Thread: Sharpening a D2 knife blade: some photos, observations, and opinions

D2 is certainly "good enough".

Any half decent steel should be up to doing a complete bone out of a deer in the field without touching the edge, and D2 can do that. The risk of a chip on a stone or bone is higher than with a lot of other steels though.

Originally Posted by Tahr

D2 is certainly "good enough".

Any half decent steel should be up to doing a complete bone out of a deer in the field without touching the edge, and D2 can do that. The risk of a chip on a stone or bone is higher than with a lot of other steels though.

@Tahr if you had to rate knife steels for field use what have you found best / worst in terms of both performance and ease of sharpening?

Originally Posted by mikee

@Tahr if you had to rate knife steels for field use what have you found best / worst in terms of both performance and ease of sharpening?

3V the best for all round features But just a lilt bit difficult to sharpen - but easier than D2.

A2 is a well balanced steel. Not the edge holding of 3V but still pretty good.

And for a real stonker that stays sharp for ever but can be more difficult to sharpen: 20CV. I have a couple and they are unbelievable.

Cedric and ada on you tube definitely has the best steel testing regime for edge retention. Definitely worth looking up your favorite steel there.
Here's his list in order from best to worst
https://www.everydaycommentary.com/w...st-and-results

I have 3 D2 knives my brother made me, a skinner, pig sticker (my go to) and a drop point deer knife. Yes a prick to sharpen but work well in the field. It was a hobby and he sold the odd one as well, especially his chef style ones, can post pics if any one is interested.

Originally Posted by von tempsky fan

Cedric and ada on you tube definitely has the best steel testing regime for edge retention. Definitely worth looking up your favorite steel there.
Here's his list in order from best to worst
https://www.everydaycommentary.com/w...st-and-results

Thats good. Those first few steels at the top are real buggers to sharpen.

M390 and CPM20CV that I mentioned before are the same steel.

Originally Posted by Tahr

.

M390 and CPM20CV that I mentioned before are the same steel.

very interesting, was thinking of trying a m390 fixed blade but already have a cpm20cv folder

its all about the heat treatment and then the application.
I love D2 as an everyday kinda knife...are their better steels out there? Definitely.

I really enjoy N690 as its an affordable steel thats easy to sharpen and keep a pretty good edge.

One thing the OP didn't mention so not sure if it was performed, but would be interesting to see some photos after running that edge over a strop as the final step.

Originally Posted by Puffin

I might do a follow-up post showing any change to the finish from then using a 1 micron diamond stone followed by 1 and ¼ micron diamond emulsion on strops...

…might….ok, probably will - in time.


With diamond abrasive stones the difficulty to sharpen in my view is not a consideration that need be factored into a choice of blade steel. I have folders here in CPM-S110V and the previously mentioned CPM-20CV and CTS-XHP, and that all follow the same sharpening process for the same excellent end result as for the PSF27 pictured earlier.

This leaves the trade-off primarily between the properties of toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance, and to be honest there seem to be plenty of fully-stainless knife steels now available that push the limits across the full spread of the toughness – edge-retention spectrum. The remaining steels (tool steels) used for performance blades (3V, M4, Maxamet etc.) might not be no-care, but in the main, they too, have sufficient amounts of free chromium to reportedly only need an oily wipe down after use - the sort of maintenance most hunters would be used to applying anyway from the plain carbon-steel days.

By persisting with using sharpening abrasives of significantly lower hardness than diamonds, hunters are probably excluding many of the newer blade steels from consideration, or if purchasing them anyway, seem often enough to be reporting having difficulty in maintaining the edge.

The question of whether to continue using earlier generation knife steels probably depends on how frequently someone is prepared to be touching up their edge when butchering, and for carrying the extra weight of gear for doing this?

Answering this for myself: not any more, not now that it isn’t necessary.

As well as trying out a small number of latest generation steels when replacing my old knife, I also purchased a set of bonded diamond stones, threw out my accumulated collection of abrasives (that in that one purchase had all become obsolete) and have not looked back.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-review-52321/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....v-steel-52926/

For what it’s worth these Venev stones get my strong recommendation. Bonded diamond stones have the abrasive right throughout a layer of binder, so unlike the plated diamond stones - such as the DMTs, where once the diamond is worn or comes off the backing then the stone has lost effectiveness - the bonded stones can be rejuvenated repeatedly by refacing to expose fresh diamond.


A follow-up also on another of the points raised in the OP; the folder below has an example of a double bevel as a result of a 0.5mm difference in the thickness between two of the stones I used. That results in just a 4moa change in the angle of application in my sharpener, but in the photo it can be clearly seen in the offset reflections off the two faces (maybe view the image with a bit of enlargement to see this). I either adjust the difference out, or in this case have left it – as the finishing stone is fortunately the thinner of the two (put your geometry hats on!)

The thing with a mirror finish is that it looks pretty and as a result the edge is super fine and would therefore dull very quickly, how much is actually gained for the amount of work required to obtain that edge in the first place? As far as I'm concerned, the blade should effortlessly cut through whatever I need to cut, anything more than that is time wasted. (unless you're fascinated by mirror edges of course)

Ive never kept a V edge. I always attack them with water stones and turn them into a micro convex. Those acute V angles aren't very slicy - you notice it when opening up deer skin.

But that's just me.

As the forum's Bark River man, you're not allowed V-edges anyway. It would be considered bad form.
The desire to convex anything steel and remotely sharp is clearly a strong one.

Originally Posted by Puffin

As the forum's Bark River man, you're not allowed V-edges anyway. It would be considered bad form.
The desire to convex anything steel and remotely sharp is clearly a strong one.

Nice One of my great knives (in M390) and a major departure from BRiver is this https://trcknives.com/product/classic-freedom/

It had the classic V edge, but I had to attack it... you can see a little bit of the residual V edge towards the hilt.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Attachment 141814

Nice One of my great knives (in M390) and a major departure from BRiver is this https://trcknives.com/product/classic-freedom/

It had the classic V edge, but I had to attack it... you can see a little bit of the residual V edge towards the hilt.

Attachment 141813

Once you delve into knives and steel you realise bark river are ok but for the money and steel, but not great value compared to dulo knives Facebook or shannon steel labs Facebook for example that are handmade use the best steels at the proper Rockwell.

https://duloknives.com/
Pricing is about the same as barkriver, in some instances cheaper.
Shannon steel labs made in the states steels used vanax, lc200n, k390
At 200 to 240 us dollars