've ever seen. Tried cutting it on the bandsaw with Carbide saw blade and it took forever...Then had to grind off 0.180" on a blanchard...it took hours and the wheel grinded away faster than the steel. Tried takin a 0.020 depth cut in a cnc machine with facemill, and it bent the spindle! broke the machine

  • i was just wandering if the d2 steel was hard to sharpen because im trying to decide between a bone collecter from benchmade or a spyderco sage 1 wich one would be eaisier to sharpen and maintain?

  • @viperdude400ltd About the same honestly, as far as sharpening. I think that most people complain about D2 more, but that is because S30V is newer and the placebo effect is in great effect since it is newer and therefore, greater. IME they are about the same difficulty to sharpen, which is not very, but the difficulty comes from not being forgiving when it comes to sharpening.

  • @QuietBearr Thank you for the intelligent comment. I only have basic knowledge on steels and need help sometimes lol. I will probably end up with the Benchmade Bone collector. I already have two Delicas and love them but want to try out the benchmade. Plus it seems like a better deal.

  • @QuietBearr i ended up getting the a sharp maker for christmas so i wont have any trouble sharpening my benchmade d2 thanks for the advise.

  • how do you cryogenically treat a blade?

  • Right on man, I've been using d2 in my primary hunting knife for years in my benchmade 201 activator; cutting through deer sternums, and disjointing limbs. I use D2 for its edge holding ability, and I guess people just have yet to refine their sharpening techniques, because it seems easy enough for me to get a hair popping sharp edge after 800 grit medium, without any amount of stropping. I guess people just think a steel is junk if they can't get it razor sharp on their spyderco sharpmaker.

  • What about this steel called ATS 34 do you know anything about this stuff?

  • @GeneralG1810 ATS 34 is an older generation Japanese competitor to 154CM. Not really a super steel but very darn close. Good but expensive.

  • @Reaper87xx It is a super steel

  • @QuietBearr Really...I thought it didn't have enough toughness to be quite up there.

  • @Reaper87xx Super steels dont have much to do with any one particular quality, just more meaning super great steels for knifemaking.

    440C was the original super steel.

  • @QuietBearr Touche on the ATS 34

  • nice video. I have some experience with D2 but no current blades. Which knife companies make well heat treated D2 for a large fixed blade?

  • great info where do you get it from i would like to do some more learning on steels thanks

  • I just bought a D2 Extreme from Ka-Bar. $110+ so it better be good, from what I learned online is that D2 is great. The only downsides: Hard to sharpen, "not very tough" which they said meant that the edge would chip after taking heavy impacts. I am waiting on it so let's see if they are wrong.

  • @dieselistheman "Not very tough" is probably an accurate statement. You know what else isn't very tough? 154CM. But I don't see anyone ANYWHERE condemning 154CM so you're good. Enjoy the knife! D2 is a great steel. Hard to sharpen? Yes but I would say it's not a "forgiving" steel when sharpening.

  • i really like the d2 but it is verry fragile

  • @kwal1983 Sounds like you don't have a lot of experience with D2. I mean...how the hell can you say you like a steel that you automatically asume that it's going to fail on you?

  • @kwal1983 you have had d2 break or chip out on you i assume?

  • @thebestjcc S30V is considered better but it depends on your use of the knife. S30V is stainless, D2 is not.

  • @75SilentWarrior I would have to say that for many knives S30V is most certainly not better than D2. A survival knife for instance, I would rather have D2 than S30V. Any large fixed blade for that matter.

    Neither is better than the other. It depends on the use of the knife.

  • @QuietBearr I stated it depends on the role of your knife, and generally S30V is considered th better steel.

  • I love D2 it's awesome thanks for the video

  • I have to disagree with your comments. D2 is a cold work steel, and right off the bat that is never good for toughness, so its not so surprising that people call it glass . the chromium carbides give it fantastic wear resistance and Rc but make it very susceptible to stress/corrosion induced cracking

  • --continued-- by the fact that almost all the chrome is locked up in the carbides instead of dissolved like normal martensitic stainless. So even tho it has 12% Cr, it oxidizes like a steel with 5% Cr, like O1. Retained austenite and dissolving of the CrC's, as well as their dispersal and grain size, are problems for D2.

  • Austenitizing temperatures and temp ramps are critical. Achieving the proper balance during tempering is very tricky, and unless you know what you are doing and doing it very carefully, the chance of screwing up is a lot higher than say, O1 steel. (continued)

  • Also, D2 degrades very quickly with high heat and work, which doomed it as a HS tool steel. whereas O1 is much better HS tool steel. O1 is easier to work with, more forgiving, has higher toughness, good-excellent wear, and roughly equivalent corrosion resistance. Bottom line, If I pick up a piece of O1 tooling I know what I get, but for D2 it can be a crapshoot. Unless it was made by a pro metallurgist, who knows

  • (Lastly...) D2 degrades quickly with working temperature, so if somebody leans the working stock too hard against the tooling (like a grinder, or a belt sander), that edge will be compromised. So even if you start with proper D2 stock, its still very easy to degrade toughness on the finishing process.

  • @angryjapanesenigga Sounds to me like your expierence with D2 is in die making or stamps or something else besides cutlery.

  • is 1060 steel better than 440c

  • @jesusfukchrist Not better, different, depends on your use of the tool and what the tool is.

  • @thebestjcc What's your uses? Those are very two different types of knives.

  • Not better, different. I like D2 more than S30V but both are great steels.

  • Hey, I just bought my first D2 steel knife, its in transit to my house, as of today. Its a benchmade activator 201+; I bought it because of its blade construction and plan on using it as a hunting/skinning knife. I know each company has their own standards for heat treatment and tempering, but in your experience, how rust resistant is benchmade's D2? Should I keep it oiled like my other high carbons? Is it dangerous to leave blood on the blade for any length of time?

  • You should keep all knives even stainless oiled matter of fact. D2 has a tendancy to pit and rust in an "orange peel" sort of way. So keep it oiled. Rust resistance isnt really a factor from heat treat, usually more like what finish is on it after. I.E. bead blasting decreases rust resistance, and high polish increases it.

  • I keep all my knives in a dry environment, just like my firearms; I do not keep my stainless steel firearms or knives oiled, but I do give them a thorough wipedown with a silicon cloth after handling; under dry conditions stainless steel, especially high Chromium stainless steel, will not oxidize. I was told that the carbide composition of a blade's steel is a factor in rust resistance, though I have not researched the matter. I guess I'll keep some gunwipes in my hunting pack for my blade.

  • I have seen many stainless steels rust, even if its just lightly, and this was in a dry enviroment. Usually it is because of a stray fingerprint, or because of accidental splash or whatever, but keeping knives oiled even if they are stainless is a good idea, it doesnt cost anything, makes em look really good and shinny, and lasts forever if you dont handle them, so once and you are done. And the protection is most important. You wouldnt want to discover a knfie you havnt used in years is rusty.

  • Dustar Arad, there is a video on it.

  • lol there will be more.

  • you gotta make more of these i love your steel encyclopedia videos

  • Got one coming up on "The History of the Knife" that is taking up a lot of time to make, but should be very good.

  • Sure thing.

    That is what D2 is used for, thats what it was made for I mean, was tools, like presses and punches and whatnot.

    O1 is more popular because it is tougher, but in some circumstances they have to use D2, like when they are punching into hardened steel, ect.

  • Great Vid Brother, you hit it on the head. I own the Rat5 in D2, and I would put it up against anythint other than A2. A2 is my favorite steel, Not that it is better, but I myself can get a finer edge with it than most other steels.

  • A2 is a very fine steel, most testing puts D2 almost the same as A2. A2 is tougher, but D2 is stronger.

  • Good video with a GREAT, GREAT message! I have several D2 blades and have had zero problem with any of them. D2 is a GREAT steel; guys like Bob Dozier wouldn't use it for fixed blade knives if it was a fragile steel. I think that people get kind of nuts about steels. The heat treat process can make very basic steels perform very well. Buck has gotten good performance from 420hc. I've had great results with EnTrek's 440C. D2 is a great material when done correctly...like most STEELS.

  • I think people forget that it is STEEL and not glass, and that is the case with many steels in use today.

  • lol touche much bud?:) {love ya} i wanted to ask about diamond steels what you think?

  • They are good if you need to remove a lot of steel, but only if you do. FOr light honing or light sharpening, I say they remove to much steel.

  • no i mean Diamond Steel i read about them in a magazine its a new way to do something to D2 to make Super hard like 70 Rc or something carzy like that

  • Oh you mean friction forging, I have a video comming up on it.

  • yes that is what i meant

  • Never owned it, but from what I have read and seen, it is some truely amazing stuff. I will make the video soon on friction forging.

  • Enzo Knives have bad heat treates i have seen that the D2 version of the Trapper chip (Not beacuse of the HT) and their O1 tool steel version which I have rolls on soft woods.

    My Enzo trapper O1 tool is not a usefull knife because of heavy rolling.

    A knife aint better than its HT !

  • The HT is the most important part of the knife! Then the steel and the geometry and design

  • What You say is right QuiteBearr :-)

  • Thanks for your confidence

  • you know you can get a nasty chip on the brittle d2 blade by batoning on a rock

  • jk of course

  • Yea I figured lol

  • Another Solid, Man... I'm a huge fan of D2... Would love to see some of more of my fav models offered in D2, no harm in wishing, right? ;)

    Just another one of those misconceived myths that haunt the knife world... Hopefully this vid helps to dispell it...

  • I doubt it will lol, I wish it would, but somehow I am sure the myth will continue!

  • hey for that state by state thing i found another knife store in westchester it is in the westchester mall in white plains there is a victorinox store that stocks alot of benchmade and kershaw and crkt and spyderco knives and the even have older mini grips like purple ones in 440c btu for msrp

  • I will add it to the list

  • Sorry, you are wrong, D2 is brittle, might be ok for wood, but get it near bone, and it will shatter.

    Mine chipped cutting a pigeon wing bone.

    The blade was an Enzo, one of the best that you can buy.

  • I have shattered elf bone with D2, so either it was your fault or the makers fault, and by the way, Enzo is far for the best you can buy...

  • No, its brittle

  • Was it one of the scandi ground Enzos? Enzos supposed to be pretty solid blades, but a grind that thin made out of D2 is going to be a little more delicate. Any knife can chip if it's ground really thin. D2 is more brittle than some steels, but it should by no means chip on a pigeon bone.

  • more brittle than other steels, but still not brittle in many terms. For any knife application with the exception of possibly a prybar, it should be fine.

    Cold or hot, I have never had D2 crack, chip, or break on me. Even when used bellow zero (F), when abusing it even.

    If a knife made from D2 chips and it is a reasonable usage of it, then I blame the heat treater, not the steel.

  • Yes you are exactly correct my friend, it was taken to a zero scandi grind. An 01 would not have chipped.

    Quiet Bear, please make up your mind, now you are saying that it IS more brittle than other steels. D2 will NOT take a zero scandi grind and perform to the same level as 01. I love my D2 and would have another, but they are very specific, and not suited for general use.

    Gutting yes, simple batoning yes, but if the Mn content in the blade is a little to high, it will break like glass

  • I never said that D2 is tougher than other steels, I just said it is not as brittle as people make it out to be, and you can easily baton, chop or any other knife task with it.

    Of course it is less tough than other steels, it is no S7 steel. But that doesnt mean that it is too brittle to chop with.

    I never said it was tougher than other steels.

  • Hey, you should split on a rock, you can chip that fragile D2!!

    Joking, of course! Good vid. Obviously you know that I'm in the D2 boat with you, you saw my vids on the "brittle" thing.

    Good work!

  • Thanks man

  • LOL, first time I've ever seen you curse, and not edit it out lol

  • Yea was going to bleep it out but forgot lol

  • who the hell actually breaks a D2 steel in practical use. I guess people really need there knives for prying open car doors and breaking up concrete.

  • I dont know lol.

    The thing that gets me is when I hear people say that it will chip or break from batoning or from chopping, tasks that I think are well withing the range of quality knives. I know that isnt popular to say on the bladeforums, but I say any knife that cant baton isnt worth buying. I dont mean size either, I just mean capable of being used in that way without damage.

    For some reason most people on bladeforums consider anything but slicing abuse on a knife.

  • Nutnfancy started the "D2 chips when you baton" thing lol.

  • It was around long before he said it.

  • So much anger in this video :)

  • LOL just some pet peeves, lol, 440C and D2

  • Comment removed

  • Yea its about 10 times the cost of 1095 as far as raw materials, usually takes more time to work and harder to treat as well, so that makes knives made from it more expensive.

  • My Rat3 was D2, and loved that thing. I would count on it no problem.

  • No reason not to, Rat does good blades with good heat treating.

    I love my D2 blades, and plan on getting some more!

  • I like d2 blade I got a sog gov tac.. works well i dont care if the knife breaks i do have a back up and heavy use Ill use an axe..

  • The gov tac is made from AUS 8 if I am not mistaken.

  • ya its.. I ment the other blade cant rember the name of it right now I have to relook it up.. have to many.. When you start forgeting the names you know you have to many...

  • Thanks for setting me strait It is still a bit brittle compared to other steels though right? Anyway nice rant Its a bit to hard to sharpen for me but hey to each their own -Joshua

  • It is less tough than other steels, but that doesnt mean you cant chop or baton with it.

  • i was hopping you would chop ageist the wood grain good demo

  • Just trying the hardest stuff I had around lol.

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