D2 Knife Blades

D2, hardened by heat treating is extremely durable. We use it for rollforming rolls and die components. It is so hard that a file cannot scratch it. It lasts when shearing and punching steel, under many thousand PSI, it should cut food with much aplomb, I have not heard of it used in knife making before.

iIwould rather use M2 tool steel rather than D2.

M2 is tougher than D2 so it will not easily chipped (for cutting insert application).

kim

usa

http://www.cutleryscience.com/reviews/blade_materials.html#T_D2

D2 will rust and rather quickly. Living in the northwest and being around salt water regularly makes it not one of my favorites. I prefer ats-34 also called 154cm. I have not tried bg-42 yet but from seen literature it appears to be superior for knives. All of these cost more and are harder to work with than D2. there is also a non-stainless steel called M2 that might interest you. It has great edge retaining qualities.

Not to correct you, but are you sure you're not getting some of the properties of D2 and M2 confused? M2 has a little bit more toughness, but it's not stainless, so it's usually BT2 coated, and even then you need to watch it like carbon steel. On the other hand, D2 has a rather high chromium and vanadium content that render it rather stainless (sea water may be nastier than I thought).

Another point, Benchmade has discontinued using M2 in any of its folders, if not all together. They now prefer D2 and 154cm.

Tool steels such as A2 D2 O1 have excellent IMPACT resistance but not so great ABRASION resistance. M2 is indeed a better choice. Plain old 4150 is great for knife blades, just doesn't have the same corrosion resistance.

Theirs a new tool steel in town it called DC53 its better then D2 .It has a uniform fine grain structure has double toughness and dramatically improved fatigue strength. I found it at www.alro.com

Caldie toolsteel is better than D2 because it has properties that allow it to take more shock. The edge may not hold up quite a good as D2 but a little touch up now and then is better than a broken knife.