D2 Steel Again: What should one expect from its properties?

[The Mastiff]

How good would you say D2 is for wood-work?

Definitely not a first choice. Good woodworking edges need to be higher edge stability. Think steel like O1, 52100, that type. When you want really thin, fine edges you aren't getting the strength and stability from high carbide knives with large chrome carbides. Especially when they don't have some grain and carbide size help like powder steels give making carbide structures smaller. '

It does well on hides, meat, and other materials that benefit from a coarser sawing type edge. Can it be done? Sure, but it isn't optimal and if you run the edges really thin and or polished like good woodworking tools do you will spend a lot more time repairing and trying to polish the edge. It's better to use a steel designed for that sort of thing instead of fighting trying to get the square in the round hole.

Joe

[bearfacedkiller]

I agree with Joe that d2 isn’t ideal for woodworking. It would likely depend on if you are using D2 or CPM-D2. Ingot D2 is known for very, very large carbides. The powdered version has much smaller carbides and will support a fine edge better.

That said, I have a custom Puukko in ingot D2 that I have done tons of woodcarving with and I have no complaints. I would not use ingot D2 for a chisel but it does what I need in that Puukko.

[Bloke]

How good would you say D2 is for wood-work?

Definitely not a first choice. Good woodworking edges need to be higher edge stability. Think steel like O1, 52100, that type. When you want really thin, fine edges you aren't getting the strength and stability from high carbide knives with large chrome carbides. Especially when they don't have some grain and carbide size help like powder steels give making carbide structures smaller. '

It does well on hides, meat, and other materials that benefit from a coarser sawing type edge. Can it be done? Sure, but it isn't optimal and if you run the edges really thin and or polished like good woodworking tools do you will spend a lot more time repairing and trying to polish the edge. It's better to use a steel designed for that sort of thing instead of fighting trying to get the square in the round hole.

Joe

I agree with Joe that d2 isn’t ideal for woodworking. It would likely depend on if you are using D2 or CPM-D2. Ingot D2 is known for very, very large carbides. The powdered version has much smaller carbides and will support a fine edge better.

That said, I have a custom Puukko in ingot D2 that I have done tons of woodcarving with and I have no complaints. I would not use ingot D2 for a chisel but it does what I need in that Puukko.

Thanks Joe and Darby. :cool:

I learned something here. I have a D2 Enzo Trapper (somewhere) that came with a very small micro bevel which I took to zero grind, a PITA with any Scandi and no fun with D2. It's a great knife per se but doesn't have the edge stability of simple carbon steels which I put down to heat treat rather than grain structure. :rolleyes: